Earth History

Human life on Earth is just a blip in Earth’s history, so much has happened before humans ever existed.  Here’s a list of extraordinary global events which you missed..

• 13.8 billion years ago : The big bang!
• 13.5 billion years ago : Our Milky Way galaxy is formed
• 4.6 billion years ago : Sun and Earth form from lumps of dust
• 4.5 billion years ago : Earth/Moon impact
• 4.1 billion years ago : Earth has a crust and water appears
• 3.9 billion years ago : Majority of the meteorite activity ends
• 3.4 billion years ago : DNA appears, and simple cells emerge read more
  From fossilized stromatolites, chemical signatures in ancient rocks, and microbial fossils we can see that the earliest life forms were simple microbes.
• 2.5 billion years ago : Moon is 30% closer than today read more
  From banded iron formations, oxidized minerals, and the appearance of red beds in the geological record we can see that this event was caused by cyanobacteria producing oxygen through photosynthesis, leading to a massive increase in atmospheric oxygen. This fundamentally changed Earth’s atmosphere and led to the formation of iron oxide (rust) deposits in ancient ocean beds.
• 2.5 billion years ago : Oxygen appears on Earth
• 900 million years ago : There was 20 hrs in a day
• 560 million years ago : Multicellular cells first appeared
• 540 million years ago : Fish and animals have appeared read more
  Known as the Cambrian Explosion, where fossils from the Burgess Shale and other deposits, trace fossils, and evolutionary genetic studies, shows us that most complex life appeared during this period from 540 to 490 millions years ago.
• 444 million years ago : Mass Extinction (1) 86% of species lost
• 443 million years ago : Temperatures have dropped
• 419 million years ago : Insects appeared
• 380 million years ago : CO2 rising
• 375 million years ago : Mass Extinction (2) 75% of species lost
• 370 million years ago : CO2 dropping significantly
• 360 million years ago : Wooden trees first appeared decomposes in to coal
• 320 million years ago : CO2 at lowest levels, temperatures dropped
• 315 million years ago : Reptiles appeared
• 300 million years ago : Wood eating organisms first appeared, stopping coal production
• 280 million years ago : Diatom plankton appears
• 260 million years ago : Temperatures rise
• 252 million years ago : Mass Extinction (3) 96% of species lost read more
  Known as the Permian-Triassic Extinction or the “The Great Dying”. Fossil records showing a massive loss of species, shifts in carbon isotopes, and volcanic deposits. ie.Most life went extinct due to massive volcanic activity.
• 230 million years ago : Dinosaurs appeared
• 200 million years ago : Mass Extinction (4) 80% of species lost
• 190 million years ago : Ice age started
• 178 million years ago : mammal like animals first appeared
• 170 million years ago : 23 hrs were in day
• 153 million years ago : Trees appeared
• 150 million years ago : Birds appeared
• 80 million years ago : Ants appeared
• 10-100 million years ago : Moon/Planet collision creates Saturn’s rings
• 66 million years ago : Mass Extinction (5) 76% of species lost, including Dinosaurs

Pre-History

• 2.5 million years ago : Stone age. Homo habilis age
• 1.5 million years ago : Homo erectus, living as hunter/gathers
• 780,000 years ago : Earth magnetic poles flipped
• 300,000 years ago : Steinheim skull, Fire in use
• 140,000 years ago : Ice age ending
• 74,000 BC : Toba Volcanic eruption
• 70,000 BC : Ice age starting
• 70,000 BC : World migration from Africa
• 70,000 BC : World population around 15,000
• 50,000 BC : Normal human behaviour (cognition: language, music)
• 42,000 BC : Use of clothing
• 28,000 BC : Harpoons, needles, and saws in use
• 17,000 BC : CO2 rising above 200ppm
• 15,000 BC : Ice age ending
• 10,000 BC : Living as hunters/gathers ends, farming starts
• 10,000 BC : 1 to 4 Million people on the planet
• 9000 BC : Farming began
• 8000 BC : Earliest Oil lamps
• 7000 BC : Languages are forming & people grouping in to cities
• 6000 BC : Graphical boundaries forming
• 5000 BC : Objects as money in use
• 4000 BC : 7 Million on the planet

Ancient History:

• 3700 BC : Written records start
• 3300 BC : Bronze Age begins
• 3000 BC : Invention of Maths
• 3000 BC : Stonehenge built
• 2584 BC : Great Egyptian Pyramids construction started (took 20yrs)
• 2000 BC : 27 Million people on the planet
• 1600 BC : Phonetic alphabet formed
• 1200 BC : Ion Age begins
• 700 BC : Money system starts
• 0 : 170 Million people on the planet
• 4 BC : Jesus born
• 775 AD : Unexplained gamma burst hits Earth
• 1300 AD : 310 Million people on the planet
• 1370 AD : Bible translated to English

Modern History:

• 1600 AD : Scientific & Maths Revolution
• 1712 AD : Steam engines being made
• 1750 AD : Industrialisation
• 1759 AD : Electricity is discovered
• 1800 AD : Electricity in general use
• 1804 AD : 1 Billion people on the planet
• 1840 AD : Electric motors in use
• 1859 AD : Geomagnetic storm (Carrington Event)
• 1877 AD : Telephones in use
• 1895 AD : First radio transmissions
• 1900 AD : Light bulbs in general use
• 1901 AD : Working radio built
• 1910 AD : Petrol cars in use
• 1914 – 1918 : World War 1
• 1926 AD : Working TV built
• 1927 AD : 2 Billion people on the planet
• 1929 AD : TV station appeared
• 1939 – 1945 : World War 2
• 1960 AD : 3 Billion people on the planet
• 1969 AD : First people on the Moon
• 1974 AD : 4 Billion people on the planet
• 1983 AD : Internet domain name system created
• 1987 AD : 5 Billion people on the planet
• 1993 AD : Internet goes commercial
• 1999 AD : 6 Billion people on the planet
• 2011 AD : 7 Billion people on the planet
• 2021 AD : Perseverance Rover lands on Mars

YouTube: History of the Earth..

• 4 Billion Years Ago
• 3 Billion Years Ago

See the future:

• see Earth Future article.