in video aboveMatt Baker, creator of UsefulCharts, suggests that the period spanning from the 5th century to the late 15th century should not be called the “Dark Ages.” To justify himself, he does not raise the now fairly common argument that the era in question was actually full of subtle innovations masked by modern prejudices. The real problem, he thinks, is that the slowing, if not the reversal, of human social progress that we have traditionally seen as occurring during the period commonly known as the Middle Ages occurred only in Europe. Moreover, there are multiple such eras in the world, consider the earlier “Greek Dark Age” associated with the collapse of Bronze Age civilization in 1177 BC.
All this and more at a glance with Baker’s World History Timeline. Its design is explained in the video. With UsefulCharts’ characteristic clarity (also demonstrated in the World Religions Genealogy and Alphabet Evolution previously featured on Open Culture), it lays out all the eras of history that are better known by name than by their relationship to actual events.
The top one begins at the end of prehistory and the beginning of history, about 5,300 years ago, when writing developed. At that point, multiple civilizations had already begun to establish themselves around the world, and their growth and decline is represented by the thickness of the lines running through the regular century divisions of the timeline.
As the Early Bronze Age gave way to the Bronze Age, the Bronze Age gave way to the Iron Age, and the Iron Age gave way to Classical Antiquity, the lineage of these civilizations thickened into imperial civilizations. Nothing is thicker than the ancient Roman one that occupies the visual center of the poster (which itself, by the way, Available for purchase from the UsefulCharts site) But the strength of this design lies less in highlighting the importance of particular empires than in revealing how much history was happening around the world at a particular point in time. If we use that vertical line to trace the rise and fall of the Olmecs, or the Aksumite empire, or the Mississippian culture, we can hardly suppress the Ozymandian sense of transience. Furthermore, we cannot ignore that we all live our lives within two horizontal time periods.
Related content:
Interactive timeline covering 14 billion years of history: from the Big Bang to 2015
History of civilization in 13 minutes: 5000 BC to 2014 AD
World religions explained in handy diagrams: Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, Christianity, etc.
Earth’s history (all 4.5 billion years) in one hour: 1 million years covered every second
Visualize 6,000 years of history in a 23-foot-long world history timeline created in 1871
Explaining the world’s writing systems, from the Latin alphabet to the Abugida dynasty in India.
Based in Seoul, Colin Mbemust write and broadcastIt’s about cities, languages ​​and cultures. His projects include the Substack newsletter books about cities and a book Stateless City: A Stroll Through Los Angeles in the 21st Century. Follow him on the social network formerly known as Twitter. @Colinbemust.
Source: Open Culture – www.openculture.com
