How would civilization have developed if horses had never existed?

Question

This also implies that any related species of type of donkey, mule, etc also never existed. In other words, how lucky were we that horses evolved?

Answer 1

The Australian aboriginal culture has existed for over 50,000 years, and they never had horses. The Zulu's never used horses, even in battle, their 'Impi' or platoons ran everywhere! So the rest of us would probably have done the same. I would assume it would have slowed our development down and toned our leg muscles up! Lol. Have a great day.

Answer 2

Lucky, but not all that.  Spectacular civilizations developed in Mesoamerica, without the benefit of draft animals.  Horses and the similar certainly make life easier, and there are places that are nearly impossible to farm without horses, but you can build large, wealthy cities and develop some seriously impressive agriculture without them.  Check out the Aztecs and the Maya and the like, and even the US's own Cahokia.  European horseless civilizations wouldn't be exactly the same, of course, but they give you an idea of what can happen without draft animals.

Answer 3

Civilizations have developed without horses: the ancient Mayans had a grand civilization, brought about without horses because horses are native to Eurasia. I don't think horses even touched North or South American soil until the early 16th century when the Spaniards wiped out the Mayans, with (you guessed it) horses (and, guns, and disease).