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| 2380740767 | Oceania | Australia and the Pacific islands, the latter of which form no continent. | 0 | |
| 2380741131 | Africa | The 'birthplace of humanity', home to the world's largest desert. | 1 | |
| 2380741473 | Sahara | The world's largest desert, found in the northern third of Africa. | 2 | |
| 2380741657 | Asia | The largest and most populous continent, with the most diverse mix of climates, languages, and cultures. | 3 | |
| 2380743266 | Europe | A small continent with a large population, resource-rich, mild and temperate in climate. | 4 | |
| 2380743600 | Afro-Eurasian | Trends spanning three continents, two of which are physically linked. | 5 | |
| 2380743916 | Eurasia | A term used to refer to two specific continents physically linked. | 6 | |
| 2380745923 | North and South America | Settled by migrating peoples from Asia, crossing a temporary land bridge, that developed in cultural and environmental isolation but nevertheless produced many advanced cultures. | 7 | |
| 2380746968 | water transport | For most of human history, this form of transport was more efficient than overland travel, as many early societies were capable of coastline and river navigation, although large open bodies remained a challenge. | 8 | |
| 2380748017 | "Out of Africa" thesis | The theory that modern humans arose in East Africa 100,000 to 200,000 years ago and migrated outwards. | 9 | |
| 2380748506 | peopling of the earth | The spread of Homo sapiens across the world, beginning about 100,000 years ago. They first migrated to the Middle East, from there reaching relatively warm southern Asia (India and SEA first, China after), and from there crossing to Australia and Oceania. Europe, Central Asia, and Siberia took longer due to cooler climates. The Americas were probably last. | 10 | |
| 2380750669 | ice ages | Periodic temperature cycles causing cooler climates. | 11 | |
| 2380750915 | Bering land bridge | A temporary stretch of land that joined Siberia and Alaska. | 12 | |
| 2380751354 | Stone Age | The first period of human history, called so because the tools that have survived from then are largely of this material and therefore most familiar to archaeologists. It began 2.5 million years ago to about 5,000 years ago. | 13 | |
| 2380752141 | Neolithic | The recent Stone Age, beginning about 8000 B.C.E. | 14 | |
| 2380752618 | hunting and foraging | A form of subsistence where people live off resources taken directly from the land, commonly known in its 'gathering' form. | 15 | |
| 2380753972 | kinship | Groups of people related by blood or marriage. | 16 | |
| 2380755219 | nomadic | A form of lifestyle revolving around the seasonal migration patterns of certain animal species. | 17 | |
| 2380756201 | ancestor veneration | A form of religion wherein grandparents and older relatives are honored through sacrifices and elbaorate rituals. | 18 | |
| 2380756567 | animism | A belief system in which all things in the natural world are thought to be animated by spirits. | 19 | |
| 2380756805 | Shamans | Religious leaders in animist societies. | 20 | |
| 2380757004 | gender division of labor | When various tasks are assigned by sex, originally because of basic physical differences between the two sexes. | 21 | |
| 2380770508 | pastoralism | The domestication of animals to produce food. | 22 | |
| 2380770775 | agriculture | The cultivation and eventual domestication of certain varieties plants in order to produce food. | 23 | |
| 2440030347 | domestication of animals | The cultivation of certain animal species for food or for labor. | 24 | |
| 2440030443 | Neolithic Revolution | The transformation of early life through pastoralism and agriculture, though this exact term as a description is debated due to its gradual effect. | 25 | |
| 2440034436 | herding | Groups that developed this kind of society emerged most commonly in grassland regions (esp. those of Afro-Eurasia), experiencing social straitification and the accumulation of wealth to a much lesser extent than pastoralists. Warrior elites arose more freqeuntly; gender divisions were more stark. | 26 | |
| 2440034437 | social stratification | The emergence of elite groups and non-elite groups within society; the differences in status between groups in society. | 27 | |
| 2440035169 | horseback riders | Pastoralists were often experts at this, and developed wheeled vehicles pulled by animals. | 28 | |
| 2440045440 | cultural diffusion | This process was greatly helped by pastoralists due to their nomadic lifestyles; they helped spread everything from religious beliefs to the compound bow and arrow. | 29 | |
| 2440045441 | independent innovation | The creation of new ideas or concepts independent of outside influence. | 30 | |
| 2440047979 | specialization of labor | Food surpluses enabled people not just to devote their time to cultivating food, allowing them to develop other skills. | 31 | |
| 2440048492 | cities | These places offered large-scale protection, and are centers for trade, political leadership, and religious worship. | 32 | |
| 2440049040 | metallurgy | The process of extracting metal from raw ore, learned by societies towards the end of the Neolithic. | 33 | |
| 2440049248 | metalsmithing | The process of shaping metal into tools, developed towards the end of the Neolithic. | 34 | |
| 2440049618 | Mesopotamia | Home to one of the world's two oldest civilizations (the Sumerian-Babylonian culture), it means "land between the waters" - here the waters refer to the Tigris and Euphrates, both of which gave life to this Fertile Crescent. | 35 | |
| 2440050578 | Gilgamesh Epic | One of humanity's oldest literary works, written in Sumer in one of the earliest forms of writing, cuneiform. | 36 | |
| 2440050722 | Hammurabi's law code | One of the world's earliest law codes, composed by its namesake Babylonian king. | 37 | |
| 2440051089 | ziggurats | Terrace-stepped temples used to honor polytheistic Mesopotamian gods. | 38 | |
| 2440051208 | Mesopotamian-Indus trade | This trade involved boat travel along the Indian Ocean coastline, with wool, barley, and copper exchanged by one party for gems and cotton. | 39 | |
| 2440051945 | Hittites | A group that, during 1300-1200 BCE, came to rule most of Mesopotamia, probably due to their expertise at chariot warfare and systematic use of iron weapons. | 40 | |
| 2440052296 | Assyrians | Between 911 and 612 BCE< this group created one of the world's early empires, held together by a means of a deliberate policy of cruelty. | 41 | |
| 2440052529 | Old Kingdom | The period from 2575-2134 BCE when basic social political features took shape in Egypt. | 42 | |
| 2440053023 | Egyptian-Nubian trade | This trade brought gold to Egypt, but was rarely friendly, with the other party often raided for slaves. | 43 | |
| 2440054558 | Indus River civilization | An early civilization that arose around 2600 BCE, whose script has not yet been deciphered. | 44 | |
| 2440054748 | Shang dynasty | The first historically verifiable dynasty in China, whic arose on the banks of the Huange He (2000 BCE to 1750 BCE). Led by a warrior aristocracy, and traded extensively with the Indus River people. The concept of China as a "Middle Kingdom" arose then. | 45 | |
| 2440055740 | Zhou dynasty | Chian's longest lasting dynasty, founded by a rebel herding society (1000 BCE to 221 BCE). It relied on feudalism and its collapse resulted in the Warring States period. It originated the Mandate of Heaven, and effectively used bureaucracy. | 46 | |
| 2440057174 | Indo-Europeans | A migrating pastoralist society. | 47 | |
| 2440059102 | Bantu herders | A migrating pastoralist group in Africa, who in 1500 BCE began their slow movement from the NIger River basin to most of sub-Saharan Africa. | 48 | |
| 2440062393 | serfdom | An institution similar to slavery, this compelled peasants to labor for the owners of the lands they worked on. | 49 | |
| 2440063049 | Hebrews | A group that, in Judaic tradition, entered into a convent as the chosen people of the god Jehovah, thus originating the first monotheistic faith. | 50 | |
| 2440063470 | Avesta | Zoroastrian scripture, compiled over many centuries. Zoroastrianism was monotheistic, venerating Ahura Mazda, and largely prevalent in the Persian empire during 500 BCE. | 51 | |
| 2440064073 | Upanishads | A series of poems raising the possibility in 500 BCE in India that heavy reliance on Brahmin priests was not necessary, part of the religious crisis that resulted in Buddhism. This also ended up in the absorption of Vedism into Hinduism. | 52 | |
| 2440066017 | Buddhism | A faith that arose around 500 BCE due to Siddartha Gautama's teachings; it grew heavily in popularity with its espousal by Ashoka in 200 BCE. | 53 | |
| 2440066935 | Theravada Buddhism | This form of Buddhism, largely practiced in South and Southeast Asia, is most close to Buddha's original teachings, emphasizing simplicity and meditation. | 54 | |
| 2440067522 | Mahayana Buddhism | This form of Buddhism involved more ritual and symbology than the original faith due to syncretism, with it often disintegrating into a heavenly afterlife and divine pantheon of bodhisattvas. | 55 | |
| 2440068022 | Confucianism | Similar to Buddhism in its foundation by an individual with no divinity claims, it also arose around 500 BCE and has influenced much of Chinese thought. It focuses heavily on hierarchy and the concept of filial piety and ancestor veneration, though remains a very patriarchal system. | 56 | |
| 2440070091 | Daoism | A more mystical strain of thought than Confucianism, founded by the mythical Laozi. Its central text is the Tao-te Ching, and is deliberately antirational. | 57 | |
| 2440071403 | Qin dynasty | The first dynasty that truly united China, largely due to its anti-Confucian founder Shi Huangdi (200 BCE). He turned China into a centralized dictatorship and began the Great Wall of China. | 58 | |
| 2440072573 | Han dynasty | Brought to power by uprisings against Shi Huangdi, it controlled neighbouring states through a tributary system and strengthened the civil examination system (200 BCE to 200 CE), noticeably less brutal than the Qin. It increased silk production through monopoly but was weakened by a smallpox epidemic and nomadic invaders, like the Turkish Xiongnu. Its collapse led to more anarchy. | 59 | |
| 2440075190 | Mauryan Empire | Founded by Chandragupta (324 BCE), this was one of the first empires to unite India. It had an extensive trade network, reaching as far as Rome. One of its most well-known emperors is Ashoka, particularly famous for his Pillars. It collapsed due to outside attacks in 184 BCE. | 60 | |
| 2440076203 | Gupta Empire | Governing north-central India (320 CE), it was smaller and less centralized than the Mauryans, and were religiously tolerant. Mathematical innovations were prevalent then and they strengthened the caste system, and also largely collapsed due to outside invaders, especially the White Huns. | 61 | |
| 2440077773 | proto-industriliazation | Small-scale, systematized manufacture that arose from 600-1450 CE. | 62 | |
| 2440055582 | Zhou dynasty | 63 |
