Humanity and everything we know is absolutely insignificant not only in the universe but in the existence of our planet. Earth formed about 4.5 billion years ago and went from being an extremely hostile object (a steam rock above 3,500 degrees) to an object with the perfect cocktail to evolve over millions of years.

The process was slow, very slow, and in this impressive video we can see the summary of thousands of years in just a few minutes.

Everything stopped until the moon came. Initially there was nothing to see in this simulation. The planet was at 3,700 degrees and had… well, no atmosphere. There is no data on how long the days were at that time, but after a few million years the Milky Way began to take shape. The Moon was created and at the same time balanced the rotation of a very young Earth orbiting a young Sun. The days lasted just over four hours and the atmosphere was completely toxic.

This was also the time when ‘primordial soup’ formed from primitive oceans that already had some organic molecules due to the impact of different meteorites. About 4 billion years ago the temperature dropped to a more comfortable 63 degrees and a magnetic field was created. It is estimated to have between 10% and 50% of its current strength, and after being bombarded by meteorites for 300 million years, its impact frequency has decreased.

Wait, something might be cooking here. The first cyanobacteria may have appeared a billion years after the formation of the Earth. Considering this, there was already some life, but it is estimated that the first organism capable of photosynthesis appeared 3.4 billion years ago. There was evidence of oxygen, but it was not atmospheric, because it would take another few million years for it to arrive and photosynthesis was anoxygenic. At that time, the atmosphere was still composed of nitrogen, with small amounts of methane, argon, and carbon dioxide also present. The average temperature had already dropped to 25 degrees.

first supercontinent. Although some land formations already existed, Vaalbara, a supercontinent whose existence has been debated over the years and gave rise to the Kaapvaal (which would now be in South Africa) and the Pilbara cratons, is estimated to have arisen 3.3 billion years ago. located in Western Australia). These two are the oldest regions of continental crust on Earth.

It is estimated that the first bacteria appeared shortly after, and interestingly, after developing at a good pace, everything stopped for a billion years. Yes, the days were getting longer, the average temperature was dropping, and there was already a tiny percentage of oxygen in the atmosphere about 3 billion years ago, but there was no significant progress after the first Ice Age 2800 million years ago. Earth with an average temperature of 10 degrees. The first ice age lasted approximately 120 million years.

Oceans turned red due to oxidation of iron 2.5 billion years ago

red oceans. After about 400 million years, oxygen began to increase rapidly. If nothing happened for billions of years, higher concentrations began to build up in the atmosphere, causing oxidation of the iron found on Earth, which is predicted to change the color of the oceans. Interestingly, with the emergence of the first organisms capable of oxygenic photosynthesis, they began to produce large amounts of molecular oxygen. The impact of oxygen caused the extinction of nearly all life forms in what is estimated to be the first major extinction event on the planet. Oxygen does not always give life.

another ice age. Because of these oxygen levels not stopping growth, atmospheric methane collapsed and the average temperature dropped to 28 degrees below zero. It remained that way for another 300 million years, during which rock formations continued to move across the surface, days became longer, and atmospheric composition began to stabilize its levels.

1.8 billion years ago, a meteorite approximately 15 kilometers wide hit the surface and brought a lot of minerals, but due to the symbiosis between prokaryotic cells, mitochondria also began to appear and the oceans, which were still red during this period, began to turn blue. The iron in them began to dissolve.

Sexual reproduction has arrived. About 1.5 billion years ago, the temperature was about 13 degrees, days lasted 17 hours, and the difference was that the first mushrooms appeared. About 100 million years later, algae, one of the first multicellular organisms, appeared to colonize the ocean.

It is estimated that around 1,200 million years ago, the Earth’s core solidified due to the greater strength of the magnetic field, and about 1,000 million years ago, sexual reproduction emerged, allowing the emergence of multicellular organisms. Atmospheric levels were pretty much the same, days lasted about 20 hours, and temperatures didn’t change much for several million years. Additionally, more and more land was gaining value.

We can already see quite a lot of land mass 1.4 billion years ago

Sponges, worms and sharks. About 800 million years ago, everything started to accelerate. Algae and land plants parted ways and life began to emerge in rocky areas. Two consecutive glaciations occurred during the cryogenic period, but evidence has also been found that the first animals lived on Earth approximately 650 million years ago. They were basically sponges and worms.

The oceans began to oxidize once again, and large amounts of O2 were released back into the atmosphere at concentrations of more than 20% over millions of years. This created a cocktail for the emergence of increasingly larger organisms (with fungi over nine meters high), and around 400 million years later the first fish, the first ‘modern’ plants, the first prehistoric sharks and the first insects (evolved from crustaceans). and the first animals capable of breathing on land.

Dinosaurs and mammals. The Paleozoic was a highly eventful period, with trees and amphibians beginning to appear 340 million years ago, and a major evolution in insects is predicted to have occurred: the emergence of wings. This allowed them to travel greater distances and colonize new areas that began to form in Pangea. If spiders scare you, they started appearing 300 million years ago.

The Mesozoic era began 240 million years ago, and after the great extinction that occurred when temperatures increased by 10 degrees, the first ‘saurs’ began to emerge. They were no more than two meters tall, but they quickly grew into something larger. The first mammals also appeared about 200 million years ago; However, these were mostly small, nocturnal and insect-eating creatures.

In the Cenozoic, almost everything was already in place. More or less

Events took place in the Cenozoic. Everything exploded during the Jurassic period. Pangea broke apart and continents began to form, the first snakes, the first crocodiles, the first bees, the first modern birds and the dinosaurs made famous in movies appeared 71 million years ago. There were tyrannosaurs, velociraptors and triceratops. Six million years later, they disappeared due to the massive meteorite Chicxulub, which “ended” the dinosaurs and ushered in the Cenozoic era.

Two days ago, so to speak (45 million years ago in reality), the first cetaceans, the first bats and primates appeared. The continents were practically already in place, the average temperature had been regulated for millions of years without major changes, and the atmosphere was almost the same with a fairly stable composition.

The two poles appeared five million years ago, the Earth’s rotation around the Sun reached its current point, and… here we are. We almost went extinct 900,000 years ago, Homo sapiens emerged 300,000 years ago, and at some point we evolved to this moment where we can examine the history of the planet in just 11 minutes.

in Xataka | Experts have been warning us about the “sixth mass extinction” for years. They have more and more evidence of their existence