Timeline of History

Years Before the Present

13.82 billion, The Big Bang

• Birth of the Universe
• Matter and energy appear; Beginning of physics.
• Atoms and molecules appear; Beginning of chemistry.

13.7 billion, First stars

• Metal-poor, Population III stars form

13.4 billion, GN-Z11

• Oldest known galaxy

12.9 billion, ULAS J1120+0641

• Oldest known quasar

12.7 billion, PSR B1620-28 B

• “Methuselah”, the oldest known planet.

7.8 billion, Dark Energy Era

• The Universe begins to accelerate its expansion

4.56 billion, Formation of the Solar System

• Jupiter’s ‘Grand Attack’ scrambles orbits of outer planets, ejects proto-super-Earths from inner Solar System, paving way for the Earth’s formation.
• Possible extrasolar world, Planet 9, captured from neighbouring star?

4.55 billion, Big Splat

• Earth-Moon system forms from the collision with proto-planet Theia.

3.88 billion, Origin of Life

• Simple chemical aggregates, with primitive replicative and metabolic functions, evolve.
• Beginning of biology.

3.4 billion, Photosynthesis

• First autotrophs evolve.

2.7 billion, Eukaryotes Evolve

• Complex cellular organisms evolve from the symbiosis of Archaea and Eubacteria.

2.3 billion, Great Oxygenation Event

• Earth’s atmospheric oxygen content increases.

1.8 billion, Sudbury Basin

• Meteorite impact creates 250 km crater

1.4 billion, Blackhole Mergers

• Blackhole collisions occur which produce gravitational waves that are registered by the Laser Interferometry Gravitational-Wave Observatory, LIGO.

1 billion, Sexual Healing

• Sexual reproduction appears in eukaryotic organisms.

720 million, Cryogenian Period

• “Snowball Earth” glaciation begins, in which planet is almost completely frozen

600 million, Ediacaran Fauna

• First metazoans appear

542 million, Cambrian Explosion

• Modern animal phyla evolve

400 million, Land Plants

• Terrestrial flora well established

375 million, Tiktaalik

• First land tetrapods evolve

310 million, High Oxygen Levels

• Atmospheric oxygen spiked at 35%, leading to the evolution of huge invertebrates.

250 million, Permian-Triassic Extinction

• 90% of marine, 70% of terrestrial organisms disappear.

231 million, Dinosaurs Appear

• They dominate throughout the Mesozoic Era.

100 million, Flowering Plants

• They replace conifers to become dominant plant form by this time.

70 million, Tyrannosaurus Rex

• Nature’s most efficient hunting machine, the large carnivorous theropod.

66 million, K-T extinction Event

• Dinosaurs and many other Mesozoic animals become extinct; likely caused by meteor impacts.

50 million, Whales Evolve

• Begins with amphibious predators.

23 million, Antarctic Glaciation

• Opening of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current puts the continent on ice.

7 million, Earliest Hominin?

• Last common grandmother of humans and chimpanzees, Sahelanthropus tchadensis.

3.2 million, Lucy

• Australopithecus afarensis.

2.6 million

• Evolution of the genus Homo in Africa.
• First stone tools, Oldowan tools

2.3 million, Out of Africa 1?

• Humans spread from Africa to Eurasia.
• Evolution of different human species.

1.9 million, Homo erectus

• Modern human body plan evolves.
• Last major eruption of Mount Kilimanjaro

1 million, Use of Fire?

• Possible date of first human use of fire.

500,000

• Neanderthals evolve in Europe and the Middle East.

300,000

• Daily usage of fire.

200,000

• Homo sapiens evolves in East Africa.

74,000, Toba Eruption

• Humankind’s biggest volcanic eruption with a Volcanic Explosivity Index of 8; triggers global cooling.

70,000, Cognitive Revolution.

• Emergence of fictive language.
• Beginning of history.
• Sapiens spread out of Africa.

45,000, Sapiens settle Australia.

• Extinction of Australian megafauna.

32,000, Chauvet Cave Paintings

• Earliest known figurative cave paintings

30,000

• Extinction of Neanderthals.

16,000, Sapiens settle America.

• Extinction of American megafauna.

13,000, Extinction of Homo floresiensis.

• Homo sapiens is the only surviving human species.

12,000, Agricultural Revolution.

• Domestication of plants and animals.
• Permanent settlements.

5,200, Earliest Writing

• The cuneiform script of the Sumerian civilization.

5,000, First Kingdoms

• Emergence of money.
• Polytheistic religions.

4,600, Egyptian Pyramids

• The Great Pyramid is constructed by the Pharaoh Khufu

4,250, First Empire

• The Akkadian Empire of Sargon.

2,500

• Invention of coinage – a universal money.
• The Persian Empire – a universal political order ‘for the benefit of all humans’.
• Buddhism in India – a universal truth ‘to liberate all beings from suffering’.

1,800, Roman Empire at its height

• Roman Civilisation reaches its noontide under the “Five Good Emperors”

2,000

• Han Empire in China.
• Roman Empire in the Mediterranean.
• Christianity.

1,400

• Islam.

965, Crab Nebula

• Chinese observe progenitor supernova SN 1054

700, Mali Empire

• Mansa Musa helms the gold-producing Mali Empire, becoming the richest person who was, is, and ever will be.
• The world’s first university is built in Timbuktu.

583-611 Zheng He

• Ming admiral conducts seven exploratory voyages in the Indian Ocean, once docking in Malindi, Kenya.

500, Scientific Revolution

• Humankind admits its ignorance and begins to acquire unprecedented power.
• Europeans begin to conquer America and the oceans; The entire planet becomes a single historical arena.
• The rise of capitalism.

410, Galileo Galilei

• Uses telescope to make astronomical observations

200, Industrial Revolution

• Family and community are replaced by state and market.
• Massive extinction of plants and animals.

160, Theory of Evolution

• Charles Darwin introduces the concept of evolution through natural selection, creating an irreconcilable rift between science and religions.

80, Batman

• Fiction’s greatest character, The Batman, is created.

74, Trinity Test

• Detonation of the first atomic bomb.
• Nuclear weapons threaten the survival of, not only humans, but all higher life forms on Earth.

62, Sputnik

• Launch of the first artificial satellite.

59, Yuri Gagarin

• Human beings transcend the boundaries of planet Earth with Yuri as the first person in space.

50, Moon Landing

• Human beings walk on another world.

29, Hubble Space Telescope

Launched with the primary objectives to:

• investigate the constitution, physical characteristics, and dynamics of celestial bodies
• determine the nature of processes occurring in stellar and galactic objects
• study the history and evolution of the universe
• confirm universality of physical laws
• provide a long-term space research facility for optical astronomy

24, Internet

• Widespread use of the World Wide Web begins.

8, D-Wave One

• Considered the world’s first commercially-available quantum computer.

6, Higgs Boson

• Discovered by European Organization for Nuclear Research, CERN’s Large Hadron Collider.

The Present

• Humankind’s first-ever photograph of a black hole, M87*.
• Penda Kujua is founded with the goal of empowering its readers and maximizing human potential.
• One million species, roughly an eighth of all life forms are at the edge of extinction.
• Organisms are increasingly shaped by intelligent design rather than natural selection.

The Future

• Does intelligent design become the basic principle of life?
• Homo sapiens is replaced by superhumans?