This teaching aims to revisit the history of human presence on Earth, from origins to the present, with a central focus on the links between populations, resources, and modes of production. This long-term perspective, spanning the last 100,000 years, highlights some of the major transformations in human history, such as the cognitive, agricultural, and industrial revolutions. It also provides an opportunity to reflect on the sustainability of societal development models and on the relationship between humans and their environment. Was there an era when humans evolved in harmony with their environment? What are the main dynamics of human history? What are the consequences of human development and demographic transition on the environment and biodiversity? What is the anthropocene and its underlying realities?
Beyond the autobiographical reflection it proposes, this course aims to think and analyze the cartographic representations of the historical phenomena discussed. It offers an opportunity to learn how to describe a map and to develop tools for thinking and imagining new representations of the transformations that have profoundly reshaped humanity.