MY HISTORY OF THE WORLD PROJECT

Written By Garrett Cyr

Many thanks to Chat GPT for doing a majority of the work.

Purpose

I am reading through the history of humanity for interest and enjoyment.

I do not need to memorize everything I read. My goal is to become increasingly familiar with the people, places, events, ideas, and systems that shaped the world.

Repeated exposure will build understanding over time.

OVERALL PROGRESS

Current era: Human Origins and Prehistory

Current book:Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari

Books completed: 0

Eras explored: 0 of 18

Project status: In progress

PROGRESS KEY

Book Status

☐ Not started
◐ In progress
☑ Completed
– Paused or not continuing

Confidence Level

Confidence measures how familiar the era currently feels. It is not a test and does not need to reflect perfect recall.

0 — Not yet explored
I have not started learning about this era.

1 — Introduced
I recognize some of the major topics.

2 — Familiar
I understand the broad outline.

3 — Grounded
I understand the main events, societies, and developments.

4 — Strong
I can connect this era to other parts of world history.

Confidence can change whenever I learn more. There is no required level before moving forward.

WORLD HISTORY PATH

1. Human Origins and Prehistory

Approximate period: Early human evolution to around 10,000 BCE

Status: ◐ In progress
Confidence: 1 — Introduced

Main areas:

  • Human evolution

  • Earlier human species

  • Emergence of Homo sapiens

  • Migration across the world

  • Hunter-gatherer societies

  • Language, culture, art, and shared beliefs

Books

◐ Sapiens — Yuval Noah Harari

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Optional souvenir from this era:
One idea, fact, or question that naturally stayed with me:

2. The Agricultural Revolution

Approximate period: Around 10,000–4,000 BCE

Status: ☐ Not started
Confidence: 0 — Not yet explored

Main areas:

  • Domestication of plants and animals

  • Permanent settlements

  • Population growth

  • Changes in labor and social organization

  • Property, inequality, and early trade

Books

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Optional souvenir from this era:

3. The First Cities and Early Civilizations

Approximate period: Around 4,000–2,000 BCE

Status: ☐ Not started
Confidence: 0 — Not yet explored

Main areas:

  • Mesopotamia

  • Ancient Egypt

  • Indus Valley civilization

  • Early states and governments

  • Writing systems

  • Organized religion

  • Trade networks and monumental architecture

Books

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Optional souvenir from this era:

4. The Bronze Age World

Approximate period: Around 3,300–1,200 BCE

Status: ☐ Not started
Confidence: 0 — Not yet explored

Main areas:

  • Bronze Age kingdoms and empires

  • Sumer, Akkad, Babylon, and Assyria

  • Egypt’s Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms

  • Minoans and Mycenaeans

  • Hittites

  • Shang China

  • Long-distance trade

  • Bronze Age collapse

Books

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Optional souvenir from this era:

5. The Iron Age and the Rise of Major Traditions

Approximate period: Around 1,200–500 BCE

Status: ☐ Not started
Confidence: 0 — Not yet explored

Main areas:

  • Iron technology

  • Neo-Assyrian and Babylonian empires

  • Ancient Israel and Judaism

  • Phoenicians

  • Vedic India

  • Zhou China

  • Early Greek societies

  • Development of major religious and philosophical traditions

Books

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Optional souvenir from this era:

6. The Classical World

Approximate period: Around 500 BCE–500 CE

Status: ☐ Not started
Confidence: 0 — Not yet explored

Main areas:

  • Ancient Greece

  • Persian empires

  • Alexander the Great

  • Roman Republic and Roman Empire

  • Mauryan and Gupta India

  • Qin and Han China

  • Buddhism, Confucianism, and Christianity

  • Classical philosophy, politics, science, and culture

Books

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Optional souvenir from this era:

7. Late Antiquity and the Transformation of the Ancient World

Approximate period: Around 200–700 CE

Status: ☐ Not started
Confidence: 0 — Not yet explored

Main areas:

  • Transformation of the Roman Empire

  • Spread of Christianity

  • Byzantine Empire

  • Sasanian Persia

  • Migration and new European kingdoms

  • Gupta India and its successors

  • Division and reunification in China

  • Origins and early expansion of Islam

Books

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Optional souvenir from this era:

8. The Early Medieval World

Approximate period: Around 500–1000 CE

Status: ☐ Not started
Confidence: 0 — Not yet explored

Main areas:

  • Byzantine civilization

  • Islamic caliphates

  • Medieval European kingdoms

  • Tang China

  • Korea and Japan

  • African kingdoms and trade networks

  • Indian Ocean trade

  • Vikings and other migrating peoples

Books

☐ _______________________________________________

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Optional souvenir from this era:

9. The High Medieval and Interconnected World

Approximate period: Around 1000–1300 CE

Status: ☐ Not started
Confidence: 0 — Not yet explored

Main areas:

  • Song China

  • Islamic states and cultures

  • Crusades

  • European kingdoms and feudal societies

  • West African empires

  • South and Southeast Asian kingdoms

  • Growth of cities, universities, and trade

  • Mongol expansion

Books

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Optional souvenir from this era:

10. Crisis, Expansion, and Transition

Approximate period: Around 1300–1500 CE

Status: ☐ Not started
Confidence: 0 — Not yet explored

Main areas:

  • Mongol successor states

  • Black Death

  • Ming China

  • Ottoman expansion

  • Renaissance

  • Mali and Songhai

  • Aztec and Inca civilizations

  • Political and economic transformations across Eurasia and Africa

Books

☐ _______________________________________________

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Optional souvenir from this era:

11. Global Encounters and Maritime Empires

Approximate period: Around 1450–1650

Status: ☐ Not started
Confidence: 0 — Not yet explored

Main areas:

  • European maritime exploration

  • Indigenous societies of the Americas

  • Conquest and colonization

  • Columbian Exchange

  • Atlantic slave trade

  • Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal empires

  • Ming and early Qing China

  • Protestant Reformation

  • Scientific Revolution

Books

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Optional souvenir from this era:

12. Empires, Trade, and Enlightenment

Approximate period: Around 1650–1789

Status: ☐ Not started
Confidence: 0 — Not yet explored

Main areas:

  • Global trading systems

  • European colonial empires

  • Qing China

  • Tokugawa Japan

  • Mughal India

  • African states and the slave trade

  • Absolutism and constitutional government

  • Enlightenment thought

  • Early industrial and scientific development

Books

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Optional souvenir from this era:

13. Revolutions and the Birth of the Modern Political World

Approximate period: Around 1750–1850

Status: ☐ Not started
Confidence: 0 — Not yet explored

Main areas:

  • American Revolution

  • French Revolution

  • Haitian Revolution

  • Latin American independence

  • Industrial Revolution

  • Nationalism and liberalism

  • Abolition movements

  • Political and social reform

Books

☐ _______________________________________________

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Optional souvenir from this era:

14. Industrialization, Nationalism, and Imperialism

Approximate period: Around 1850–1914

Status: ☐ Not started
Confidence: 0 — Not yet explored

Main areas:

  • Expansion of industrial society

  • Capitalism, socialism, and labor movements

  • European nationalism

  • United States expansion and Civil War

  • Imperialism in Africa and Asia

  • Meiji Japan

  • Decline and reform of older empires

  • Migration, urbanization, and technological change

Books

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Optional souvenir from this era

15. World War and Revolution

Approximate period: 1914–1945

Status: ☐ Not started
Confidence: 0 — Not yet explored

Main areas:

  • First World War

  • Russian Revolution

  • Collapse of major empires

  • Interwar political and economic crises

  • Fascism, communism, and democracy

  • Great Depression

  • Second World War

  • Holocaust

  • War in Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Pacific

Books

☐ _______________________________________________

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Optional souvenir from this era:

16. The Cold War and Decolonization

Approximate period: 1945–1991

Status: ☐ Not started
Confidence: 0 — Not yet explored

Main areas:

  • United States and Soviet rivalry

  • Nuclear weapons

  • Communist revolutions

  • Decolonization in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East

  • Creation and development of the United Nations

  • Civil rights and liberation movements

  • Postwar economic growth

  • Korean and Vietnam wars

  • End of the Soviet Union

Books

☐ _______________________________________________

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Optional souvenir from this era:

17. Globalization and the Post-Cold War World

Approximate period: 1991–2008

Status: ☐ Not started
Confidence: 0 — Not yet explored

Main areas:

  • Globalization

  • Expansion of the internet

  • European integration

  • Post-Soviet political change

  • Wars in the Balkans

  • September 11 and the War on Terror

  • Growth of China

  • International trade and financial systems

  • Global financial crisis

Books

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Optional souvenir from this era:

18. The Contemporary World

Approximate period: 2008–present

Status: ☐ Not started
Confidence: 0 — Not yet explored

Main areas:

  • Political polarization and populism

  • Social media and digital life

  • Climate change

  • Artificial intelligence and technological change

  • Global migration

  • Public-health crises

  • Shifting global power

  • Modern conflicts and democratic challenges

  • Economic inequality

  • Cultural and social change

Books

☐ _______________________________________________

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Optional souvenir from this era:

COMPLETED BOOKS

Add each book when it is completed. No review or summary is required.

CURRENTLY READING

Book

Title:Sapiens

Author: Yuval Noah Harari

Era or eras: Human Origins and Prehistory; Agricultural Revolution; broader world history

Format: Audiobook

Status: ◐ In progress

Progress: _____________________________________

No notes are required while reading.

OPTIONAL BOOK COMPLETION ENTRY

Complete only what feels useful.

Book: _________________________________________

Author: _______________________________________

Era or eras covered: ___________________________

Date completed: ________________________________

Enjoyment:

☐ Did not enjoy
☐ Mixed
☐ Enjoyed
☐ Strongly enjoyed

One idea that naturally stayed with me, if any:

Did this change my confidence in an era?

☐ No change
☐ Slightly more familiar
☐ Much more familiar

PROJECT REMINDERS

  • I am allowed to read entirely for pleasure.

  • Listening counts as reading.

  • I do not have to take notes.

  • I do not need to remember every name, date, or event.

  • I can read more than one book about an era.

  • I can move between eras instead of following the sequence rigidly.

  • I can pause or abandon a book that is not working for me.

  • Repeated exposure is how the important concepts will become familiar.

  • Finishing a book is progress even when I remember only part of it.

  • My confidence levels describe familiarity, not intelligence or performance.


Garrett Cyr
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