I think that episode on creation dates in different religions could be interesting. Perhaps just Christianity + Judaism could be a whole episode because as far I have checked it varies between 5592 BC and 3761 BC. It would be interesting to know why such big differences in calculations occurs (BTW I believe that Universe was created 13.787±0.020 billion years ago, so I am not a Young Earth Creationism, but I just wonder why those disparities in calculations occurred).
@@Hadar1991 Part of it is how you read the Tanakh/Bible. Bishop Ussher read it as a western style chronology with no symbolism, nothing left out. He got about 4000 BC. Similarly the some Jewish Scholars used similar methods to get 3761 BC as thr Official Jewish beginning of calendar, when world was created. But others read the same matter trying to read the way the authors intended it be written according to the style of writings of the day, and get longer timelines. For example Genesis Creation has 2 accounts which is written in the way old egyptian writings, each account stressing different themes. Others hit the high points of families, leaving out the dull in between generations.
No Please Don't Cover more Vintage Timelines. I love Vintage Timelines, and all you have to Say about them is Bad. You might say: "You don't Have to watch!" But I say: By doing so, you are still feeding the rest of the People False Information and I don't Like That. Please, Any other video but that.
He didn't even do a video on THIS chart... he just ranted for 20 minutes about the chart not being historically accurate... something basically obvious. It was a striking looking chart, it would have been nice to know more about the actual chart... to know more about what it IS, instead of what it ISN'T.
Seeing that truck at 6:58 makes me think that there are random moments in Matt's day where he stands up and yells "Quick! To the Useful Chartsmobile!" and speeds off into the distance to save rare charts.
Except that it assumes the "New" overwrites the "Old" - And that's generally NOT what happens. Just as an example, the many branches of Alexander's Greek Empire being subsumed into the Roman Empire - except that wasn't what happened - Greek became the lingua franca of the (Eastern) Roman Empire; Greek Gods (albeit with Latin names) became Roman Gods; and wealthy Romans deliberately employed (or enslaved!) Greek tutors to turn their children (sons) into little Greeks - and all this while a unified Empire was ruled from Rome - later on, the successor Empire went full Greek. So should it not be Rome being subsumed by Greece??? Or another example - the Norman French invaded and conquered Anglo Saxon England, yet within a couple of centuries, the descendants of the Conquerors were describing themselves as Anglo Saxons and speaking (ye olde) English...
@@michaelodonnell824 i like how it looks visually. I didn’t mean the contents of the chart were historically accurate, I meant the concept of history as rivers seems more true to reality than simple lines.
@@thescoobymike I think I understand what you are saying but, from what I understand about Ancient History, what we have traditionally seen as the replacement theory of Empires (wiping out the old and replacing it with the new), is today better understood as a possible new ruling caste, possibly influencing the culture, but the vast majority of the people being and remaining what they were for Centuries beforehand. Moreover, what historians understood as a "pure", "new" culture was often a syncretism of many different (both older and newer) cultures...
@@michaelodonnell824I actually see it as doing the opposite; when rivers merge, one doesn't replace the other. This shows the continuity of civilizations far better than terminating lines.
Matt Baker, i just want to mention how i appreciate your speech skills. People from my country don't speak English too well but i can always share your videos to them because it's always understandable. And even upping the video speed to x1.5 doesn't ruin it so thank you for that.
I agree that even if you think Young Earth Creationism is a hill you must die on, getting Egyptian pharaohs wildly out of sequence shouldn't be. Also, I'd definitely watch more videos like this.
The Egyptian pharoahs are horribly placed lol, not mentioned in the video but you can see Ozymandias as the 3rd ever Egyptian pharaoh, not long after the Tower of Babel. Ozymandias is just the Greek name for Ramesses II, the New Kingdom pharaoh who was already wrongly placed as mentioned in the video.
Noah: We need to build a giant boat and load two of every animal onto it. Gramps, you are in charge of the unicorns and the dinosaurs. Methuselah: I'm too old for this crap. *(dies)*
Wait…where’s my father Lamech. (Mesopotamian Trial) Judge: For killing a young man I sentence you to life in prison Lamech: I’m sorry but you got the wrong person
13:08 the fact that they marked GREECE as "half-civilized" even though they considered it the birthplace of civilization at the time is funny to me in a twisted way
i asssume because when this map was made (which was in 1827) greece was still part of the otoman empire and therefore had to color it as "half-civilized ". if it was made 4 years later *maybe* they would color it as " "civilized" ". and i'm double quoting it because i don't trust enough 19th century englishmen on writing that greece was "civilized"
@@Markusctfldl i think by "indigenous" , which is the most corporately politically correct word you can use, means the non Russian populations in Siberia
1:08 oh my god, that “Birds Eye view of the life of Christ” is so appealing to look at. Since religious history does so well on your channel, I’d love to see you walk through this map
Cheops (as well as Chephren and Mycerinus who are right after him on this chart) is very likely put so late because Herodotus, whose history of Egypt, while garbled, tends to get the pharaohs he mentions usually in the right order, somehow really misplaced the builders of the Great Pyramids and put them much later than where they should be, just before the Nubian conquest of Egypt. Basically, the Egyptian part of the chart looks like a rather bizarre synthesis of Herodotus, the Bible, Greek myths, and random other archaeological discoveries from the time before the chart was made.
It isn't put so late because of Herodotus, but rather because of Ussher himself (not that I agree with him). Ussher claims that the pyramids were built during a 15-year dodecarchy, based on a misinterpreted passage in Diodorus. What Diodorus was ACTUALLY Talking about was the fact that Esarheddon, king of Assyria, invaded Egypt, drove Taharka south, and set up a government of 12 petty kings in Egypt. This happened in 671 BC, and after 15 years, Psamtik I reconquered it all. But there is absolutely no evidence that the Pyramids were built during this time period. Actually, there is evidence to the contrary.
I sincerely believe your timeline of world history should be on the wall of every history class room and every lesson should start with the teacher pointing at it and saying "today we are talking about stuff that was happening here on the chart. I wanted this for years before I saw your chart and your chart is what I imagined it to be.
So future pupils will survive on a teaching diet of history frozen in the 1870s with Biblical antediluvian history make it out for human pre-history, 90% Eurocentric and outright racist approach to human biology?
Even if this particular timeline is out of date (which is most certainly is) it serves as an artifact of how past humans understood history and their place in it.
@@Wkumar07 You Realize the OLDER Sources are More Reliable... Right? Because Last time I Checked, The People who lived Closer to the Event know MORE about the Event Than WE EVER will! It's Like This: A Person Will Know their own Parents MORE than their Great-Grandchildren EVER will! You Would THINK that The People Knew what Happened as a Certain event is Going on. That said, People Are UTTERLY BRAINWASHED Into THINKING, into FEELING, that Archaeology is How we can Know History, When we can KNOW what Happened by Looking at Eye-Witness Accounts!
I had one of these that I obsessed over as a thirteen year old. I learned a lot of the broad strokes of ME and European history and I made my own timelines in the same style for fictional worlds. I really like the nation-river concept and the information density of this chart and hope a modern chart maker can make one as aesthetically pleasing and informative as this one ought to be.
Thank you! I find your charts fascinating. Not only the charts, but also your narration. One thing I would like to see is a chart/timeline of Rock music. It's always been interesting to me how different rock groups grew out of or were strongly influenced by other groups and/or musicians. I think that would be a great one.
I grew up with a version of this that extended to modern day but mostly only used it to look at the timeline of biblical characters and more modern European history, which as I understand it it handles reasonably well. It definitely isn’t reliable for the other portions of the world though and I noted that fairly early and so didn’t pay much attention to them.
I actually went back and pulled out the one I grew up with (called The Wall Chart of World History) and it has edited versions of a lot of the ancient history bits that Matt points out as way out of date like some of the earliest rulers of Egypt. There’s still a lot that is still out of date in my version but perhaps not quite as out of date as the 19th century version. But it is still largely based on the Edward Hull revision and is still a Victorian European biased view of history.
I think that if there is an educational application for this chart, it's as a viewpoint of how some people in the Victorian era saw history, even if it's not a good view of history itself.
Whether or not realizing, Matt did refute the claims of only 6,000 years for earth to exist in this video. And well, it is true that the begats don't mean what many Christians say they mean, that is, they don't mean immediate offspring, but are showing how long a generation was before our days were reduced to 120 and averaging about 70. A generation before the flood... well, it was hundreds of years, and includes offspring not even mentioned between the begats; now it's only dozens of years.
I went to a school where they taught young earth creationism. My middle school teacher had this on his wall and I always wondered about it. Great video!
I’ve had this chart on my wall for almost a decade, I eventually realized how limited/erroneous it was, but was always confused by the 1995 publishing date. 150 years ago makes so much sense!
Love your work! Unless we're looking at different versions of the chart, the Buddha is visible as "Gari-Ta-Ma (Sakya Muni) Buddha", just under the Athens label during the Greco-Persian Wars period. 00:12:29
I think an interesting case where this chart could be used as historical reference would be in getting a better understanding of the historical worldview of people in the time it was made, for example if you are writing a fictional story set in the 19th century and you have a character who is a historian or learning history, it could be a great reference to use to figure out how and what they would be learning in that context
@@odonnelldenise don't get me wrong, the understanding of the world that many people had in the past absolutely was racist, no ifs or buts about it. But studying and accurately depicting past worldviews, even with the unfortunate racist sides, is important to understanding the state of the world and education at the time. It doesn't excuse the wrongs of the past, just puts them into context
I'm a relative new comer, but you folks absolutely know how to scratch the itch I have in regards to learning more and more about history. One thing I ask, even tho it's a bit "off topic" compared some current posting would be a history of Armenia. I'm 1/4 Armenian and the fact that they are one of the world's oldest people is often over looked. Thanks for what you do!
I really wish there was a website that laid out the history of the world with vetted citations that was updated as new discoveries were made. Would be so valuable to understand history for those that like visual representations like this chart. May even help see holes in our knowledge and areas that would benefit from further study.
I've seen some websites that attempted to do universal timelines like that. The problem is mostly that there's _so much stuff_ that you pretty much have to either pick and choose what to include, or have your timeline so bloated that it would be absolutely useless (and then, in the later parts, still pick and choose, if you want it legible at all). What counts as an important enough historical event to be included in the history? Would it depend on how much records we have from the area at all? If so, how? There'd be tons of complicated rules about it and it would probably end up with a huge slant anyway. (In addition, the "vetted citations" bit might be tricky; AFAIK, a lot of what's thought to be well-established history actually goes back to very obscure and/or very cursory research, and most sources just quote from each other. Unless they did the entire reasoning basically from scratch, your vetted citation might well itself depend on a source that quoted something that shouldn't have been trusted.) For a lower threshold of "vetted citations", I suppose the year/decade/century pages at Wikipedia are trying to do something similar to this...
I just saw the thumbnail and had to post that I absolutely loved this chart as a kid, first seeing it in my elementary school. I eventually got one for myself at home. I look forward to you absolutely wrecking it, because I'm sure it's wildly inaccurate for a ton of different reasons. But it looked so neat!
Just so you all know. The narrator isn’t saying the chart or chart maker is racist is the same sense that we use the word racism today in modern times. He means old definition of racism. He means they quite literally believed that their race is superior or better than other races or that a certain race is lower than all other races. Not like today when it means power dynamics and benefiting from systems. He means they actually think their race is better than another unlike today where you are racist by simply being. Racist for existing.
I've the "Barnes and Noble" version that you mentioned towards the end since 1998! I'm no historian and yet I had enough sense to know that it was more of a cool art piece, maybe something to use to get hints for what parts of history to deep dive on using other source material, than as a source itself. This was a great video, thanks for putting it together!
thank you calling out this chart out, some people still think this is educational and push it as that. It is historical only in so far as how ethnocentrism can continue to be reinforced.
I remember seeing this in a classroom as a child. I also have seen it in churches, Sunday schools, elementary schools, and even High schools at the time I was attending back in the day. This was long before the bars on the doors and windows.
I have this book from the Third Millennium Press, it was a gift from my uncle. I sometimes look through it as a sort layman’s summary of Biblical history. Though the Tower of Babel bit does raise the question why China was included with the Near Easterners when India wasn’t, as they were pretty similarly powerful civilisations, and India was closer, and Indians were considered more anthropologically similar to Europeans.
Love the classic, information dense, style of this chart. A lot of charts these days look like they were designed for PowerPoint. Matt, perhaps you could produce a video commentary on the famous timeline, Napoleonic France’s Invasion of Russia by Charles Joseph Minard, 1869.
15:51 - Today I learned that Ozymandias (who has absolutely nothing to do with Ramses II apparently) was the 2nd ruler of Egypt and lived long before the first pyramids were built
I actually looked it up because of this chart and learned that the Greek name Ozymandias derives from Ramses II throne name, User-Maat-Ra Setep-en-Ra. Even bad charts can lead to real curiosity. The real tragedy is when people just accept the silly assertions of religious leaders.
We had this chart in our school library when I was a kid and always loved it. So I just had to pick it up when I saw it for just 3€ at a thrift store recently. Although I have to admit that I was quite shocked seeing some of the questionable decisions made, now that I have studied history. But still a visually very appealing chart.
10:36 We know at least 10 times more about world history now than we did in Adams' day, so we should make a chart at least 10 times bigger than his one.
I only recently discovered this chart and what a coincedence to see it covered here! It's really fascinating as a historical artefact, but I'm quite surprised and puzzled to know that someone actually uses it as a genuine information source
very interesting content as per usual, I for one would love to see other vintage historical charts. it's important not just to know the past but to know how our perceptions of the past have changed over time.
Years ago (before I found your channel) I was looking for a large history of the world map for my history classroom. I was so excited when I found this timeline on Amazon until I noticed the things you pointed out in the video. Definitely not good for an education environment!! Your collection looks fascinating and I would love to see more old charts/timelines please!
I use it in my current Sunday school class. The genealogies at the top are exactly laid out as the Bible lays them out, and for that reason alone (amongst many others) it’s a highly useful educational tools.
I was wondering if you could do a chart about the ancient Greek heroes? Where do characters like Perseus, Heracles, Achilles, and other heroes fall in relation to each other and their legendary deeds?
8:46 You might consider publishing a chart which compares the two different timelines generated from the Masoretic versus the Septuagint texts with their differing ages for these patriarchs.
16:00 The chart actually lists the first pharaoh as "MIZRAIM or MENES descdt. of HAM." Menes is the traditional name for the first pharaoh, and modern scholars identify him with Narmer. Alternatively, if Narmer didn't unify Egypt himself, then Menes might be his successor Hor-Aha. So the chart gets that part kind of right. The inclusion of Busiris is silly, though.
Omg I had this chart, it was massive!!! I never had the room to put it up, and ended up giving it away but have been sad about that, but now I know what it's called and that it's not accurate!! THANK YOU!
When I was in Bible college, my school bought one of the variations of this time chart and put it up on the wall. They were a little harder to come by in those days. Anyway, this one had clearly been modified by some Mormons, who added a big section of phony Mormon history, which the people in my Bible college did not notice until quite a few years later on. Which was pretty funny all the way around.
Loved this video! I hadn't really heard about this timeline, but I feel like I've seen it before during my early years at a Catholic school. Would love to see more videos about timelines like this!
I'd be incredibly interested in seeing what something like this extending back to when modern humans first developed and following major people groups in this parting and merging river delta style would look like. It sounds almost like one of those grand projects of codifying religious orthodoxy you hear about in stories of antiquity. I can't help but think it'd be a much more valuable format of textbooking than the system often employed that treats different kingdoms and empires as their own worlds and only acknowledges the outside world when it becomes impossible to just ignore.
The reason that it calls India half civilized and starts with Babur is linked. There was a theory that great conquerors were the main civilizing force in history. Mill uses another Mughul in his wishy-washy condemnation of British colonialism in India.
Great presentation as always, Matt. Your channel came to mind yesterday as I was listening to Philosophize This! and wondering about a chart illustrating various key philosophers over time and arranged by their respective parts of the world (much like your Timeline of World History that hangs on my wall). When I searched for something like that, I only found western philosophers. If you're looking for a new project, this would be a super useful chart!
@@UsefulCharts to the both of you. This fantastic book does exactly that and features various charts to elucidate: The Sociology of Philosophies by Randall Collins. - Though, it's certainly not a quick read and a UsefulCharts makeover would be welcomed.
Hi Matt, what a chart, I have been through it and it leaves me with a lot of questions. But as you mentioned its made with the knowledge people had in the victorian age. Most surprising is that they use the roman names for the greek gods and deities. anyway great vid, please do more and maybe even an in depth one?
I'd love to see you recreate this chart, correcting for the mistakes & prejudices you noted and still using the Bible as the outline of history, only update to current archeological understandings of such things.
@usefulcharts I love seeing the old charts and exploring the point of views of their creators. I’d love to see a chart on the history of theatre and could end with a chart of west end and Broadway shows and their runs
Hey Useful Charts, you should make your own new, true, and improved version of the synchronological chart/map of history with what what has actually happened in history both past/present and does not have a bias view on how it sees people and cultures, and if you could try to make it big like the adam one that would be amazing.
I kinda like what they’re currently doing with focusing on detailed chunks. The issue with trying to squeeze everything in one place, is that human history is way more dense than most people realize. Someone would be disappointed that their favorite bit was minimized or left off. Plus, honestly, the “flow of history” concept would be really difficult to separate from its European-centric origins. Kinda like how the “Progress of Evolution” image, leaves off important details, because it’s focused on homo sapiens as a culmination, or the end goal, of hominid phylogeny. But maybe that’s an acceptable challenge. :D
I agree that this map can serve as a useful starting point to spark interest and curiosity. While it has inaccuracies or presents a particular perspective, I see it as a learning experience as well: it’s important to cross-reference with multiple sources for a more comprehensive understanding. I believe the Bible to be inerrant and accept an estimate of around 6,000 years, even though others may have different views. That said, I still see value in the other corrections Matt made-correcting mistakes is a valuable part of the learning process. Thank you again for the insightful commentary! I love the van.
I saw various charts growing up, but never saw or heard of Adam’s chart until five or so years ago. I was into history since grade school (1980’s) and collected old textbooks all the way back to the 1940’s by my late teens. I wonder if the chart isn’t in the US as much as other English speaking areas.
It'd be interesting to see an actual modern version of something like this. A large, detailed chart of all the known civilizations and cultures that have existed throughout time utilizing modern historian understanding of historical events, separated by chronology and geography, showing influences and geographical extent throughout time. Maybe even some small trivia on some of the civilizations when there's some important piece that can't be easily shown on the map. Maybe make it 21 ft long to account for the extra history that has happened.
Sign up for a 14-day free trial of MyHeritage now:
bit.ly/UsefulCharts_July23
more charts please
Yes please cover timelines! Funny I just bought the Adams timeline😒
I think that episode on creation dates in different religions could be interesting. Perhaps just Christianity + Judaism could be a whole episode because as far I have checked it varies between 5592 BC and 3761 BC. It would be interesting to know why such big differences in calculations occurs (BTW I believe that Universe was created 13.787±0.020 billion years ago, so I am not a Young Earth Creationism, but I just wonder why those disparities in calculations occurred).
@@Hadar1991 Part of it is how you read the Tanakh/Bible.
Bishop Ussher read it as a western style chronology with no symbolism, nothing left out. He got about 4000 BC. Similarly the some Jewish Scholars used similar methods to get 3761 BC as thr Official Jewish beginning of calendar, when world was created.
But others read the same matter trying to read the way the authors intended it be written according to the style of writings of the day, and get longer timelines. For example Genesis Creation has 2 accounts which is written in the way old egyptian writings, each account stressing different themes. Others hit the high points of families, leaving out the dull in between generations.
I assume MyHeritage is only for European's descents... I doubt they can retrace the genealogy of an young african women like me...
Please do more videos about your old charts! It would be a fascinating series!
Same
Yes Please!
yes, please!
No Please Don't Cover more Vintage Timelines. I love Vintage Timelines, and all you have to Say about them is Bad.
You might say: "You don't Have to watch!"
But I say: By doing so, you are still feeding the rest of the People False Information and I don't Like That. Please, Any other video but that.
He didn't even do a video on THIS chart... he just ranted for 20 minutes about the chart not being historically accurate... something basically obvious. It was a striking looking chart, it would have been nice to know more about the actual chart... to know more about what it IS, instead of what it ISN'T.
Seeing that truck at 6:58 makes me think that there are random moments in Matt's day where he stands up and yells "Quick! To the Useful Chartsmobile!" and speeds off into the distance to save rare charts.
I wouldn't want to live in a world where that's NOT the case
Totally happens.
*cartoon zoom and spin effect
Heheheee 😂😂
Nice to see AncientAmericas out here. Love your channel also.
I love the chart that depicts history as rivers! That’s so clever and more accurate in a way than regular charts
Except that it assumes the "New" overwrites the "Old" - And that's generally NOT what happens.
Just as an example, the many branches of Alexander's Greek Empire being subsumed into the Roman Empire - except that wasn't what happened - Greek became the lingua franca of the (Eastern) Roman Empire; Greek Gods (albeit with Latin names) became Roman Gods; and wealthy Romans deliberately employed (or enslaved!) Greek tutors to turn their children (sons) into little Greeks - and all this while a unified Empire was ruled from Rome - later on, the successor Empire went full Greek. So should it not be Rome being subsumed by Greece???
Or another example - the Norman French invaded and conquered Anglo Saxon England, yet within a couple of centuries, the descendants of the Conquerors were describing themselves as Anglo Saxons and speaking (ye olde) English...
@@michaelodonnell824 i like how it looks visually. I didn’t mean the contents of the chart were historically accurate, I meant the concept of history as rivers seems more true to reality than simple lines.
@@thescoobymike I think I understand what you are saying but, from what I understand about Ancient History, what we have traditionally seen as the replacement theory of Empires (wiping out the old and replacing it with the new), is today better understood as a possible new ruling caste, possibly influencing the culture, but the vast majority of the people being and remaining what they were for Centuries beforehand.
Moreover, what historians understood as a "pure", "new" culture was often a syncretism of many different (both older and newer) cultures...
@@michaelodonnell824 no one is denying that
@@michaelodonnell824I actually see it as doing the opposite; when rivers merge, one doesn't replace the other. This shows the continuity of civilizations far better than terminating lines.
Matt Baker, i just want to mention how i appreciate your speech skills. People from my country don't speak English too well but i can always share your videos to them because it's always understandable. And even upping the video speed to x1.5 doesn't ruin it so thank you for that.
Thanks. I think's it's partly due to the fact that I used to teach ESL.
Hey Yucca, where are you from?
I find your voice and cadence so soothing. Please consider just reading history books for people fall asleep to. 😄
@@helenat2446I am not a history guy really but I always find myself listening to this guy late at night when I’m about to sleep
I agree that even if you think Young Earth Creationism is a hill you must die on, getting Egyptian pharaohs wildly out of sequence shouldn't be. Also, I'd definitely watch more videos like this.
The Egyptian pharoahs are horribly placed lol, not mentioned in the video but you can see Ozymandias as the 3rd ever Egyptian pharaoh, not long after the Tower of Babel. Ozymandias is just the Greek name for Ramesses II, the New Kingdom pharaoh who was already wrongly placed as mentioned in the video.
I don't think most people realize how much historical knowledge has advanced since the time this chart was produced
Noah: We need to build a giant boat and load two of every animal onto it. Gramps, you are in charge of the unicorns and the dinosaurs.
Methuselah: I'm too old for this crap. *(dies)*
..... okay this is gold
Wait…where’s my father Lamech.
(Mesopotamian Trial)
Judge: For killing a young man
I sentence you to life in prison
Lamech: I’m sorry but you got the wrong person
Unicorns are just single horned rhinos
@@scripturequest no they are not, they are horses with built-in knives
@@NAATHAAN Unicorns are of course horses with one-point headed antlers.
13:08 the fact that they marked GREECE as "half-civilized" even though they considered it the birthplace of civilization at the time is funny to me in a twisted way
i asssume because when this map was made (which was in 1827) greece was still part of the otoman empire and therefore had to color it as "half-civilized ". if it was made 4 years later *maybe* they would color it as " "civilized" ". and i'm double quoting it because i don't trust enough 19th century englishmen on writing that greece was "civilized"
Not only that, but the Russian Empire is mostly "Barbarian" and "Savage": which, I assume, would not have pleased Catherine the Great.
@@henrygaida7048that’s because the Indigenous Russian populations weren’t seen as the same way White European Russians were.
Greece lost their civilised title when the Turks invaded and occupied it
@@Markusctfldl i think by "indigenous" , which is the most corporately politically correct word you can use, means the non Russian populations in Siberia
1:08 oh my god, that “Birds Eye view of the life of Christ” is so appealing to look at. Since religious history does so well on your channel, I’d love to see you walk through this map
Cheops (as well as Chephren and Mycerinus who are right after him on this chart) is very likely put so late because Herodotus, whose history of Egypt, while garbled, tends to get the pharaohs he mentions usually in the right order, somehow really misplaced the builders of the Great Pyramids and put them much later than where they should be, just before the Nubian conquest of Egypt. Basically, the Egyptian part of the chart looks like a rather bizarre synthesis of Herodotus, the Bible, Greek myths, and random other archaeological discoveries from the time before the chart was made.
Most usefull chart ehm comment!
It isn't put so late because of Herodotus, but rather because of Ussher himself (not that I agree with him). Ussher claims that the pyramids were built during a 15-year dodecarchy, based on a misinterpreted passage in Diodorus. What Diodorus was ACTUALLY Talking about was the fact that Esarheddon, king of Assyria, invaded Egypt, drove Taharka south, and set up a government of 12 petty kings in Egypt. This happened in 671 BC, and after 15 years, Psamtik I reconquered it all. But there is absolutely no evidence that the Pyramids were built during this time period. Actually, there is evidence to the contrary.
I sincerely believe your timeline of world history should be on the wall of every history class room and every lesson should start with the teacher pointing at it and saying "today we are talking about stuff that was happening here on the chart. I wanted this for years before I saw your chart and your chart is what I imagined it to be.
So future pupils will survive on a teaching diet of history frozen in the 1870s with Biblical antediluvian history make it out for human pre-history, 90% Eurocentric and outright racist approach to human biology?
Even if this particular timeline is out of date (which is most certainly is) it serves as an artifact of how past humans understood history and their place in it.
Yup.
@@UsefulCharts thank you for such an excellent channel! I recommend it to my friends who love history.
This Timeline is Not out of Date. There is No Such Thing as "Out-Of-Date" History.
@@Logan_Bishop_YT history is constantly being reassessed and looked at differently.
@@Wkumar07 You Realize the OLDER Sources are More Reliable... Right? Because Last time I Checked, The People who lived Closer to the Event know MORE about the Event Than WE EVER will!
It's Like This: A Person Will Know their own Parents MORE than their Great-Grandchildren EVER will!
You Would THINK that The People Knew what Happened as a Certain event is Going on. That said, People Are UTTERLY BRAINWASHED Into THINKING, into FEELING, that Archaeology is How we can Know History, When we can KNOW what Happened by Looking at Eye-Witness Accounts!
I had one of these that I obsessed over as a thirteen year old. I learned a lot of the broad strokes of ME and European history and I made my own timelines in the same style for fictional worlds. I really like the nation-river concept and the information density of this chart and hope a modern chart maker can make one as aesthetically pleasing and informative as this one ought to be.
Thank you! I find your charts fascinating. Not only the charts, but also your narration. One thing I would like to see is a chart/timeline of Rock music. It's always been interesting to me how different rock groups grew out of or were strongly influenced by other groups and/or musicians. I think that would be a great one.
That pattern would look like a chart that portrays sects splitting off from mainline Protestantism, i. e. very chaotic I imagine.
Someone's already done that, it's called "Rock Family Trees" if I remember correctly, and is fascinating.
This was extremely interesting! Exactly the sort of content I'd expect from this channel, while still being a breath of fresh air.
My Grandpa gave me a copy of this. I gave up trying to understand it after the first page
Yeah it looks like a mess and a over complicated one at that
AMONG US
I grew up with a version of this that extended to modern day but mostly only used it to look at the timeline of biblical characters and more modern European history, which as I understand it it handles reasonably well. It definitely isn’t reliable for the other portions of the world though and I noted that fairly early and so didn’t pay much attention to them.
I actually went back and pulled out the one I grew up with (called The Wall Chart of World History) and it has edited versions of a lot of the ancient history bits that Matt points out as way out of date like some of the earliest rulers of Egypt. There’s still a lot that is still out of date in my version but perhaps not quite as out of date as the 19th century version.
But it is still largely based on the Edward Hull revision and is still a Victorian European biased view of history.
I think that if there is an educational application for this chart, it's as a viewpoint of how some people in the Victorian era saw history, even if it's not a good view of history itself.
Of course! Historiography is something that people should study and appreciate, but it's important to divorce that from our understanding of History.
Yay, I like when Matt has strong opinions.
I agree! And the fact that he's normally so inclusive and diplomatic makes it all the more poignant when he does!
Whether or not realizing, Matt did refute the claims of only 6,000 years for earth to exist in this video. And well, it is true that the begats don't mean what many Christians say they mean, that is, they don't mean immediate offspring, but are showing how long a generation was before our days were reduced to 120 and averaging about 70. A generation before the flood... well, it was hundreds of years, and includes offspring not even mentioned between the begats; now it's only dozens of years.
I love the look of that chart.
It's a shame no one seems to have bothered doing a historically accurate revision.
No it's not, that chart is it's own history lmao
@@gusto8069I don't understand what you're trying to say.
I went to a school where they taught young earth creationism. My middle school teacher had this on his wall and I always wondered about it. Great video!
I’ve had this chart on my wall for almost a decade, I eventually realized how limited/erroneous it was, but was always confused by the 1995 publishing date. 150 years ago makes so much sense!
Love your work! Unless we're looking at different versions of the chart, the Buddha is visible as "Gari-Ta-Ma (Sakya Muni) Buddha", just under the Athens label during the Greco-Persian Wars period. 00:12:29
Ah! There he is! Good catch.
I can't get enough of your videos and every time you upload I get excited which is currently the only channel on YT that does that for me. Ty
I think that Egyptian histography (i.e. how people told Egyptian history throughout the ages) is almost as interesting as Egyptian history itself.
Yeeeaaahhh.... I can see that!
I think an interesting case where this chart could be used as historical reference would be in getting a better understanding of the historical worldview of people in the time it was made, for example if you are writing a fictional story set in the 19th century and you have a character who is a historian or learning history, it could be a great reference to use to figure out how and what they would be learning in that context
Yes. Thank you for saying so. I find it infantile and condescending to slap the term "racist" on period pieces.
@@odonnelldenise don't get me wrong, the understanding of the world that many people had in the past absolutely was racist, no ifs or buts about it. But studying and accurately depicting past worldviews, even with the unfortunate racist sides, is important to understanding the state of the world and education at the time. It doesn't excuse the wrongs of the past, just puts them into context
I'm a relative new comer, but you folks absolutely know how to scratch the itch I have in regards to learning more and more about history. One thing I ask, even tho it's a bit "off topic" compared some current posting would be a history of Armenia. I'm 1/4 Armenian and the fact that they are one of the world's oldest people is often over looked. Thanks for what you do!
Epimetheus did an Armenia video awhile back.
I really wish there was a website that laid out the history of the world with vetted citations that was updated as new discoveries were made. Would be so valuable to understand history for those that like visual representations like this chart. May even help see holes in our knowledge and areas that would benefit from further study.
It truly would be helpful especially to those not well versed in history they could look at it and discover important events that they had no clue of
yup
I've seen some websites that attempted to do universal timelines like that. The problem is mostly that there's _so much stuff_ that you pretty much have to either pick and choose what to include, or have your timeline so bloated that it would be absolutely useless (and then, in the later parts, still pick and choose, if you want it legible at all).
What counts as an important enough historical event to be included in the history? Would it depend on how much records we have from the area at all? If so, how? There'd be tons of complicated rules about it and it would probably end up with a huge slant anyway.
(In addition, the "vetted citations" bit might be tricky; AFAIK, a lot of what's thought to be well-established history actually goes back to very obscure and/or very cursory research, and most sources just quote from each other. Unless they did the entire reasoning basically from scratch, your vetted citation might well itself depend on a source that quoted something that shouldn't have been trusted.)
For a lower threshold of "vetted citations", I suppose the year/decade/century pages at Wikipedia are trying to do something similar to this...
@@january1mayThe problem is that now you have to please everybody rather than just white people.
I like the visuals of rivers flowing down.
It makes sense. When a river merge to another river, it’s still a river.
and since the Ancient Greeks time has been a river too.
I just saw the thumbnail and had to post that I absolutely loved this chart as a kid, first seeing it in my elementary school. I eventually got one for myself at home. I look forward to you absolutely wrecking it, because I'm sure it's wildly inaccurate for a ton of different reasons. But it looked so neat!
another great video!! You have a gift of explaining all sides of history respectfully. truly enjoy your videos
Just so you all know. The narrator isn’t saying the chart or chart maker is racist is the same sense that we use the word racism today in modern times. He means old definition of racism. He means they quite literally believed that their race is superior or better than other races or that a certain race is lower than all other races. Not like today when it means power dynamics and benefiting from systems. He means they actually think their race is better than another unlike today where you are racist by simply being. Racist for existing.
I've the "Barnes and Noble" version that you mentioned towards the end since 1998! I'm no historian and yet I had enough sense to know that it was more of a cool art piece, maybe something to use to get hints for what parts of history to deep dive on using other source material, than as a source itself. This was a great video, thanks for putting it together!
my, my; you are a jewel. A really rare one indeed. Keep up with your work and I'll keep watching.
thank you calling out this chart out, some people still think this is educational and push it as that. It is historical only in so far as how ethnocentrism can continue to be reinforced.
I remember seeing this in a classroom as a child. I also have seen it in churches, Sunday schools, elementary schools, and even High schools at the time I was attending back in the day. This was long before the bars on the doors and windows.
Yes please more videos like this. I am a fan
I have this book from the Third Millennium Press, it was a gift from my uncle. I sometimes look through it as a sort layman’s summary of Biblical history. Though the Tower of Babel bit does raise the question why China was included with the Near Easterners when India wasn’t, as they were pretty similarly powerful civilisations, and India was closer, and Indians were considered more anthropologically similar to Europeans.
Love the classic, information dense, style of this chart. A lot of charts these days look like they were designed for PowerPoint.
Matt, perhaps you could produce a video commentary on the famous timeline, Napoleonic France’s Invasion of Russia by Charles Joseph Minard, 1869.
15:51 - Today I learned that Ozymandias (who has absolutely nothing to do with Ramses II apparently) was the 2nd ruler of Egypt and lived long before the first pyramids were built
Nooooooooooooo :)
I actually looked it up because of this chart and learned that the Greek name Ozymandias derives from Ramses II throne name, User-Maat-Ra Setep-en-Ra. Even bad charts can lead to real curiosity. The real tragedy is when people just accept the silly assertions of religious leaders.
Nothing beside remains
We had this chart in our school library when I was a kid and always loved it. So I just had to pick it up when I saw it for just 3€ at a thrift store recently.
Although I have to admit that I was quite shocked seeing some of the questionable decisions made, now that I have studied history.
But still a visually very appealing chart.
Matt Baker here trying to discredit the competition.
Except he regularly shouts out good maps/creators.
I think discrediting something from 150 years ago is fair game. I wouldn't do the same to a modern designer.
@@UsefulCharts Agreed and agreed. I think my humor fell flat. Apologies if you felt I was calling you out.
10:36 We know at least 10 times more about world history now than we did in Adams' day, so we should make a chart at least 10 times bigger than his one.
You first!
@@yrobtsvt : )
Make a crowd sourced tool and you got it in a week.
Thank you for reviewing the charts. The charts and your discussion points are very interesting.
Great video. Thank you! Makes me think of Clarence Larkens’ chart: Gods Dispensational and Prophetic Plan.
I LOVE Clarence Larkin! I don't agree with him but I LOVE his chart style!
I only recently discovered this chart and what a coincedence to see it covered here! It's really fascinating as a historical artefact, but I'm quite surprised and puzzled to know that someone actually uses it as a genuine information source
I agree you should do a whole video on vintage charts
very interesting content as per usual, I for one would love to see other vintage historical charts. it's important not just to know the past but to know how our perceptions of the past have changed over time.
Awesome and inspiring chart! Was surprised to realize I wasn't subscribed, but I fixed that.
It would be really nice to have an expanded version of your timeline charts
Hang on... UsefulCharts Van! 😀
Years ago (before I found your channel) I was looking for a large history of the world map for my history classroom. I was so excited when I found this timeline on Amazon until I noticed the things you pointed out in the video. Definitely not good for an education environment!! Your collection looks fascinating and I would love to see more old charts/timelines please!
I use it in my current Sunday school class. The genealogies at the top are exactly laid out as the Bible lays them out, and for that reason alone (amongst many others) it’s a highly useful educational tools.
I bought this chart years ago in a hard cover book format on a discount table at Barns and Nobel. Thanks for explaining it.
I was wondering if you could do a chart about the ancient Greek heroes? Where do characters like Perseus, Heracles, Achilles, and other heroes fall in relation to each other and their legendary deeds?
I remember this from long ago, and it sparked my interest in chronology and timelines! Faults and biases aside it’s very pretty v-v
Same.
I would totally ADORE more videos about the history of history timelines! Perhaps a meta-chart is in order?
Chinese knew how to use knifes and forks to eat long before the Barbarians know how to cook their food !
The moment you said "19th century Oregon" I was like "oh this is gonna get HELLA racist"
8:46 You might consider publishing a chart which compares the two different timelines generated from the Masoretic versus the Septuagint texts with their differing ages for these patriarchs.
Very interesting episode indeed. So important that we have these conversations.
I got this chart for my 10th birthday from my dad. I have very fond memories looking through it.
I would love to see more old history charts!
"Scandinavia: Settled by Odin in 70 B.C."
16:00 The chart actually lists the first pharaoh as "MIZRAIM or MENES descdt. of HAM." Menes is the traditional name for the first pharaoh, and modern scholars identify him with Narmer. Alternatively, if Narmer didn't unify Egypt himself, then Menes might be his successor Hor-Aha. So the chart gets that part kind of right. The inclusion of Busiris is silly, though.
Omg I had this chart, it was massive!!! I never had the room to put it up, and ended up giving it away but have been sad about that, but now I know what it's called and that it's not accurate!! THANK YOU!
Very interesting subject I never have given much thought to before but really got me thinking 🤔
When I was in Bible college, my school bought one of the variations of this time chart and put it up on the wall. They were a little harder to come by in those days. Anyway, this one had clearly been modified by some Mormons, who added a big section of phony Mormon history, which the people in my Bible college did not notice until quite a few years later on. Which was pretty funny all the way around.
I've seen that version. Among other things, they placed the Garden of Eden in northwestern Missouri.
@@darreljones8645 bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha! The hilarious thing is how long it took the school to notice
Great review of it.
Loved this video! I hadn't really heard about this timeline, but I feel like I've seen it before during my early years at a Catholic school. Would love to see more videos about timelines like this!
I'd be incredibly interested in seeing what something like this extending back to when modern humans first developed and following major people groups in this parting and merging river delta style would look like.
It sounds almost like one of those grand projects of codifying religious orthodoxy you hear about in stories of antiquity.
I can't help but think it'd be a much more valuable format of textbooking than the system often employed that treats different kingdoms and empires as their own worlds and only acknowledges the outside world when it becomes impossible to just ignore.
The reason that it calls India half civilized and starts with Babur is linked. There was a theory that great conquerors were the main civilizing force in history. Mill uses another Mughul in his wishy-washy condemnation of British colonialism in India.
Great presentation as always, Matt. Your channel came to mind yesterday as I was listening to Philosophize This! and wondering about a chart illustrating various key philosophers over time and arranged by their respective parts of the world (much like your Timeline of World History that hangs on my wall). When I searched for something like that, I only found western philosophers. If you're looking for a new project, this would be a super useful chart!
It's been on my to-do list for years. I do hope I eventually have the time to do something like that.
@@UsefulCharts Cool! I'll keep an eye out, and will enjoy plenty other excellent charts and videos in the meantime, I'm sure.
@@UsefulCharts to the both of you. This fantastic book does exactly that and features various charts to elucidate: The Sociology of Philosophies by Randall Collins. - Though, it's certainly not a quick read and a UsefulCharts makeover would be welcomed.
@@MikaEfrat1 Thanks, I'll check it out.
Man you do fascinating works.
I'm curious which charts do you recommend and where can they be bought?
I had this as a huge foldout when I was young (folded into a book binder). I was fascinated by the style and artwork but never took it seriously.
OMGGG this chart was literally my childhood lol, I love that you covered it 💞
That property is amazing! What a great result, just terrific!
Do you have the 1883 Forlong Rivers of Life chart - I have one of those and I would enjoy seeing your take on it.
No, but I just downloaded it. Will have a look.
This is great! Always such quality work. Thank you
6:58 I had no clue there was an official Useful Charts-mobile
Hi Matt, what a chart, I have been through it and it leaves me with a lot of questions. But as you mentioned its made with the knowledge people had in the victorian age. Most surprising is that they use the roman names for the greek gods and deities. anyway great vid, please do more and maybe even an in depth one?
I think generally western europeans tended to see rome as superior to greece at that time, which is probably why they used the roman names
It's beautiful. I would love it in scroll type though, not a book. Folded paper is easy to tear
Lemme tell you, Mr. Adams was right about one thing: It's a mad, mad, mad, mad world out there!
This was really cool, I'd love to see you delve more into your collection of old charts and show us some of the more interesting ones
I'd love to see you recreate this chart, correcting for the mistakes & prejudices you noted and still using the Bible as the outline of history, only update to current archeological understandings of such things.
@usefulcharts I love seeing the old charts and exploring the point of views of their creators. I’d love to see a chart on the history of theatre and could end with a chart of west end and Broadway shows and their runs
Hey Useful Charts, you should make your own new, true, and improved version of the synchronological chart/map of history with what what has actually happened in history both past/present and does not have a bias view on how it sees people and cultures, and if you could try to make it big like the adam one that would be amazing.
I kinda like what they’re currently doing with focusing on detailed chunks. The issue with trying to squeeze everything in one place, is that human history is way more dense than most people realize. Someone would be disappointed that their favorite bit was minimized or left off.
Plus, honestly, the “flow of history” concept would be really difficult to separate from its European-centric origins. Kinda like how the “Progress of Evolution” image, leaves off important details, because it’s focused on homo sapiens as a culmination, or the end goal, of hominid phylogeny.
But maybe that’s an acceptable challenge. :D
Loved this video.
We want more.
When you make a map like this yourself, tell us. Im going to preorder one
I agree that this map can serve as a useful starting point to spark interest and curiosity. While it has inaccuracies or presents a particular perspective, I see it as a learning experience as well: it’s important to cross-reference with multiple sources for a more comprehensive understanding. I believe the Bible to be inerrant and accept an estimate of around 6,000 years, even though others may have different views. That said, I still see value in the other corrections Matt made-correcting mistakes is a valuable part of the learning process. Thank you again for the insightful commentary! I love the van.
How tall and how long is it outside of USA, Liberia and Myanmar?
Neat topic for today!
I have this chart in book form. It's a giant book that opens all the across the room.
It's awesome!
Awesome, I sure would enjoy more of this kind o content, well researched and balanced.
I once tried the math version of Genesis to see all the dates, lifetimes and their relationships. Not easy. But doable.
I saw various charts growing up, but never saw or heard of Adam’s chart until five or so years ago. I was into history since grade school (1980’s) and collected old textbooks all the way back to the 1940’s by my late teens. I wonder if the chart isn’t in the US as much as other English speaking areas.
Great video. I would love to see more like this!
This is actually very useful, I’d love more timeline reviews!
It'd be interesting to see an actual modern version of something like this. A large, detailed chart of all the known civilizations and cultures that have existed throughout time utilizing modern historian understanding of historical events, separated by chronology and geography, showing influences and geographical extent throughout time. Maybe even some small trivia on some of the civilizations when there's some important piece that can't be easily shown on the map. Maybe make it 21 ft long to account for the extra history that has happened.
And make it racist as well
@@only_fair23 umm no. That’d make it worse than useless
Today I learned that Matt has a "Useful Charts" work van because, of course he does!!