Holocene

The **Holocene** is the current geological epoch.

## History

See also: wikipedia:Timelines of world history
The Holocene epoch began in the year -9,700, characterized by the retreat of glaciers following a global warming event. The first few thousand years of the epoch saw the rise of human civilizations across the Old World. It also marked the end of the Quaternary extinction event, which killed off most megafauna from the Ice Age.

During the Bronze Age, humans continued to proliferate and innovate. The first depiction of a wheel was created. Some cities in what is now Ukraine had three-storey buildings and housed up to 46,000 people. The Minoan culture appeared on the island of Crete in Greece. But perhaps the most important event during this period was the invention of writing. Once it was practiced in Sumer and Egypt, prehistory officially transitioned from prehistory to recorded history.

Human culture spread across the world, from the Longshan culture in China to Norte Chico in Peru. The Pyramids and Stonehenge were built. *The Epic of Gilgamesh*, the earliest written story, and the oldest song with notation were written. Iron became widespread, starting the Iron Age. The Phoenicians created their own alphabet, and Greek city-states flourished.

The Greek and Roman empires conquered the whole area around the Mediterranean sea, the latter ever spreading as far as the United Kingdom. They displaced other great powers like Egypt and Persia. In other parts of the world, Indian and Chinese empires grew. The birth of Jesus Christ in Judea, a part of the Roman Empire, created Christianity and officially started the Common Era (CE, also known as *Anno Domini* or AD), and years were counted forwards instead of backwards.

Eventually, the Roman Empire split into the Western Roman Empire and Eastern Roman Empires, the latter also known as the Byzantine Empire. In Mecca, now in Saudi Arabia, Muhammad was born, starting Islam. China briefly reunified, and Japanese people imitated their culture. Vikings conquered much of western Europe. Part of what was once the Roman Empire later became the Holy Roman Empire. By the year 1000, Leif Erikson discovered Newfoundland, Canada, making him the first European to colonize North America.

From 1346 to 1353, the Black Death killed up 200 million people, including about half the population of Europe at the time. But soon after, the Renaissance began, and art and culture flourished, spurred by the invention of the printing press. Portugal and Spain also began the Age of Discovery; Vasco da Gama sailed from Europe to Eastern Asia and Christopher Columbus sighted the New World.

Major European empires set up colonies in every new territory they discovered. World trade flourished, and large ships carried goods between different parts of the globe. Mercantilism and capitalism grew in popularity. Eventually, pirates appeared and started attacking these trade ships. Paleontology was also formalized as a science around this time.

Soon most of these colonies delcared independence from their colonizers, such as the United States. World economy was transformed from being mostly agricultural-based by the Industrial Revolution. Electricity was harnessed, allowing for the invention of the telegraph and telephone, which let people in far away places talk to each other. Trains that ran on tracks with steam linked the ever-growing cities together. Oil was soon discovered, which was used to power cars and airplanes.

Although they killed many millions of people, the First and Second World Wars did their fair share of advancements in technology, such as the invention of jet engines. In the following years, the United States and Soviet Union tried to outcompete each other in technological advancement, producing things such as rockets and nuclear missiles. Although the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, the United States continued to conduct secret experiments, such as attempting to resurrect prehistoric animals for militaristic purposes.

Today, science and technology are very present in daily life. Thanks to computers and the internet, it is possible for people to exchange ideas and creations with anyone in the globe at light-speed. The internet has become a subculture of its own, with its own celebrities and ideals. The sheer amount of information and creative work on the internet has inspired Nathaniel Antonio to write a dinosaur book of his own.

## Geography

See also: Category:Countries and wikipedia:List of sovereign states
The Holocene world consists of large landmasses and several smaller islands surrounded by a continuous expanse of water. Humans have divided the land into seven continents, and the water into five oceans. The continents are further divided into subcontinents, countries, and territories, while the oceans are also divided into seas and other bodies of water. All of the world's land is claimed by countries or their territories. There are currently one hundred and ninety-five internationally recognized countries, and a number of other claimed territories of varying recognition. Several countries and territories also claim a number of territorial waters.

## Lifeforms

### Animals

* Humans
* Dana's species
* Chickens

## See also

See also: wikipedia:Holocene

Cambrian • Ordovician • Silurian • Devonian • Carboniferous • Permian

Epochs
Terreneuvian • Cambrian Series 2 • Miaolingian • Furongian • Early Ordovician • Middle Ordovician • Late Ordovician • Llandovery • Wenlock • Ludlow • Pridoli • Early Devonian • Middle Devonian • Upper Devonian • Mississippian • Pennsylvanian • Cisuralian • Guadalupian • Lopingian

Triassic • Jurassic • Cretaceous

Epochs
Early Triassic • Middle Triassic • Late Triassic • Early Jurassic • Middle Jurassic • Late Jurassic • Early Cretaceous • Late Cretaceous

Paleogene • Neogene • Quaternary

Epochs
Paleocene • Eocene • Oligocene • Miocene • Pliocene • Pleistocene • **Holocene**