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Human history (or world history) is the narrative of humanity's past. It is understood through archaeology, anthropology, genetics, linguistics, and (since the advent of writing) primary and secondary source documents.

World population, from 10000 BCE to 2000 CE, with projection to 2100 CE[1]

Humanity's written history was preceded by its prehistory, beginning with the Palaeolithic ("Old Stone Age") era. This was followed by the Neolithic ("New Stone Age") era, which saw the Agricultural Revolution begin in the Near East's Fertile Crescent between 10,000 and 5,000 BCE. During this period, humans began the systematic husbandry of plants and animals.[2] As agriculture advanced, most humans transitioned from a nomadic 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.

The earliest complex societies appeared in fertile river valleys. Settlements developed as early as 4,000 BCE in Iran,[3][4][5] Mesopotamia,[6] the Indus River valley on the Indian subcontinent,[7] as well as on the banks of Egypt's Nile River,[8][9] along China's rivers[10][11] and the short rivers that flow from the Andes in the central coast of Peru. As farming developed, grain agriculture became more sophisticated and prompted a division of labour to store food between growing seasons. Labour divisions led to the rise of a leisured upper class and the development of cities, which provided the foundation for civilization. The growing complexity of human societies necessitated systems of accounting and writing. Hinduism developed in the late Bronze Age on the Indian subcontinent. The Axial Age witnessed the introduction of religions such as Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, and Jainism.

With civilizations flourishing, ancient history ("Antiquity," including the Classical Age and Golden Age of India,[12] up to about 500 CE)[13] saw the rise and fall of empires. Post-classical history (the "Middle Ages," c. 500–1500 CE)[14] witnessed the rise of Christianity, the Islamic Golden Age (c. 750 CE – c. 1258 CE), and the Timurid and European renaissances (from around 1300 CE). The mid-15th-century introduction of movable-type printing in Europe[15] revolutionized communication and facilitated ever wider dissemination of information, hastening the end of the Middle Ages and ushering in the Scientific Revolution.[16] The early modern period, sometimes referred to as the "European Age and Age of the Islamic Gunpowders",[17] from about 1500 to 1800,[18] included the Age of Discovery and the Age of Enlightenment. By the 18th century, the accumulation of knowledge and technology had reached a critical mass that brought about the Industrial Revolution[19] and began the late modern period, which started around 1800 and continues through the present.[14]

This scheme of historical periodization (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, particularly Europe and the Mediterranean. Outside this region, including Chinese and Indian civilizations, historical timelines unfolded differently up to the 18th century. By this time, due to extensive world trade and colonization, the histories of most civilizations had become substantially intertwined. In the last quarter-millennium, the rates of population growth, economic production, technology, communications, commerce, weapon destructiveness, and environmental degradation have greatly accelerated, fundamentally changing the

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This article is about the history of humanity. For the entire history of Earth, see History of Earth. For the field of historical study, see World history. For humanity's evolutionary history, see Human evolution.

"History of the world" redirects here. For other uses, see History of the world (disambiguation).

World population, from 10000 BCE to 2000 CE, with projection to 2100 CE[1]

Prehistory (c. 3.3 million years ago to c. 5000 years ago)

Main articles: Prehistory, Human evolution, and Timeline of prehistory

Early humans

Genetic measurements indicate that the ape lineage which would lead to Homo sapiens diverged from the lineage that would lead to chimpanzees and bonobos, the closest living relatives of modern humans, around 4.6 to 6.2 million years ago.[21]

Cave painting, Lascaux, France, c. 15,000 BCE

The Paleolithic period began with the advent of hominid tool use.[22] Hominids, such as Homo erectus had used simple wood and stone tools for millennia, but as time progressed, tools became far more refined and complex.[23] 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.[24] The Paleolithic also saw humans develop language,[25] 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 paintings and sculptures made from ivory, stone, and bone, implying a form of spirituality; generally interpreted as either animism or shamanism.[26] Paleolithic humans lived as hunter-gatherers, and were generally nomadic.[27] 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 while avoiding dense forest cover.[28]

Anatomically modern humans first appeared in Africa approximately 300,000 years ago,[29] achieved behavioral modernity about 50,000 years ago,[30] and spread rapidly from Africa into the frost-free zones of Europe and Asia around 60,000 years ago.[31] The rapid expansion of humankind to North America and Oceania took place at the climax of the most recent ice age approximately 25,000 years ago. 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.[32]

Rise of civilization

Beginning around 10,000 BCE, the Neolithic Revolution marked the development of agriculture, which fundamentally changed the human lifestyle. Cereal crop cultivation and animal domestication had occurred in the Middle East by at least 8500 BCE in the form of wheat, barley, sheep, and goats.[33] In the Indus Valley, crops were cultivated and cattle were domesticated by 6000 BCE. The Yellow River valley in China cultivated millet and other cereal crops by about 7000 BCE; the Yangtze valley domesticated rice earlier, by at least 8000 BCE. In the Americas, sunflowers were cultivated by about 4000 BCE, and maize and beans were domesticated in Central America by 3500 BCE. Potatoes were first cultivated in the Andes Mountains of South America, where the llama was also domesticated.[34] Metalworking was first used in the creation of copper tools and ornaments around 6000 BCE. 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, an alloy of copper and tin, date to around 2500 BCE, but the alloy did not become widely used until much later.[35]

Agriculture created food surpluses that could support people not directly engaged in food production,[36] permitting far denser populations and the creation of the first cities and states. Cities were centres of trade, manufacturing and political power.[37] 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. Early proto-cities appeared at Jericho and Çatalhöyük around 6000 BCE.[38]

Monumental Cuneiform inscription, Sumer, Mesopotamia, 26th century BCE

The development of cities was synonymous with the rise of civilization.[a] Early civilizations arose first in Lower Mesopotamia (3000 BCE),[40][41][42] followed by Egyptian civilization along the Nile River (3000 BCE),[9][43] the Harappan civilization in the Indus River Valley (in present-day India and Pakistan; 2500 BCE),[44][45] and Chinese civilization along the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers (2200 BCE).[10][11]

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,[46] mathematics,[47] bronze-working, sailing boats, the potter's wheel, woven cloth, construction of monumental buildings,[48] and writing.[49] Writing facilitated the administration of cities, the expression of ideas, and the preservation of information.[50] 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),[51][52] China (2000 BCE),[53] and lowland Mesoamerica (by 650 BCE).[54]

Typical of the Neolithic was a tendency to worship anthropomorphic deities. Entities such as the Sun, Moon, Earth, sky, and sea were often deified.[55] Shrines developed, which evolved into 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 oldest of which date to between 2400 and 2300 BCE.[56]

Ancient history (3000 BCE to 500 CE)

Post-classical history (500 CE to 1500 CE)

Modern history (1500 to the present)