School in a Book: World History Overview, Prehistory and World History Timeline

People like to say that memorizing dates isn’t important, but I have to disagree–with a caveat. Learning approximate dates allows you to place events and eras in context without sidetracking your efforts toward rote learning. Approximate dates allow your brain to properly categorize the information and make the many helpful associations we rely on for thorough understanding.

In most of the history sections of this book, I have grouped terms into their major eras and placed them in approximate chronological order, but have avoided sharing exact dates. I’ve also provided a brief timeline below to serve as an overall framework for your history learning.  

In this book historical terms and concepts are chunked into four broad categories: Ancient History, the Middle Ages, Early Modern Times and Modern Times. If you know which of these historical periods an event occurred in, you will often have a “good enough” understanding of its context for casual conversation and application. 

Please note that most names of eras, including Stone Age, Iron Age, Bronze Age, Paleolithic Era, Mesolithic Era and Neolithic Era, are rough divisions. Since they’re defined by their technological developments, they started and ended at different times in different places of the world. 

Many times I’ve tried to recall the approximate date for the beginning of the universe, or the invention of fire, or the first known appearance of Homo sapiens on the spot but could not. Wondering out loud whether the Earth formed 4 or 6 billion years ago isn’t embarrassing, but not even having some near-miss guess to choose from can be. Print this timeline, place it on your wall and leave it there until this date framework is easily recalled.

ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE: WORLD HISTORY TIMELINE

PREHISTORY

The Beginning of Time

14 billion BCE: The Big Bang occurred

4.5 billion BCE: The Earth formed

4 billion BCE: The first living organisms formed

3.5 billion BCE: LUCA, the last universal common ancestor, formed

7 million BCE: Hominids evolved

The Stone Age

300,000s BCE: Homo sapiens began using stone tools, beginning the Paleolithic Era
12,000s BCE: The Last Ice Age ended

10,000s BCE: Farming began in the Fertile Crescent in Mesopotamia; the first towns were built; and the Neolithic Era began

8,000s BCE: Farming began in China

6000s BCE: Farming began in the Indus River Valley (India); metalworking began

4000s BCE: Farming began in the Americas

RECORDED HISTORY

Ancient Times (3000 BCE to 500 CE)

3000s BCE: The first civilization (the Sumerian Empire in Mesopotamia) began; the Egyptian Empire began; writing was invented, beginning recorded history
2000s BCE: The Indus River Valley civilization began; the Chinese civilization began on the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers; the Mayan culture began; the Chavin culture began; bronze metalworking began
1600s BCE: The Shang Dynasty began

1500s BCE: The Phoenician people arose

1200s BCE: The Hebrew people arose

900s BCE: The Assyrian Empire claimed much of Mesopotamia

500s BCE: The Roman Republic was founded; the Persian Empire claimed Mesopotamia and beyond; Buddha lived and taught; Muhammad lived and taught

400s BCE: Athens and Sparta were at their cultural height

300s BCE: Alexander the Great created the Macedonian Empire; the Fujiwara Dynasty arose in Japan

200s BCE: The Qin Dynasty took power; the Maya were at their peak power

100 BCE to 100 CE: The Roman Empire replaced the Roman Republic; Jesus Christ lived and taught

400s CE: The Byzantine Empire formed; the Roman Empire came to an end

The Middle Ages (500 CE to 1500 CE)

600s CE: The Tang Dynasty led China’s Golden Age

800s CE: Vikings began exploring and raiding; the Toltec culture arose; the Maori culture arose; the aborigine culture arose

1000s and 1100s CE: The Crusades took place

1200s and 1300s CE: Genghis Khan and Kublai Khan led the Mongolian Empire; the Aztec Empire began

1300s CE: The Ottoman Empire began; the Black Plague occurred

1400s CE: The Gutenberg Press went into use; the Incan Empire began; Constantinople fell, ending the Byzantine Empire; Russia began to unify

Early Modern Times (1500 CE to 1900 CE)

1492 CE: Christopher Columbus landed in the Bahamas

1500s CE: Amerigo Vespucci landed in South America and created the first map of the New World; the colonization of South America began; the African slave trade greatly increased; the Ottoman Empire was at its peak; the Elizabethan Era began; the Protestant Reformation began; North American exploration began

1600s CE: The Pilgrims settled Plymouth Colony; the colonization of North America began; the Edo Period began in Japan; the steam engine was invented

1700s CE: The Enlightenment began; Peter the Great unified Russia; Australian colonization began; the French Revolution occurred; the Industrial Revolution began

1776 CE: America declared independence from Great Britain by issuing the Declaration of Independence, starting the American Revolution

1800s CE: The South American colonies gained independence from their colonial rulers one by one; the Scramble for Africa (African colonization) occurred; the Victorian Era took place; the Opium Wars occurred; the first transcontinental railroad opened; Thomas Edison invented the lightbulb; the Wright Brothers invented the airplane

The Modern Era (1900 CE to the Present)

1900s CE: Henry Ford invented the Model T; Einstein discovered the Theory of Relativity; the Australian gold rush began; the dynasties ended in China and were replaced with the Republic of China

1914-1918 CE: World War I occurred

1920s CE: The first modern television was invented

1929 CE: The Wall Street crash set off the Great Depression

1933 CE: The Holocaust began

1930s CE: The Spanish Civil War occurred

1939-1945 CE: World War II occurred

1941 CE: The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, spurring the U.S. to join World War II

1945 CE:World War II ended; the U.S. dropped nuclear bombs on Japan; penicillin was made available to the public

1940s CE: The League of Nations was founded; India gained independence from Britain

1950s CE: The Korean War occurred; the USSR developed atomic weapons and the Cold War began; apartheid began in South Africa; the civil rights movement began; the Vietnam War began; space travel began

1969 CE: People landed on the moon

1970s CE: The Vietnam War ended

1989 CE: Pro-democracy student demonstrations were violently quashed at Tiananmen Square in China; the Berlin Wall fell

1990s CE: The Gulf War occurred

2001 CE: Middle eastern terrorist group Al-Qaeda attacked New York City on September 11

ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE: WORLD HISTORY OVERVIEW AND PREHISTORY

Prehistory: All history that took place prior to the invention of writing around 3000 BCE. The term is also sometimes used for all history that took place before the rise of cities and civilizations around 10,000 BCE.

Recorded history: All history that took place after the invention of writing around 3000 BCE, including the present day. It includes Ancient Times (including the Bronze Age and the Iron Age) (about 3000 BCE to about 500 CE); the Middle Ages (about 500 CE to about 1500 CE); Early Modern Times (including the Colonial Period, the Reformation, the Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution and more) (about 1500 CE to 1900 CE); the Modern Era (the 1900s); and beyond.

Ancient history: The historical period from the beginning of recorded history (around 3,000 BCE) to the fall of the Roman Empire (around 500 CE)

The Middle Ages: The historical period from the fall of the Roman Empire (around 500 CE) to the discovery of the New World (around 1500 CE)

Early Modern Times: The historical period from the discovery of the new world (around 1500 CE) to 1900 CE

The Modern Era: The historical period of the 1900s, marked by industrialism, globalism, rapid technological advancement and world war

The Stone Age: The prehistoric era that began when early humans began using stone tools (over 2.5 million years ago) and before they engaged in metal work in a widespread manner. The Stone Age encompassed the Paleolithic Era, the Mesolithic Era and part of the Neolithic Eras and ended at roughly the start of ancient times (around 3000 BCE), when the Bronze Age began, though the end came to different places at different times.

The Paleolithic Era: The prehistoric era that began with the evolution of the species Homo sapiens until the Mesolithic Era

The Mesolithic Era: The prehistoric era that lasted from about 10,000 BCE to about 8,000 BCE in the Fertile Crescent, and later in other areas, when people began creating more complex social structures, building semi-permanent settlements, developing art, domesticating animals and making other changes that led to the Neolithic Era

The Neolithic Era: The historical era that began when people started farming (around 10,000 BCE to 8,000 BCE, depending on the area) and, with this location-stable food supply, began to settle into towns, cities and civilizations. The end of the Neolithic Era took place at approximately the beginning of ancient times (around 3,000 BCE).

The Bronze Age: The historical era that began when humans learned how to forge metal, particularly bronze, which was particularly useful in weaponry. It started during prehistoric times and lasted till about 1000 BCE (though dates vary by location). 

The Iron Age: The historical era that began when humans began replacing much of their bronze work with iron work instead. This occurred around 1000 BCE in some places in the world. Iron allowed for lighter, cheaper weaponry, which resulted in a more widespread use of it and more battles. 

Last Glacial Age/Last Ice Age: The most recent Ice Age (of many throughout the history of the earth). It lasted from about 2.5 million BCE to about 12,000 BCE. During this time, a land bridge formed between Asia and modern-day Alaska, which humans used to cross into the Americas. The land bridge formed because much of the world’s water was locked up in huge ice sheets and could not flow freely. From the Alaska area, humans settled North, Central and South America.

Last universal common ancestor (LUCA): The most recent living organism that survived to evolve into all current life on the planet, which formed around 3.5 bllion BCE

Hominids: The great apes that eventually evolved into humans, the first of whom lived approximately 7 million BCE

Homo habilis: The first human species, which evolved in East Africa from an unknown, extinct great ape around 2.5 million BCE. They were the first great apes to use stone tools and they had larger brains than their ancestors.

Homo erectus: The human species that evolved from Homo habilis around 1.5 million BCE and migrated out of Africa to Asia. These humans walked upright and were the first animal to use fire for cooking (around 1 million BCE). Around 500,000 BCE they started hunting with spears, building shelters and creating more complex tribal communities.

The Neanderthals: One of the most successful groups of the Homo erectus. After evolving in Africa at an unknown date, they migrated across Asia and Europe after the Sahara desert became passable and lived in Europe until around 40,000 BCE. They mated with Homo sapiens.

Homo sapiens: The modern-day human species. They evolved around 200,000 BCE in Africa and were highly successful, migrating across Asia and Europe along with the Neanderthals. They were the first apes to speak in a complex way. They led other related species in the complexity of their societies and technology. Around 25,000 BCE they began performing ritual burials and making clothing, artworks, jewelry, advanced tools, boats, ovens, pottery, harpoons, saws, woven baskets, woven nets and woven baby carriers.

Cro-Magnons: The group of Homo erectus who, around 25,000 BCE, replaced the Neanderthals in Europe. Like the Neanderthals, they mated with Homo sapiens. From them, Homo sapiens inherited larger brains.

Early modern humans: The group of Homo sapiens that evolved around 40,000 BCE and settled that last two habitable continents: Australia (using boats) and North America (using a land bridge connecting modern-day Alaska to Asia)

Cradle of civilization: The various areas of the world in which civilizations arose, largely independently, along important rivers. These include Egypt (along the Nile River); Mesopotamia (along the Tigris River and Euphrates River); the Indus River Valley (along the Indus River); China (along the Yellow River and Yangtze River); the Incan civilization (in modern-day Peru); and, sometimes, the Mayan civilization (in modern-day Mexico–though this civilization arose later than the others, it might have arisen independently, with little or no external influence). The ability to cultivate land and use it as a reliable food source led to a decrease in the nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyle and the formation of the first towns. Town-based Mesopotamians built religious sites, smelted copper, developed writing, built irrigation channels, invented the wheel (which was only used for pottery until later) and much more. Just prior to farming, animal husbandry had begun. Some of the most important crops were barley and wheat, but other grains and vegetables were also grown.

The Neolithic Revolution: The move from a nomadic hunter-gatherer way of life to a town-based, agriculture-based way of life. The revolution occurred at different times in different places throughout the world; however, the change was seen on all continents in the span of several thousand years, despite no known contact between some of them. Note that the Neolithic Revolution is also called the Agricultural Revolution, though the Second Agricultural Revolution of the 1800s that helped bring about the Industrial Revolution is sometimes also called the Agricultural Revolution. Around the same time that the agricultural revolution began, Caucasians settled Europe for the first time.

Linear A: The written language of the Minoans, which was the world’s first written language. It has not been deciphered by modern historians.

Linear B: The written language of the Mycenaeans, which was the world’s second written language and the first to be deciphered by modern historians

Cuneiform: The world’s first complex written language. It was developed and used in Sumer after approximately 3,000 BCE and used pictographs. Its use triggered the beginning of recorded history.

Hieroglyphics: The world’s second complex written language. It was developed and used in Egypt shortly after cuneiform was developed and, like cuneiform, used pictographs.

***

Babies come. But babies don't go. Get Fights You’ll Have After Having a Baby: A Self-Help Story on Amazon now.

***