For almost half of human history, our ancestors moved with the four-legged food supplies of their respective areas, leaving only t🧸races of their lives in the form of cave drawings, stone weapons and tools, and other artifa♕cts.

Over time, our ancestors gradually abandoned the hunter-gatherer lifestyles. This transition period spanned between 30,000 BC and 15,000 BC. The change, though far from global, marked a major shift toward an agrarian society. It also heralded the advent of homeownership in a country that was eager to establish settlement from east to west. In this article, we look at the original investment, the birth of homeownership, and real estate as we know it in the United States today.

Staking Claim

Many agrarian systems progressed in a very similar fashion. Fertile plains were staked out and settled in a might-makes-right manner, meaning those who could defend the land were the ones who kept it. Eventually, a system of tribal leaders developed, and those who had the approval of the tribe would disperse lands, settle disputes, and require payment from all their subjects.

The shift toward more and more powerful tribal leaders culminated in a pooling of labor, along with a 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:chief executive officer (CEO) of sorts to direct efforts. Irrigation channels were dug, strongholds were built, ꦏfarming methods improved, and temples were erected.

With the land improvement, populations exploded. Where a family🦩 of hunter-gatherers might be able to support one or two children at best, farmers could provide for several children. The increased fertility also meant greater numbers of available laborers.

The Original Protection Racket

Hunter-gatherers also followed a tribal system, but scarcity and the uncertainty of life meant that a tribe could only support two or three extended families. The amorous farmers, however, soon found that they could not name everyone in their tribe anymore. In return for the sacrifice of familiarity, people living in these small societies gained the safety 👍of numbers.

A well-fed army easily repelled any desperate raiders. In returꦕn for this security, the people all paid homage to the lord or king who claimed ownership of the land. This was 🌳essentially the first system of rent.

As these farming villages grew into citie✤s, the leading families maintained ownership by right of lineage—their ancestors were the ones who clubbed all other challengers senseless—thus becoming the kings, pharaohs, daimyos, and sundry heads of other feudal dynasties.

All Hail the King

This system of labor-for-protection developed into two separate systems in most countries: taxes and tenancy. Royal families spread their wealth to friends, signing away titles and deeds to lands that allowed the holders to collect the revenues or rent pr﷽odu𒈔ced by the peasants living there.

On top of this rent, all the people within a ruler's realm were generally required to pay a tax. Many other demands were made by the ruling leader, such as military service. These demands were grudgingly met because the rulers owned the land not only by birthright but by military might as well. Rulers could be overthrown by other rulers (sometimes by peasants). At times. a new ruler would sit on the throne and the average peasant would rarely notice a difference.

But it wasn't all bad news for the peasants. They were able to trade with other kingdoms and the general level of wealth increased, giving rise to a merchant class as well as specialized laborers or tradesmen who were able to earn a living through skills other than farming.

This, in turn, resulted in non-agrarian shops and houses that still paid rent and taxes to the various lords and kings, but were bought, sold, and rented among the common folk rather than by the royal class. Richer merchants became the first common-born 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:landlords, gaining wealth and status. These merchants didn't own the land, but they owne🍸d the house𒁏s on it.

The King Is Dead

Many aristocracies were eventually displaced, often via the displacement of an aristocrat's head from the body. This was done by putative meritocracies or systems in which the truly best and brightest lead a nation for the good of all.

What happened instead was the creation of politics. Title lands were broken into smaller parcels and sold on a 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:free market of sortsꦬ, but the people with the money to buy the deeds were either merchants or former aristocrats who managed to escape being shortened by revolutionary fervor. Peasants had yet🐻 to make much progress from the original farming-tribesmen of 30,000 years prior.

The Age of Machines

The Industrial Revolution was one of the great equalizers in human history, perhaps only matched by the invention of firearms. The effects of industry were neither positive nor negative but depended on application. The use of machines for manual labor freed many peasants for different tasks and allowed a privileged few the time for education and 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:specialization into new fields of labor꧃ opened up by the mechanization of industry.

Cobblers, seamstresses, and cabinetmakers found that their once invaluable skil𓂃ls were now obsolete, leaving them to return to the land and the coal mines beneath it to try to eke out a living.

People with ambition were able to jump classes and bring some of their low-class sensibilities with them, leading to tract housing for laborers and a range of products aimed at the lower classes. People were now divided into the 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:middle class, 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:blue-collar, 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:white-collar, and a handful of other social categories. They owned houses,🐬 cars, and, eventually, radios and televisions, which suggested wh🌠at other things they might want to own.

Magic Mortgages

The invention of 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:mortgages belongs to no particular country. Mortgages existed for a long time as exclusive loans given only to the nobility. After the Industrial Revolution, however, the wealth of the world increased to the point where banks opened themselves to "higher-risk" mortgage loans—those made to common people. This allowed inꦆdividuals to own their own homes and, if they so desired, to become landlords themselves.

It took 30,000 years, but homeownership is now open to almost everyone. In fact, it reached th💃e point where people often buy too much or take out too much of a mortgage.

The freedom to own something can be a heady brew, so it is important to practice moderation. Taking on too much debt by way of a mortgage can help you ൩lose a house as readily as a loan will help you own one.

The Bottom Line

Ownership, specifically the ownership of land, was the basis of all the investment opportunities we see today. Without a stable population and a set location, trade and commerce between groups is limited. Ownership has moved from being e♌stablished by strength to being something you can buy, se🤪ll, trade, and rent.

There has always been a trade-off for tꦜenancy—a fee paid to the owner for the land and its protection. This responsibility was first afforded to tribal leaders, then to kings, and finally to landlords. Now we have the power to own our homes—a development that has changed the way people live.