Origin

We often ponder the role of individuals in history, revolutions, and inventions, but we rarely consider the role that the natural environment has played in the biography of our species: climate, relief, biodiversity. For example, Lewis Dartnell argues that geological processes have pushed human evolution in East Africa, that democracy in Ancient Greece was born due to an abundance of mountainous landscapes, and that voter behavior in the United States is still determined by the boundaries of an ancient sea. The author is convinced that the history of humanity is the history of the Earth, tectonic processes, climate change, ocean and air currents. How are the Himalayas, the Earth's orbit, and the formation of the British Isles connected? This will become clear if we look back into the planet's past, billions of years away from today. And where history becomes science, we will see a dense web of interconnections that underlie the modern world and help us confidently look to the future. From the first harvests of crops to the formation of states: at every stage, the Earth has remarkably influenced the creation of human civilization. Lewis Dartnell is a holder of a PhD in biological sciences, a professor at the University of Westminster, a researcher, writer, and science popularizer.