History of the World in Two Hours
earth go extinct
 Within a fraction of a second, the Big
Bang creates all the energy that will ever
exist.
o First atom – Hydrogen
o Gravity - the great sculptor of the
early universe
o When the temperature reaches
18 million degrees Fahrenheit,
Hydrogen-atoms slammed
together creating a new element
- Helium - and radiating burst of
energy. Stars – element factories;
fused Hydrogen into Helium,
Helium into Lithium, forging 25 of
the common elements; includes
Carbon, Oxygen, Nitrogen and
Iron.
o Supernovas - biggest blasts in the
universe since the Big Bang; stars
create uranium, gold, copper, etc.
o Moon - keeps earth steady; its
gravitational pull prevents the
planet from wobbling, saving us
from wild climate swings, and the
collision that formed the moon
leaves earth tilted on its axis,
giving the planet a key ingredient
to life: seasons; moon's gravity
also begins to slow earth's
rotation which will eventually
lengthen our days from 6 hours
to 24.
 Cambrian explosion - Biology's version of
the Big Bang
o By 500 million years ago, the
first bony fish have evolved in the
seas.
o Amphibians learned to walk on
land. Reptiles evolved a new
form of egg.
o Permian Extinction - atmosphere
is chocked with carbon dioxide;
More than 70% of all species on
 Permian - Triassic extinction - Every
creature on land weighing over 50
pounds goes extinct; gave rise to
mammals
o mammals have evolved forward
facing-eyes allowing for accurate
depth-perception and flexible
hands with five digits
o Nummulites - small shell
creatures submerged beneath
Egypt’s ancient seas; formed into
limestone
o Colorado River - carves out the
Grand Canyon
o Himalayas have risen
o Isthmus of Panama - connects
the north and south America
 Silicon - second most abundant element
in earth's crust; has the ability to bond
with oxygen to form crystals that
combined into solid rocks
o Launches the first technological
revolution - The Stone Age
o The larynx or voice box descends
– speaking begins
o Afro – Eurasia – largest landmass
on Earth
o Extinction Insurance – humans
are better insulated from the
kinds of things that caused big
mammals to become extinct
 Ice Age begins.
o Symbolic thought - last skill we
will need to be truly human
o Chimpanzee – closest ancestors
 The map as we know it, emerges.
o Africa - increased rainfall causes
lake Victoria and lake Albert to
overflow and form Egypt's Nile
River
 o Eurasia - the Tigris and Euphrates
in Mesopotamia (modern day
Iraq), the Indus in modern day
Pakistan, and China's Yellow and
Yangtze.
o Species of Grass – sugarcane,
weeds, rye, and barley
o Uruk City – has a population
density that rivals modern day
New York (50,000 people per
square mile)
o The donkey caravan - the
interstate highway and high-
speed internet of its day
o Bitumen – used as asphalt in the
modern world; first petroleum
product to be exploited by men
o Naphtha - lighter thinner
substance that oozes in the
ground; modern day ‘gasoline’
o Sumerian counting system -
based on the number 12; why we
divide our days into two twelve
hour blocks, our hour into sixty
minutes, and our minutes into
sixty seconds
o Sumerians - invented the wheel
 Iron Age arises.
o Judaism emerges from which we
eventually get Christianity and
Islam. Buddhism and Hinduism
also arise. The five major
religions today are all rooted in
this remarkable era.
o Silk road - a massive trade
network that connects China
across central Asia to the Roman
empire
o Islam - a religion that unifies a
territory two and a half times
larger than Rome ever was
o Camel caravan - opens up a
reliable trade route across the
formidable Sahara desert,
leading to the formation of the
first stage in West Africa
o Leonardo Fibonacci – Arabic
Numerals; becomes well-
schooled in the ways of the Arab
traders
o Gunpowder – Originates in China;
combination of carbon and
Sulphur with saltpeter
(compound made of potassium,
nitrogen and oxygen)
 1492 A.D.
o In America – civilizations of Aztec,
Mayans, and Incans have risen
o Christopher Columbus – uses
triangular sails (a technology
copied from the Arabs) and
compass (an invention from
China)
o European Conquistadors -
inheritors of the agricultural and
animals of the fertile Crescent -
and the trade spread over the
vast networks of the old world
 1700s.
o Coal – decay of remains of
ancient ferns
o Thomas Newcomen - first
practical steam engine
 Industrial Revolution Begins.
o By the 1870s, the internal
combustion engine has arrived.
o Germans invented Chevrolet -
the automobile