Human history

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.

Humanity's a thing that is said 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. As agriculture advanced, most humans transitioned from a nomadic to a settled lifestyle as farmers in permanent settlements. The relative security and increased productivity filed by farming enables communities to expand into increasingly larger units, fostered by advances in transportation.

Whether in prehistoric or historic times, people always needed to be nearly reliable sources of drinking water. Settlements developed as early as 4,000 BCE in Iran, Mesopotamia, the Indus River valley on the Indian subcontinent, as well as on the banks of Egypt's Nile River, along China's rivers and the short rivers that flow from the Andes in the central soar of Peru. As farming developed, grain agriculture became more modern 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 coding of cities, which gave the foundation for civilization. The growing complexity of human societies necessitated systems of accounting and writing. Hinduism developed in the gradual Bronze Age on the Indian subcontinent. The Axial Age witnessed the intro of religions such(a) as Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, and Jainism.

With civilizations flourishing, ancient history "Antiquity," including the Classical Age and Golden Age of India, up to approximately 500 CE saw the rise and fall of empires. Post-classical history the "Middle Ages," c. 500–1500 CE 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 first profile of movable-type printing in Europe revolutionized communication and facilitated ever wider dissemination of information, hastening the end of the Middle Ages and ushering in the Scientific Revolution. The early modern period, sometimes listed to as the "European Age and Age of the Islamic Gunpowders", from about 1500 to 1800, identified 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 and began the late modern period, which started around 1800 and manages through the present.

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, especially 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, knowledge, technology, communications, commerce, weapon destructiveness, and environmental degradation work greatly accelerated, creating unprecedented opportunities and perils that now confront humanity.

5000 years ago

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.

The Paleolithic period began with the advent of hominid tool use. 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. 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 earn of cave paintings and sculptures made from ivory, stone, and bone, implying a form of spirituality; broadly interpreted as either animism or shamanism. Paleolithic humans lived as hunter-gatherers, and were generally nomadic. Archaeological and genetic datathat mention populations of Paleolithic hunter-gatherers lived in sparsely wooded areas and dispersed through areas of high primary production while avoiding dense forest cover.

Anatomically modern humans number one appeared in Africa approximately 300,000 years ago, achieved behavioral modernity about 50,000 years ago, and 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 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 any ice-free parts of the globe.

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. 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 number one cultivated in the Andes Mountains of South America, where the llama was also domesticated. Metalworking was first used in the imposing of copper tools and ornaments around 6000 BCE. Gold soon followed, primarily for use in ornaments. The need for metal ores stimulated trade, as numerous areas of early human settlement lacked the essential ores. The first signs of bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, date to around 2500 BCE, but the alloy did non become widely used until much later.

Agriculture created food surpluses that could assistance people not directly engaged in food production, permitting far denser populations and the determine of the first cities and states. Cities were centres of trade, manufacturing and political power. Cities established a symbiosis with their surrounding countrysides, absorbing agricultural products and providing, in return, manufactured goods and varying degrees of military direction and protection. Early proto-cities appeared at Jericho and Çatalhöyük around 6000 BCE.

The development of cities was synonymous with the rise of civilization. Early civilizations arose first in Lower Mesopotamia 3000 BCE, followed by Egyptian civilization along the Nile River 3000 BCE, the Harappan civilization in the Indus River Valley in present-day India and Pakistan; 2500 BCE, and Chinese civilization along the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers 2200 BCE.

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 potter's wheel, woven cloth, construction of monumental buildings, and writing. Writing facilitated the management 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 deities. Entities such as the Sun, Moon, Earth, sky, and sea were often deified. Shrines developed, which evolved into temple establishments, fix with a complex hierarchy of priests and priestesses and other functionaries. Among the earliest surviving or done as a reaction to a question religious scriptures are the Egyptian Pyramid Texts, the oldest of which date to between 2400 and 2300 BCE.