History Atlas

Twelve thousand years, read as a core sample

A 112-day survey of world history. One lesson a day, about twenty-five minutes.

Open the course

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  1. IOrigins

    Days 1–14

  2. IIThe Classical Age

    Days 15–46

  3. IIIFaith, Fragmentation, and Golden Ages

    Days 47–74

  4. IVThe Early Modern Convergence

    Days 75–94

  5. VThe Modern Rupture

    Days 95–112

One block per day. In the app the column fills in behind you as you read.

What a session is

  1. OrientationTwo sentences on what the day argues.
  2. A question from an earlier dayDrawn from whatever you got wrong last time.
  3. The readingBetween 1,300 and 1,600 words, dealt out as cards.
  4. A recall checkFive questions on what you have just read.
  5. One reflectionOne question, pointed at something you already know.

The quizzes are free recall and you grade yourself. Nothing is multiple choice. You write down what you remember, read the answer, and decide whether you had it.

The five questions

Every society in the course gets the same five, all 112 days.

  1. Powerwho decides, and what makes it stick
  2. Productionwho makes the surplus, who takes it
  3. Social orderhow people are sorted, who counts as a person
  4. Beliefwhat makes the arrangement feel inevitable
  5. Pressureclimate, disease, migration, neighbours, technology

Asking the same five of Sumer and of the Qing is what turns a hundred and twelve lessons into one course.

The shape of it

I

Origins

How history works, and how humans built the first societies

c. 300,000 BCE – 3000 BCE14 days
II

The Classical Age

Where nearly every durable idea about politics, law, and the good life was first argued out

c. 2600 BCE – 500 CE32 days
III

Faith, Fragmentation, and Golden Ages

The world religions become the operating systems of civilizations

c. 300 – 1450 CE28 days
IV

The Early Modern Convergence

The world becomes a single system — violently, and on European terms

1450 – 1800 CE20 days
V

The Modern Rupture

Two centuries that rewrote every structure built in the previous twelve thousand years

1750 – present18 days

Eight of the 112 exist today, days 1 to 8. The rest are written a few at a time, ahead of whoever is reading.