The history of the world is the history of humanity, beginning with the Paleolithic Era. Distinct from the history of Planet Earth (which includes early geologic history and prehuman biological eras), world history comprises the study of archeological and written records, from ancient times on. Ancient recorded history begins with the invention of writing.[1][2] However, the roots of civilization reach back to the period before the invention of writing. Prehistory begins in the Paleolithic Era, or "Early Stone Age," which is followed by the Neolithic Era, or New Stone Age, and the Agricultural Revolution (between 8000 and 5000 BCE) in the Fertile Crescent. The Neolithic Revolution marked a change in human history, as humans began the systematic husbandry of plants and animals.[3][4][5] Agriculture advanced, and most humans transitioned from a nomadic to a settled lifestyle as farmers in permanent settlements. Nomadism continued in some locations, especially in isolated regions with few domesticable plant species;[6] but the relative security and increased productivity provided by farming allowed human communities to expand into increasingly larger units, fostered by advances in transportation.

World population[7] from 10,000 BCE to 2,000 CE. The vertical (population) scale is logarithmic.
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 and accounting.[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] and in the Indus River valley.[13][14][15] Similar civilizations probably developed along major rivers in China, but archaeological evidence for extensive urban construction there is less conclusive.
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"[16][17]), from the 5th through 15th centuries, including the Islamic Golden Age (c. 750 CE – c. 1258 CE) and the early European Renaissance (beginning around 1300 CE);[18][19] the Early Modern period,[20] from the 15th century to the late 18th, including the Age of Enlightenment; and the Late Modern period, from the Industrial Revolution to the present, including Contemporary History. The ancient Near East,[21][22][23] ancient Greece, and ancient Rome figure prominently in the period of Antiquity. In the history of Western Europe, the fall in 476 CE of Romulus Augustulus, by some reckonings the last western Roman emperor, is commonly taken as signaling the end of Antiquity and the start of the Middle Ages. By contrast, Eastern Europe saw a transition from the Roman Empire to the Byzantine Empire, which did not decline until much later. In the mid-15th century, Johannes Gutenberg's invention of modern printing,[24] employing movable type, revolutionized communication, helping end the Middle Ages and usher in the Scientific Revolution.[25] By the 18th century, the accumulation of knowledge and technology, especially in Europe, had reached a critical mass that brought about the Industrial Revolution.[26]
Outside the Old World, including ancient China[27] and ancient India, historical timelines unfolded differently. By the 18th century, however, due to extensive world trade and colonization, the histories of most civilizations had become substantially intertwined (see Globalization). In the last quarter-millennium, the rate of growth of population, knowledge, technology, commerce, weapons destructiveness and environmental degradation has greatly accelerated, creating opportunities and perils that now confront the planet's human communities.[28][29]
Contents [hide]
1 Prehistory
1.1 Early humans
1.2 Rise of civilization
2 Antiquity
2.1 Timeline
2.2 Cradles of civilization
2.3 Axial Age
2.4 Regional empires
2.5 Declines and falls
3 Postclassical Era
3.1 History of Islam
3.2 Medieval Europe
3.3 Medieval Sub-Saharan Africa
3.4 Indian Subcontinent
3.5 East Asia
3.6 Central Asia
3.7 Southeast Asia
3.8 Oceania
3.9 The Americas
4 Modern history
4.1 Early modern period
4.1.1 Renaissance
4.1.2 European expansion
4.1.3 Regional developments
4.2 Modern period
4.3 Contemporary history
4.3.1 1900–1945
4.3.2 1945–2000
4.3.3 21st century
5 See also
5.1 History topics
5.2 History by period
5.3 History by region
6 Notes
7 References
8 Further reading
9 External links
Prehistory[edit]

Main articles: Prehistory and Human evolution
Early humans[edit]

Cave painting, Lascaux, France
Genetic measurements indicate that the ape lineage which would lead to Homo sapiens diverged from the lineage that would lead to chimpanzees (the closest living relative of modern humans) around five million years ago.[30] It is thought that the Australopithecine 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 from Africa into the frost-free zones of Europe and Asia around 60,000 years ago.[32] The rapid expansion of humankind to North America and Oceania 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. Other hominids 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 and cooking. 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 of cave paintings and sculptures made from wood and bone. During this period, all humans lived as hunter-gatherers, and were generally nomadic.
Rise of civilization[edit]

Cuneiform—earliest known writing system
The Neolithic Revolution, beginning about 8,000 BCE, saw the development of agriculture, which drastically changed the human lifestyle. Farming permitted far denser populations, which in time organised into states. Agriculture also created food 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 of trade, 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.[33][34][35]
The development of cities was synonymous with the rise of civilization.[36] Early civilizations arose first in lower Mesopotamia (3500 BCE),[37][38] followed by Egyptian civilization along the Nile (3000 BCE)[12] and the Harappan civilization in the Indus Valley (in present-day Pakistan; 2500 BCE).[39][40] 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. Writing was 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.[41][42][43] Inanimate entities such as the Sun, Moon, Earth, sky, and sea were often deified.[44] Shrines developed, which evolved into temple establishments, 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 Egyptian Pyramid Texts, the oldest of which date to between 2400 and 2300 BCE.[45] 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 Revolution rather than following in its wake, as had generally been assumed.[46]
Antiquity[edit]

Main article: Ancient history
Timeline[edit]
Dates are approximate, consult particular article for details Regions not included in the timeline include: Southern Africa, the Caribbean, Central Asia, Northern Europe,
Korea, Japan, Oceania, Siberia, Southeast Asia, and Taiwan.
Cradles of civilization[edit]

Ancient Egyptians built the Great 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 saw city states and the first civilizations develop. These were concentrated in fertile river valleys: the Tigris and Euphrates in Mesopotamia, the Nile in Egypt, the Indus in the Indian subcontinent, and the Yangtze and Yellow 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. The Mediterranean 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 of empires. 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. Over the next millennia, other river valleys would see monarchical empires rise to power. In the 24th century BCE, the Akkadian Empire arose in Mesopotamia;[47] and c. 2200 BCE the Xia Dynasty arose in China.

"The Wrestler", an Olmec era 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 Kerma developed in Sudan, south of Egypt. In modern Turkey the Hittites controlled a large empire and by 1600 BCE, Mycenaean Greece began to develop.[48][49] In India this era was the Vedic period, which laid the foundations of Hinduism 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 were established across the country.
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 in Mesoamerica, (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.
Axial Age[edit]
Main article: Axial age
Main articles: History of philosophy, Timeline of religion, and History of religion
Beginning in the 8th century BCE, the so-called "Axial Age" saw a set of transformative religious and philosophical ideas develop, mostly independently, in many different locations. During the 6th century BCE, Chinese Confucianism,[50][51] Indian Buddhism and Jainism, and Jewish Monotheism all developed. (Karl Jaspers' Axial Age theory also includes Persian Zoroastrianism on this list, but other scholars dispute Jaspers' timeline for Zoroastrianism.) In the 5th century BCE Socrates and Plato made significant advances in the development of Ancient Greek philosophy.
In the east, three schools of thought were to dominate Chinese thinking until the modern day. These were Taoism,[52] Legalism[53] and Confucianism.[54] The Confucian tradition, which would attain dominance, looked for political morality not to the force of law but to the power and example of tradition. Confucianism would later spread into the Korean peninsula and toward Japan.
In the west, the Greek philosophical tradition, represented by Socrates,[55] Plato,[56] and Aristotle,[57][58] was diffused throughout Europe and the Middle East in the 4th century BCE by the conquests of Alexander III of Macedon, more commonly known as Alexander the Great.[59][60][61]
Regional empires[edit]
Main articles: Civilization and Empire
The millennium from 500 BCE to 500 CE saw a series of empires of unprecedented size develop. Well-trained professional armies, unifying ideologies, and advanced bureaucracies created the possibility for emperors to rule over large domains, whose populations could attain numbers upwards of tens of millions of subjects. The great empires depended on military annexation of territory and on the formation of defended settlements to become agricultural centres.[62] The relative peace that the empires brought encouraged international trade, most notably the massive trade routes in the Mediterranean, and the Silk Road. In southern Europe, the Greeks (and later the Romans) established cultures whose practices, laws, and customs are considered the foundation of contemporary western civilization.
Major regional empires of this period include:
The Median Empire, from 678 BCE, centered in present-day Iran, but extending west to present-day Turkey and east to present-day Pakistan. The Median Empire gave way to successive Iranian empires of the period, up to the Sassanid Empire (224-651 CE).

Parthenon epitomizes sophisticated culture of Ancient Greece.
The Delian League (from 478 BCE) and the succeeding Athenian Empire (454-404 BCE), centered in present-day Greece.
Alexander the Great (356-323 BCE), of Macedon, founded an empire of conquest, extending from present-day Greece to present-day Pakistan. The empire divided shortly after his death, but the influence of his Hellenistic successors made for an extended Hellenistic period (323 – 30 BCE) throughout the region.
The Maurya Empire (322 – 185 BCE) in present-day India. In the 3rd century BCE, most of South Asia was united into the Maurya Empire by Chandragupta Maurya and flourished under Ashoka the Great. From the 3rd century CE, the Gupta dynasty oversaw the period referred to as ancient India's Golden Age. From the 4th to 6th centuries, northern India was ruled by the Gupta Empire. In southern India, three prominent Dravidian kingdoms emerged: Cheras, Cholas, and Pandyas. The ensuing stability contributed to heralding in the golden age of Hindu culture in the 4th and 5th centuries.
The Roman Empire, centered in present-day Italy. Beginning in the 3rd century BCE, the Roman Republic began expanding its territory through conquest and colonization. By the time of Augustus (63 BCE - 14 CE), who would become the first Roman Emperor, Rome had already established dominion over most of the Mediterranean. The empire would continue to grow, controlling much of the land from England to Mesopotamia, reaching its greatest extent under the emperor Trajan (d. 117 CE). In the 3rd century CE, the empire would split into western and eastern regions, with (sometimes) separate emperors. The Western empire would fall, in 476 CE, to German influence under Odoacer. The eastern empire, now known as the Byzantine Empire, with its capital at Constantinople, would continue for another thousand years, until overthrown by the Ottoman Empire in 1453 CE.
The Qin Dynasty (221 – 206 BCE), the first imperial dynasty of China, followed by the Han Empire (206 BCE – 220 CE). The Han Dynasty was comparable in power and influence to the Roman Empire that lay at the other end of the Silk Road. While the Romans constructed a vast military of unprecedented power, Han China was developing advanced cartography, shipbuilding, and navigation. The East invented blast furnaces and were capable of creating finely tuned copper instruments. As with other empires during the Classical Period, Han China advanced significantly in the areas of government, education, mathematics, astronomy, technology, and many others.
The Aksumite Empire, centered in present-day Ethiopia. By the 1st century CE the Aksumite Empire had established itself as a major trading empire, dominating its neighbours in South Arabia and Kush, and controlling the Red Sea trade. They minted their own currency, and carved enormous monolithic stelae such as the Obelisk of Axum to mark their Emperors' graves.
Successful regional empires were also established in the Americas, arising from cultures established as early as 2000 BCE. In Mesoamerica,[63] vast pre-Columbian societies were built, the most notable being the Zapotec Empire (200 BCE – 100 CE), and the Mayan Empire, which reached its highest state of development during the Mesoamerican Classic period (c. 250 – 900 CE), but continued throughout the Post-Classic period until the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th century CE. Maya civilization arose as the mother culture of the Olmecs[64] gradually declined. The great Mayan city-states slowly rose in number and prominence, and Maya culture spread throughout the Yucatán and surrounding areas. The later empire of the Aztecs was built on neighboring cultures and was influenced by conquered peoples such as the Toltecs.

Ptolemy's world map, c. 150 CE
Some areas experienced slow but steady technological advancements, with important developments such as the stirrup and moldboard plow arriving every few centuries. There were, however, in some regions, periods of rapid technological progress. Most important, perhaps, was the Mediterranean area during the Hellenistic period, when hundreds of technologies were invented.[65][66][67] Such periods were followed by periods of technological decay, as during the Roman Empire's decline and fall and the ensuing early medieval period.
Declines and falls[edit]
The empires faced common problems associated with maintaining huge armies and supporting a central bureaucracy. These costs fell most heavily on the peasantry, while land-owning magnates increasingly evaded centralised control and its costs. Barbarian pressure on the frontiers hastened internal dissolution. China's Han Empire fell into civil war in 220 CE, while its Roman counterpart became increasingly decentralized and divided about the same time. The great empires of Eurasia were all located on temperate coastal plains. From the Central Asian steppes, horse-based nomads (Mongols, Turks) dominated a large part of the continent. The development of the stirrup, and the breeding of horses strong enough to carry a fully armed archer, made the nomads a constant threat to the more settled civilizations.
The gradual break-up of the Roman Empire,[68][69] spanning several centuries after the 2nd century CE, coincided with the spread of Christianity westward from the Middle East. The Western Roman Empire fell[70] under the domination of Germanic tribes in the 5th century, and these polities gradually developed into a number of warring states, all associated in one way or another with the Roman Catholic Church. The remaining part of the Roman Empire, in the eastern Mediterranean, would henceforth be the Byzantine Empire.[71] Centuries later, a limited unity would be restored to western Europe through the establishment of the Holy Roman Empire[72] in 962, comprising a number of states in what is now Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Czechia, Belgium, Italy, and parts of France.
In China, dynasties would similarly rise and fall.[73][74] After the fall of the Eastern Han Dynasty[75] and the demise of the Three Kingdoms, nomadic tribes from the north began to invade in the 4th century, eventually conquering areas of Northern China and setting up many small kingdoms.
Postclassical Era[edit]

Main article: Postclassical Era
The Postclassical Era is named for the more Eurocentric era of "Classical Antiquity," but "the Postclassical Era" refers to a more global outline. The era is commonly dated from the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century. The Western Roman Empire fragmented into numerous separate kingdoms, many of which would be later confederated under the Holy Roman Empire. The Eastern Roman, or Byzantine, Empire survived until late in the Middle Ages. The Postclassical period also corresponds to the Islamic conquests,[76] subsequent Islamic golden age,[77][78] and commencement and expansion of the Arab slave trade, followed by the Mongol invasions in the Middle East and Central Asia. South Asia saw a series of middle kingdoms of India, followed by the establishment of Islamic empires in India. In western Africa, the Mali Empire and the Songhai Empire developed. On the southeast coast of Africa, Arabic ports were established where gold, spices, and other commodities were traded. This allowed Africa to join the Southeast Asia trading system, bringing it contact with Asia; this, along with Muslim culture, resulted in the Swahili culture. The Chinese Empire experienced the successive Sui, Tang, Song, Yuan, and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty. Middle Eastern trade routes along the Indian Ocean, and the Silk Road through the Gobi Desert, provided limited economic and cultural contact between Asian and European civilizations. During this same period, civilizations in the Americas, such as the Inca, Maya, and Aztec, reached their height. All would be seriously compromised by contact with European colonists at the beginning of the Modern period.
History of Islam[edit]
Main article: History of Islam
Main article: Islamic Golden Age
The history of Islam concerns the Islamic religion and its adherents, known as Muslims. "Muslim" is an Arabic word meaning "one who submits to God." Muslims and their religion have greatly impacted the political, economic, and military history of the Old World, especially the Middle East, where lie its roots.

Great Mosque of Kairouan, Tunisia, founded 670 — oldest mosque in Muslim West
From their center on the Arabian Peninsula, Muslims began their expansion during the early Middle Ages. By 750CE, they came to conquer most of the Middle East, North Africa, and parts of Europe, ushering in an era of learning, science, and invention known as the Islamic Golden Age. The knowledge and skills of the ancient Middle East, of Greece, and of Persia were preserved in the Middle Ages by Muslims, who also added new and important innovations from outside, such as the manufacture of paper from China and decimal positional numbering from India. Much of this learning and development can be linked to geography. Even prior to Islam's presence the city of Mecca had served as a center of trade