Name: 世界歷史年表！ (Timeline of World History)
Uploaded: 2026-02-07T12:42:02.000Z
Duration: 17 min 24 s

程度副詞

Today, I'm going to give you a very broad overview of human history.

今天，我要帶大家快速瀏覽一下人類的歷史。

未來進行式

I'll be using the latest version of my Timeline of World History chart, which is available as a poster from my website, usefulcharts.com in particular, I'm going to be showing you how history can be divided into various time periods or ages.

我會使用我最新版的「世界歷史年表」圖表，這個圖表有海報尺寸，可以在我的網站 usefulcharts.com 買到。特別是，我會向大家展示歷史是如何被劃抽成不同時期或時代的。

And I'll be explaining how these divisions end up highlighting some of the most important turning points in world history.

我也會解釋這些劃分是如何突顯出世界歷史上一些最重要的轉捩點的。

Let me start by explaining the basics of how this chart works.

讓我先來解釋一下這張圖表的基本運作方式。

The vertical scale represents the flow of time with time moving forward.

垂直的尺度代表時間的流動，時間是往前推進的。

As you move down the page, every white line represents 100 years.

當你往下看，每一條白線代表 100 年。

And the scale is equidistant, which means that the distance between two lines near the top of the chart is exactly the same as it is near the bottom.

這個尺度是等距的，也就是說，圖表上方兩條線之間的距離，和下方兩條線之間的距離是完全一樣的。

This is important because it allows for accurate comparisons to be made and thus gives the viewer a proper perspective on time.

這很重要，因為它能讓我們做出準確的比較，讓觀看者對時間有正確的觀念。

Horizontally, the various sections of the chart represent different parts of the world.

在水準方向上，圖表的各個區塊代表世界不同的地區。

So on the far left, we have the Americas, followed by Africa, Europe, Asia, and

所以在最左邊，我們有美洲，接著是非洲、歐洲、亞洲，以及

Every line on the chart represents a specific culture, civilization or empire.

圖表上的每一條線代表一個特定的文化、文明或帝國。

And the width of the line represents the relative importance of that culture when compared to other cultures from the same time period or region.

線的寬度代表該文化與同一時期或同一地區的其他文化相比的相對重要性。

The next thing we need to talk about are the terms AD and BC and their equivalents, CE and BCE AD means Anno Domini, which is Latin for in the year of the Lord.

接下來我們要談的是 AD 和 BC 這兩個詞，以及它們的對等詞 CE 和 BCE。AD 是 Anno Domini 的縮寫，意思是「主的年份」。

Basically, it's meant to measure the years from the birth of Jesus.

基本上，這是用來計算耶穌誕生後的年份。

Anything before that point is called bc, which stands for before Christ.

在那之前的所有時間都稱為 BC，這是 Before Christ 的縮寫，意思是「基督之前」。

Now, most scholars today have actually concluded that Jesus was probably born in 4 BC so keep in mind that the scale is a bit off.

現在，大多數學者都認為耶穌可能出生在 4 BC，所以請記住這個尺度有點偏差。

So as we move backwards through time, the AD dates go down, but

所以當我們往回追溯時間時，AD 的年份會遞減，但是

then once we get to bc, the dates start going back up.

一旦進入 BC，年份就會開始遞增。

And I should point out that there is no year zero.

我應該指出，並沒有零這個年份。

So basically, the year 1bc was followed immediately by the year 1ad nowadays, it's becoming more and more standard for historians to use the terms CE and BCE instead.

所以基本上，現在的 1 BC 年之後緊接著就是 1 AD 年，越來越多歷史學家開始使用 CE 和 BCE 這兩個詞。

CE stands for common era and BCE stands for before the common era.

CE 是 Common Era 的縮寫，意思是「通用時期」，BCE 則是 Before Common Era，意思是「通用時期之前」。

The reason for the change is simply an attempt to use a more neutral term.

會有這樣的改變，主要是為了使用一個更中性的說法。

這聽起來也很合理，畢竟世界上有 75% 的人不是基督徒。

Which makes sense considering that 75% of the world is not Christian.

好的，既然我們已經把這個搞清楚了，下一個我們要討論的問題是，歷史的起點在哪裡？

Okay, now that we've got that under our belt, the next question we need to address is, what is the starting point for history?

換句話說，我們要從哪裡開始劃分歷史和史前時期呢？

In other words, where do we draw the line between history and prehistory?

在這張圖表裡，我把 3300 BCE 作為我的起點。

Well, on this chart, I've used the year 3300 BCE as my starting point.

這樣做的原因是，大約在這個時候，文字才首次出現。

The reason for this is that this is approximately when writing first appeared.

基本概念是，沒有文字記錄，就沒有歷史。

The basic idea is that without written records, we can't have history.

Therefore, everything before the emergence of the first writing systems is best categorized as prehistory.

所以，所有在第一個書寫系統出現之前的時期，都最好歸類為史前時期。

And of course, prehistory goes back much farther than 5,300 years.

當然，史前時期比 5300 年前還要早得多。

If we're talking about the prehistory of our species, Homo sapiens, it goes back about another 200,000 years.

如果我們在談論我們這個物種 Homo sapiens 的史前時期，那還要再往前推大概 20 萬年。

Another a time period also known as the Stone Age.

另一個時期也被稱為石器時代。

And if we're talking about the prehistory of the planet Earth, well, that goes back about 4.5 billion years.

而如果我們在談論地球這個星球的史前時期，那就要回溯到大約 45 億年前了。

但是這張圖表並沒有涵蓋史前時期。

Instead, it starts with the emergence of written records and goes from there.

取而代之的是，它從書寫記錄的出現開始，然後一路往前。

So, on this chart, history is divided into six main time periods.

所以，在這張圖表上，歷史被抽成六個主要時期。

The Early Bronze Age, the Bronze Age, the Iron Age, Classical Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and

早期青銅時代、青銅時代、鐵器時代、古典古代、中世紀，以及

Let's now take a look at each one by one.

The Bronze Age gets its name based on the fact that humans first started to make things out of bronze around the same time that they first developed writing.

青銅時代之所以得名，是因為人類開始用青銅製作物品，大約和他們發展出書寫文字的時間差不多。

This occurred in three main Egypt, Sumer, which is modern day Iraq, and

這發生在三個主要地區：埃及、蘇美人（也就是現在的伊拉克），以及

印度河流域（現在的巴基斯坦）。

Unfortunately, the writing system used in the Indus Valley is yet to be deciphered, so we can only read the records from Egypt and Sumer.

可惜的是，印度河流域使用的書寫系統至今仍未被破譯，所以我們只能閱讀埃及和蘇美人的記錄。

But we do know that these three civilizations did trade with one another, and

但我們確實知道這三個文明彼此之間有貿易往來，而且

that throughout the early Bronze Age, each grew in terms of both size and technology.

在早期青銅時代，它們在規模和技術上都有所成長。

At the start of this period, the Sumerians had already invented the wheel, the plough, and the sailor.

在這個時期的開始，蘇美人已經發明瞭輪子、犁和水手。

But during the early Bronze Age, they also went on to develop astronomy and mathematics.

但在早期青銅時代，他們也進一步發展了天文學和數學。

Over in Egypt, it was during the early Bronze Age that the great pyramids of Giza were built.

在埃及，正是在早期青銅時代建造了吉薩的宏偉金字塔。

Besides these three civilizations, the only other place in the world to have large cities was over in what is today Peru.

除了這三個文明，當時世界上唯一擁有大城市的地方，就在今天的祕魯。

There, a culture known as the Norte Chico civilization was thriving.

那裡有一個叫做納爾特奇科文明的文化正在蓬勃發展。

But strangely, although they built large stone structures, they appear to have had no writing system and no pottery.

但奇怪的是，雖然他們建造了大型石造建築，但似乎沒有文字系統，也沒有陶器。

Stone structures dating from the Early Bronze Age can also be found at Stonehenge in England and on the island of Malta.

在英國的巨石陣和馬爾他島上，也能發現可追溯到早期青銅時代的石造建築。

But neither of these places had large populations.

但這兩個地方都沒有大量人口。

現在我們來看看真正的青銅時代。

Dividing these two time periods is a very important event known as the 4.2 kiloyear event, named because it occurred approximately 4.2 thousand years ago.

這兩個時期之間有一個非常重要的事件，稱為 4.2 千年事件，之所以這樣命名，是因為它發生在大約 4200 年前。

The exact cause of the event is still debated, but

這個事件確切的原因仍在爭論中，但是

what we do know is that it resulted in approximately 100 years of extremely dry conditions worldwide.

我們確實知道的是，它導致了全球大約 100 年的極度乾旱。

Because of this, the Egyptian Old Kingdom, the Akkadian Empire, which had conquered Sumer, and

是以，埃及的古王國、征服蘇美人（Sumer）的阿卡德帝國（Akkadian Empire），

the Indus Valley civilization all declined rapidly.

以及印度河流域文明都迅速衰落。

And in the time period that followed, we get a new set of cultures.

在接下來的時期，我們看到了一系列新的文化。

Egypt was revived as the Middle and New Kingdoms, and

埃及以中王國和新王國的形式復興，

the Sumerian civilization eventually evolved into the Babylonian civilization.

而蘇美人文明最終演變成了巴比倫文明。

But in South Asia, we get a more dramatic change.

但在南亞，我們看到了更戲劇性的變化。

The Indus Valley cities disappear altogether and we get a new set of people arriving, the Indo Aryans, who were part of the larger Indo European group during the Bronze Age proper.

印度河流域的城市完全消失，來了一批新的人民，他們是雅利安人（Indo Aryans），屬於青銅時代真正的更大範圍的印歐語系（Indo European）族群。

We also get civilizations arising in other parts of the world for the first time, including in China, Sub Saharan Africa, and

在世界其他地方，我們也首次看到了文明的興起，包括中國、撒哈拉以南非洲，

unbeknownst to many people, North America.

There we get the poverty Point culture, where large mounds and complex settlements were built.

在那裡，我們看到了龐特文化（Poverty Point culture），建造了大型土丘和複雜的聚落。

Finally, we also get the first civilization in Europe, the Minoans, on the island of Crete.

最後，我們在歐洲也看到了第一個文明，克里特島上的米諾斯文明。

Midway through the period, though, there was a volcanic eruption nearby which led to the downfall of the Minoans and the rise of the Mycenaean Greeks.

不過，在這個時期中期，附近發生了火山爆發，導致米諾斯文明衰落，邁錫尼希臘人崛起。

Instead, this catastrophe could very well have been the event that birthed the Atlantis myth.

相反地，這場災難很可能就是催生亞特蘭提斯神話的事件。

The next big turning point in history occurred around 1200 BCE, and

歷史上接下來的重大轉折點發生在大約西元前 1200 年，

For reasons that are still somewhat unclear.

The major civilizations in Greece, Anatolia and Egypt all disappeared almost instantaneously.

希臘、安納託利亞和埃及的主要文明幾乎同時消失。

What followed is often called the Greek Dark Ages, a period in which the historical record for the region goes somewhat silent.

接下來的時期常被稱為希臘黑暗時代，這段時間該地區的歷史紀錄變得有些沉寂。

Interestingly, it is during this silent period that many of the world's most famous legendary tales supposedly took place, such as those found in the Jewish Torah, the Greek Iliad and the Hindu Mahabharata.

有趣的是，正是在這段沉寂的時期，世界上許多最著名的傳奇故事據說發生了，例如猶太人的《妥拉》、希臘的《伊利亞德》和印度教的《摩訶婆羅多》。

The Bronze Age collapse also coincided with the first use of iron in the Middle East.

青銅時代的崩潰也恰逢中東首次使用鐵。

Therefore, the period in which the Greek Dark Ages took place is also aptly called the Iron Age.

所以，希臘黑暗時代所在的時期，也很貼切地被稱為鐵器時代。

This is the third and final period in what is known as the Three Age system, consisting of the Stone Age, the Bronze Age and the Iron Age.

這是所謂的三期系統中的第三個也是最後一個時期，包括石器時代、青銅時代和鐵器時代。

The next period is not actually part of the three age system.

下一個時期其實不屬於三期系統。

This is because after approximately 600 BCE, we no longer have to rely entirely on archaeology to get information.

這是因為大約在公元前 600 年之後，我們就不再需要完全依賴考古學來獲取資訊了。

As I mentioned earlier, humans have been writing since 3300 BCE.

正如我之前提到的，人類自公元前 3300 年就開始書寫了。

But there is nothing surviving from the Bronze Age or Iron Age that could really be considered a history book.

但青銅時代或鐵器時代並沒有留下任何可以被真正視為史書的東西。

Sure, we have the names of kings, lists of battles, and

當然，我們有國王的姓名、戰役列表，以及

other details carved into rock and metal, but

其他刻在石頭和金屬上的細節，但

we don't have anything that starts with, in this treatise, I am going to record the complete history of X.

我們沒有任何開頭是「在這篇論文中，我將記錄 X 的完整歷史」之類的東西。

But around this time, we do start to get such writings, for example, from a Greek guy named Herodotus, who is often called the father of history.

但大約在這個時候，我們確實開始獲得這類著作，例如，來自一位名叫希羅多德的希臘人，他常被稱為歷史之父。

So in other words, we know a heck of a lot more information about this next period called Classical Antiquity than we know about the previous periods.

所以換句話說，我們對接下來這個叫做古典時期（Classical Antiquity）的時代，比對之前的時代，有更多更多的資訊了。

Classical Antiquity is when the Greeks and the Romans laid the foundations for what would become known as Western civilization, mostly by borrowing and building upon information gained from the earlier Bronze Age civilizations.

古典時期（Classical Antiquity）是希臘人和羅馬人奠定西方文明基礎的時期，主要是透過借鑒和發展早期青銅時代文明的知識。

But there was a lot going on in other parts of the world as well.

不過，世界其他地方也發生了很多事情。

For example, in Mesoamerica, Olmec culture would go on to influence classical Mayan culture, which with its intricate calendar and writing system.

舉例來說，在中美洲，奧爾梅克文化（Olmec culture）影響了後來的瑪雅古典文化（classical Mayan culture），瑪雅文化有著精密的曆法和書寫系統。

And in North America, there was an extensive trade network where lots of different types of art was being exchanged.

而在北美洲，當時有一個廣泛的貿易網絡，交換了各種不同類型的藝術品。

In Africa, the long standing kingdom of Kush eventually gave way to the kingdom of Aksum in Ethiopia.

在非洲，長久的庫什王國（kingdom of Kush）最終被衣索比亞的阿克蘇姆王國（kingdom of Aksum）取代。

There was also the three mighty Persian empires, the Maurya and Gupta empires in India, and

還有強大的波斯三個帝國、印度的孔雀王朝（Maurya）和笈多王朝（Gupta），以及

Eventually, a trade route between all these areas opened up, known as the Silk Road.

最終，這些地區之間開闢了一條貿易路線，也就是絲綢之路（Silk Road）。

And thus the western parts of Eurasia and the eastern parts of Eurasia were connected for the first time.

於是，歐亞大陸的西部和東部就這樣第一次連接起來了。