History of the world 1

History of the world

History of the world (or "World History") is the history of humankind (Homo sapiens), from the earliest times to
the present, in all places on earth. It excludes non-human natural history and geological history, except insofar as the
natural world substantially affects human lives. World history encompasses the study of written records, from
ancient times forward, plus additional knowledge gained from other sources, such as archaeology. Ancient recorded
history[1] begins with the invention, independently at several sites on Earth, of writing, which created the
infrastructure for lasting, accurately transmitted memories and thus for the diffusion and growth of knowledge.[2] [3]
However, the roots of civilization reach back to the period before writing — humanity's prehistory.
Human prehistory begins in the Paleolithic, or Early Stone Age. During the Neolithic (New Stone Age) Agricultural
Revolution between 8500 and 7000 BCE in the Fertile Crescent, humans began the systematic husbandry of plants
and animals — agriculture.[4] [5] [6] It spread to neighboring regions and also developed independently elsewhere,
until most humans lived as farmers in permanent settlements.[7] The relative security and increased productivity
provided by farming allowed these communities to expand. They grew over time into increasingly larger units in
parallel with the evolution of ever more efficient means of transport.
Surplus food made possible an increasing division of labor, the rise of a leisured upper class, and the development of
cities and thus of civilization. The growing complexity of human societies necessitated systems of accounting, which
led to writing.[8]
Civilizations developed on the banks of life-sustaining bodies of fresh water (lakes and rivers). By 3000 BCE they
had arisen in the Middle East's Mesopotamia (the "land between the Rivers" Euphrates and Tigris),[9] on the banks of
Egypt's River Nile,[10] [11] [12] and in the Indus River valley.[13] [14] [15] Similar civilizations are believed also to have
arisen at this time along the great rivers of China, but the archaeological evidence for extensive urban construction is
less distinct.
The history of the Old World (Europe in particular) is commonly divided into Antiquity, up to 476 CE; the Middle
Ages,[16] [17] from the 5th through the 15th centuries, including the early European Renaissance; the Early Modern
period,[18] 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.
In Europe, the fall of the Western Roman Empire (476 CE) is commonly taken as signaling the end of antiquity and
the beginning of the Middle Ages, during which (around the year 1300) the European Renaissance[19] [20] emerges.
In the mid-15th century, Johannes Gutenberg's invention of modern printing,[21] employing movable type,
revolutionized communication, helping end the Middle Ages and usher in modern times and the Scientific
Revolution.[22] By the 18th century, the accumulation of knowledge and technology, especially in Europe, had
reached a critical mass that brought about the Industrial Revolution.[23]
In other parts of the world, in the ancient Near East,[24] [25] [26] ancient China,[27] ancient India and elsewhere, the
historic timeline unfolded differently, but by the 18th century, due to extensive world trade and colonization, the
histories of the many human civilizations had in large measure converged. In the last quarter-millennium, the growth
of knowledge, technology, commerce, and of the potential destructiveness of war has accelerated, creating the
opportunities and perils that now confront the many human communities that inhabit the planet.[28] [29]

Prehistory
Homo sapiens first arose on the Earth between 400,000 and 250,000 years ago during the Palaeolithic period. This
occurred after a long period of evolution. Ancestors of humans, such as Homo erectus, had been using simple tools
for many millennia, but as time progressed, tools became far more refined and complex. At some point, humans had
begun using fire for heat and for cooking. Humans also developed language in the Palaeolithic, as well as a
conceptual repertoire that included systematic burial of the dead and adornment of the living. During this period, all
History of the world 2

humans lived as hunter-gatherers, who were generally nomadic.

Modern humans spread rapidly from Africa and the frost-free zones of Europe and Asia. 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.
The Agricultural Revolution, beginning about 10,000 BCE, saw the development of agriculture. 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, manufacture 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, manufactures and varying degrees of military control and protection.[30] [31] [32]
The development of cities equated, both etymologically and in fact,
with the rise of civilization itself. In about 40,000 BC, before the age
of cities, there is evidence of people living in man-made shelter huts in
northern Punjab and central Asia (Bactria). By 7000 BC, there is
evidence of people growing barley in this area, and raising sheep and
goats. Around this time, people begin living in mud-brick dwellings in
villages, some of which are still in existence. Early cities arose in the
first Sumerian civilization, in lower Mesopotamia (3500 BCE),[33] [34]
followed by Egyptian civilization along the Nile (3300 BCE)[12] and
Harappan civilization in the Indus Valley (3300 BCE).[35] [36]
Elaborate cities grew up, with high levels of social and economic
complexity. Each of these civilizations was so different from the others
Cuneiform script, the earliest known writing
that they almost certainly originated independently. It was at this time,
system
and due to the needs of cities, that writing and extensive trade were
introduced.

This period also saw the origins of complex religion.[37] [38] [39] Religious belief in this period commonly consisted
in the worship of a Mother Goddess, a Sky Father, and of the Sun and Moon as deities.[40] (See also: Sun worship.)
Shrines developed, which over time 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. Some of the earliest surviving written religious scriptures are the Pyramid Texts, produced by the Egyptians,
the oldest of which date to between 2400 and 2300 BCE.[41] 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.[42]
History of the world 3

Antiquity

Cradles of civilizations
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 particular fertile river valleys: The Tigris and
Euphrates in Mesopotamia, the Nile in Egypt, the Indus in South Asia,
and the Yangtze and Yellow River in China.

Mesopotamia saw the rise of the Sumerian city states. It was in these Ancient Egyptians built the Great Pyramids of
cities that the earliest known form of writing, cuneiform script, Giza.
appeared c. 3000 BCE. Cuneiform writing began as a system of
pictographs. Over time, the pictorial representations became simplified and more abstract. Cuneiforms were written
on clay tablets, on which symbols were drawn with a blunt reed for a stylus. Writing made the administration of a
large state far easier. This era also saw new military technologies, such as chariots, that allowed armies to move
faster.

These developments led to the development of empires. 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 the
other river valleys would also see monarchical empires rise to power. In the 24th century BCE, the Akkadian Empire
arose in Mesopotamia.[43] and in China the Xia Dynasty arose c. 2200 BCE.
Over the next 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.[44] [45] 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. In the Americas, civilizations such as the Maya, Zapotec, Moche, and Nazca emerged
in Mesoamerica and Peru at the end of the 1st millennium BCE.

Comparison table

Name Period Area Occupations Writing Religion

Mesopotomian 3000BCE - Sumar, Babylonia, Diary Farming, Textile, Cuneiform Polytheistic

750BCE Assyric Highlands Metals, Potters Wheel,
Sexagemial System

Egyptian 3000BCE - Near Nile Pyramids, Mummies, Decimal Hieroglypic Polytheistic

2650BCE System, Solar Calendar

Chinese 1400BCE - China Silk, Pottery, Chinaware, Chinese Taoism,

1CE Metals, Great Wall, Paper - Confucianism

Harappa - 3000BCE - Northwest India, Potters Wheel, Agriculture, Pictographic Shiva and Mother
Sindhu/Saraswathi 1500BCE Pakistan Dams, City Planning, Seals Goddess worship

Iranian 300BCE - Iran Agriculture, weight & Aramaic Zorastrianism

500CE Measures, Silk, Roads -

Greek 800BCE Sparta, Athens Agriculture, Poetry, Drama, Greek Polytheistic

Philosophy, History -
History of the world 4

Roman 600BCE Italy Agriculture, Roman Calender, Latin Polytheistic

Concrete

Mayan 1500BCE - Central America Agriculture, Cotton, Dyeing, Polytheistic

300CE Temple Pyramids Hieroglyphic

Aztecs 1325CE - Mexico Agriculture, Smelting, Metals Pictographic Polytheistic

1519CE

Incas 1300CE - Ecudaor, Peru, Textile Looms, Agriculture, - Polytheistic

1532CE Chile Building

Religion and philosophy

Beginning in the 6th century BCE a set of transformative religious and
philosophical ideas developed. During this century Chinese
Confucianism, Indian Buddhism and Jainism, Persian Zoroastrianism,
Ancient Egyptian Monotheism, and Jewish Monotheism all developed.
In the 5th century Socrates and Plato would lay the foundations of
Ancient Greek philosophy.

In the east, three schools of thought were to dominate Chinese thinking

until the modern day. These were Taoism,[46] Legalism[47] and
Confucianism.[48] The Confucian tradition, which would attain Angkor Wat temple, Cambodia, early 12th
dominance, looked for political morality not to the force of law but to century
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,[49] Plato,[50] and Aristotle,[51] [52] 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.[53] [54] [55]

Regional empires
The millennia 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 domains, whose population could attain numbers
upwards of tens of millions of subjects.
This period in the history of the world was marked by slow but steady
technological advances, 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.
The Parthenon epitomizes the sophisticated
Most important, perhaps, was the Mediterranean area during the culture of the ancient Greeks.
Hellenistic period, when hundreds of technologies were invented.[56]
[57] [58]
Such periods were followed by periods of technological decay, as during the Roman Empire's decline and
fall and the ensuing early medieval period.

The great empires depended on military annexation of territory and on the formation of defended settlements to
become agricultural centres.[59] The relative peace that the empires brought encouraged international trade, most
notably the massive trade routes in the Mediterranean that had been developed by the time of the Hellenistic Age,
and the Silk Road.
History of the world 5

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 were
increasingly able to evade centralised control and its costs. The
pressure of barbarians on the frontiers hastened the process of internal
dissolution. China's Han Empire fell into civil war in 220 CE, while its
Roman counterpart became increasingly decentralised and divided
about the same time.
Ptolemy's world map, reconstituted from his
In the west, the Greeks established a civilization that is the Geographia (ca. 150)
foundational culture of modern western civilization. Some centuries
later, in the 3rd century BCE, the Romans began expanding their territory through conquest and colonization. By the
reign of Emperor Augustus (late 1st century BCE), Rome controlled all the lands surrounding the Mediterranean. By
the reign of Emperor Trajan (early 2nd century CE), Rome controlled much of the land from England to
Mesopotamia.

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. Empires in Southern India included those of the Chalukyas,the Rashtrakutas, the
Hoysalas, the Cholas and the Vijayanagara Empire. Science, engineering, art, literature, astronomy, and philosophy
flourished under the patronage of these kings.
Meanwhile, the Han Dynasty was the classical empire of the East. Across the silk road from the Roman Empire, the
Han Dynasty is often considered to be the Rome of China. While the Romans were almost unstoppable in military
means, Han China was developing advanced cartography, shipbuilding, and navigation. The East developed blast
furnaces, and were capable of creating finely tuned copper instruments. As with other areas during the Classical
Period, Han China advanced in strides in areas of government, education, mathematics, astronomy, and technology,
among others.

Declines and falls

The great empires of Eurasia were all located on temperate coastal plains. From the Central Asian steppes,
horse-based nomads 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,[60] [61] spanning several centuries after the 2nd century CE, coincided
with the spread of Christianity westward from the Middle East. The Western Roman Empire fell[62] 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.[63] Centuries later, a limited unity
would be restored to western Europe through the establishment of the Holy Roman Empire[64] in 962, comprising a
number of states in what is now Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Italy, and parts of France.
In China, dynasties would similarly rise and fall.[65] [66] After the fall of the Eastern Han Dynasty[67] and the demise
of the Three Kingdoms, Nomadic tribes from the north began to invade in the 4th century CE, eventually conquering
areas of Northern China and setting up many small kingdoms. The Sui Dynasty reunified China in 581, and under
the succeeding Tang Dynasty (618-907) China entered a second golden age. The Tang Dynasty also splintered,
however, and after half a century of turmoil the Northern Song Dynasty reunified China in 982. Yet pressure from
nomadic empires to the north became increasingly urgent. North China was lost to the Jurchens in 1141, and the
Mongol Empire[68] [69] conquered all of China in 1279, as well as almost all of Eurasia's landmass, missing only
History of the world 6

central and western Europe, and most of Southeast Asia and Japan.
In these times, northern India was ruled by the Guptas. 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 CE.
Also at this time in Central America,[70] vast societies began to be
built, the most notable being the Maya and Aztecs of Mesoamerica. As
the mother culture of the Olmecs[71] gradually declined, the great
Mayan city-states slowly rose in number and prominence, and Maya
culture spread throughout 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.

In South America, the 14th and 15th centuries saw the rise of the Inca.
The Inca Empire of Tawantinsuyu, with its capital at Cusco, spanned
the entire Andes Mountain Range.[72] [73] The Inca were prosperous
and advanced, known for an excellent road system and unrivaled
Machu Picchu, "the Lost City of the Incas"—the
masonry.
most recognizable symbol of Inca civilization

Middle Ages
The Middle Ages are commonly dated from the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century.
The period corresponds to the Islamic conquests,[74] subsequent Islamic golden age,[75] [76] and commencement and
expansion of the Islamic/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. The
Chinese Empire saw the succession of the Sui, Tang, Liao, Yuan and Ming Dynasties. During this period, 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.

The Black Death was one of the deadliest pandemics in human history. Starting in Asia, the disease reached
Mediterranean and western Europe during the late 1340s,[77] and killed tens of millions of Europeans in six years;
between a third and a half of the total population.[78]
The Middle Ages[79] witnessed the first sustained urbanization of northern and western Europe. Many modern
European states owe their origins to events unfolding in the Middle Ages; present European political boundaries are,
in many regards, the result of the military and dynastic achievements during this tumultuous period.[80]
The Middle Ages lasted until the beginning of the Early Modern Period[18] in the 16th century, marked by the rise of
nation-states, the division of Western Christianity in the Reformation,[81] the rise of humanism in the Italian
Renaissance,[82] and the beginnings of European overseas expansion which allowed for the Columbian Exchange.[83]
History of the world 7

Modern history
Modern history (the "modern period," the "modern era," "modern times") is history of the period following the
Middle Ages. "Contemporary history" encompasses historic events that are immediately relevant to the present time;
its intentionally loose ambit includes major events such as World War II, but not those whose immediate effects have
dissipated.

Early Modern History

"Early modern period"[84] is a term used by historians to refer to the period in Western Europe and its first colonies
that spans the centuries between the Middle Ages and the Industrial Revolution. The early modern period is
characterized by the rise to importance of science and by increasingly rapid technological progress, secularized civic
politics, and the nation-state. Capitalist economies began their rise, initially in northern Italian republics such as
Genoa. The early modern period also saw the rise and dominance of the mercantilist economic theory. As such, the
early modern period represents the decline and eventual disappearance, in much of the European sphere, of
feudalism, serfdom and the power of the Catholic Church. The period includes the Protestant Reformation, the
disastrous Thirty Years' War, the European colonization of the Americas, and the peak of European witch-hunting.

Rise of Europe

Nearly all the agricultural civilizations have been heavily constrained

by their environments. Productivity remained low, and climatic
changes easily instigated boom and bust cycles that brought about
civilizations' rise and fall. By about 1500, however, there was a
qualitative change in world history. Technological advance and the
wealth generated by trade gradually brought about a widening of
possibilities.[85] [86] [87] [88] [89] [90] [91] [92] [93] [94] [95]

Outwardly, Europe's Renaissance, beginning in the 14th century,[96]

consisted in the rediscovery of the classical world's scientific
contributions, and in the economic and social rise of Europe. But the
Renaissance also engendered a culture of inquisitiveness which
ultimately led to Humanism,[97] the Scientific Revolution,[98] and
finally the great transformation of the Industrial Revolution. The
Scientific Revolution in the 17th century, however, had no immediate The movable-type printing press arose in the
impact on technology; only in the second half of the 18th century did mid-15th century. Less than 50 years later, nine
million books were in print.
scientific advances begin to be applied to practical invention.

The advantages that Europe had developed by the mid-18th century were two: an entrepreneurial culture,[99] [100] and
the wealth generated by the Atlantic trade,[99] (including the African slave trade). By the late 16th century, silver
from the Americas accounted for Spanish empire's wealth.[101] The profits of the slave trade and of West Indian
plantations amounted to 5% of the British economy at the time of the Industrial Revolution.[102] While some
historians conclude that, in 1750, labour productivity in the most developed regions of China was still on a par with
that of Europe's Atlantic economy (see the NBER Publications by Carol H. Shiue and Wolfgang Keller[103] ), other
historians like Angus Maddison hold that the per-capita productivity of western Europe had by the late Middle Ages
surpassed that of all other regions.[104]

A number of explanations are proffered as to why, from the late Middle Ages on, Europe rose to surpass other
civilizations, become the home of the Industrial Revolution,[105] and dominate the world. Max Weber argued that it
was due to a Protestant work ethic that encouraged Europeans to work harder and longer than others. Another
socioeconomic explanation looks to demographics: Europe, with its celibate clergy, colonial emigration,
History of the world 8

high-mortality urban centers, periodic famines and outbreaks of the Black Death, continual warfare, and late age of
marriage had far more restrained population growth, compared to Asian cultures. A relative shortage of labour meant
that surpluses could be invested in labour-saving technological advances such as water-wheels and mills, spinners
and looms, steam engines and shipping, rather than fueling population growth.
Many have also argued that Europe's institutions were superior,[106] [107] that property rights and free-market
economics were stronger than elsewhere due to an ideal of freedom peculiar to Europe. In recent years, however,
scholars such as Kenneth Pomeranz have challenged this view, although the revisionist approach to world history has
also met with criticism for systematically "downplaying" European achievements.[108]
Europe's geography may also have played an important role. The
Middle East, India and China are all ringed by mountains but, once
past these outer barriers, are relatively flat. By contrast, the Pyrenees,
Alps, Apennines, Carpathians and other mountain ranges run through
Europe, and the continent is also divided by several seas. This gave
Europe some degree of protection from the peril of Central Asian
invaders. Before the era of firearms, these nomads were militarily
superior to the agricultural states on the periphery of the Eurasian
continent and, if they broke out into the plains of northern India or the
valleys of China, were all but unstoppable. These invasions were often
devastating. The Golden Age of Islam[109] was ended by the Mongol
sack of Baghdad in 1258. India and China were subject to periodic
invasions, and Russia spent a couple of centuries under the
Mongol-Tatar Yoke. Central and western Europe, logistically more
distant from the Central Asian heartland, proved less vulnerable to
these threats.

Geography also contributed to important geopolitical differences. For

most of their histories, China, India and the Middle East were each
unified under a single dominant power that expanded until it reached
the surrounding mountains and deserts. In 1600 the Ottoman
Empire[110] controlled almost all the Middle East, the Ming Dynasty
ruled China,[111] [112] and the Mughal Empire held sway over India. By Vasco da Gama reached India by sea in 1498.

contrast, Europe was almost always divided into a number of warring

states. Pan-European empires, with the notable exception of the Roman Empire, tended to collapse soon after they
arose. Another doubtless important geographic factor in the rise of Europe was the Mediterranean Sea, which, for
millennia, had functioned as a maritime superhighway fostering the exchange of goods, people, ideas and inventions.
History of the world 9

Age of Discovery

In the 14th century, the Renaissance began in Europe.[113] [114] One

can question whether this flowering of art and Humanism was a benefit
to science, but the era did see an important fusion of Arab and
European knowledge.[115] [116] One of the most important
developments was the caravel, which combined the Mediterranean
lateen sail with European square rigging to create the first vessels that
could safely sail the Atlantic Ocean.[117] Along with important
developments in navigation, this technology allowed the Italian
Christopher Columbus in 1492 to journey across the Atlantic Ocean
and bridge the gap between Afro-Eurasia and the Americas.

This had dramatic effects on both continents. The Europeans brought

with them viral diseases that American natives had never
encountered,[118] and uncertain numbers of natives died in a series of
devastating epidemics. The Europeans also had the technological Columbus sought India aboard the Santa Maria in
advantage of horses, steel and guns that helped them overpower the 1492.

Aztec and Incan empires as well as North American cultures.[119]

Gold and resources from the Americas began to be stripped from the land and people and shipped to Europe, while at
the same time large numbers of European colonists began to emigrate to the Americas.[120] [121] To meet the great
demand for labor in the new colonies, the mass import of Africans as slaves began.[122] Soon much of the Americas
had a large racial underclass of slaves. In West Africa, a series of thriving states developed along the coast,
becoming prosperous from the exploitation of suffering interior African peoples.
Europe's maritime expansion unsurprisingly — given that continent's geography — was largely the work of its
Atlantic states: Portugal, Spain, England, France, and the Netherlands. The Portuguese and Spanish Empires were
the predominant conquerors and source of influence, and their union resulted in the Iberian Union,[123] the first
global empire, on which the "sun never set". Soon the more northern English, French and Dutch began to dominate
the Atlantic. In a series of wars fought in the 17th and 18th centuries, culminating with the Napoleonic Wars, Britain
emerged as the new world power.
Meanwhile the voyages of Admiral Zheng He were halted by China's Ming Dynasty (1368–1644), established after
the expulsion of the Mongols. A Chinese commercial revolution, sometimes described as "incipient capitalism", was
also abortive. The Ming Dynasty would eventually fall to the Manchus, whose Qing Dynasty at first oversaw a
period of calm and prosperity but would increasingly fall prey to Western encroachment.

Late Modern History

19th century
After Europeans had achieved influence and control over the Americas, their imperial activities of the West turned to
the lands of the East and Asia.[124] [125] In the 19th century the European states had social and technological
advantage over Eastern lands.[99] Britain gained control of the Indian subcontinent, Egypt and the Malay
Peninsula;[126] the French took Indochina; while the Dutch cemented their control over the Dutch East Indies. The
British also colonized Australia, New Zealand and South Africa with large numbers of British colonists emigrating
to these colonies.[126] Russia colonised large pre-agricultural areas of Siberia.[127] [128] In the late 19th century, the
European powers divided the remaining areas of Africa. Within Europe, economic and military challenges created a
system of nation states, and ethno-linguistic groupings began to identify themselves as distinctive nations with
aspirations for cultural and political autonomy. This nationalism would become important to peoples across the
world in the 20th century.
History of the world 10

This era in European culture saw the Age of Enlightenment[129] which lead to the Scientific Revolution.[130] The
Scientific Revolution changed humanity's understanding of the world and developed simultaneously with the
Industrial Revolution, a major transformation of the world's economies.[130] [131] The Industrial Revolution began in
Great Britain and used new modes of production — the factory, mass production, and mechanisation — to
manufacture a wide array of goods faster and using less labour than previously. The Age of Enlightenment also led
to the beginnings of modern democracy in the late-18th century American and French Revolutions. Democracy and
republicanism would grow to have a profound effect on world events and on quality of life.
During the Industrial Revolution, the world economy became reliant on coal as a fuel, as new methods of transport,
such as railways and steamships, effectively shrank the world.[131] Meanwhile, industrial pollution and
environmental damage, present since the discovery of fire and the beginning of civilization, accelerated drastically.

Contemporary history

Pre-1945 20th century

The 20th century[132] [133] [134] opened with Europe at an apex of wealth and power, and with much of the world
under its direct colonial control or its indirect domination.[135] Much of the rest of the world was influenced by
heavily Europeanized nations: the United States and Japan.[136] 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 catalysed by wars of unparalleled scope and devastation. World War I[137] destroyed many
of Europe's empires and monarchies, and weakened Britain and France.[138] In its aftermath, powerful ideologies
arose. The Russian Revolution[139] [140] [141] of 1917 created the first communist state, while the 1920s and 1930s
saw militaristic fascist dictatorships gain control in Italy, Germany, Spain and elsewhere.[142]
Ongoing national rivalries, exacerbated by the economic turmoil of the Great Depression, helped precipitate World
War II.[143] [144] The militaristic dictatorships of Europe and Japan pursued an ultimately doomed course of
imperialist expansionism. Their defeat opened the way for the advance of communism into Central Europe,
Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, China, North Vietnam and North Korea.

Post-1945 20th century

After the World War II in 1945, the United Nations was founded in the
hope of allaying conflicts among nations and preventing future
wars.[145] [146] The war had, however, left two nations, the United
States[147] and the Soviet Union, with principal power to guide
international affairs.[148] Each was suspicious of the other and feared a
global spread of the other's political-economic model. This led to the
Cold War, a forty-year stand-off between the United States, the Soviet
Union, and their respective allies. With the development of nuclear
weapons[149] and the subsequent arms race, all of humanity were put at
risk of nuclear war between the two superpowers.[150] Such war being
viewed as impractical, proxy wars were instead waged, at the expense
of non-nuclear-armed Third World countries.
Nuclear bombs, dropped on Japan in 1945, ended
The Cold War lasted to the 1990s, when the Soviet Union's communist World War II and opened the Cold War.
system began to collapse, unable to compete economically with the
United States and western Europe; the Soviets' Central European "satellites" reasserted their national sovereignty,
and in 1991 the Soviet Union itself disintegrated.[151] [152] [153] The United States for the time being was left as the
"sole remaining superpower".[154] [155] [156]
History of the world 11

In the early postwar decades, the African and Asian colonies of the Belgian, British, Dutch, French and other west
European empires won their formal independence.[157] [158] These nations faced challenges in the form of
neocolonialism, poverty, illiteracy and endemic tropical diseases.[159] [160] Many of the Western and Central
European nations gradually formed a political and economic community, the European Union, which subsequently
expanded eastward to include former Soviet satellites.[161] [162] [163] [164]
The 20th century saw exponential progress in science and technology,
and increased life expectancy and standard of living for much of
humanity. As the developed world shifted from a coal-based to a
petroleum-based economy, new transport technologies, along with the
dawn of the Information Age,[165] led to increased globalization.[166]
[167] [168]
Space exploration reached throughout the solar system. The
structure of DNA, the very template of life, was discovered,[169] [170]
[171]
and the human genome was sequenced, a major milestone in the
understanding of human biology and the treatment of disease.[172] [173]
[174] [175] [176]
Global literacy rates continued to rise, and the
percentage of the world's labor pool needed to produce humankind's
food supply continued to drop.
Last Moon landing — Apollo 17 (1972)

The technologies of sound recordings, motion pictures, and radio and

television broadcasting produced a focus on popular culture and entertainment. Television spots sold both
commercial products and political candidates. Then, in the last decade of this century, a rapid increase took place in
the use of personal computers. A global communication network emerged in the Internet. Mass entertainment gave
way to individual communication in what has been called a shift from the fourth to a fifth civilization.[177]
The century saw the development of new global threats, such as nuclear proliferation, global climate change,[178]
[179]
massive deforestation, overpopulation, and the dwindling of global resources (particularly fossil fuels).[180]

21st century
The 21st century has been marked by rising terrorism, the expansion of economic globalization, the expansion of
communications and telecommunications with mobile phones, the Internet, and international pop culture. Worldwide
demand and competition for resources rose due to growing populations and industrialization, mainly in India, China
and Brazil. This demand is resulting in increased levels of environmental degradation and a growing threat of global
warming.[181] This in turn has spurred the development of alternate or renewable sources of energy, proposals for
cleaner fossil-fuel technologies, and consideration of expanded use of nuclear energy.[182] [183] [184]

Notes
[1] Crawford, O. G. S. (1927). Antiquity. [Gloucester, Eng.]: Antiquity Publications [etc.]. (cf., History education in the United States is primarily
the study of the written past. Defining history in such a narrow way has important consequences ...)
[2] According to David Diringer ("Writing", Encyclopedia Americana, 1986 ed., vol. 29, p. 558), "Writing gives permanence to men's knowledge
and enables them to communicate over great distances.... The complex society of a higher civilization would be impossible without the art of
writing."
[3] Webster, H. (1921). World history (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=cboXAAAAIAAJ). Boston: D.C. Heath. Page 27 (http:/ / books.
google. com/ books?id=cboXAAAAIAAJ& pg=PR5& pg=PA27).
[4] Tudge, Colin (1998). Neanderthals, Bandits and Farmers: How Agriculture Really Began. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
ISBN 0-297-84258-7.
[5] Bellwood, Peter. (2004). First Farmers: The Origins of Agricultural Societies, Blackwell Publishers. ISBN 0-631-20566-7
[6] Cohen, Mark Nathan (1977) The Food Crisis in Prehistory: Overpopulation and the Origins of Agriculture, New Haven and London: Yale
University Press. ISBN 0-300-02016-3.
[7] Not all societies abandoned nomadism, especially those in isolated regions that were poor in domesticable plant species. See Jared Diamond,
Guns, Germs and Steel.
History of the world 12

[8] Schmandt-Besserat, Denise (Jan-Feb 2002). "Signs of Life" (https:/ / webspace. utexas. edu/ dsbay/ Docs/ SignsofLife. pdf). Archaeology
Odyssey: 6–7, 63. .
[9] McNeill, Willam H. (1999) [1967]. "In The Beginning". A World History (4th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. p. 15.
ISBN 0-19-511615-1.
[10] Baines, John and Jaromir Malek (2000). The Cultural Atlas of Ancient Egypt (revised ed.). Facts on File. ISBN 0816040362.
[11] Bard, KA (1999). Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt. NY, NY: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-18589-0.
[12] Grimal, Nicolas (1992). A History of Ancient Egypt. Blackwell Books. ISBN 0631193960.
[13] Allchin, Raymond (ed.) (1995). The Archaeology of Early Historic South Asia: The Emergence of Cities and States. New York: Cambridge
University Press.
[14] Chakrabarti, D. K. (2004). Indus Civilization Sites in India: New Discoveries. Mumbai: Marg Publications. ISBN 81-85026-63-7.
[15] Dani, Ahmad Hassan; Mohen, J-P. (eds.) (1996). History of Humanity, Volume III, From the Third Millennium to the Seventh Century BC.
New York/Paris: Routledge/UNESCO. ISBN 0415093066.
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burckhardt. html), trans S.G.C Middlemore, republished in 1990 ISBN 0-14-044534-X
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History of the world 17

References
• Williams, H. S. (1904). The historians' history of the world; a comprehensive narrative of the rise and
development of nations as recorded by over two thousand of the great writers of all ages. New York: The Outlook
Company; [etc.].
• Blainey, Geoffery (2000). A Short History Of The World. Penguin Books, Victoria. ISBN 0-670-88036-1
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• H.G. Wells (1920), The Outline of History Volume One (http://books.google.com/
books?id=-64EAAAAYAAJ), New York, MacMillan.
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• The Biosphere (A Scientific American Book), San Francisco, W.H. Freeman and Co., 1970, ISBN 0-7167-0945-7.
This seminal book, originally a 1970 Scientific American magazine issue, covered virtually every major concern
and concept that has since been debated regarding materials and energy resources, population trends and
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• Energy and Power (A Scientific American Book), San Francisco, W.H. Freeman and Co., 1971, ISBN
0-7167-0938-4.
• Jared Diamond (1996). Guns, Germs, and Steel: the Fates of Human Societies.. New York: W. W. Norton.
ISBN 0-393-03891-2.
• Fernand Braudel (1996). The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II. Berkeley,
Calif.: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-20308-9.
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• Francis Fukuyama, The End of History and the Last Man, Free Press, 1992, ISBN 0-02-910975-2.
• Marshall Hodgson, Rethinking World History: Essays on Europe, Islam, and World History, Cambridge, 1993.
• Kenneth Pomeranz, The Great Divergence: China, Europe and the Making of the Modern World Economy,
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• Clive Ponting, World History: a New Perspective, London, 2000.
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• Guy Ankerl, Coexisting Contemporary Civilizations: Arabo-Muslim, Bharati, Chinese, and Western, Geneva,
INUPRESS, 2000, ISBN 2-88155-004-5.

Further reading
• David Landes, "The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why Some Are So Rich and Some So Poor", New York, W.
W. Norton & Company (1999) ISBN 978-0-393-31888-3
• David Landes, "Why Europe and the West? Why Not China?", Journal of Economic Perspectives, 20:2, 3, 2006.
• [[Ricardo Duchesne (http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1540-5923.2006.00168.
x?cookieSet=1)], "Asia First?", The Journal of the Historical Society, Vol. 6, Issue 1 (March 2006), pp. 69–91]
(PDF)
• William H. McNeill, The Rise of the West: A History of the Human Community, Chicago, University of Chicago
Press, 1963.
• Larry Gonick, The Cartoon History of the Universe, Volume One, Main Street Books, 1997, ISBN
978-0-385-26520-1, Volume Two, Main Street Books, 1994, ISBN 978-0-385-42093-8, Volume Three, W. W.
Norton & Company, 2002, ISBN 978-0-393-32403-7.
Article Sources and Contributors 18

Article Sources and Contributors

History of the world  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=401026094  Contributors: 10metreh, 119, 2help, 777player, A Softer Answer, AKMask, Aacc78, Abab99, Abductive,
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Andylkl, Andys627, Anna Lincoln, Antandrus, Anticipation of a New Lover's Arrival, The, Aristotle1990, Arkuat, Art LaPella, Asbestos, Atb129, Atoric, AubreyEllenShomo, Aunt Entropy,
Auntof6, Avala, Avsa, Azitnay, Badgernet, Balthazarduju, Barek, Bart133, Barticus88, Bcrowell, Behun, Beland, Belligero, Ben Ben, Betacommand, Bevo, Billy Stidham, Birdzeye, Blaxthos,
Blututh, BlytheG, Bmgoau, Bob rulz, Bobblehead, Bobblewik, Bobo192, Bornintheguz, Bradtcordeiro, Brendanconway, Brian the Editor, Brockert, Brunnock, Brutannica, Bryan Derksen,
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J.delanoy, J04n, JDoorjam, JForget, JHunterJ, Jacob Lundberg, Jagged 85, James0321, Jannex, Jao, Jaredwf, Jay-Sebastos, Jedravent, Jeepday, Jeeves, Jericho4.0, Jerome Charles Potts, Jerry
mcmanus, Jesperh85, Jespinos, Jguk 2, Jie, Jmcc150, Johan Magnus, John D. Croft, Johnwrobertsjr, Jojit fb, Jojobobbob, Jonathunder, Jooler, Jordain, Jossi, Jtneill, KF, KPH2293, Karolkalna,
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Laurinavicius, Leevanjackson, LegolasGreenleaf, Leithp, Lexor, Ligulem, Logologist, Lotje, Lowellian, Lucius Sempronius Turpio, M3luv4, MC MasterChef, MJ94, Mac Davis, Macduffman,
Mackan, Majorly, Mana Excalibur, Marcika, MarcusMaximus, Marek69, Mark Foskey, Markaci, Marknesbitt, Masterpiece2000, Matthew Fennell, Maurreen, Mayooranathan, McCart42,
Mdd4696, Meeso, Mentifisto, Mercury101, Meredyth, Michalws, Mihirgk, Mike s, Mikeizthegreatest, Mkill, Moonriddengirl, Moshe Constantine Hassan Al-Silverburg, Mpondopondo, MrOllie,
Mussav, Mxn, Mygerardromance, NSLE, Nakon, Natalie Erin, Natsymir, NatusRoma, NawfalQ, NawlinWiki, Nectarflowed, Neelmack, Nehrams2020, Nengscoz416, NewEnglandYankee,
NewsPAPER, Nihil novi, Nixeagle, Noisy, Noneedforsalvation, Nubiatech, Nyh, OStewart, Oberiko, Ojigiri, OlEnglish, Oliverseeley, OrinR, Orkh, Ornil, Oxag, PBP, PK2117, Palaeovia,
Paleorthid, ParisianBlade, Parkwells, PatrickA, Paul-L, Percy Snoodle, Pethr, Phil Boswell, Philip Trueman, Phoenix7777, Piano non troppo, Pinethicket, Piotrus, Pjamescowie, Pju0353,
Plasticup, PolarYukon, Portillo, Prashanthns, Prestonmag, Prolog, Pseudomonas, Psmith, Pulse Project org, Quadell, QuantumEleven, Qwyrxian, Qxz, R'n'B, RCSB, RJHall, RafaelG,
RainbowOfLight, Ran, Ranveig, Raven4x4x, Reade, Reconsider the static, RedWolf, Reddi, RevRagnarok, Revolución, Rewhitley, Rex Germanus, RexNL, Rhtcmu, Rich Farmbrough, Rich257,
Rick Norwood, Ricmar, RobDe68, Robdurbar, Roentgenium111, Ronhjones, Roy da Vinci, Rune.welsh, Rw2, Ryulong, S23678, SD6-Agent, SOA, Sab128, Sadalmelik, Saddhiyama, Sadharan,
Salleman, Salliesatt, Sam Hocevar, Sander Säde, Sandersen121, Sandstein, Scapler, Scfischer, Schzmo, Scienceislife, Sdornan, Serendipodous, Seyon, Sgeureka, ShaneCavanaugh, Shanes,
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Shinji, THEDUDE3069, Ta bu shi da yu, Talonird, Tartaros, Tavis, Taxman, Tedcoombs, Teflon Don, TestPilot, Thanatosimii, Thaurisil, The Rambling Man, The Thing That Should Not Be, The
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