History of the World in Two Hours: An Analysis of Pivotal Events

Humans, the dominant species of the current era, have long been fighting to attain their current position in the society of living organisms. The beginnings of the universe are marked with fascinating events such as the big bang, the Cambrian explosion, the Permian extinction, and the Ice Age, among others, which are all events that eventually enabled humans to be who they are today. During the big bang, all of the energy within the universe was created, and as all species compete to have their share of the energy, humans have faced various challenges that left other species extinct. This paper will be an analysis of these events that humans overcame through an examination of the documentary History of the World in Two Hours, and the critical role humans played within it.

Prior to settlements that can considered cities, such as the settlements the Ancient Sumerians had, humans were hunter-gatherers to support their lifestyle. Although an improvement from the previous means, hunter-gatherers didn’t have a convenient lifestyle as compared to today, since they had to constantly travel to find food, have exceptional hunting skills, and have resources to be able to make use of what they caught. According to the documentary, a hunter-gatherer needs 10 square miles of territory to provide himself enough sustenance; enough energy in the form of plants and meat to survive. Thankfully, with the discovering of seeds and farming, humans were more efficiently able to survive; now, not having to travel around as often, and being able to plant and store food for one year during a particular season. A farmer can harvest the sun’s energy so efficiently, he can fulfill his needs using only a 10th of a square mile of land.

The discovery of seeds and farming revolutionized people, which ultimately lead to one of the first civil settlements, the ancient Sumerians. The ancient Sumerians, like many other ancient people, were located around a river in the Fertile Crescent where they were able to farm many grass crops like rye, wheat, and barley, and they also began to implement the first mathematical system to keep track of their crops. The Fertile Crescent is also the same location that is considered the Middle East today, and the same location where the Arabic trade allowed for the rest of the world to be introduced to foreign crops, ideas, and overall, trading. The Arabic trade, which relied heavily on the use of camels, compared to donkeys, provided an immense cultural exchange among the Afro-Eurasia part of the world.

Although Christopher Columbus’ voyage to the Americas is seen as one of the most significant events in American history, it can also be considered one of the most significant events of the human history. Because of Christopher Columbus, the two separated sides of the world finally merged and connected in ways that was unseen before. However, Columbus’ voyage didn’t only bring positivity to the world. Rather, Columbus’ voyage caused 95% of the Native American population to die due to Europeans guns and disease. Moreover, the Columbus’ voyage ultimately resulted in the comparison of powers. The European and Asian populations had much more access to different varieties of food and sustenance for much longer than the American populations did, and thus, had evolved further towards the Modern Age. Therefore, once the Americas was discovered, it wasn’t long before the European conquistadors came to invade the region, not only stealing the gold and the silver that was richly available there, but also creating slavery by transporting African workers to work on their sugar cane farms within the Americas, sugar cane farms that refused to grow in Europe.

Although a brief summary of what was an amazingly informative and insightful documentary, it pinpoints perfectly to the points that captivated me the most. In the long history of the universe, it’s fascinating how although humans are a tiny slice of this history, they’re altering the world like no other species has before. “We learned to harness 50,000 times more energy than our ancestors just 10,000 years ago; this energy drives our fast-day lives, and a literal world-wide-web, a network that as we have seen has been in the making as long as humans have walked on Earth” (History of the World in Two Hours Documentary, 2017)