You are in World

Where am I?

This Life Squared guide provides a short and colourful outline of our place within the history of the universe, our planet and our species.

In our busy lives, it’s often easy to forget how much people’s lives have changed over the years, and that our own lives (and recent human history) are just a tiny episode in the history of our planet and the universe.

Understanding our place in history can be useful in a number of ways – for example, it can give us perspective on our lives and make us feel calmer or it can remind us that we only have one short life that we should make the most of. It can inspire a desire to learn more about the world around us or even remind us how we should treat other people and the environment. Download this guide and see what thoughts and ideas occur to you!

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Where am I?

Introduction
In our busy lives, it’s often easy to forget how much people’s lives have changed over the years, and that our own lives (and recent human history) are just a tiny episode in the history of our planet and the universe.

Understanding our place in history can be useful in a number of ways – for example, it can give us perspective on our lives and make us feel calmer or it can remind us that we only have one short life that we should make the most of. It can inspire a desire to learn more about the world around us or even remind us how we should treat other people and the environment. Look at the poster on the reverse of this page and see what thoughts and ideas occur to you!

You are here - a chart to show your place in history

13.7 billion years ago The Big Bang

4.5 billion years ago Creation of our solar system
3.7 billion years ago First microscopic life on earth

400 million years ago        Animals emerge on to land
240 million years ago        Dinosaurs appear
150 million years ago        Mammals evolve
65 million years ago        Dinosaurs disappear
7 million years ago        Apes descend from trees
2.5 million years ago        Prehistoric humans emerge

130,000 years ago        Modern humans evolve in Africa
78,000 years ago        Clothing worn and earliest beads used for decoration
35,000 years ago        First cave paintings
24,000 years ago        Neanderthals die out
22,000 years ago        Ice age at its peak
9,500 years ago            Agriculture begins
7,000 years ago            Earliest known writing (Balkan-Danube Script)
5,030 years ago            Henge is started at Stonehenge
4,580 years ago            Great Pyramid of Giza completed
3,250-3,200 years ago        The oldest books of the old testament written
3,200 years ago            Iron Age begins
2,785 years ago            First Olympic Games in Greece
2,600 years ago            First coin is used – probably minted in present-day Turkey
2,300 years ago            Foundation of the Roman Empire
2,016 years ago            Jesus is born
1,384 years ago            Mohammed begins to dictate the Koran

517 years ago            Christopher Columbus discovers southeastern North America
302 years ago            The Kingdom of Great Britain created
216 years ago            Last witch to be burned in Europe
205 years ago            World population passes 1 billion people
133 years ago            Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone
106 years ago            First ever powered flight by the Wright Brothers
70 years ago            World War II
64 years ago            First Atomic bombs used over Hiroshima and Nagasaki
40 years ago            First man on moon
18 years ago            World wide web created
10 years ago            World population passes 6 billion people

Please note - these are approximate dates only.