Humanity has conquered the world. It's hard to appreciate what that means, but the video above, by WorldPopulationHistory.org, shows just how incredible the growth and expansion of humanity has been over the past 2,000 years.
Here are some of the notable moments in the video:
- The map begins at 1:18, showing human population a little more than 2,000 years ago, with each yellow dot representing 1 million people in an area. At this point, there are 170 million people on Earth.
- At 3:20, the Mongol invasion of China begins in the early 13th century, killing huge segments of the population. The Mongol conquests are still considered one of the deadliest wars in history, killing tens of millions of people at a time when the world population was much smaller — around 360 million.
- At 3:30, in the 14th century, the Black Death spreads around the world, killing more than 20 million people in Europe — nearly one-third of the continent's population — and 75 million around the world, when the global population was about 380 million.
- At 4:20, the world population explodes thanks to the Industrial Revolution and modern medicine. From 1800 to 2015, the global population grew from about 910 million to more than 7.3 billion.
- After 4:40, you can begin to see how the world population will expand in the future — to nearly 9.6 billion.
The video itself can get a little dry at points, but what's really impressive is the fully interactive map at WorldPopulationHistory.org. There, you can zoom in, go through different years, and look at significant milestones. Check it out here.
