About
The Human Storyline is a free, web-only timeline of recorded history: what was happening around the world at the same time, from 3500 BCE to the present.
You can pan and zoom the timeline, filter by theme or region, search for a name or year, and open any item for a short summary and sources.
Two layers of entries
- Anchors (hand-written): a one-sentence hook, an original 150–200 word summary, and verified sources, fact-checked in a second pass. These drive the zoomed-out view.
- Auto-fill (from Wikidata, CC0 facts only): name, dates, region, theme, a one-line Wikidata description, and links. No Wikipedia prose is copied into the site. These appear as you zoom in.
How anchors are chosen
An item earns an anchor if it clears at least two of: large scale (people affected, territory, duration); lasting consequence (institutions, borders, technology, or ideas that persist); wide documentation in independent sources; or filling a regional or thematic gap. The aim is regional balance in each era: no single region group (Asia, Africa, Europe, the Americas, Oceania) above about 40% of anchors, and each group at least about 8% where the history is documented.
Recent history
Recent decades are kept less dense than older ones, and items are admitted on durable signals—measurable consequence already visible, multiple independent sources—not merely a news cycle. Items from 2024–2026 carry a visible Provisional tag until a later edition re-evaluates them. Landmarks of fast-moving fields (for example AI) are included as milestones such as papers, systems, or laws, not as product launches.
People
Auto-fill includes deceased people only. Living people appear only as anchors when their role is reasonably settled and the summary is strictly factual, without partisan framing. The contemporary era prefers events and institutions over personalities.
Writing standards
The tone is neutral and humane about violence and atrocity, without sensationalism. Summaries are written in original wording; uncertain figures are hedged. Dates follow historical convention (no year 0), with “c.” for approximations. Every anchor is meant to have a Wikipedia link plus at least one non-Wikipedia source that loads, and a second fact-check pass before it is marked checked.
Editions
Edition 1 is planned to lock on 31 December 2026. After that, editions are intended to be annual. Between editions the plan is to make corrections (errors, broken links) rather than add new items, and each edition can re-score the last five years: keep durable items, retire fads.