HISTOTY OF THE WORLD

History of the world

Not to be confused with Recorded history or History of the Earth. For the study and teaching of world history, see World history and Historiography. For history of life on earth, seeEvolutionary history of life. For other uses, see History of the world (disambiguation).

World population^[1] from −10,000 to 2,000. The vertical (population) scale is logarithmic.

The history of the world (or world history) describes the history of humanity (or human history) as determined by the study ofarchaeological and written records. Ancient recorded history begins with the invention of writing.^[2][3] However, the roots of civilization reach back to the earliest introduction of primitive technology and culture. Prehistorybegins in the Paleolithic Era, or "Early Stone Age," which is followed by theNeolithic Era, or New Stone Age, and the Agricultural Revolution (between 8000 and 5000 BCE) in the Fertile Crescent. The latter period marked a change in human history, as humans began the systematic husbandry of plants and animals.^[4][5][6] Agriculture advanced, and most humans transitioned from a nomadic to a settled lifestyle as farmers inpermanent settlements. Nomadism continued in some locations, especially in isolated regions with few domesticable plant species;^[7] but the relative security and increased productivity provided by farming allowed human communities to expand into increasingly larger units, fostered by advances in transportation.

As farming developed, grain agriculture became more sophisticated and prompted a division of labor to store food between growing seasons. Labor divisions then led to the rise of a leisured upper class and the development of cities. The growing complexity of human societies necessitated systems of writing andaccounting.^[8] Many cities developed on the banks of lakes and rivers; as early as 3000 BCE some of the first prominent, well-developed settlements had arisen in Mesopotamia,^[9] on the banks of Egypt's River Nile,^[10][11][12]Indus River valley,^[13][14][15] and major rivers in China.^[16][17][18]

The history of the Old World(particularly Europe and the Mediterranean) is commonly divided into Ancient history (or "Antiquity"), up to 476 CE; the Postclassical Era (or "Middle Ages"^[19][20]), from the 5th through 15th centuries, including theIslamic Golden Age (c. 750 CE – c. 1258 CE) and the early ItalianRenaissance (beginning around 1300 CE);^[21][22] the Early Modern period,^[23]from the 15th century to the late 18th, including the Age of Enlightenment; and the Late Modern period, from theIndustrial Revolution to the present, including Contemporary History. In the history of Western Europe, the Fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE is commonly taken as signaling the end of Antiquity and the start of theMiddle Ages. By contrast, Eastern Europe saw a transition from theRoman Empire to the Byzantine Empire, which did not decline until much later.

In the mid-15th century, the invention of modern printing,^[24] employingmovable type, revolutionizedcommunication, helping end the Middle Ages and ushering in the Scientific Revolution.^[25] By the 18th century, the accumulation of knowledge andtechnology, especially in Europe, had reached a critical mass that brought about the Industrial Revolution.^[26]Outside the Old World, includingancient China^[27] and ancient India, historical timelines unfolded differently. However, by the 18th century, due to extensive world trade and colonization, the histories of most civilizations had become substantially intertwined (seeGlobalization). In the last quarter-millennium, the rates of growth of population, knowledge, technology, commerce, weapons destructiveness, and environmental degradation have greatly accelerated, creating opportunities and perils that now confront the planet's human communities.^[28][29]

Prehistory Time

Main articles: Prehistory and Human evolution

Early humans

Cave painting,Lascaux, France

Genetic measurements indicate that the ape lineage which would lead toHomo sapiens diverged from the lineage that would lead to chimpanzees (the closest living relative of modern humans) around six million years ago.^[30] It is thought that theAustralopithecine genus, which were likely the first apes to walk upright, eventually gave rise to genus Homo.Anatomically modern humans arose in Africa about 200,000 years ago, and reached behavioral modernity about 50,000 years ago.^[31]

Modern humans spread rapidly fromAfrica into the frost-free zones ofEurope and Asia around 60,000 years ago.^[32] The rapid expansion of humankind to North America andOceania took place at the climax of the most recent Ice Age, when temperate regions of today were extremely inhospitable. Yet, humans had colonised nearly all the ice-free parts of the globe by the end of the Ice Age, some 12,000 years ago. Otherhominids such as Homo erectus had been using simple wood and stone tools for millennia, but as time progressed, tools became far more refined and complex. At some point, humans began using fire for heat andcooking. They also developed language in the Palaeolithic period and a conceptual repertoire that included systematic burial of the dead and adornment of the living. Early artistic expression can be found in the form ofcave paintings and sculptures made from wood and bone, showing a spirituality generally interpreted asanimism, or even shamanism. During this period, all humans lived as hunter-gatherers, and were generallynomadic.^[33] Archaeological and genetic data suggest that the source populations of Paleolithic hunter-gatherers survived in sparsely wooded areas and dispersed through areas of high primary productivity while avoiding dense forest cover.^[34]

Rise of civilization

Cuneiform—earliest known writing system

The Neolithic Revolution, beginning about 8,000 BCE, saw the development of agriculture, which drastically changed the human lifestyle. Mesopotamia is the site of the earliest developments of the Neolithic Revolution. It has been identified as having "inspired some of the most important developments in human history including the invention of thewheel, the planting of the first cerealcrops and the development of cursivescript, Mathematics, Astronomy andAgriculture."^[35]

Farming permitted far denser populations, which in time organized into states. Agriculture also createdfood surpluses that could support people not directly engaged in food production. The development of agriculture permitted the creation of the first cities. These were centres oftrade, manufacturing and political power with nearly no agricultural production of their own. Cities established a symbiosis with their surrounding countrysides, absorbing agricultural products and providing, in return, manufactured goods and varying degrees of military control and protection.^[36][37][38]

The development of cities was synonymous with the rise of civilization.^[39] Early civilizations arose first in lowerMesopotamia (3500 BCE),^[40][41]followed by Egyptian civilization along the Nile (3000 BCE),^[12] the Harappan civilization in the Indus Valley (in present-day India and Pakistan; 2500 BCE)^[42][43] and Chinese civilization in the Yellow river and Yangtze river(2200 BCE).^[16][18] These societies developed a number of unifying characteristics, including a central government, a complex economy and social structure, sophisticated language and writing systems, and distinct cultures and religions. Writingwas another pivotal development in human history, as it made the administration of cities and expression of ideas far easier.

As complex civilizations arose, so did complex religions, and the first of their kind apparently originated during this period.^[44][45][46] Entities such as the Sun, Moon, Earth, sky, and sea were often deified.^[47] Shrines developed, which evolved into templeestablishments, complete with a complex hierarchy of priests and priestesses and other functionaries. Typical of the Neolithic was a tendency to worship anthropomorphic deities. Among the earliest surviving written religious scriptures are the EgyptianPyramid Texts, the oldest of which date to between 2400 and 2300 BCE.^[48]Some archaeologists suggest, based on ongoing excavations of a temple complex at Göbekli Tepe ("Potbelly Hill") in southern Turkey, dating from c. 11,500 years ago, that religion predated the Agricultural Revolutionrather than following in its wake, as had generally been assumed.^[49]

Ancient history

Main article: Ancient history

Timeline

Dates are approximate, consult particular article for details

Regions not included in the timeline include: Southern Africa, theCaribbean, Central Asia, NorthernEurope,

Korea, Oceania, Siberia, Southeast Asia, and Taiwan.

Cradles of civilization

Ancient Egyptiansbuilt theGreat Pyramids of Giza.

Main articles: Bronze Age and Iron Age

The Bronze Age is part of the three-age system (Stone Age, Bronze Age,Iron Age) that for some parts of the world describes effectively the early history of civilization. During this era the most fertile areas of the world sawcity states and the first civilizations develop. These were concentrated in fertile river valleys: the Tigris andEuphrates in Mesopotamia, the Nile inEgypt, the Indus in the Indian subcontinent, and the Yangtze andYellow River in China.

Sumer, located in Mesopotamia, is the first known complex civilization, developing the first city-states in the 4th millennium BCE. It was in these cities that the earliest known form of writing, cuneiform script, appeared c. 3000 BCE. Cuneiform writing began as a system of pictographs. These pictorial representations eventually became simplified and more abstract. Cuneiform texts were written on clay tablets, on which symbols were drawn with a blunt reed used as a stylus. Writing made the administration of a large state far easier.

Transport was facilitated by waterways—by rivers and seas. TheMediterranean Sea, at the juncture of three continents, fostered the projection of military power and the exchange of goods, ideas and inventions. This era also saw new land technologies, such as horse-based cavalry and chariots, that allowed armies to move faster.

These developments led to the rise ofempires. Such extensive civilizations brought peace and stability over wider areas. The first empire, controlling a large territory and many cities, developed in Egypt with the unification of Lower and Upper Egypt c. 3100 BCE, while in Crete the Minoan Civilization had started to flourish at 2700 BCE and is regarded as the first civilization in Europe. Over the next millennia, other river valleys would see monarchical empires rise to power. In the 25th century and 24th century BCE, Assyria and the Akkadian Empire, respectively, arose inMesopotamia;^[50] and c. 2200 BCE theXia Dynasty arose in China.

"The Wrestler", an Olmecera statuette, 1200 – 800 BCE.

Over the following millennia, civilizations would develop across the world. Trade would increasingly become a source of power as states with access to important resources or controlling important trade routes would rise to dominance. In c. 2500 BCE, the Kingdom of Kermadeveloped in Sudan, south of Egypt. In modern Turkey the Hittites controlled a large empire and by 1600 BCE,Mycenaean Greece began to develop.^[51][52] In India this era was the Vedic period, which laid the foundations ofHinduism and other cultural aspects of early Indian society, and ended in the 6th century BCE. From around 550 BCE, many independent kingdoms and republics known as theMahajanapadas were established across the subcontinent.

As complex civilizations arose in the Eastern Hemisphere, most indigenous societies in the Americas remained relatively simple for some time, fragmented into diverse regional cultures. During the Formative stage inMesoamerica, (about 1500 BCE to 500 CE), more complex and centralized civilizations began to develop, mostly in what is now Mexico, Central America, and Peru. They include civilizations such as the Olmec,Maya, Zapotec, Moche, and Nazca. They developed agriculture as well, growing maize and other crops unique to the Americas, and creating a distinct culture and religion. These ancient indigenous societies would be greatly affected by European contact during the early modern period.