Reshaping millennial-scale human–water relationships: A multi-disciplinary synthesis of the Yellow River Basin, China

Study region Yellow River Basin, China, a large sediment-laden river system shaped by millennia of human activities, environmental changes, and river management. Study focus Recent reviews have documented Yellow River flood history and anthropogenic disturbances in considerable detail, yet their relevance to long-term socio-hydrological governance remains insufficiently synthesized. This review integrates historical, archaeological, paleoenvironmental, ecological, hydrological, geomorphological, and governance evidence to re-examine the millennial-scale evolution of human–water relationships in the basin. New hydrological insights for the region The synthesis identifies four broad stages: adaptive coexistence (ca. 2070 BCE–581 CE), agricultural expansion and landscape transformation (581–1368 CE), sediment-driven vulnerability and hydraulic dependence (1368–1949 CE), and engineering regulation and ecological restoration (since 1949 CE). Across these stages, increasing human pressure and changing ecological buffering capacity altered erosion, sediment accumulation, and river-system responses, while increasing hydraulic dependence during periods of heightened vulnerability. Governance correspondingly shifted from localized adaptation toward basin-scale coordinated regulation, water–sediment management, and ecological restoration. These stage transitions reflect changing feedbacks among climatic variability, human interventions, ecological conditions, fluvial processes, and institutional arrangements, offering a long-term socio-hydrological perspective on hydrological vulnerability and sustainable management in the Yellow River Basin.