Origins: How the Earth Shaped Human History

Synopsis: When we talk about human history, we often focus on great leaders, revolutions, and technological advances. But our human story has also been profoundly influenced by fundamental features of the planet we live on, as well as our wider cosmic neighbourhood. Throughout human existence we have been shaped by our environment. Geological forces drove our evolution in East Africa; mountainous terrain led to the development of democracy in Greece; and today voting behaviour in the United States follows the bed of an ancient sea. The human story is the story of all these factors, from the slow grinding of plate tectonics, to the physics of atmospheric circulation and cycles of climate change driven by astronomical forces.

By taking us through millennia of human history, and billions of years into our planet’s past, Professor Lewis Dartnell tells us the ultimate origin story. When we reach the point where history becomes…