World History
Scientists generally agree that the world is about 4.5 billion years old, but that humans did not come into existence until comparatively recent times. Fossil remains indicate that humanlike creatures lived in Africa about 4 million years ago. Later remains from Africa, Europe, and Asia indicate that there were several species and subspecies of prehistoric humans and that they evolved from a common ancestral tree.
Prehistoric humans spent most of their time in the difficult search for food. They hunted, fished, and collected wild grains, fruits, and roots. About 9000 B. C., people of southwestern Asia began to raise sheep and plant cereals. Able to stop traveling in search of food, they made settlements and improved their farming methods so that a small area could produce food for many people. Some members of the community were now able to specialize in other work, such as pottery making, weaving, and metalworking. Trade between communities led to the development of the barter unit of value, which was probably the first kind of money.
Written History. The beginnings of recorded history date back to about 5,000 years ago, when the Sumerians invented cuneiform writing and the Egyptians invented hieroglyphics. At first, written history consisted of no more than dynastic lists, but soon commentary was added. At first the years were not numbered, but eventually the lists were dated, a development made possible by the invention of the calendar. Dynastic lists are not true history because they are not historical narratives.
During the second millennium B.C. many of the ancient Egyptian, Hittite, and Assyrian monarchs commissioned narrative histories of their reigns to be carved on monuments. The Old Testament, written by Hebrews during the first millennium B.C., was the first national history—that is, the history of an entire nation.
The ancient Greeks during the fifth century B.C. were the first to move from narration to analysis by examining causes of events, connections between them, and circumstances under which they occurred.
