Neolithic

The first agricultural revolutions began about 10,000 BCE in Egypt, China and Mesopotamia (Iraq).

Trading require counting and the first written language; in general use by 2600 BCE. The first epic poem, Gilgamesh, was written in cuneiform.

The first alphabet assigned Semitic characters to Egyptian hieroglyphs about 2000 BCE. It was adopted by the Greeks about 800 BCE and later modified for the Roman Latin alphabet.

The Chinese built the first blast furnaces (using piston-bellows driven by waterwheels) and cast iron farm tools and weapons were common by 500 BCE.

Austronesians sailed outrigger canoes over 6,000 kilometers from Taiwan to reach New Zealand from about 3000 BCE.

About 100 BCE the Malays of Indonesia traded between China, India and Africa in sailing ships carrying 1000 people and a 260 ton cargo.

The Greek navigator, Pytheas, sailed to the north Atlantic about 325 BCE where he recorded polar ice, the Midnight Sun and lunar tides.

The Roman Prefect of Egypt (26-24 BCE), Aelius Gallus, noted 120 trading ships leaving Myos Hormos for India.

WHO THE HELL ARE WE? is a series of short books and videos describing the evolution of civilization.

Almost everyone on the planet is five times wealthier than their ancestors only 50 years ago. This astonishing phenomenon has also improved health, education, and longevity. The cause; an explosive growth in ideas and productivity.

It began when we learned to control fire, evolved articulate speech and stumbled onto the way to create infinite wealth; free trade. The discovery of agriculture made us richer but we also learned how to destroy wealth. Great civilization grew up but then disappeared leaving only incredible ruins and ideas.

Later books detail some of the ideas and developments that increased the average life span from about 40 years to more than 80 and the average world income from less than $3 to more than $33 per person per day (and to $140 per day in some countries).