World History
The world history is an enormous period of time that started from the childhood of humankind and up to the present period. From official point of view, it is combination of corresponding events, dates, actions, etc that took place consequently during this time period. In fact, world history is a much wider notion, comprising all spheres of life, including everyday life, politics, economy, art and so on.
Traditionally, Greece is called the origin of civilization (at least of the European one) that gave way to such modern phenomena that are enjoyed all over the world today, among which are democracy, theatre, philosophy, dramaturgy, literature and so forth. As it will be discussed below, present Asia has several "cradles" that had little or not much influence on the part of the Ancient Greece or Rome, especially those that were rather far away from the territory of the modern Middle East. They are Ancient China, India, Egypt and Mesopotamia. In central and southern Africa, there lived lots of barbaric tribes that started being becoming civilized with the arrival of the first Europeans only. Unfortunately, many of them remain to be ferine to the present day. In Australia correspondingly and New Zealand, the indigenous inhabitants had been Aborigines till the advent of European colonizers. Of all the global regions, both American continents prove to be the least researched from the historical point of view.
Broadly speaking, world history is marked by the gradual human evolution that involved both evolution of conscience and accretion of discoveries and inventions that turned our life upside down having contributed to the emergence of numerous things we apply today.
The history of the Old World is usually divided into four periods:
- the Ancient World, including Ancient Middle East, Ancient Greece and Rome, Ancient China and India;
- the Middle Ages, starting from the 5th down to the 15-16th centuries;
- the Renaissance, starting from the 16th century to the middle of the 18th century;
- the Newest period, including the Age of Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution up to the present.
The most obvious feature of all prehistoric nations were means of surviving, gross of hunting, foraging and primitive farming. Initially, most of them were nomadic, abandoning gradually this way of living, and choosing for settled life in scattered habitations. Normally, the tribes located themselves along bodies of water coalescing into larger units step by step.
In course of time, the productivity and security provided by farming improved the standard of living. Abundance of food and material resources led to the appearance of commercial relations, division of labour and division of functions between town and country.