If we take the 4.6 billion year history of the earth as one year...
Earth, Our Home
How was Earth born? Where did people come from?
Let’s take a trip. We’ll use a 365-day per year calendar.
January 1 (4,600,000,000 years ago)
First day of the year
When Earth was formed, collisions of asteroids covered the Earth’s surface with a sea of magma
January 8 (4,500,000,000 years ago)
Birth of the Moon, a result of a collision between the primitive Earth and a planet-sized body named Theia.
January 24 (4,300,000,000 years ago)
Primordial ocean begins forming
February 17 (4,000,000,000 years ago)
First life forms (Prokaryotes) appear
March 29 (3,500,000,000 years ago)
Beginning of photosynthesis caused by cyanobacteria
May 5 (2,900,000,000 years ago)
Children’s Day
June 16–July 26 (2,500,000,000 to 2,000,000,000 years ago)
Increase of oxygen
July 2 (2,300,000,000 years ago)
Earth is largely covered with ice (Snowball Earth)
July 26 (2,000,000,000 years ago)
Appearance of Eukaryotes
August 3 (1,900,000,000 years ago)
Formation of the Nena supercontinent
About September 23 (1,200,000,000 years ago)
Autumnal Equinox Day
October 13–November 14 (1,000,000,000 to 600,000,000 years ago)
Appearance of multicellular animals
November 6 (700,000,000 years ago)
Earth is largely covered with ice (Snowball Earth)
November 10 (650,000,000 years ago)
Earth is largely covered with ice (Snowball Earth)
November 14 (600,000,000 years ago)
Appearance of Ediacara fauna
November 19 (540,000,000 years ago)
Cambrian explosion
November 19 (540,000,000 years ago)
Appearance of corals
November 22 (500,000,000 years ago)
Appearance of vertebrate animals
Development of shells, bones and teeth
November 26 (475,000,000 years ago)
Plants take root on land
November 27 (440,000,000 years ago)
(First) Mass extinction of life
November 28 (420,000,000 years ago)
Appearance of Euonychophora (life forms closely related to arthropods)
November 29 (416,000,000 years ago)
Evolution of fish
November 30 (400,000,000 years ago)
Animals take up life on land
December 2 (370,000,000 years ago)
(Second) Mass extinction of life
December 3 (360,000,000 years ago)
Fern forests
December 4 (350,000,000 years ago)
Appearance of dragonflies
December 8 (300,000,000 years ago)
Emergence of Synapsids (ancestors of mammals)
December 12 (252,000,000 years ago)
Eruption of flood basalt creating the Siberia Traps
December 12 (250,000,000 years ago)
Approximately 90% of life forms on Earth go extinct (greatest recorded mass extinction)
(Third) Mass extinction of life
Formation of the Pangea supercontinent
December 15 (210,000,000 years ago)
(Fourth) Mass extinction of life
December 16 (200,000,000 years ago)
Dinosaurs thrive
December 19 (160,000,000 years ago)
Appearance of flowering plants
December 20 (150,000,000 years ago)
Appearance of creatures resembling honeybees
About December 25 (100,000,000 years ago)
Christmas
December 26 (65,500,000 years ago)
Asteroid collides with Earth on the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico
Flooding of the Deccan Plateau, Eruption of basalt; extinction of dinosaurs
(Fifth) Mass extinction of life
December 26 (65,000,000 years ago)
The Age of Giant Birds
December 27 (60,000,000 years ago)
Increase in size of mammals
December 28 (50,000,000 years ago)
Ancestors of whales return to the sea
December 28 (40,000,000 years ago)
The Indian Plate collides with the continent of Asia, beginning the formation of the Himalayan Range
December 30 (25,000,000 years ago)
The Eurasian continent begins splitting at its eastern edge, with the early form of the Japanese archipelago taking shape
December 31 12:00 A.M. (about 12,000,000 years ago)
The last day of the year
December 31 10:40 A.M. (7,000,000 years ago)
Beginning of bipedal motion, and appearance of hominids
December 31 6:17 P.M. (3,000,000 years ago)
Australopithecus begins using primitive stone tools
December 31 11:37 P.M. (200,000 years ago)
Appearance of modern hominids (Homo sapiens)
December 31 11:51 P.M. (75,000 years ago)
Catastrophic eruption of Toba volcano (Indonesia)
December 31 11:58 P.M. (10,000 years ago)
Beginnings of agriculture and pastoralism
December 31 11:59 P.M. (200 years ago)
Industrial Revolution
January 1 (Present)
The New Year
