The Transition to Agriculture ca. 10,000 - 7000 B.C.

• Homo sapiens, having survived for more than 100,000 years as nomadic hunter-gatherers began domesticating plants and animals, and established permanent settlements.
  
  

First Civilizations ca. 5000 -- 2000 B.C.

• With reliable food sources secured, populated centers sprung up along river valleys in Mesopotamia, Egypt, India and China. The specialization of labor, writing and continuous warfare became fixtures of the new societies.
  
  

Empire 600 B.C.E. -- 500 A.D.

• The Persian Empire, the ancient world's largest, fell to Alexander the Great, but it came apart after his death in 323 B.C. A nascent Rome established dominion over the Mediterranean and much of Europe.
  
  

An Age of Discovery 1400 -- 1800

• The New World was discovered by European and colonized, resulting in a massive die-off of indigenous peoples. Americans drove out the British and established the beginnings of a democratic society.
  
  

The Modern World 1800 - Present

• The industrial and scientific revolutions dramatically raised living standards for a few nations, but millions continued to suffer from malnutrition and state-sponsored terror. More than 100 million were killed by war, genocides and man-made famine during the 20th century.
  
  

Reflections

• "History is little more than the register of the crimes, follies and misfortunes of mankind."--Edward Gibbon
  
  "History is little else than a long succession of useless cruelties."--Voltaire