The History of Earth Condensed into 24 Hours

What if the history of Planet Earth was condensed into just 24 hours..?

by Rod Maughan, August 2009

Formation

00:00:01 (one second past midnight) - 4.6 billion years ago the Earth was born

04:10 - in the early hours of the morning the first primitive, single-celled life forms arose in the oceans

13:02 - about lunch time, more complex multi-celled life evolved in the oceans, still mostly microscopic

Water-World 

17:44 - at about dinner time the first larger, actual animals (but with no bones) arrived in the oceans - mainly these were jellyfish and worm-like creatures

21:03 - later into the evening came the first primitive fish, the first animals with bones

Move on to Land 

21:33 - the first life on the land was plants, mainly ferns and mosses

21:46 - the first land animals arose - these were amphibian-like creatures who had to return to the sea to lay their eggs

22:07 - the first great forests began covering the Earth and early reptiles (including the ancestors of crocodiles and alligators) arrived

Dinosaurs!

22:46 - the great age of the dinosaurs began

22:49 - the very earliest mammals (our ancestors) evolved - these were rodent-like creatures, who still had a bit of the look of reptiles about them

23:14 - the first birds - getting quite late in the day now, isn't it? What about us humans? Well, there's still loads to go before we arrive on the scene...

23:20 - the dinosaurs died out (except they didn't, they evolved into birds!!)

Age of Mammals 

23:42 - the age of the mammals, including the really huge varieties, plus flowering plants first evolved

23:49 - the Alps and the Himalayan Mountains began to rise up as continental plates crashed into each other, and the world was starting to take on the shape that we know today

23:52 - many modern animals such as owls, ducks, wolves, whales, deer and camels came into being, as well as many types of monkeys (very important for us!)

Early Mankind

23:57 - the earliest human-ape-like ancestor evolve

23:58 - homo-sapiens (modern humans) evolve, but there are two distinct 'human races' at this time - neanderthals and homo-sapiens

23:59 - one minute to midnight - neanderthals become extinct and the modern human race moves out of Africa to populate other areas, and has to cope with ice ages, sabre toothed cats and woolly mammoths, etc...

Civilization! 

23:59:09 - 51 seconds to midnight (ie, present time) - the first great civilsations appeared, ancient Egypt, ancient China, etc...

23:59:44 - at just 16 seconds to midnight, Christ was born, and the Roman Empire was in control of much of the Western world

23:59:52 - 8 seconds to midnight - America is discovered, the Renaissance is happening across Europe, the beginnings of modern thinking

Industrial Revolution & Modern Times 

23:59:56 - 4 seconds to midnight - the Industrial Revolution takes place

23:59:59 - at 1 second to midnight it is the 1960s and Man walks on the Moon

00:00:00 - 2009 - present time - everything from the past 40 years occurred in less than 1 second of time - I don't know about you, but all that makes me feel rather insignificant!