Let’s talk about the history of the earth, but before we get all serious, let me answer you’re What, Why, whom, and How.

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What is this about?

This is kind of your story, which I am writing since you were a sponge, and how you evolved into a Cyborg we call Human today.

Why am I writing this?

Because I need to vomit out whatever I learned in past so many days, and you can get the download of it in just 15mins. (Just save your time!)

Whom this is for?

Whatever you have read till now and all these historical events, stories of evolution, the Birth of Jesus, World Wars, etc confuse one’s mind, and we are not able to structure all these events in a way, which can last in our memory forever. So basically, to get all these at my fingertips, I wrote this article for myself and for the people out there, who got all confused when somebody talks in   AD/BC.

How we are going to read this?

First of all, to understand History, do remember, as per the Gregorian calendar our History can be divided into two time frames:

BC Before Christ, that is the era before the birth of Jesus

AD Anno Domini, that is in the year of Lord

Jesus is said to be born in 1 AD. Hence you can take this as a base year to get a more clear idea about how Old an event we are talking about is.

So, folks, come and hop on this Time machine, let me take you on an adventure, you will never regret experiencing. “From dinosaurs on earth to Elon Musk on Mars”

The history of the world is very imperfectly known. So, let’s start from the start.

• Around 13.7Billion years ago: Big Bang happened and about 1.7 billion years later, the universe formed its first Galaxy.
• Around 4.6 Billion years ago: We are skipping just 9 Billion years, as nothing much happened except for, Universe continued on expanding, Galaxies formed, etc, and then finally our  own Galaxy “The Milky Way”  Formed and so is our Solar System, with a birth of a star, which  we named ‘Sun’
• Around 4.5 Billion years ago: Following the birth of the Sun, Earth formed, gradually cooling down into a heavy turmoil of rock and water. It was all literally like “when the floor is Lava”
• Around 3.5 Billion years ago: The first proof of life was found in a form of fossilized bacteria.
• Around 1 Billion years ago (100 Crore years): Finally sponges and Jellyfish drifted into the sea to be joined later by Lobsters and Shrimps.
• Around 50 Crores years ago: The proof of the first fishes was found in the form of fossils and 10 Crores years later first plant grew.
• Around 30 Crores years ago: It mark the start of the Mesozoic Period.  Amphibians and Reptiles occurred and 5 Crore years later.  Earth’s land surface merged into a single continent known as Pangaea and thereafter it split into two huge land masses.
• Around 22 Crore years ago: Here comes the era of Dinosaurs, these huge creatures ruled the earth for 15 Crore years and suddenly these great creatures were wiped out from the surface of the earth for reasons unknown.
• Around 4.5 Crore years ago: With the end of Dinosaurs, another great specie started to take its raw form. Monkeys started to evolve from Lemur Like animals and finally, a great female ape gave birth to two apes. Let’s name them Lucy and Paula. Lucy’s descendants developed into monkeys and Paula’s descendants developed into something Human-Like.
• Around 60 Lakhs Year ago: Humans in Making
  A lot happened in these 5 Crores years, which we just skipped in a snap of fingers. Major changes were in the climate of the earth, the evolution of new creatures, and the shifting of land masses.
  Our world is cold, and let me tell you that we are in the Ice age now. Various species of Ape started to walk on two feet, and various apes in Africa are now sufficiently human-like, to be classified as ‘Hominids’. Some hominids fossils named ‘Ardi’ and ‘Lucy’ were found in Ethiopia.
• Around 35 Lakhs years ago: Stone Age: (300,000 BC to 3000 BC)
  The stone age can be divided into the Paleolithic age and the Neolithic age.
  1. Paleolithic age (300,000 BC to 10,000) BC
     The Stone Age was an ancient time when people made tools from stone. The period started roughly 35 Lakhs years ago and lasted by 3000 BC with the advent of the Bronze age. Humans started speaking some 10 lakhs years ago, 2 lakhs years later they started building stone tools, and then 5 lakhs years later they started living in caves and eventually developed into Neanderthal Man.
     Fossils of Mud pot were found using burnt clay which shows that Human was developed enough to use their brain to create Mud utensils for cooking. They also learned to make bows and arrows.
  2. Neo Lithic age (10,000 BC to 2000 BC)
     The ice age got over now and humans started settling permanently with the advent of agriculture and Animal domesticating. Sheep was the first domestic animal. Jericho (In Asia) was the name of the first settled town with 10 acres of land. Sundried bricks were used in building the walls of Jericho. Metal tools were widely used and new towns begin to take form in Cyprus with Windows and doors. Weaving tools were developed, and Ox was used for plowing.
• Around 4000 BC: Development gathered a new speed and Mesopotamia civilization took birth in the Middle East (Present-day Iraq). The Sumerians, Akkadian, Assyrians, and Babylonians were some major empires that ruled Mesopotamia.
• Around 3000 BC: Upper and Lower Egypt unified into a single kingdom inaugurating the first Egyptian dynasty. Writing skills developed during this era, and tablets were inscribed by Sumerians and Egyptians. Some development that the civilization saw was the invention of Paper, Wheels, sailboat, astronomy and Astrology, the usage of gold currency, and the invention of maps.
• Around 2500 BC: the Chinese learned to manufacture silk. The first pyramid was built. And a new civilization was developed in the Indus valley (Pakistan). Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro were their two major cities. The world-famous monument in England- Stone hinge was also built in this era.
• Around 2000 BC: Rice started to be grown in the Indus valley civilization
• Around 1800 BC: Babylonians did several major inventions during this era
  1. They introduced the concept of banking
  2. Babylonian code of law – Commonly known as the Code of Hammurabi was enacted by Kind Hammurabi. It is one of the oldest deciphered writings of significant length in the world and it gives a detailed picture of Babylonian society and Laws.
• Around 1500 BC (Advent of Aryans): It is believed that Indo European tribe known as Aryans entered India from the Northwest in 1500 BC and destroyed the already existing Harappan Culture in India
  It’s a theory that generally is accepted and was invented by Friedrich Max Muller ( German born, lived in England)  and implemented by Europeans. Although Indian Literature and scholars do not support the theory as there is no proof of any Aryan invasion, and second, the Rigvedic people were already established in India no later than 4000 BCE. The word Aryan in Sanskrit means- “An Arya is one who hails from a noble family, of gentle behavior, good-natured and of righteous conduct.” and as per the Great epic Ramayana, Lord Ram was praised with the word Arya.
  In Rigveda also, there is the use of the word Arya 36 times, but not once, it is used to mean a race. It is always used as praise for people with the right code of conduct.
• Around 1400 BC:  Moses- A Hebrew professor led the great exodus from Egypt to Israel, to free Israeli from the slavery of Egyptians.
• Around 1000 BC: It marked the beginning of the Iron age. Humans learned to make more tools from Iron
• Around 700 BC: The Pythagorean theorem was discovered during this era.
• Around 750 BC: Rome was founded by King Romulus and Upanishads – Sacred texts of Hinduism were written around this time.
• Around 600 BC: Its was the most important period, as the greatest Men lived during this era. Lord Mahavira and Lord Gautam Buddha in the Indian subcontinent and Lao Tse in China. All these great men, were unaware of each other’s presence, though almost existed in the same era
• Around 400 BC: Art and literature prevailed during this period, and great thinkers and philosophers like Socrates and Aristotle did some outstanding work.
• Around 300 BC: During the era, Socrates was sentenced to death. The Kingdom of Magadha flourished in India. Aristotle met Plato in 367 BC. Alexander reigned powerfully and founded Alexandria.
• Around 270 BC: Ashoka won the Mauryan empire and established India’s greatest empire.
• Around 250 BC: Archimedes discovered Buoyancy.
• Around 100 BC: the Silk road was built. Julian Caesar was born in Roman Family
• Around 70 BC: Cleopatra became the last ruling pharaoh of Egypt. King sulla died and Julian Caesar returned to Rome.
• Around 50 BC: The great Sanchi stupa was built by king Ashoka
• Around 30 BC King Octavian ruled Egypt and the whole of Egypt came under Rome.
• Around 4BC: Jesus is said to be born in the year between 4 BC TO 1 AD.

As we are done with BCs let’s move on to ads.

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A Great many changes took place in the last 2000 years. The entire world took a different shape, with development at a speed never seen before.

• Around 25AD: the Han dynasty was founded in China by emperor Hou Han. During this era which lasted till 220 AD, Buddhism was introduced in China.
• Around 30AD: Jesus Christ was crucified and was put to death by Romans in Jerusalem.
• Around 64AD: A catastrophic fire in Rome nearly destroyed the whole city. The great empire burns in flames. The fire is said to have been set by Nero. Legend has it that ‘Rome burned while Nero fiddled’.
• Around 70AD: Jerusalem was destroyed by Rome, as the roman army was sent to Jerusalem to burn it, and thousands of Jews were killed and sold as slaves.
• Around 78AD: The Great Kushan dynasty was established by Kanishka. The Empire extended from Benares and Kabul to the Vindhayas. its capital city was Peshawar.
• Around 79 AD: There was a volcanic eruption on Mount Vesuvius and it nearly destroyed the roman city of Pompeii and the Herculaneum.
• Around 180 AD: The roman empire which was famous for chaos, found peace after 96 AD and maintained it till 180 AD, as some of the great kings ruled the empire one after other. Five Good emperors who turned a city of chaos into a peaceful empire were
  • 96-98 A.D. Marcus Nerva
  • 98-117 A.D. Marcus Traianus
  • 117-138 A.D. Publiius Hadrianus (Hadrian)
  • 138-161 A.D. Antoninus Pius
  • 161-180 A.D. Marcus Aurelius
    They were known for the architectural development of Rome, they helped in building roads and other large civil projects in Rome

• Around 218 AD: Halley’s comet appeared in May.
• Around 220 AD: The Han Dynasty comes to an end with the establishment of the Three Kingdoms in ancient China. The Three Kingdoms period was a period in history when China was divided between the states of Wei, Shu, and Wu. It started with the dissolution of the Han dynasty and was followed by the Jin dynasty
• Around 284 AD: the Roman empire was permanently divided, the western empire ruled from Rome, and the eastern empire ruled from Constantinople. Constantinople became the first roman emperor who converted to Christianity
• Around 320 AD: Kushan in India was replaced by Guptas. The Gupta Empire was founded in 320 by Chandragupta I. Under his successor, Samudragupta, the Gupta Empire was extended to include all of Northern India. India entered into its Golden era during his regime.
• Around 337 AD: Constantine the Great is baptized on his death bed.
• Around 385 AD: Roman Empire permanently split into east and west with the death of Theodosius, who made Christianity the Roman empire’s official religion
• Around 408 AD: the Roman legions are withdrawn from Britain and they never returned back.
• Around 445 AD: In northern China, Buddhist monasteries became economically powerful. Buddhists were creating enemies, and Taoists inspired a movement against Buddhism. The Xiongnu ruler issued an edict against the Buddhists and ordered them to kill them. All Buddhist images and books were destroyed.
• Around 550 AD: The era marked the beginnings of the European silk industry after Justinian missionaries smuggle silkworms out of China
• Around 622 AD: Prophet Mohammed flees from Mecca to Medina. Pilgrims from Yathrib visiting Mecca are favorably impressed by Muhammad and invite him to return with them to their town. The town has no unifying governmental authority. Muhammad was fifty-two then and became recognized in Yathrib as a religious leader and someone to go to for settling disputes.
• Around 632 AD:  Muhammad the Prophet died.
• Around 737AD:  A epidemic called Smallpox spread in Japan killing as much as one-third of the population.
• Around 750AD:  Arabian mathematicians began to use numbers that originated in India, those numbers were advanced forms of Roman numerals and were later transferred to Europeans.
• Around 791 AD:  Buddhism becomes Tibet’s official religion
• Around 800 AD: The use of zero, essential in practical mathematics, was invented by Aryabhata in India and was adopted by Baghdad
• Around 810 AD: The Ismailis become a separate Shi’a sect over the dispute on succession after the death of the sixth imam
• Around 950 AD: Women in a Chinese harem invented playing cards
• Around 975 AD:  Europeans begin to use Indian Numerical (1, 2, 3), which were more convenient in arithmetic than Roman numerals.

1000 AD to 2000 AD

• Around 1010AD: Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain shrines were carved from the rock in the cave temples of Ellora, in India
• Around 1225 AD:  The manufacture of cotton cloth started in Spain.
• Around 1233 AD:  Coal was mined for the first time at a place in England called Newcastle.
• Around 1315 AD:  There was a drastic change in European climate and the rains were continuous, It was so drastic that, people started talking about the return of the Great flood described in Genesis.
• Around 1316 AD: India was being ruled by the Sultans clan, Qutub-ud-din was the first in the row, who made Delhi as the capital city of India. He was later succeeded by 9 more sultans till the Mughals took over them.
• Around 1351 AD: An outdoor game called tennis was created in England and its fever reached Russia in no time.
• Around 1492 AD: On August 3, 1492, Christopher Columbus an Italian explorer, and his crew set sail from Spain in three ships: the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria. Columbus was sailing in search of a westward route to Asia, to access the sources of spices but mistakenly he discovered   America. He called them Red Indians.
• Around 1500 AD: A great invention of the period was the invention of the Printing press by Johannes Gutenberg. The invention helped in the spread of knowledge like fire, as earlier books were accessible to the elite class only, due to their scarcity.
• Around 1600 AD: the British East India Company reached India with the purpose of Trade and later Britisher ruled India till 1947.
• 1643 AD: The world-famous monument The Taj Mahal was built in India by Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his loving wife Mumtaj Mahal.
• 1665 AD: Great Plague in London kills 75,000.
• 1666 AD: Newton made the greatest discovery of the century by discovering the Gravitational force.
• 1686 AD: Newton made another great discovery and formulates “Three laws of Motion”
• 1757 AD: Beginning of British Raj in India as Robert Clive, British commander, defeats Nawab of Bengal at Plassey.
• 1775 AD: James Watt invented the steam engine
• 1807  AD: A law was passed by the local Legislative Assembly, it was the first legislation to outlaw the slave trade in a part of the British Empire. The Parliament passed the Slave Trade Act of 1807, which outlawed the slave trade, but not slavery itself.
• 1879 AD: Thomas A. Edison invented practical electric light.
• 1903 AD:  Wright brothers invented their flying machine which is now called an Aeroplane.
• 1914 AD:- World war 1
  The first world war began on 28th July 1914 and ended on 11th Nov 1918. 16 Million people lost their lives in this world war, and almost 135 countries were involved in the same.
• 1916 AD:  The greatest theory of All Time ‘The Theory of Relativity was given by Einstein.
• 1929 AD:  In 1929, the world saw ‘Great Depression. It was the worldwide economic depression that started in the United States as the stock market crashed. Worldwide gross domestic product (GDP) fell by an estimated of 15%.
• 1933 AD: Adolf Hitler became the chancellor of Germany
• 1939 AD: World war 2: It started in 1939 and ended in 1945, killing around 50 Million people. It is the deadliest war, the world has ever seen with Massacres, Holocaust, and Nuclear bombing. World war II was fought between Axis power and Allies Power.
  Axis Power: Germany, Italy, Romania, Japan
  Allies Power: Great Britain, US, China, Soviet Union.
• 1945 AD: During the final stage of World War II, America dropped a Nuclear bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The two bombings killed at least 129,000 people.
• 1963 AD: The 35th president of the United States John F Kennedy was assassinated on Nov 22, 1963.
• 1969 AD: Humans landed on Moon for the first time. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon with their spacecraft Apollo 11. As quoted by Neil Armstrong;

“That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for Mankind”.

• 1991 AD: Tim burner Lee invented the World Wide Web, which change the world with the advent of Information Technology.
• 2000 AD:  As we all know it and are lucky enough to see the Information Technology Boom, which is still doing wonders with every passing day.

So that was World History in a Nutshell!

I hope, after reading this you are now in a better position to picture World history in chronological order and can structure the big events in a way that is hard to forget.

As this is my first article, there might be some bugs here and there. After doing my research I felt like our history is quite distorted, as less is written and seen and more is spoken and assumed.

I did my research, as I was curious to know it myself, and hence ended up writing this article. I hope I did justice to some level, but obviously, there are history experts, who might be reading this article, and one can always go deep and can bring more clarity.

Though I tried my best to keep this crisp and clear. But still, any kind of constructive Criticism is always welcome, as then I would be able to write my next article with the input from my readers as well. I guess that’s will make it more interesting, as you all will have a part of the credits.

So folks, enjoy your time on this time machine and keep floating with me in this Soupy Digest!

Stay tuned for the next one.

[Please Note: The information in the article is what I have read & understood from my research on the topic from various sources (Internet, books, and other sources). The facts may be a little here and there but I am here to learn so please post what you think in the comments below to ignite a discussion.]