Technological Advances That Enabled The Tugen To Adapt To The Physical Environment; A Historical Perspective.

Abstract

Ever since man evolved,he has continously manipulated the environment for his own survival and the society at large. The physical environment has been crucial in man’s adaptation process as it dictated what man should do and how he should live. Climate change on the other hand has been a phenomena throughout history and man had to adapt to the changing climatic conditions. With a climate change, new species emerge and older species dissapear necesitating man to explore and come up with new techniques to cope with the change. We cannot control the weather. In the 21st century one may ask why the past would bother them. Historically the past activities shapes the future activities. Therefore, to built up history one has to start with the past. The main purpose of this paper is to identify the historical technological advances which has enabled the Tugen of baringo county, to adapt to the physical environment and understand the importance of the indigenous technology in shaping the life of the Tugen. As the tugen were therefore manipulating the environment for their survival through agricuture, hunting and gathering, clothing etc they either encountered or created problems which also required to be solved through continous technological innovations. The study was based on underdevelopment theory by Walter Rodney. The environmental challenges of the 21st century arise from the interaction of many different human activities.The multiple environmental problems in specific locations such as global warming, land degradations and ozone depletion, call for new research and management approaches.