TIMELINES: The Events That Shaped History

Human history began between eight and six million years ago in East Africa. At that time, according to DNA evidence, humans began their separate evolution from the great apes. The development of behavioural modernity - toolmaking, language, and a capacity for abstract and symbolic thought - took place gradually alongside the evolution of anatomical modernity. The origin of language remains poorly understood, but we learn from sites in Africa and the eastern Mediterranean that early modern humans between 190,000 and 75,000 years ago exploited a range of land and marine food resources, possessed sophisticated toolmaking skills, and engaged in symbolic behaviour such as wearing shell necklaces, using pigments and creating geometrical designs. We would recognise these people as being like ourselves. This ingenious book is in a wide landscape format and produces a series of three or four colourful strips which are Timelines showing human evolution, climate change, cultural development and as we progress through the years, politics and economy, science and technology, religion and philosophy, art and architecture. There is an A-Z of peoples, nations and cultures and a superb text touching on events that have changed history such as farming, metals and the first kingdoms, the age of empires, the rise of Islam, the first global empire, the age of European dominance and into the age of uncertainty. There are full page colour maps and an accessible layout in this revised and updated edition 2019 by Thames & Hudson Ltd. Colour.