A Journey into Human History

The period of independent city-states came to an end with the rise of the world’s first empire, the Akkadian Empire of Sargon of Akkad. While it lasted only about a century and a half, this empire inaugurated a new era in the region, which later saw the emergence of other powerful realms. These included the Third Dynasty of Ur and the famous Babylonian Empire of Hammurabi, who created an influenti...

The city of Uruk in the land of Sumer was one of the first true cities in world history. Advances in technology such as the invention of bronze-making techniques, a writing system called cuneiform, and a sophisticated religion with a pantheon of deities spread and facilitated the development of a complex Mesopotamian culture and the rise of other city-states there. The Sumerian city-states under t...

For tens of thousands of years, humans lived largely as mobile, subsistence hunter-gatherers. But with the innovation of agricultural production in a few areas around the world, some groups began to settle, and a new agricultural and sedentary lifestyle gave rise to early civilizations characterized by urban settings, the specialization of labor, and increasing social stratification. The earliest...

The changes that came with the Neolithic Revolution beginning about twelve thousand years ago dramatically transformed human life. The adoption of agriculture and the domestication of animals allowed for larger populations, surpluses of food, and labor specialization, even as they reduced leisure time and restructured formerly egalitarian societies into hierarchical tiers. From the remains of Neol...

Beginning perhaps as early as 100,000 years ago, modern humans began leaving Africa and migrating far and wide. That this movement occurred during the start of the most recent glaciation period suggests that climatic changes may have been a motivating factor. Over time, these migrating humans found themselves in a great variety of environments that required them to develop appropriate tools and st...

Early Human Evolution and Migration: Part 2 For about the last thirty thousand years, modern humans, or Homo sapiens, have been the only human species walking the Earth. But not only did several different human species once share the planet; they also evolved from much older and very different ancestors who began forging the path of global migration that modern humans later followed. Many tens of...

Early Human Evolution and Migration: Part 1 For about the last thirty thousand years, modern humans, or Homo sapiens, have been the only human species walking the Earth. But not only did several different human species once share the planet; they also evolved from much older and very different ancestors who began forging the path of global migration that modern humans later followed. Many tens of...

All images referenced in this podcast can be found at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-1/pages/1-3-causation-and-interpretation-in-history Welcome to A Journey into Human History. This podcast will attempt to tell the whole human story. The content contained in this podcast was produced by OpenStax and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. Access for free at http...

All images referenced in this podcast can be found at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-1/pages/1-2-primary-sources Welcome to A Journey into Human History. This podcast will attempt to tell the whole human story. The content contained in this podcast was produced by OpenStax and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/w...

Welcome to A Journey into Human History. This podcast will attempt to tell the whole human story. The content contained in this podcast was produced by OpenStax and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-1/pages/1-introduction Podcast produced by Miranda Casturo as a creative common sense production. Become a sup...

The content contained in this podcast was produced by OpenStax and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Source material avalible to access for free at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-1/pages/1-introduction Hardcover:ISBN-13: 978-1-711471-41-9 Paperback:ISBN-13: 978-1-711471-42-6 Digital:ISBN-13: 978-1-951693-67-1 Podcas...