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Human history, or world history, is the narrative of

humanity Humanity most commonly refers to: * Human Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most populous and widespread species of primates, characterized by bipedality, opposable thumbs, hairlessness, and intelligence allowing the use of culture, language a ...

's past. It is understood through

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. Archaeology is often considered a branch of socio-cultural anthropology, but archaeologists also draw from biological, geological ...

anthropology Anthropology is the of ity, concerned with , , , and , in both the present and past, including . studies patterns of behaviour, while studies cultural meaning, including norms and values. studies how language influences social life. studi ...

genetics Genetics is a branch of biology Biology is the natural science that studies life and living organisms, including their anatomy, physical structure, Biochemistry, chemical processes, Molecular biology, molecular interactions, Physiology, p ...

, and

linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of language A language is a structured system of communication used by humans, including speech (spoken language), gestures (Signed language, sign language) and writing. Most languages have a writing ...

, and since the advent of writing, from

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Works * ...

primary

and

secondary source In scholarship A scholarship is an award of Student financial aid, financial aid for a student to further their education at a private elementary or secondary school, or a private or public post-secondary college, university, or other academi ...

s. Humanity's written history was preceded by its

prehistory Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history Human history, or world history, is the narrative of Human, humanity's past. It is understood through archaeology, anthropology, genetics, and linguistics, ...

, beginning with the Palaeolithic Era ("Old Stone Age"), followed by the

Neolithic Era The Neolithic period is the final division of the Stone Age, with a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts of the world. It is first seen about 12,000 years ago when the first developments of ...

("New Stone Age"). The Neolithic saw the Agricultural Revolution begin, between 10,000 and 5000

BCE Common Era (CE) is one of the year notations used for the Gregorian calendar The Gregorian calendar is the used in most of the world. It was introduced in October 1582 by as a modification of the , reducing the average year from 365.2 ...

, in the

Near East The Near East ( ar, الشرق الأدنى, al-Sharq al-'Adnā, he, המזרח הקרוב, arc, ܕܢܚܐ ܩܪܒ, fa, خاور نزدیک, Xāvar-e nazdik, tr, Yakın Doğu) is a geographical term which roughly encompasses a transcontinental ...

Fertile Crescent The Fertile Crescent is a crescent-shaped region in the Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233 The international standard are technical standards developed by international organizations (intergovernmental orga ...

. During this period, humans began the systematic

husbandry Animal husbandry is the branch of agriculture Agriculture is the science, art and practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentism, sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of ...

of plants and animals. As agriculture advanced, most humans transitioned from a

nomad A nomad ( frm, nomade "people without fixed habitation") is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherer A hunter-gatherer is a human Humans (''Homo ...

nomad

ic to a settled lifestyle as farmers in

permanent settlements

. The relative security and increased productivity provided by farming allowed communities to expand into increasingly larger units, fostered by advances in

transportation Transport (in British English British English (BrE) is the standard dialect of the English language English is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language first spoken in History of Anglo-Saxon England, early medieval Engl ...

. Whether in prehistoric or historic times, people always needed to be near reliable sources of

drinking water Drinking water, also known as potable water, is that is safe to or use for . The amount of drinking water required to maintain good health varies, and depends on physical activity level, age, health-related issues, and environmental conditions ...

. Settlements developed as early as 4,000 BCE in

Iran Iran ( fa, ایران ), also called Persia, and officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, is a country in Western Asia Western Asia, West Asia, or Southwest Asia, is the westernmost subregion A subregion is a part of a larger regio ...

,People, "New evidence: modern civilization began in Iran", 10 Aug 2007
, retrieved 1 October 2007
, xinhuanet.com, 10 August 2007 in

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ( grc, Μεσοποταμία ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the ...

, in the

Indus River valley#REDIRECT Indus River#REDIRECT Indus River {{Redirect category shell, {{R from move {{R from miscapitalisation {{R unprintworthy ...

{{Redirect category shell, {{R from move {{R from miscapitalisation {{R unprintworthy ...

on the Indian subcontinent, on the banks of

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مِصر, Miṣr), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a spanning the and the of . It is bordered by the to , the () and to , the to the east, to , and to . In the northeast, the , which is the northern arm of the R ...

Egypt

Nile River The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin Nobiin, or Mahas, is a Northern Nubian languages, Nubian language of the Nilo-Saharan languages, Nilo-Saharan language family. "Nobiin" is the genitive case, genitive form of ''Nòòbíí'' ("Nub ...

, and along China's rivers. As farming developed,

grain agriculture

became more sophisticated and prompted a

division of labour The division of labour is the separation of tasks in any economic system An economic system, or economic order, is a system A system is a group of interacting Interaction is a kind of action that occurs as two or more objects have an ...

to store food between growing seasons. Labour divisions led to the rise of a leisured

upper class Upper class in modern societies is the social class A social class is a set of concepts in the social sciences and political theory Political philosophy is the philosophical study of government A government is the system or gr ...

and the development of

cities A city is a large human settlement In geography, statistics and archaeology, a settlement, locality or populated place is a community in which people live. The complexity of a settlement can range from a small number of dwellings grouped to ...

cities

, which provided the

foundation Foundation may refer to: * Foundation (nonprofit), a type of charitable organization ** Foundation (United States law), a type of charitable organization in the U.S. ** Private foundation, a charitable organization that, while serving a good cause, ...

for

civilization A civilization (or civilisation) is a that is characterized by , , a form of government, and systems of communication (such as ). Civilizations are intimately associated with additional characteristics such as , the of plant and ani ...

. The growing complexity of human societies necessitated systems of

accounting Accounting or Accountancy is the measurement, processing, and communication of financial and non financial information about economic entity, economic entities such as businesses and corporations. Accounting, which has been called the "languag ...

and

writing Writing is a medium of human communication Communication (from Latin ''communicare'', meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is "an apparent answer to the painful divisions between self and other, private and public, and inner tho ...

writing

Hinduism Hinduism () is an and ', or way of life. It is the , with over 1.2 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global population, known as . The word ' is an , and while Hinduism has been called the oldest religion in the world, many practitione ...

developed in the late

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a prehistoric that was characterized by the use of , in some areas , and other early features of urban . The Bronze Age is the second principal period of the , as proposed in modern times by , for classifying and studying a ...

on the Indian subcontinent. The

Axial Age Axial Age (also Axis Age, from german: Achsenzeit) is a term coined by German German(s) may refer to: Common uses * of or related to Germany * Germans, Germanic ethnic group, citizens of Germany or people of German ancestry * For citizens of G ...

witnessed the introduction of religions such as

Buddhism Buddhism (, ) is the world's fourth-largest religion Religion is a social Social organisms, including humans, live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and ...

Taoism Taoism (), or Daoism (), is a philosophical and spiritual tradition of China, Chinese origin which emphasizes living in harmony with the ''Tao'' (, Taoism#Spelling and pronunciation, or ''Dao''). In Taoism, the ''Tao'' is the source, pattern a ...

Confucianism Confucianism, also known as Ruism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China The earliest known written records of the history of China date from as early as 1250 BC, from the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BC ...

, and

Jainism Jainism (), traditionally known as ''Jain Dharma'', is an ancient Indian religion Indian religions, sometimes also termed Dharmic religions or Indic religions, are the religions that originated in the Indian subcontinent; namely Hinduis ...

Jainism

. With civilizations flourishing,

ancient history Ancient history is the aggregate of past eventsWordNet Search – 3.0
"History" from ...

Antiquity Antiquity or Antiquities may refer to Historical objects or periods Artifacts * Antiquities, objects or artifacts surviving from ancient cultures Eras Any period before the European Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages ...

," including the Classical Age and

Golden Age of India Certain time periods have been named " golden ages" in Indian history, based on the achievements of India India (Hindi: ), officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies b ...

, up to about 500 CE) saw the rise and fall of empires.

Post-classical history Post-classical history, as used in global history, generally runs from about 500 CE to 1500 CE (roughly corresponding to the European Middle Ages). The period is characterized by the expansion of civilizations geographically and development of ...

(the "

Middle Ages In the history of Europe The history of Europe concerns itself with the discovery and collection, the study, organization and presentation and the interpretation of past events and affairs of the people of Europe since the beginning of ...

," c. 500–1500 CE,) witnessed the rise of

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic religion based on the Life of Jesus in the New Testament, life and Teachings of Jesus, teachings of Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth. It is the Major religious groups, world's ...

, the

Islamic Golden Age The Islamic Golden Age was a period of cultural, economic, and scientific flourishing in the history of Islam The history of Islam concerns the political, social, economic, and cultural developments of Muslim world, Islamic civilization. M ...

(c. 750 CE – c. 1258 CE), and the

TimuridTimurid refers to those descended from Timur (Tamerlane), a 14th-century conqueror: * Timurid dynasty, a dynasty of Turco-Mongol lineage descended from Timur who established empires in Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent ** Timurid Empire of Ce ...

and Italian

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period Period may refer to: Common uses * Era, a length or span of time * Full stop (or period), a punctuation mark Arts, entertainment, and media * Period (music), a concept in ...

s (from around 1300 CE). The mid-15th-century introduction of movable-type

printing Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images An Synthetic aperture radar, SAR radar imaging, radar image acquired by the SIR-C/X-SAR radar on board the Space Shuttle Endeavour shows the Teide volcano. The city of Santa Cru ...

in Europe revolutionized

communication Communication (from Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language A classical language is a language A language is a structured system of communication Communication (from Latin ''communicare'', meaning "to share" or "to b ...

and facilitated ever wider dissemination of

information Information is processed, organised and structured data Data (; ) are individual facts, statistics, or items of information, often numeric. In a more technical sense, data are a set of values of qualitative property, qualitative or quant ...

, hastening the end of the Middle Ages and ushering in the

Scientific Revolution The Scientific Revolution was a series of events that marked the emergence of modern science during the early modern period, when developments in History of mathematics#Mathematics during the Scientific Revolution, mathematics, History of phys ...

. The

early modern period The early modern period of modern history Human history, or world history, is the narrative of Human, humanity's past. It is understood through archaeology, anthropology, genetics, and linguistics, and since the History of writing, adve ...

, sometimes referred to as the "European Age and

Age of the Islamic Gunpowders Gunpowder Empires or Islamic Gunpowder Empires refers to the Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal empires as they flourished from the 16th century to the 18th century. These three empires were among the strongest and most stable economies of the early ...

", from about 1500 to 1800, included the

Age of Discovery The Age of Discovery, or the Age of Exploration (sometimes also, particularly regionally, Age of Contact or Contact Period), is an informal and loosely defined term for the early modern period approximately from the 15th century to the 18th century ...

and the

Age of Enlightenment The Age of Enlightenment (also known as the Age of Reason or simply the Enlightenment); ger, Aufklärung, "Enlightenment"; it, L'Illuminismo, "Enlightenment"; pl, Oświecenie , "Enlightenment"; pt, Iluminismo, "Enlightenment"; es, link=n ...

. By the 18th century, the accumulation of

knowledge Knowledge is a familiarity or awareness, of someone or something, such as facts A fact is something that is truth, true. The usual test for a statement of fact is verifiability—that is whether it can be demonstrated to correspond to e ...

and

technology Technology ("science of craft", from Greek#REDIRECT Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece Greece ( el, Ελλάδα, , ), officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country located in Southeast Europe. I ...

had reached a

critical mass In nuclear engineering Nuclear engineering is the branch of engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, v ...

that brought about the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous continent A continent is any of several large landmasse ...

and began the

late modern period In many periodizations of , the late modern period followed the . It began approximately in the mid-18th century and depending on the author either ended with the beginning of after , or includes that period up to the present day. Notable hist ...

, which started around 1800 and has continued through the present. This scheme of historical

periodization Periodization is the process or study of categorizing the past into discrete, quantified named blocks of time.Adam Rabinowitz. It’s about time: historical periodization and Linked Ancient World Data'. Institute for the Study of the Ancient Wo ...

(dividing history into Antiquity, Post-Classical, Early Modern, and Late Modern periods) was developed for, and applies best to, the history of the

Old World The Old World consists of Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous , after in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of 's total su ...

, particularly Europe and the Mediterranean. Outside this region, including

ancient China The earliest known written records of the history of China date from as early as 1250 BC, from the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BC), during the king Wu Ding's reign, who was mentioned as the twenty-first Shang king by the same. Ancient hi ...

and

ancient India According to consensus in modern genetics, anatomically modern humans Early modern human (EMH) or anatomically modern human (AMH) are terms used to distinguish ''Homo sapiens'' (the only extant Hominina species) that are anatomically con ...

, historical timelines unfolded differently. However, by the 18th century, due to extensive world trade and

colonization Colonization, or colonisation refers to large-scale population movements where the migrants maintain strong links with their—or their ancestors'—former country, gaining significant privileges over other inhabitants of the territory by such l ...

, the histories of most civilizations had become substantially intertwined, a process known as

globalization Globalization, or globalisation (Commonwealth English The use of the English language English is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language first spoken in History of Anglo-Saxon England, early medieval England, which ha ...

. In the last quarter-millennium, the rates of growth of

population Population typically refers the number of people in a single area whether it be a city or town, region, country, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction by a process called a ...

, knowledge, technology, communications, commerce, weapon destructiveness, and environmental degradation have greatly accelerated, creating unprecedented opportunities and perils that now confront the planet's human communities.

Prehistory ( 3.3 million years ago to 5000 years ago)

Early humans

Genetic measurements indicate that the ape lineage which would lead to ''Homo sapiens'' diverged from the lineage that would lead to

chimpanzee The chimpanzee (''Pan troglodytes''), also known simply as chimp, is a species of Hominidae, great ape native to the forest and savannah of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed subspecies. The chimpanzee and t ...

s and

bonobo The bonobo (; ''Pan paniscus''), also historically called the pygmy chimpanzee and less often, the dwarf or gracile chimpanzee, is an Endangered Species, endangered great ape and one of the two species making up the genus ''Pan (genus), Pan''; th ...

bonobo

s, the closest living relatives of modern humans, around 4.6 to 6.2 million years ago.

Anatomically modern human Anatomy (Greek ''anatomē'', 'dissection') is the branch of biology Biology is the natural science that studies life and living organisms, including their anatomy, physical structure, Biochemistry, chemical processes, Molecular biology, mo ...

s arose in Africa about 300,000 years ago, and achieved

behavioral modernity Behavioral modernity is a suite of behavioral and cognitive Cognition () refers to "the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses". It encompasses many aspects of intellect ...

about 50,000 years ago. Lascaux2

The

Paleolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic or Palæolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek wikt:παλαιός, palaios - old, lithos - stone), is a period in prehistory Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of ...

period began with the advent of

hominid The Hominidae (), whose members are known as great apes or hominids (), are a taxonomic family In , family (from la, familia) is a of people related either by (by recognized birth) or (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose ...

tool use. Hominids, such as ''

Homo erectus ''Homo erectus'' (meaning "upright Body relative directions (also known as egocentric coordinates) are geometrical orientations relative to a body such as a human Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most populous and widespread spec ...

'' had used simple wood and stone tools for

millennia A millennium (plural millennia or millenniums) is a period of one thousand year A year is the orbital period of a planetary body, for example, the Earth, moving in Earth's orbit, its orbit around the Sun. Due to the Earth's axial tilt, the ...

, but as time progressed, tools became far more refined and complex. Perhaps as early as 1.8 million years ago, but certainly by 500,000 years ago, humans began to use fire for heat and cooking. The Paleolithic also saw humans develop language, as well as a conceptual repertoire that included both the systematic burial of the dead and adornment of the living. Signs of early artistic expression can be found in the form of

cave painting Cave paintings are a type of parietal art In archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. Archaeology is often considered a branch of socio-cultural anthropo ...

s and

sculpture ''lamassu 300px, ''Lamassu'' from Dur-Sharrukin. University of Chicago Oriental Institute. Syrian limestone Neo-Assyrian Period, c. 721–705 BCE ''Lama'', ''Lamma'' or ''Lamassu'' (Cuneiform: , ; Sumerian language, Sumerian: lammař; late ...

s made from ivory, stone, and bone, implying a form of spirituality; generally interpreted as either

animism Animism (from Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken in the area around Rome, known as Latium. Through the power of the Roman Republic, it ...

animism

shamanism Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through Altered state of consciousness, altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually ...

. Paleolithic humans lived as

hunter-gatherer A hunter-gatherer is a human Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most populous and widespread species of primates, characterized by bipedality, opposable thumbs, hairlessness, and intelligence allowing the use of culture, language and tools. T ...

s, and were generally

ic. Archaeological and genetic data suggest that source populations of Paleolithic hunter-gatherers lived in sparsely wooded areas and dispersed through areas of high

primary production In ecology, primary production is the synthesis of organic compounds from atmospheric or aqueous carbon dioxide. It principally occurs through the process of photosynthesis, which uses light as its source of energy, but it also occurs through ch ...

while avoiding dense forest cover. Modern humans spread rapidly from Africa into the frost-free zones of Europe and Asia around 60,000 years ago. The rapid expansion of humankind to North America and Oceania took place at the climax of the most recent

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbour and support life. 29.2% of Earth's surface is land consisting of continents an ...

ice age

. At the time, temperate regions of today were extremely inhospitable. Yet, by the end of the Ice Age, some 12,000 years ago, humans had colonized nearly all ice-free parts of the globe.

Rise of civilization

Beginning around 10,000 BCE, the

Neolithic Revolution The Neolithic Revolution, or the (First) Agricultural Revolution, was the wide-scale transition of many human culture Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior Social behavior is behavior Behavior (Ameri ...

marked the development of

agriculture Agriculture is the science, art and practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary Image:Family watching television 1958.jpg, Exercise trends, Increases in sedentary behaviors su ...

, which fundamentally changed the human lifestyle.

Cereal crop A cereal is any grass cultivated (grown) for the edible components of its grain (botanically, a type of fruit called a caryopsis), composed of the endosperm, cereal germ, germ, and bran. The term may also refer to the resulting grain itself ...

cultivation and

animal domestication Animals (also called Metazoa) are multicellular Multicellular organisms are organism In biology, an organism (from Ancient Greek, Greek: ὀργανισμός, ''organismos'') is any individual contiguous system that embodies the L ...

had occurred in the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233 The international standard An international standard is a technical standard A technical standard is an established norm (social), norm or requirement for a repeatable technical task whi ...

by at least 8500 BCE in the form of

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain which is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum''; the most widely grown is common wheat Common wheat (''Triticum aestivum'' ...

wheat

barley Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family In human society, family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recogn ...

barley

sheep Sheep (''Ovis aries'') are quadrupedal, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Like all ruminants, sheep are members of the order (biology), order Artiodactyla, the even-toed ungulates. Although the name ''sheep'' applies to many species ...

sheep

, and

goat The domestic goat or simply goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of typically kept as . It was from the (''C. aegagrus'') of and . The goat is a member of the animal family and the subfamily , meaning it is closely related ...

goat

s. In the

Indus Valley The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river A transboundary river is a river that crosses at least one political border, either a border within a nation or an international boundary. Bangladesh has the highest number of these rivers, including tw ...

, crops were cultivated and

cattle Cattle, taurine cattle, Eurasian cattle, or European cattle (''Bos taurus'' or ''Bos primigenius taurus'') are large domestication, domesticated Cloven hoof, cloven-hooved herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae ...

cattle

were domesticated by 6000 BCE. The

Yellow River The Yellow River (Chinese: , Jin: uə xɔ Mandarin Mandarin may refer to: * Mandarin (bureaucrat), a bureaucrat of Imperial China (the original meaning of the word) ** by extension, any senior government bureaucrat A bureaucrat is ...

valley in China cultivated

millet Millets () are a group of highly variable small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. Millets are important crops in the semiarid tropics of Asia and Africa (especially in Indi ...

millet

and other cereal crops by about 7000 BCE; the

Yangtze The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ) is the longest river in Asia, the third-longest in the world and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains The Tanggula ( Chinese: ...

valley domesticated

rice Rice is the seed A seed is an embryonic ''Embryonic'' is the twelfth studio album by experimental rock band the Flaming Lips released on October 13, 2009, on Warner Bros. Records, Warner Bros. The band's first double album, it was relea ...

rice

earlier, by at least 8000 BCE. In the Americas,

sunflower ''Helianthus'' () is a genus Genus /ˈdʒiː.nəs/ (plural genera /ˈdʒen.ər.ə/) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, vi ...

s were cultivated by about 4000 BCE, and

maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It can also be ...

maize

and

bean A bean is the seed of one of several of the , which are used as vegetables for human or animal food. They can be cooked in many different ways, including boiling, frying, and baking, and are used in many traditional dishes throughout th ...

bean

s were domesticated in Central America by 3500 BCE.

Potato The potato is a starch#Food, starchy tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial plant, perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found thro ...

Potato

es were first cultivated in the Andes Mountains of South America, where the

llama The llama (; ) (''Lama glama'') is a domesticated South American camelid, widely used as a List of meat animals, meat and pack animal by Inca empire, Andean cultures since the Pre-Columbian era. Llamas are social animals and live with othe ...

llama

was also domesticated.

Metalworking Metalworking is the process of shaping and reshaping metal A metal (from Ancient Greek, Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearan ...

, was first used in the creation of

copper Copper is a chemical element In chemistry, an element is a pure Chemical substance, substance consisting only of atoms that all have the same numbers of protons in their atomic nucleus, nuclei. Unlike chemical compounds, chemical elem ...

copper

tools and ornaments around 6000 BCE.

Gold Gold is a chemical element Image:Simple Periodic Table Chart-blocks.svg, 400px, Periodic table, The periodic table of the chemical elements In chemistry, an element is a pure substance consisting only of atoms that all have the same numb ...

Gold

soon followed, primarily for use in ornaments. The need for metal ores stimulated trade, as many areas of early human settlement lacked the necessary ores. The first signs of

bronze Bronze is an alloy An alloy is an admixture of metal A metal (from Ancient Greek, Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appear ...

bronze

, an alloy of copper and

tin Tin is a with the Sn (from la, ) and 50. Tin is a silvery-colored metal that characteristically has a faint yellow hue. Tin is soft enough to be cut with little force and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent ...

tin

, date to around 2500 BCE, but the alloy did not become widely used until much later. Agriculture created food surpluses that could support people not directly engaged in food production, permitting far denser populations and the creation of the first

and

states State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * The State (newspaper), ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, Un ...

. Cities were centres of

trade Trade involves the transfer of goods from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system A system is a group of Interaction, interacting or interrelated elements that act according to a set of r ...

trade

manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or Production (economics), production of goods with the help of equipment, Work (human activity), labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector ...

and

political power In social science Social science is the Branches of science, branch of science devoted to the study of society, societies and the Social relation, relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refe ...

. Cities established a

symbiosis Symbiosis (from Ancient Greek, Greek , , "living together", from , , "together", and , bíōsis, "living") is any type of a close and long-term biological interaction between two different Organism, biological organisms, be it Mutualism (biolog ...

with their surrounding

countrysides

, absorbing agricultural products and providing, in return, manufactured goods and varying degrees of military control and protection. Early

proto-cities A proto-city, or a proto-town, is a large village or town of the Neolithic The Neolithic period is the final division of the Stone Age, with a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts of the worl ...

appeared at

Jericho Jericho ( ; ar, أريحا ' ; he, יְרִיחוֹ ') is a city in the . It is located in the , with the to the east and to the west. It is the administrative seat of the and is governed by the . In 2007, it had a population of 18,346. ...

Jericho

and

Çatalhöyük Çatalhöyük (; also ''Çatal Höyük'' and ''Çatal Hüyük''; from ''çatal'' "fork" + ''höyük'' "") was a very large and settlement in southern , which existed from approximately 7500 BC to 6400 BC, and flourished around 7000 BC. In J ...

around 6000 BCE. Sumerian 26th c Adab

The development of cities was synonymous with the rise of

. Early civilizations arose first in Lower

(3000 BCE), followed by

Egyptian civilization

along the

(3000 BCE), the

Harappan civilization oxen for pulling a cart and the presence of the chicken, a domesticated jungle fowl. The Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC) was a Bronze Age civilisation in the northwestern regions of South Asia, lasting from 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE, ...

in the Indus River Valley (in present-day India and Pakistan; 2500 BCE), and Chinese civilization along the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers (2200 BCE). Unas Pyramidentexte det1

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. These cultures variously invented the

wheel File:Roue primitive.png, An early wheel made of a solid piece of wood A wheel is a circular component that is intended to rotate on an axle An axle or axletree is a central shaft for a rotating wheel or gear. On wheeled vehicles, the ...

wheel

mathematics Mathematics (from Greek: ) includes the study of such topics as numbers (arithmetic and number theory), formulas and related structures (algebra), shapes and spaces in which they are contained (geometry), and quantities and their changes (cal ...

, bronze-working,

sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, Windsurfing, windsurfer, or Kitesurfing, kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (Land sailing ...

boats, the

potter's wheel , Germany ) , image_map = , map_caption = , map_width = 250px , capital = Berlin , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , languages_type = Official language , languages = German language, German , demonym = Germans, German , ...

, woven cloth, construction of monumental buildings, and

. Writing facilitated the administration of cities, the expression of ideas, and the preservation of information. Scholars now recognize that writing may have independently developed in at least four ancient civilizations: Mesopotamia (between 3400 and 3100 BCE), Egypt (around 3250 BCE), China (2000 BCE), and lowland Mesoamerica (by 650 BCE). Typical of the Neolithic was a tendency to worship

anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...

deities A deity or god is a supernatural The supernatural encompasses supposed phenomena or entities that are not subject to the laws of nature. This term is attributed to non-physical entities, such as angel An angel is a supernatural ...

deities

. Entities such as the Sun, Moon, Earth, sky, and sea were often deified.

Shrine A shrine ( la, scrinium "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French Old French (, , ; Modern French French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as ...

Shrine

s developed, which evolved into

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called church (building), churches), Hinduism (w ...

temple

establishments, complete with a complex hierarchy of

priests and priestesses

and other functionaries. Among the earliest surviving written religious scriptures are the Egyptian ''

Pyramid Texts The Pyramid Texts are the oldest ancient Egyptian funerary texts, dating to the late Old Kingdom of Egypt, Old Kingdom. They are the earliest known corpus of ancient Egyptian religious texts. Written in Old Egyptian, the pyramid texts were carved ...

'', the oldest of which date to between 2400 and 2300 BCE.

Ancient history (3000 BCE to 500 CE)

Cradles of civilization

The Bronze Age is part of the

three-age system The three-age system is the periodization of human history (generally including pre-history) into three time-periods; for example: the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age; although the concept may also refer to other tripartite divisio ...

(

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history Human history, also known as world history, is the description of humanity's past. It is informed by archaeology ...

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history Human history, or world history, is the narrative of Human, humanity's pa ...

), a system which effectively describes the early history of

for some parts of the world. The Bronze Age saw the development of

city-state A city-state is an independent sovereign Sovereign is a title which can be applied to the highest leader in various categories. The word is borrowed from Old French Old French (, , ; Modern French French ( or ) is a Romance la ...

s as well as the emergence of first civilizations. These settlements were concentrated in fertile river valleys: the Tigris and Euphrates in

, the

Nile The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin Nobiin, or Mahas, is a Northern Nubian languages, Nubian language of the Nilo-Saharan languages, Nilo-Saharan language family. "Nobiin" is the genitive case, genitive form of ''Nòòbíí'' ("Nub ...

Nile

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مِصر, Miṣr), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country This is a list of countries located on more than one continent A continent is one of several large landmasses. Generally identi ...

Egypt

, the

Indus#REDIRECT Indus River

{{Redirect category shell, {{R from move {{R from miscapitalisation {{R unprintworthy ...

Indus

in the Indian subcontinent, and the

and

s in China.

Sumer Sumer ()The name is from Akkadian language, Akkadian '; Sumerian language, Sumerian ''kig̃ir'', written and ,approximately "land of the civilized kings" or "native land". means "native, local", iĝir NATIVE (7x: Old Babylonian)from ''The ...

Sumer

, located in

, is the first known complex civilization, having developed the first

s in the 4th millennium BCE. It was in these cities that the earliest known form of writing,

cuneiform script Cuneiform is a - that was used to write several languages of the . The script was in active use from the early until the beginning of the . It is named for the characteristic wedge-shaped impressions (: ) which form its . Cuneiform was origi ...

, appeared around 3000 BCE. Cuneiform writing began as a system of

pictographs A pictogram, also called a pictogramme, pictograph, or simply picto, and in computer usage an computer icon, icon, is a graphic symbol that conveys its meaning through its pictorial resemblance to a physical object. Pictographs are often used in ...

, whose pictorial representations eventually became simplified and more abstract. Cuneiform texts were written by using a blunt

reed Reed or Reeds may refer to: Science, technology, biology, and medicine * Reed bird (disambiguation) * Reed pen, writing implement in use since ancient times * Reed (plant), one of several tall, grass-like wetland plants of the order Poales * ...

as a

stylus A stylus (plural styli or styluses) is a writing utensil A writing implement or writing instrument is an object used to produce writing. Writing consists of different figures, lines, and or forms. Most of these items can be also used for othe ...

stylus

to draw

symbol A symbol is a mark, sign, or word In linguistics, a word of a spoken language can be defined as the smallest sequence of phonemes that can be uttered in isolation with semantic, objective or pragmatics, practical meaning (linguistics), m ...

symbol

s upon

clay tablet In the Ancient Near East The ancient Near East was the home of early civilization A civilization (or civilisation) is any complex society that is characterized by urban development, social stratification, a form of government, and sym ...

s. Writing made the administration of a large state far easier. Transport was facilitated by waterways—by rivers and seas. The

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a connected to the , surrounded by the and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by and and , on the south by , and on the east by the . The Sea has played a central role in the . Although the Mediterrane ...

, 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 of territorial states and

empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". Narrowly defined, an empire is a sovereign state called an empire and ...

empire

s. In Mesopotamia there prevailed a pattern of independent warring city-states and of a loose hegemony shifting from one city to another. In Egypt, by contrast, first there was a dual division into

Upper and Lower Egypt In Egyptian history The history of Egypt has been long and wealthy, due to the flow of the Nile River The Nile ( ar, النيل, an-Nīl, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin: Áman Dawū) is a major north-flowing river A river is a na ...

which was shortly followed by unification of all the valley around 3100 BCE, followed by permanent pacification. In Crete the

Minoan civilization The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a prehistoric Periodization, period that was characterized by the use of bronze, in some areas proto-writing, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the s ...

had entered the Bronze Age by 2700 BCE and is regarded as the first civilization in Europe. Over the next millennia, other river valleys saw monarchical empires rise to power. In the 25th – 21st centuries BCE, the empires of Akkad and

arose in

. Over the following millennia, civilizations developed across the world.

Trade Trade involves the transfer of goods from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system A system is a group of Interaction, interacting or interrelated elements that act according to a set of r ...

Trade

increasingly became a source of power as states with access to important resources or controlling important trade routes rose to dominance. By 1600 BCE,

Mycenaean Greece Mycenaean Greece (or the Mycenaean civilization) was the last phase of the Bronze Age in Ancient Greece, spanning the period from approximately 1750 to 1050 BC.. It represents the first advanced and distinctively Greek civilization in mainland ...

began to develop, and ended with the

Late Bronze Age collapse The Late Bronze Age collapse was a transition period in a large area covering much of Southeast Europe, West Asia and North Africa North Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly ac ...

that started to affect many Mediterranean civilizations between 1200 and 1150 BCE. In India, this era was the Vedic period (1750-600 BCE), which laid the foundations of

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 the

Mahajanapadas The Mahājanapadas ( sa, great realm, from ''maha'', "great", and ''janapada'' "foothold of a people") were sixteen Realm, kingdoms or oligarchy, oligarchic republics that existed in Northern History of India, ancient India from the sixth to ...

were established across the subcontinent. As complex civilizations arose in the Eastern Hemisphere, the indigenous societies in the

Americas The Americas (also collectively called America) is a landmass comprising the totality of North America, North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

remained relatively simple and fragmented into diverse regional cultures. During the

formative stage {{Short pages monitor

20th century

Royal Irish Rifles ration party Somme July 1916

The 20th century opened with Europe at an apex of wealth and power, and with much of the world under its direct Colonialism, colonial control or its indirect domination. Much of the rest of the world was influenced by heavily Europeanized nations: the United States and Japan. As the century unfolded, however, the global system dominated by rival powers was subjected to severe strains, and ultimately yielded to a more fluid structure of independent nations organized on Western models. This transformation was catalyzed by wars of unparalleled scope and devastation. World War I led to the collapse of four empires – Austria-Hungary, the German Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Russian Empire – and weakened the United Kingdom and France. In the war's aftermath, powerful ideologies rose to prominence. The Russian Revolution of 1917 created the first communism, communist state, while the 1920s and 1930s saw militarism, militaristic fascism, fascist dictatorships gain control in Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Italy, Nazi Germany, Germany, Francoist Spain, Spain, and elsewhere. Nagasakibomb

Ongoing national rivalries, exacerbated by the economic turmoil of the Great Depression, helped precipitate World War II. The Militarism, militaristic dictatorships of Europe and Japan pursued an ultimately doomed course of Imperialism, imperialist expansionism, in the course of which Nazi Germany, under Adolf Hitler, orchestrated the genocide of six million Jews in the Holocaust, while Empire of Japan, Imperial Japan Japanese war crimes, murdered millions of Chinese people, Chinese. The World War II defeat of the Axis powers by the Allies of World War II, Allied powers opened the way for the advance of communism into East Germany, Polish People's Republic, Poland, Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, Czechoslovakia, Hungarian People's Republic, Hungary, Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Yugoslavia, People's Socialist Republic of Albania, Albania, People's Republic of Bulgaria, Bulgaria, Socialist Republic of Romania, Romania, China, North Korea, and North Vietnam. My Lai massacre woman and children

When World War II ended in 1945, the United Nations was founded in the hope of preventing future wars, as the League of Nations had been formed following World War I. The war had left two countries, the United States and the Soviet Union, with principal power to influence International relations, international affairs. Each was suspicious of the other and feared a global spread of the other's, respectively Capitalism, capitalist and Communism, communist, political-economic model. This led to the Cold War, a forty-five-year stand-off and arms race between the United States and its allies, on one hand, and the Soviet Union and its allies on the other. With the development of nuclear weapons during World War II, and with their subsequent Nuclear proliferation, proliferation, all of humanity were put at risk of Nuclear warfare, nuclear war between the two superpowers, as demonstrated by List of nuclear close calls, many incidents, most prominently the October 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Such war Nuclear holocaust, being viewed as impractical, the superpowers instead waged proxy wars in non-nuclear-armed Third World countries In China, Mao Zedong implemented Industrialisation, industrialization and Collective farming, collectivization reforms as part of the Great Leap Forward (1958–1962), leading to the Great Chinese Famine, starvation deaths (1959–1961) of tens of millions of people. Between 1969 and 1972, as part of the Cold War Space Race, twelve Astronaut, astronauts Apollo program, landed on the Moon and safely returned to Earth. The Cold War ended peacefully in 1991 after the Pan-European Picnic, the subsequent fall of the Iron Curtain and the Berlin Wall, and the collapse of the Eastern Bloc and the Warsaw Pact. The Dissolution of the Soviet Union, Soviet Union collapsed, partly due to its inability to compete economically with the United States and Western Europe. However, the United States likewise began to show signs of slippage in its geopolitical influence, even as its private sector, now less inhibited by the claims of the public sector, increasingly sought private advantage to the prejudice of the public Well-being, weal. In the early postwar decades, the colonies in Asia and Africa of the Belgian, British, Dutch, French, and other west European empires won their formal independence. However, these newly independent countries often faced challenges in the form of neocolonialism, sociopolitical disarray, poverty, illiteracy, and Endemic (epidemiology), endemic tropical diseases. Most Western European and Central European countries gradually formed a political and economic community, the European Union, which expanded eastward to include former Soviet satellite states. The European Union's effectiveness was handicapped by the immaturity of its common economic and political institutions, somewhat comparable to the inadequacy of United States institutions under the Articles of Confederation prior to the adoption of the Constitution of the United States that came into force in 1789. Asian, African, and South American countries followed suit and began taking tentative steps toward forming their own respective Continental union, continental associations. Apollo 17 Cernan on moon

Cold War preparations to deter or to fight a third world war accelerated advances in Technology, technologies that, though conceptualized before World War II, had been implemented for that war's exigencies, such as jet aircraft, rocketry, and computers. In the decades after World War II, these advances led to jet travel, satellite, artificial satellites with innumerable applications including the Global Positioning System (GPS), and the Internet. These inventions have revolutionized the movement of people, ideas, and information. However, not all scientific and technological advances in the second half of the 20th century required an initial military impetus. That period also saw ground-breaking developments such as the discovery of the structure of DNA and DNA sequencing, the consequent sequencing of the human genome (Human Genome Project, The Human Genome Project), the worldwide eradication of smallpox, the discovery of Stem cell, stem cells, the introduction of the portable Mobile phone, cellular phone, the discovery of plate tectonics, crewed and uncrewed Space exploration, exploration of space and of previously inaccessible parts of Earth, and foundational discoveries in physics phenomena ranging from the smallest entities (particle physics) to the greatest entity (physical cosmology).

=21st century

= The 21st century has been marked by growing economic globalization and integration, with consequent increased risk to interlinked economies, as exemplified by the Great Recession of the late 2000s and early 2010s. This period has also seen the expansion of communications with mobile phones and the Internet, which have caused fundamental society, societal changes in business, politics, and individuals' personal lives. Pudong Shanghai November 2017 panorama

Worldwide competition for natural resources has risen due to growing populations and industrialization, especially in India, China, and Brazil. The increased demands are contributing to increased environmental degradation and to climate change. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic became the first pandemic in the 21st century to substantially disrupt global trading and cause recessions in the global economy.Asare, Prince, and Richard Barfi. "The Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on the Global Economy: Emphasis on Poverty Alleviation and Economic Growth." ''Economics'' 8.1 (2021): 32–4
online

Explanatory notes

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * Christopher Clark, Clark, Christopher, This Is a Reality, Not a Threat (review of Lawrence Freedman, ''The Future of War: A History'', Public Affairs, 2018, 376 pp.; and Robert H. Latiff, ''Future War: Preparing for the New Global Battlefield'', Knopf, 2018, 192 pp.), ''The New York Review of Books'', vol. LXV, no. 18 (22 November 2018), pp. 53–54. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Joseph E. Stiglitz, Stiglitz, Joseph E., "A Rigged Economy: And what we can do about it" (The Science of Inequality), ''Scientific American'', vol. 319, no. 5 (November 2018), pp. 57–61. * * * * * * *

Prehistory ( 3.3 million years ago to 5000 years ago)

Early humans

Rise of civilization

Ancient history (3000 BCE to 500 CE)

Cradles of civilization

20th century

=21st century

See also

Explanatory notes

References

Bibliography

Further reading