World's history (part 1): Thehistoryof the worldis thehistoryof humanity, beginning with thePaleolithicEra. Distinct from thehistoryof Planet Earth(which includes earlygeologichistoryand prehuman biological eras), worldhistorycomprises the study ofarcheologicalandwritten records, from ancient times on. Ancient recordedhistorybegins with the invention of writing.[1][2]However, the roots of civilization reach back to the period before theinvention of writing.Prehistorybegins in thePaleolithicEra, or"Early Stone Age,"which is followed by theNeolithic Era, or New Stone Age, and theAgricultural Revolution(between 8000 and 5000 BCE) in theFertile Crescent. The Neolithic Revolution marked a change in humanhistory, as humans began the systematichusbandryof plants and animals.[3][4][5]Agriculture advanced, and most humans transitioned from anomadicto a settled lifestyle as farmers inpermanent settlements. Nomadism continued in some locations, especially in isolated regions with few domesticable plant species;[6]but the relative security and increased productivity provided by farming allowed human communities to expand into increasingly larger units, fostered by advances intransportation. World population[7]from 10,000 BCE to 2,000 CE. The vertical (population) scale is logarithmic. As farming developed,grain agriculturebecame more sophisticated and prompted adivision of laborto store food between growing seasons. Labor divisions then led to the rise of a leisuredupper classand the development ofcities. The growing complexity of human societies necessitated systems ofwritingandaccounting.[8]Many cities developed on thebanksof lakes and rivers; as early as 3000 BCE some of the first prominent, well-developed settlements had arisen inMesopotamia,[9]on the banks ofEgypt'sRiver Nile,[10][11][12] and in theIndus River valley.[13][14][15]Similar civilizations probably developed along major rivers inChina, but archaeological evidence for extensive urban construction there is less conclusive. Thehistoryof theOld World(particularly Europe and the Mediterranean) is commonly divided intoAncienthistory(or"Antiquity"), up to 476 CE; thePostclassical Era(or"Middle Ages"[16][17]), from the 5th through 15th centuries, including theIslamic Golden Age(c. 750 CE – c. 1258 CE) and the early EuropeanRenaissance(beginning around 1300 CE);[18][19]theEarly Modern period,[20]from the 15th century to the late 18th, including theAge of Enlightenment; and theLate Modern period, from theIndustrial Revolutionto the present, includingContemporaryHistory. Theancient Near East,[21][22][23]ancient Greece, andancient Romefigure prominently in the period of Antiquity. In thehistoryofWestern Europe, thefallin 476 CE ofRomulus Augustulus, by some reckonings the last western Roman emperor, is commonly taken as signaling the end of Antiquity and the start of theMiddle Ages. By contrast,Eastern Europesaw a transition from theRoman Empireto theByzantine Empire, which did notdecline until much later. In the mid-15th century,Johannes Gutenberg's invention of modernprinting,[24]employingmovable type, revolutionizedcommunication, helping end theMiddle Agesand usher in theScientific Revolution.[25]By the 18th century, the accumulation ofknowledgeandtechnology, especially in Europe, had reached acritical massthat brought about theIndustrial