Human Rivers

Abstract

This chapter traces the longue durée of human–river relations in the Asian Highlands. It begins with the initial peopling of Highland river valleys around 30,000 to 15,000 BP. Then, it traces human interventions with rivers through the time of the Tibetan Empire (seventh to ninth centuries CE), and its various successor states up to the eighteenth century. It focuses on the markers of the human–river relationship: fishing, pastoral watering, irrigation, boats and ferries, bridges, drinking water, and sewerage systems. This long view tracks changes and continuities in community and political understandings of river systems. It is accompanied by a boxed sidebar that describes the rivers’ human–fish relations. Show more