{"id":2983,"date":"2019-11-09T16:28:22","date_gmt":"2019-11-09T20:28:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=2983"},"modified":"2022-03-09T16:57:31","modified_gmt":"2022-03-09T20:57:31","slug":"history-of-humankind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/history-of-humankind\/","title":{"rendered":"History of Humankind: From Animal to World Domination"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What are the basic events in the history of humankind? What revolutions characterized the cognitive and cultural evolution<\/a> of homo sapiens?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The history of humankind is punctuated by four major revolutions: The Cognitive Revolution<\/a>, the Agricultural Revolution<\/a>, the Industrial Revolution<\/a>, and the Scientific Revolution<\/a>. These revolutions changed the history of humankind in ways both positive and negative.
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We\u2019ll look at each revolution and how it dramatically redirected the course of human history, but to understand these upheavals, we need to go back to a time when Homo sapiens <\/em>was just one of multiple human species (and not a very distinguished species, at that).<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The History of Humankind<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Multiple Human Species<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The first thing to know about the history of humankind is that we weren’t the only humans. We think of our own species as the only humans, distinguished from and superior to every other species on earth. But when we, Homo sapiens<\/em>, arrived on the scene 2.5 million years ago, we weren\u2019t anything special.<\/strong> We existed in the middle of the food chain, as often prey as we were predators, and we weren\u2019t even the only humans.
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The Eight Human (Homo) Species<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Humans evolved in East Africa from a genus of apes. These early humans settled all over the world, and as the climates and conditions differed from place to place, they acquired different traits and became different species.
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We tend to think of the evolution of humans as a linear progression from Homo erectus<\/a> <\/em>to Neanderthals<\/a> to Homo sapiens<\/em>, but at least six human species were alive when our own lived on earth, and others may yet be discovered. The known human species included Homo soloensis, Homo floresiensis, Homo denisova, Homo rudolfensis, <\/em>and Homo ergaster. <\/em>The three that will play the biggest roles in the history of humankind are:
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1. <\/strong>Homo neanderthalensis<\/em><\/strong> (\u201cMan from the Neander Valley\u201d): Also known as Neanderthals, these humans lived in western Asia and Europe. They were more muscular than we were and they had bigger brains than we did (or do today). We\u2019ll see why the Neanderthal species died out, even though Neanderthals were superior to Sapiens in many ways.
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2. <\/strong>Home erectus<\/em><\/strong> (\u201cUpright Man\u201d): These humans lived in eastern Asia for almost 2 million years, making them likely to be the longest-living human species ever. (As we\u2019ll see, it\u2019s unlikely that Homo sapiens<\/em> will be around 2,000 years from now, let alone 2 million.)
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3. <\/strong>Homo sapiens<\/em><\/strong> (\u201cWise Man\u201d): Us. Our species of man also evolved in East Africa.
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History of Humankind: Shared Characteristics of Humans<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Of the eight known human species, only one survived. Before we discuss how Sapiens became the dominant humans, let\u2019s look at what all the human species had in common. This is an important feature in the history of humankind.
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Characteristic #1: Large Brains<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Mammals that are 130 lbs typically have a brain that\u2019s an average of 12 cubic inches. In contrast, the brains of early humans were 36 cubic inches. Today, our average brain size is 73-85 cubic inches, and the brains of Neanderthals were even bigger than ours.
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It seems like large brains would give us and our fellow humans an obvious advantage over other animals, but it wasn\u2019t necessarily an asset to early humans.
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The Disadvantages of a Big Brain<\/em><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Big brains take a lot of energy to fuel. Our brains make up 2-3% of our body weight, but use 25% of our energy.<\/strong> (The brains of our ape siblings only use 8% of their energy.)
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This drain of energy caused two main problems:
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