The Spread of Writing: Every Year

[@OllieBye]

I noticed after exporting there are a couple of animation errors: Belize goes pink for less than a second around 1788, and the Sahara goes grey for a similar amount of time around 1909. Just ignore this. Thanks for watching!

[@OllieBye]

@@papazataklaattiranimam Yes, that's why you don't see a separate colour for Persian.

[@a.d.t.mapping]

pogs in the chat

[@_perza]

Mistakes or not, I love this videos and wait for them, great job Ollie.

[@Banana_Split_Cream_Buns]

​@@OllieBye Is there any chance that up to the year 850 CE 6:22 that you could zoom further in on Eurasia so that Iberia and Morocco are only barely included within the left margin? We can exclude Iceland up to that point and you already include Central America as a separate diagram overlaying Sub-Saharan Africa, which we can certainly exclude up to the 11th Century CE. It's just that in the earlier years, it gets really hard to see the detail and read the words, even on a full screen view on a desktop. There's a whole lot of room in the Atlantic Ocean and Sub-Saharan Africa that we can miss, in order to fit the key in. Thanks.

[@OllieBye]

@@Banana_Split_Cream_Buns It's kind of beyond the point where it can be edited at this point, but thanks for your thoughts.

[@V-man117]

It's crazy what a massive impact Greek had to the world. Considering Latin and Cyrillic were based on them. Fascinating!

[@jasonbourne9819]

You mean the Semitic Phoenician alphabet?

[@GeorgeDenis.]

@@jasonbourne9819 the big difference is that the Greek alphabet is still alive today, 3000 years later

[@neutralfellow9736]

@@jasonbourne9819 Phoenician alphabet is what the Greek alphabet is based on, but it is quite different in a number of ways. Interestingly the original "Greek" script, the Minoan one, that predates both by 1000 years, is still not deciphered.

[@xenotypos]

@@GeorgeDenis. There was also an innovation between the Phoenician abjad and the Greek alphabet, vowels. While between the greek alphabet and the latin/cyrillic alphabets, no such change happened, only phonetic details and how it looks. And to the defense of the ancient Greeks, another big difference is that alphabet was the least of their numerous and various achievements. It's hardly possible to think of an equal during antiquity in terms of mathematics (maybe Babylon ?), science and philosophy. In terms of literature and architecture they were also amongst the top tiers. But granted, regarding their alphabet, and also their knack for colonizing across the seas, they were inspired by the Phoenicians.

[@DionysiosPhryx]

I mean, come on, inventing an alphabet is not rocket science. I'm Greek.

[@SomasAcademy]

One questionable element of this video is listing Egyptian Hieroglyphs as a sub-group of Cuneiform. While this was once assumed to be the case simply because they were close together and Cuneiform was older, we have since found Hieroglyphic tags from 3200-3400 BCE at Abydos, pointing to an origin of Hieroglyphs before the development of full cuneiform. Additionally, Egyptian hieroglyphs are stylistically very distinct from Cuneiform, bearing more resemblance to pre-literate Egyptian artwork (much as Cuneiform bears clear connection to Mesopotamia pictographs), so while the concept of writing may have been introduced from Mesopotamia, the signs themselves were almost certainly indigenous to Egypt.

[@hiddenhist]

A few additional notes vis-a-vis Africa and writing: 1) I don't know that ancient south Arabian or ge'ez were spread as far south into ancient Ethiopia as is depicted on the map; on the other hand there were many important sites on the Eritrean coast (IE: Adulis, the premier entrepot of the aksumite empire), which bear inscriptions and which should be depicted as "literate". 2) while I don't know what criteria, exactly, are being used to determine "literacy" in an area, there are multiple ancient Greek inscriptions in ports down the coast of Sudan and Eritrea (grace a Ptolemaic trade centered expansion along the red sea). Kosmas Indicopleustes records one of these, also in Adulis, in his Christian Topography. 3) Old Nubian "split" from Coptic, as far as I know, earlier than ~930Ad. 4) again, don't know how you're qualifying "literacy" in a language, but Greek was used for a period in aksum as a trade language, and many inscriptions feature Greek prominently. 5) There is a conspicuous lack of Tiffanigh on this map. The script was used pretty consistently from the ancient era by the Tuaregs in particular, even if in sand and thus non permanent. There are, however, a good amount of funerary inscriptions and devotions of love which survive to the present. 6) there should be some penetration of Arabic onto the Madagascan coast grace a Swahili traders, and Arabic should be spread across the entire Swahili and Somali coast during the medieval period.

[@yes619]

@@hiddenhist spot on you mentioned everything i wanted to mention

[@muscle2714]

@@hiddenhist I'm guessing it only counts it if the people themselves use it and its the official language not just traders, I have no clue

[@yourowndealer]

I want to also add that Pallava script was used throughout Indonesia, and scripts like Khmer, Kawi, Old Mon, Cham etc evolved from Pallava script. So Pallava should have been shown in Southeast Asia and Tamil Brahmi was different from Brahmi script used elsewhere from the very beginning.

[@jaredf6205]

Abydos? So our writing came from the Goa’old?

[@user-uf2df6zf5w]

Remember : many of the writing systems remained in use alongside new, dominant ones. For example, cuneiform is here replaced by arameic around 500 bc, however it was in reality used well into the first century AD. But showing this would make the video a mass.

[@based4560]

Yeah maybe it would work if you showed individual areas instead

[@tommy-er6hh]

@@based4560 or over lapping shading?

[@based4560]

@@tommy-er6hh that would work but look really messy if there were many of these and there is only a select number of distinguishable colours one can use

[@alfatejpblind6498]

Runes were used in Älvdalen until the early 1900’s

[@OllieBye]

Yes, I did consider that, but I was also worried about the video becoming too hard to follow. The approach I used in the end also has drawbacks, but hopefully is understandable at least.

[@mammamia1628]

Love the random details that were completely unnecessary for this video, but were still included like the the Aral sea drying out :D

[@deldarel]

The Mongolian script has been co-official in Mongolia again since 2020. They're working on having all official documents in that script available too in 2025

[@nightraven2975]

Mongolian Empire 2.0? Hmmm?

[@boaoftheboaians]

@@nightraven2975 It's partially because of the effect of China's repression of ethnic and cultural minorities (which has been getting worse compared to before), especially the Mongol minority living in China's Inner Mongolia province that this triggered Mongolia, the country, into finally doing that 2023/07/16 EDIT: Ya be, it seems I have unexpectedly started a comment war down here with my remarks.... oh well, I have no intention of giving out false info, but i did my best to provide the best info i have with my knowledge. Oh well.... If my information makes you feel uneasy feel free to either confirm/debunk me, but the best way to figure things out for yourself is to do your own research. Research the extremes both sides say and draw your own conclusion. I have my own.... "very strong" opinions on China, and have already made my stance clear to myself, but I do my best to make sure I'm well informed of the truth as closely as possible. Also if you're one of those people who talk rudely on the internet or just troll for the sake of trolling.... you're not going to get anywhere trying to convince me that your words is correct. I have a natural skepticism to strangers I have no relationships with, and have a very strong incentive not to believe anything you say. That applies, whether you're on China's side, or not. Why don’t, you for one, provide actual information debunking me instead of acting like an idiot? (And I address this directly to the toxic nationalistic idiots, the types that would get upset at people for absentmindedly calling Taiwan a country. To my eyes you are no different from the fools whom you claim to "support American imperialism" or support whatever unjustified Western-backed action or whatever anti-Western nonsense you guys complain about.) I impulsively posted a long thread of comments replying to some of y’all, but I may or may not reply back. I’ve been undergoing some severe life changes which includes how I must evaluate how I handle my online presence, and dealing with the idiocy that plagues humanity. But good heavens, many of y'all reek of internet cancer.

[@yufengyue7100]

@@boaoftheboaians Why you are so brilliant to see that?

[@boaoftheboaians]

@@yufengyue7100 not sure tbh, I just randomly picked it up at some point while following news from China But it might also have to do with the fact that I’m from the Philippines and am someone who actively promotes reviving Baybayin (one of the major Suyat scripts mentioned in the video), so I see Mongolia in a similar situation with us except they’re the ones who are ahead of us in taking action to revive their traditional writing

[@sw36jl]

@@boaoftheboaians Hasn't Inner Mongolia been using the traditional script and preserving it more than Mongolia itself which used Cyrillic? The Mongols of Inner Mongolians are effectively bilingual unlike Mongolians

[@indiafirst3676]

Scripts by Countries (Official+Co-Official) 1) Latin = 148 Countries (133+15) 2) Arabic = 27 Countries (18+9) 3) Cyrillic = 13 Countries (8+5) 4) Indic = 11 Countries (9+2) 5) Sinic = 2 Countries (China+Singapore) 6) Japanese, Korean Hangul, Greek, Armenian, Georgian, Ethiopic, Hebrew = 1 Country each

[@birlombos2456]

There is a mistake, cyprus have greek as the main language

[@ldelgg]

Korean hangul has north and south korea. Sinic is three countries, china singapore and taiwan

[@Zeyede_Seyum]

Ethiopic is 2 countries Ethiopia and Eritrea

[@tenshi4124]

Greek is 2 countries Greece and Cyprus

[@brucemon4525]

malysia Chinese uses sinic

[@diargakande6740]

Love how well the areas of high population density match with the borders of the major civilizations and empires as well as their natural paths of expansion. That alone tells pretty much the entire story of the spread of cultures, ideas, religions and technologies that makes the world we live in today. And on top of it all the animation is smooth as butter

[@崔莱]

Unsurprisingly before the explosion of modern technology, humans were pretty picky when it comes to habitable terrain. good weather, reasonable temperature, arable soil, reliable water source, etc.

[@Max_Jacoby]

Think about how would you make this video yourself. You probably would draw lines around borders of known civilizations and empires, right?

[@islamisthetruewaytogod6812]

Hello ! May Allah protect and guide you to his light and happiness in this life and the hereafter, God bless, Ameen. Excuse me for giving a little presentation of Islam, because it is very misunderstood nowadays, especially on those « Antichrist's » times, where media and politics are mixed to distort history and truth. And terrorists (puppets of the Antichrist) who misinterpret verses, out of ignorance and political motivations, and take them out of historical context (just like radical atheists do by the way), don't help either. Thank you very much for your time. Islam is an arabic word that means the Surrender to the One and Only God, our Creator, Protector, Provider, who gives us life and all that we have, we are safe and sound by his will and grace, we are His and to Him we return, and we have to thank him in this trial life by submitting to him by our free will, or later in the Day of judgment when it's too late to save our own skin. Islam was the original Religion descended to earth from heaven with Adam and Eve (peace and blessing be upon them) in the beginning of humanity. and was passed to people with the succession of the 124 000 prophets and 315 messengers of God to all nations and civilizations since, passing by Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Ismaël, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, Joshua, David, Solomon and Jesus (Peace and blessing be upon them) during the history of mankind, the last replaces and completes the previous, until the succession of the last messenger of God fourteen centuries ago, Muhammad (Peace and blessing be upon him) to complete the noble morals of all mankind, to bring humans and jinns out of darkness into light, and to purify people's religion and belief from corruption and polytheism, and return it to purity and true monotheism, like it was in the times of the prophets (Peace and blessing be upon them). Many Religions that we know nowadays, at their beginning were true and under Islam, initiated by one of the prophets of God, but their original teachings, history and scriptures have been corrupted over time with falsification and polytheism, or lost and replaced with false ones. That's why Islam is the only Religion accepted by God nowadays, which consists in bearing witness that there is no god besides Allah (God in Aramaic, the original language of Jesus and the Gospel), and that Muhammad is His servant and messenger, just like Jesus and Moses and others are His servants and messengers. Never a messenger of God said he was God or literally son of God, it was the people after him who changed the words of God and corrupted the Religion. God is unique and absolute, He does not need to have a family and sons or to associate anyone else with His kingdom, He can simply create whatever He wants, everything belongs to Him, and to Him everything will return. Allah said in Surah Al-Mu’minun : “God has never begotten a son, nor is there any god besides Him. Otherwise, each god would have taken away what it has created, and some of them would have gained supremacy over others. Glory be to God, far beyond what they describe. The Knower of the hidden and the manifest. He is exalted, far above what they associate. (91-92 / Translated by ITANI). Allah means the one and only God, the God of all prophets and creatures, the creator of the universe and mankind, and the Master of the Day of judgment, where our destiny, Hell or Paradise, is decided based on our faith and deeds in this trial life, and above all, Allah's mercy. Allah said in Surah Al-Ikhlas : In the name of God, the Gracious, the Merciful. Say, “He is God, the One. God, the Absolute. He begets not, nor was He begotten. And there is none comparable to Him.” (1-4 / Translated by ITANI). Allah said in Surah An-Nisa : O FOLLOWERS of the Gospel! Do not overstep the bounds [of truth] in your religious beliefs, and do not say of God anything but the truth. The Christ Jesus, son of Mary, was but God's Apostle - [the fulfilment of] His promise which He had conveyed unto Mary - and a soul created by Him. Believe, then, in God and His apostles, and do not say, "[God is] a trinity". Desist [from this assertion] for your own good. God is but One God; utterly remote is He, in His glory, from having a son: unto Him belongs all that is in the heavens and all that is on earth; and none is as worthy of trust as God. Never did the Christ feel too proud to be God's servant, nor do the angels who are near unto Him. And those who feel too proud to serve Him and glory in their arrogance [should know that on Judgment Day] He will gather them all unto Himself: (171-172 / Translated by Muhammad Asad). Allah the Most Merciful said in Surah Ali-Imran : Behold, the only [true] religion in the sight of God is [man's] self-surrender unto Him; and those who were vouchsafed revelation aforetime took, out of mutual jealousy, to divergent views [on this point] only after knowledge [thereof] had come unto them. But as for him who denies the truth of God's messages - behold, God is swift in reckoning! Thus, [O Prophet,] if they argue with thee, say, "I have surrendered my whole being unto God, and [so have] all who follow me!" - and ask those who have been vouchsafed revelation aforetime, as well as all unlettered people, "Have you [too] surrendered yourselves unto Him?" And if they surrender themselves unto Him, they are on the right path; but if they turn away - behold, thy duty is no more than to deliver the message: for God sees all that is in [the hearts of] His creatures. Verily, as for those who deny the truth of God's messages, and slay the prophets against all right, and slay people who enjoin equity - announce unto them a grievous chastisement. It is they whose works shall come to nought both in this world and in the life to come; and they shall have none to succour them. (19-22 / Translated by Muhammad Asad).. Salam (Peace) ----------

[@maktiki]

Yes when a society becomes larger and larger and more complex it needs writing for e.g. taxes bill loans relegion

[@Adam509846]

@@maktiki Yes, from the beginning of antiquity you will find out more quickly how many cows an average person had than about the system of the state in which he lived. Taxes first.

[@Varangoi]

Not only was this a detailed language map, but the fact that you animated the Aral Sea shrinking.

[@ZeronimeYT]

As Indonesian, we learn 2 writing system and 2 language. 1) National Language with Alfabet Latin 2) Regional Language with Ancient letters are inherited from the ancestors of each region. As for me, I am Madurese. Our letters is called Carakan Madura. Its look like Thai but different.

[@xavallokiyo]

Bahasa Indonesa is written in Latin letters, that's a fact. Nobody uses ancient letters anymore

[@ElamirHaydar]

I heard you use Arab writing system ❤

[@ajasilikonreffkmimmon]

​@@xavallokiyoSome hobbyist who doesn't want other to read their notes do! Like I am with Hanacaraka and Pégon

[@ChristopherRayMiller]

Very similar to Balinese and Javanese, with only some minor differences.

[@rettyt3456]

I love Indonesia. Salaam from France

[@WildsDreams45]

I didn't realize how long it took the Japanese to develop writing and it's impressive that the Central Americans developed writing despite being in total isolation from everyone else.

[@Lordkrillin21]

they weren't in isolation they had an entire 2 continents of native cultures to interact with from the Inca, maya, Nahuatl, to the plains of north America

[@WildsDreams45]

@@Lordkrillin21 What I mean by that is that the spread of ideas and trade didn't happen on the scale as it did in and around Eurasia. Maybe I should have specified.

[@leixalkvinay2729]

@@WildsDreams45 Yeah, North and South were conected but its a really narrow space and the climate was really diferent since you had to travel north to south or viceversa, menaing the climate changed far more

[@timanderson5981]

They built great cities and pyramids. Meso-American civilisation developed independently and was one of the six main cradles (Egypt, Mesopotamia, India, China, Mayan, Inca)

[@jumpvelocity3953]

Japan before influence from China either through Korea or directly was literally dirt country.

[@Vahe258]

Bravo to Armenian and Georgian for keeping track of their writings from 400 to now ! More than 1500 years wow!!!

[@njnikusha]

Thank u 🇬🇪🇬🇪🇬🇪

[@BacTheChill]

I think there's been a mistake Because Georgian was created in BC, not CE. But I couldn't Agree with you more 🇬🇪

[@Biobin123]

This video os incorrect. Georgian writing was in use since 7 bc , it is earlier than armenian in this video it’s other way around…

[@georgeevernight2814]

​@@Biobin123 No the video is based on FACTS. There is no scientific edvidence that georgian script existed back to 7 BC. It`s just your story about king Parnavas, but we armenians have similar stories aboout existence of alphabet before Mashtots. But the facts are cruel and today the first scripts for both armenian and georgian track back to 5 centuary AC. (BTW I believe that our nations had alphabets before christianity)

[@Biobin123]

@@georgeevernight2814 1. I am not devaluing armenian culture i am georgian we share a lot of shit we are like brothers kind of… 2. Oldest armenian surviving documents are dated from 9th-10th century but at that point it was fully developed, since it takes time to develop grammar and shit it is agreed that they had it from at least 5-6 countries 3. Oldest georgian surviving script os dated at 5 th century but was already fully developed -> applied same logic as to armenian or any other writing and it is agreed that it should have been developed far earlier so about 7 bc is agreed since it corespondens with history too It is not a competition… we used greek for w long time and to this day have a lot of greek words :) my point was about accuracy of video not about devaluing other cultures !

[@Sceptrumy]

Tifinagh still exists to this day. There is currently a significant increase in support for the Amazigh language to be studied into school curricula. Morocco has already officially recognized the language as the second official language after Arabic in 2011. Approximately 30% of kindergartens in Morocco have begun teaching the language, with expectations of reaching 50% by 2026 without forgeting that almost 50% of the population in Morocco know how to speaks the amazigh language , but they dont know how to write it in tifinagh script , that almost looks similar to the Greek script

[@المملكةالمغربية-ي7س]

Do you mean that half of the Berbers do not know how to write their language, right? Because the percentage of speakers does not exceed 30%

[@Sceptrumy]

Its more than than 80% of Amazigh in Morocco they dont know how to write with Tifinagh Script , But speaker are between 35% and 60% some of them natively , Even you if you are Moroccan you already speaks 20% of the language vocabulary and accent

[@المملكةالمغربية-ي7س]

@@Sceptrumy What is this exaggeration? There are only about twenty words. As for the Moroccan dialect, it is a mixture of classical Arabic, French, and Spanish. The dialect is even closer to classical Arabic. I think the opposite is true, because Berber is the one in which all modern and contemporary vocabulary is taken from Arabic. I am a Moroccan from the city of Fez. Just so you know, I did the genetic analysis(J;74%) because you like to challenge lineages🙄

[@Sceptrumy]

@@المملكةالمغربية-ي7س It seems like you are proud of your Arab heritage. That's cool but being Arab doesn't mean you are better than anyone else + Moroccan Darija is influenced by the Amazigh language, especially in how people talk and pronounce words. When you say I did the genetic analysis (Middle East DNA), it feels like you are not Moroccan anymore like an invader who came from Middle East if i was you i wont be proud of it , Sorry never mind, but you should know tamazigh languages are actually older than Arabic. And yaay it is official language in Morocco. Some public schools are already start teaching it from 2017 , I hope by 2050 everyone in Morocco will be speaking it fluente. 3wacher Mabrok khoya Arabi maghribi

[@المملكةالمغربية-ي7س]

@@Sceptrumy It's strange what you say when someone says I'm better than anyone else.???? Secondly, I am Moroccan of Middle Eastern origins. I did not say I am Middle Eastern, even though Berbers have Eastern European origins. As for dialect, the fact that you do not know Arabic is what made you think that it is influenced by your language. If you are proficient in Arabic, you will know the Arabic dialect closest to classical Arabic. There is no influence that you need to mention or teach people about at all, some twenty words and nothing more. The influence of the Latin languages on classical Arabic in contemporary times is even more than the influence of one or two words from your language, and most likely they are names of vegetables that were not present among the Arabs and animals that were not in the peninsula, so it is natural for them to call them by the names of those who know them. As for pronunciation, it is completely different. The reason we pronounce it this way is because we wanted to use melodious Arabic, which is why there are many sukoons in it. On the contrary, your language is influenced by Arabic. If I automatically turn on the Tamazight channel now, I'm sure it won't be two minutes before I hear an Arabic word. As for teaching your language, I assure you that it is completely ineffective. All members of my family study in private schools where it is not taught at all, and even in public schools there are professors who understand, and I know them, who do not do anything in the Berber class because it will not benefit the student in any way, and teaching it is a waste of time. Arabic is our mother tongue and the language of the Qur’an, religion and Islam. French is a language imposed on us because of colonialism. English is the language of science. I do not find a final reason why we are ignorant. We study a language that has nothing to do with us. I am speaking about non-Berber speakers. As for you, you can do as the Kurds did, which is to teach your language only in your regions. Despite what you said in the end, I bring tears to my eyes because I see how 12 centuries of coexistence between Arabs and Berbers was lost because of a few thousand electronic flies.

[@DailyKosia]

Very interesting work and professionally animated. I liked Latin letters changing font with time, especially with the invention of typography. (Cyrillic lettrrs and font changed also with time, but as for Latin, it's a detaio and isn't the main purpose of the video).

[@simianto9957]

@Joël We zijn Germanen geen vikingen

[@attilakovacs1415]

hungarian runic 7000 years ego....kzbin.info/www/bejne/d5PYp3idg56hb7c

[@bokiboki018]

Vinca's Danube Civilization script the oldest writing 8000 years old

[@bitterlemonboy]

This is a very high quality video showing the evolution of written language over time. I can't even begin to imagine how much time and effort went into this. Thank you

[@KoichiFirst8092]

I've noticed one detail besides the written language evolution itself: Aral Sea shrank in the 2010s.

[@ommsterlitz1805]

Bro he even shown the Aral sea shrunk at the end 😭

[@linlin-qo9gj]

fake history

[@ps4games164]

You just ask few old profesional historians, they'll tell you the dates and regions and than just make a video for it. Its one day job at max.

[@kubahenriksen6337]

@@ps4games164 Make one on languages, I'm expecting it on your channel tomorrow smart guy

[@AbhayShan21]

Imagine the hard work behind this!

[@stonergigachad7985]

No hard work only practice

[@mattomatt209]

Look in the mirror and say it loud: I AM A IDIOT

[@myself5812]

Yeah sure buddy ​@@mattomatt209

[@billiegaming6858]

The oldest script from the Indian subcontinent is the one that originated in the Harappan Civilisation, which came into existence around 5000-4500 years ago. It is yet to be deciphered. Early vedic scripts are from 1400-1200 bce

[@2000asanas]

In Tamilnadu, india. We found book called "silapathigaram" 5000 ago with grammatic version.

[@billiegaming6858]

@@2000asanas sangam literature even older than this.. It's a poem and mix of tamil and malayalam

[@Cringemanic123-bm6bm]

Stop lying and embarassing the whole country Silapathikaram is not 5000 years old ​@@2000asanas

[@anirudhanjp1832]

​@@2000asanas sillapathikaram is not 5000 years old it is only 2000 years old its not fully in tamil its in a mix of old tamil and old malayalam dont say wrong

[@bletwort2920]

Nah Vedic guys didn't write anything. Brahmi script came after Vedic period was already over and it was used to write Prakrit/ Pali

[@BFDT-4]

You even documented the demise of the Aral Sea! I saw that, and was duly impressed!

[@BFDT-4]

Ah, but you missed Lake Chad, which has gone through a similarly horrible demise. But heck, this is about written language, yet, these details aid in understanding how and why language migrates. Good on you!

[@richardthomas5362]

It makes sense. That area went from "fish" to Cyrillic :)

[@shauryasaxena13]

timestamp?

[@bingzaniGercel]

@@intolerablescamp1436 the fishes in pacific ocean communicate in the auszronesian pacific islander language. Like that: Humbakaka Humba bunga!

[@antipod4]

@@shauryasaxena13 10-25

[@albertoborrero8306]

What a great animation. I am 70 and thought that I knew something about world history. Your video really set me straight. Thank you.

[@nadierelevante]

2:25 - Alexander the Great starts his campaign of conquests 2:40 - 2:45 First Punic War 2:49 - 2:53 Second Punic War 3:20 - Here comes Caesar and the Gallic wars 5:40 - After the Prophet's death the first Caliphate expands from Persia to Morocco 8:35 - Portugal and Spain begin their colonial expansion 8:41 - Hernán Cortés conquest of the Aztec Empire and his tributaries 8:44 - Francisco Pizarro conquest of the Incan Empire 8:59 - First stable french and british colonies in North América 9:02 - The Russian Empire pushes eastward into Siberia and reaches the Pacific Ocean 10:02 -The Scramble for Africa 10:12 - Atatürk reforms include the adoption of a latin based Turkish language I'm sure i passed over some important events, but that's all the remarkable events that changed language comes to my mind. I'm consious that my history knowledge is pretty Eurocentric.

[@Delgen1951]

1066 the Norman Conquest of England and the beginning of middle English.

[@arro2546]

10:11 - Armenian Genocide

[@nadierelevante]

@@arro2546 Damn that's a scary sight

[@yoghurtmaster1688]

6:08-charlamagne's conquest and christinization on the germanic pagans 6:25-byzantine monks saints saint cyril and methodius develop the first slavic script, the glagolitic in great moravia 6:33-the bulgarian empire develops cyrillic as a result of great moravia expelling the disciples of saint cyril and methodius 6:50- christinization of kievan rus I think those are pretty important too Not to mention your medieval section is very empty

[@batuhankara672]

@@arro2546 a beautiful lie

[@AradirOff]

No Rapa Nui writing system?

[@andonibisama5080]

El mapa no incluye las islas del Pacífico.

[@thatissoquebecishh2134]

@@andonibisama5080 oh ok

[@unapersona5555]

es el Aradir :0

[@adriantv4993]

Ostras no me esperaba para nada al Aradir comentando en este video.

[@poudink5791]

It's pretty unlikely that Rongorongo constitutes a true writing system. It's more likely to be proto-writing. The same is true of the Indus script, for that matter. Though it has much better chances than Rongorongo, the earliest proven Indian script is still Brahmi. Same with Mesoamerica. The Olmec script and Zapotec script may not be true writing systems. The Zapotec is script is pretty likely to be true writing, but the Olmec script is pretty questionable and Teotihuacan is very questionable. The Maya script is still the only proven complete Mesoamerican writing system.

[@bestramenjinsoon]

8:21 It's interesting that the purple area suddenly appears. Thank you King Sejong for making letters for Koreans.

[@HotKimchi-co9vr]

ᄛ ㅱ ㅸ ㅿ ㆍ

[@wardeli8140]

韩语的发明算是一种必然，毕竟中韩口语的语法结构是不一样的。

[@wardeli8140]

The invention of Korean is inevitable. After all, the grammatical structure of spoken Chinese and Korean is quite different.

[@basura4136]

​@@HotKimchi-co9vr We still don't know how they were pronounced, right?

[@movedaccount9958]

@@basura4136 Although the exact pronunciation is still unknown, linguists have agreed upon a rough estimation; ㅸ sounded similar to the V sound in modern English, ㅿ corresponded to Z, and ㆍ sounded similar to ㅓ in modern Korean. Both ㅸ and ㅿ were mainly used to transcribe the gradual weakening of some former ㅂ and ㅅ sounds, which later completely disappeared. e.g. Old Korean Syerapel(徐羅伐; capital of Silla) → Syepel(徐伐) turned into Middle Korean Syevul(셔ᄫᅳᆯ), later becoming Modern Korean Seoul(서울). Similarly, Old Korean Chesem(初叱音) turned into Middle Korean Chezem(처ᅀᅥᆷ), which later became Modern Korean Cheoum(처음).

[@grantlit2196]

Thank you for including Ge'ez it's one of the only native alphabets still in use in Africa and has been in use in ethiopia for thousands of years, merotic was also used before but after combing native cushitic language with elements of Semitic language we got Ge'ez! It's also the language of the Ethiopian Tewahedo church, Ethiopia being one of the first Christian countries in the world.

[@f4wnz132]

Ethiopian Christians believe in Tawheed? As in one God, rather than the trinity?

[@afroafro2212]

It evolved front sebean alphabet from Yemen habesha where In Yemen before they entered horn of Africa sebean is influenced by both Egypt alphabet and Greek the same Greek that converted Ethiopia to Christianity but building church.

[@afroafro2212]

Their painting in Yemen every writing, pagan statue the same one but older excist with habesha painting saying saba Queen of South.

[@f4wnz132]

@@aboyaq7259 Is Jesus God?

[@f4wnz132]

@ICTOAN☦️ That is very illogical to me my brother. That is all.

[@iaf010]

Its incredible how early and how vastly varied writing systems developed in India.

[@AwesomeAsh99]

Check a map, India is a big place with many diverse cultures, it's rather unsurprising really.

[@aaradhyarawat7589]

@@AwesomeAsh99 Diversity came along with time new philosophies different from Vedics arose, but still they are united because of dharmik practices.

[@iaf010]

@@AwesomeAsh99 Actually India is smaller than China, America, Europe, central Africa etc - yet linguistically it is far far more diverse. It is indeed surprising that so many different writing systems would continue to develop in an area which already had established writing systems.

[@indiafirst3676]

@@iaf010 Many Religions, Many Local Empires that's why Many Writing Scripts and hence Many Languages

[@Emilechen]

it is a good thing for the cultural diversity, but a disadvantage for standardization, if all indians use a same offcial writting system, it could have become the 7th official language for United Nations,

[@HfrdH4]

New Zealand is off screen 😔 This video was really fascinating though!

[@kohaku_amba]

Writing is an incredible invention. We really do take for granted the idea of being able to communicate such complicated ideas, the fact that it was only invented a handful of times throughout human history, that many civilizations couldn't even conceptualize what writing was! Not to mention calligraphy, and the art of masterful word weaving as Shakespeare once did. A fossil of a living language, forever immortalized and trapped in time. Truly incredible and endlessly fascinating.

[@Legendary_Detective-Wobbuffet]

It's actually what wizards and the Egyptian priests were using. Magic was literacy.

[@Munchausenification]

Personally i believe, because i have no evidence of it, humans were capable of inventing written language whenever the need for it arrived. So as population grew and the need for keeping record - language was found there. The need for a written language seems very low if we are talking tribes of 50-200 people. Also with all the cave paintings all around the world (not in a singular location), it shows we are pretty creative and in the end if you are creative enough yourself, you could probably invent your own language without any influence from previous writings.

[@kohaku_amba]

@@Munchausenification You bring up a good point! Tons of societies created what could be called a system of "proto-writing" to record information. What makes them different from true writing is that they are not sophisticated enough to communicate complicated ideas.

[@Munchausenification]

@@kohaku_amba oh thats very cool, i have to read about these proto-writings later. Always nice to learn something new

[@EliasRoy]

Only English native speakers cares about Shakespeare 🥱

[@brianhalbertson]

Fantastic video. Very educational. One thing worth noting is that East Asian scripts such as Hangul were typically written vertically until the introduction of the Latin left-to-right format used in books. I just noticed that stylistic transformations were accounted for for some other scripts. Thank you for sharing knowledge!

[@gjdud12]

While this is true, it was also used from right to left like you would see on old gates or temples though i dont know exact timeline. Thanks for pointing out

[@mckendrick7672]

​​@@gjdud12I would think that it was written right to left is just a consequence of following the general pattern of firstly top to bottom, and then secondly right to left. It's just, when a column only has one character, it naturally ends up being right to left.

[@victortisme]

The high density population areas going dark gray in the Americas hit unexpectedly hard

[@mathieuchangeux7840]

Rip ⚖️💔 i noticed it too

[@2shadesofgray752]

Smallpox is a b*tch

[@regularly_priced]

For reference it’s at 8:56

[@ryana9796]

You forgot about the Cherokee syllabary invented by Sequoyah in the 1810's and 1820's. Great video overall!

[@SirBenjiful]

They didn't forget, it just hasn't been the dominant script outside of the reservations which are too small to show on the map.

[@why_oh_elle]

as a north african, i am proud to see Tifinagh existing in our area for such a long time especially since a lot of people here claim our native culture does not exist and is just an 'extention' of arabic. We can clearly see exactly when arabic was introduced

[@mauriciogranados2908]

Arabs love to destroy other people's language cause that's what quoran ask them to do

[@the180degreerule3]

tell that to those who use the same arguments european colonialism uses to justify their colonialism which is '' oh there was nothing here before us ''.

[@zhcultivator]

Exactly

[@EmergencyChannel]

Everything Africa has is because of colonialism. Africans are happy substance farming and living in poverty like their ancestors.

[@moses20044]

Stil proud of my native language Tamazight

[@leanykakicsi6152]

I’m so thankful you included Hungarian runes for as little as they could’ve been dominant ❤

[@yurimin444]

Several things you have missed in SE Asia is that there were Pallava in used before the invention of Old Khmer. Plus, there also Old Mon used along the western part of the mainland SEA; which later developed into Burmese and Mon and influenced together with Old/middle Khmer to be Tai script family(Sukhothai, Lanna, Lao, Taiyai, etc.) Not to mentioned about the used of script that scholars called Post-Pallava Script that is being used during the transition of Pallava and Old Mon and Old Khmer for 2-3 century.

[@tetraxis3011]

He said only areas with high population would be shown, showing every single language would clutter the map.

[@1000g2g3g4g800999]

@@tetraxis3011 This video unfortunately creates the impression that a lot of areas that did have writing didn't though. The framing of the video should be entirely different if they're going to decide not to include a bunch of writing systems that were around.

[@Kromiball]

Jawi still exists and is still taught in Malaysia (though it isn't really used much in the more populated areas). Jawi is most prominent in Kelantan, where alot of the signs are primarily in Jawi.

[@eboytc]

Exactly! ❤ from Thailand 🇹🇭

[@fidelwendt1232]

@@1000g2g3g4g800999 this video has a very Eurocentric perspective

[@michaelsmusicinstruments9980]

it's incredible to look at this map and think of all the history associated with it extremely inspiring. Thank you very much for the work 🧡

[@Livinivs]

I liked that you showed the shift in fonts in Latin, however, I would have demonstrated the longevity of Fraktur in Germany compared to its neighbors. Fraktur was probably the main font for German until the 18th or 19th century.

[@LucarioBoricua]

Didn't Fraktur get used all the way until WWII, even as part of the Nazi propaganda?

[@Livinivs]

@@LucarioBoricua Yes, certainly, it is even maintained today on some street signs, decorative writing, etc. Unfortunately, after initially supporting Fraktur quite extensively, the Nazis banned the script because they thought it came from Hebrew, and the contemporary German left also dislikes it for being traditional. Thus WW2 was tragically the script's last major period of use.

[@eVill420]

@@Livinivs well I think it's good to have a more universally understandable writing system

[@Aligartornator13]

@@eVill420 But it makes pre-1945 literature more or less ilegible for the average german.

[@spotlight3465]

@@Aligartornator13 I can easily read handwriting of US or Western European people where thay write every letter straight and separate from others, but found it's difficult for them to read a Polish handwriting where we connect all letters in one word and write with cursive, also adding more tails and rounds to the letters.

[@r.m.pereira5958]

You should've included the N'ko script from Mali and Guinea, because it has been gained almost standard usage for the languages of southern Mali and Guinea. Also Tiffinagh, which is used officially in Morocco, and less so in Algeria. Also Cherokee, in the Cherokee nations, or Yi script in China. You could also have represented the historical scripts Tangut, Jurchen, Khitan.

[@cauwenberghsroeland8607]

Just see my comment. I am not a scientist. But notice what I see.... - other african syllabic alphabets and hieroglyphes...

[@HiddenPulse04]

I feel like the Gicandi (which was created allegedly around 3,000 BC), Lusona (About the 1st century BC. It’s more ideographic but it’s so interesting I just had to add it), Nsibidi (Anywhere from 2,000 BC and 400 AD) and Vai (Some time after the 6th century BC but WELL before any year in the AD range) scripts could’ve been covered. Also just to let you know if you search up the Vai Script it’ll say it was invented around the 19th century but that’s actually false. Maurice Delafosse was a French Scholar who lived in Africa talked with many native people who wrote in Vai who said the script was actually ancient. He of course didn’t believe this and did some searching around. He came upon inscriptions and it turns out that they were right. Vai was actually much older than originally thought. I believe it has a connection with either the Libyco-Berber or Proto Saharan script I can’t remember. If you google his name it’ll pop up. Libyco-Berber (which came about in the 1st Millenium BC) probably should’ve been mentioned aswell. African history outside of the Nile is VERY underestimated/overlooked.

[@cauwenberghsroeland8607]

@@HiddenPulse04 Hello. Thanks. I think Vai has to be compared to the Kromanti and other systems employed by some Marroons ( both Nengue and Saramakka ) in Suriname. 45 years ago I saw the Vai, and 15 years ago the Kromanti, and I thougth immediately it is the same... If "officially" it has the same pretention as being discoverder thanks a dream end 19th century... one did say me it wasn't true, it came from Liberia...confirming what I was thinking. Adyaki Basiton Benti should have been an African, first enslaved in Jamaica, where he learned to write a few english . Later sold in Suriname, became he a main leader of the Nengue-rebels and developped a strategy to inforce an agreement according freedom to his allies. I suppose that they did remain some connections and that those having the secret decided to make it known ( opposed to the "idea" that " whites only did know to write" ........Question of self-esteem necessary for mental freedom....°. But I forgot the name of ... Vai... And couldn't find it back.... Thank you very much.

[@JcoleMc]

@@HiddenPulse04 Could you source the inscriptions on Vai he found ? I wasn't able to find any . also ancient to us might have a different meaning to them , as time is procieved different To us Ancient typically means thousands of years back while to them it could mean 50 -40 years .

[@zygnus9481]

I've been to Sichuan China, I saw a different writing like almost sign in the street they used it and have a translation of Chinese character in bottom. I was thinking how they learn it. It's so crazy

[@ShakuShingan]

I can't really speak for the rest of India because I am just a specialist in Nepalese scripts, but Devanagari really doesn't take hold in Nepal until the introduction of print in the 20th century. Before then people write in Pracalit, and sacred texts are often rendered in Ranjana.

[@3seven5seven1nine9]

A lot of this video seems to be just prettily animated guesswork

[@adityadraws9535]

Bro he has no idea of scripts used in indian subcontinent, funny how he simply misses out major old scripts of india and simply terms them all as devnagari which is like a much younger script. In bihar alone there were like 4-5 different scripts in use untill last century, of which 3 still remain, namely, devnagari, tirhuta and kaithi.

[@ShakuShingan]

@@adityadraws9535 You're right. South Asia in general is really the most diverse and rich in terms of the history and variety of scripts, and it's all glossed over with devanagari. Feels kind of colonial to me.

[@adityadraws9535]

@@ShakuShingan not exactly colonial....its more like fault of our own leaders in past who failed to promote their own regional scripts and ended up using devnagari. No one forced devnagari except our own local leaders, coming from bihar, a state that has 5+ distinct languages and 3+ scripts (originally) i know what it feels like. My native language maithili had a script of its own called "tirhuta", just like bhojpuri has "kaithi", but the bihar govt ignored all of them and imposed adopted devnagari for some reason. Tirhuta is Still pretty much alive thanks to the maithil Brahmins who passed it on to their next generations and made sure there was someone in a group of 10-20 people who knows the script.....but kaithi has almost gone extinct. Tho both of them can be made alive again but yeah it would be hard to replace devnagari now.

[@ShakuShingan]

@@adityadraws9535 Yea, I don’t see an issue with multiple scripts being used. They all have the same abugida base so it’s not as if people are going to be illiterate in Devanagari just because they can read another in addition. I feel like part of it is trying to erase local identities and create a homogenous Indian identity.

[@wizardsknowledge1138]

This video is extremely impressive! While it is missing quite a few important writing systems, it is still amazing, especially with how accurate it is with the distributions of the writing systems that this video is not missing. It must have taken ages to research and animate this video! I hope that in the future an updated version of this video that is not missing any writing systems will be created, but until that happens this video is more than enough to suffice! The effort you must have put into this video brings tears to my eyes!

[@doigt6590]

yeah though tbh I'm a bit disappointed the map doesn't show the new native american scripts and african scripts which have popped up recently. We're in a golden age for new writing systems and the video completely misses that.

[@natenate4525]

lol those are hardly writing systems, nobody cares about 3 tribes who painted clay on the walls, were talking about things that matter here @@doigt6590

[@abarette_]

@@doigt6590 I think it's because it only shows the ones that are predominant. That would also explain why nu-Tifinagh is not shown despite being very very relevant in Algeria Basically this video really needs hatches. and I also wish it went into more detail with Chinese scripts but I guess documentation is lacking

[@doigt6590]

@@abarette_ it shows a couple of non predominant ones too, but even if that was the case, it should say so otherwise we are lead to believe that the video is going to be exhaustive when it isn't.

[@BrazilianImperialist]

​@@doigt6590No it doesnt, those scripts are not official or even widely used

[@redacted461]

Im happy to see the language of my people represented in the video. People don't know that we have our own ancient script that is still used to this day in Ethiopia and Eritrea :)

[@ibrodinho]

Currently used in the Amharic, Tigrinya, and Tigrayit (though sometimes Arabic script used) languages.

[@العربالقدماء]

@@ibrodinho هذه اللغات تنتمي لعائلة اللغات السامية/لغات العرب

[@rediettadesse2828]

Ethiopia is one of the greatest empires !! I'm extremely proud of my ancestors

[@MultiSciGeek]

Very well produced! It's good to see one of your videos again! :)

[@regolith1350]

This has to be one of the most fascinating videos I've ever seen. It's a venn diagram of various interests in history, language/culture, and geography. One minor point: while mainland China switched to the Simplified script, Taiwan kept the Traditional script.

[@g.kech.10]

This video is a real masterpiece. Please stop you all fighting about which culture's impact is more important. We live in a pluralistic world.

[@nehcooahnait7827]

This “masterpiece” quite literally ignored many writing systems that existed in history. They may have little to none influences to the world today, but they were influential and important to the societies that used them. This video is quite the opposite of what you c think it is

[@keikoethan3258]

As Khmer I’m proud of our ancestors that able to persevere our language and writing system no matter how much deep shit we been through for the past five hundred years

[@eboytc]

This is amazing. Regrettably, though, It’s sad that one of the oldest script in Southeast Asia such as Mon script is neglected. Mon, nowaday, is a minority state in Burma, but it root dated side by side with the Khmer script back to at least the 1000CE. From the Dvarvati Kingdom in the modern day central Thailand, It gave birth to many daughter scripts such as the Burmese, Lanna (Tham) in northern Thailand, Isan (tham) in northeast Thailand, Tai Lue in Southern China etc. It’s really hard to comprehend.

[@islamisthetruewaytogod6812]

Hello ! May Allah protect and guide you to his light and happiness in this life and the hereafter, God bless, Ameen. Excuse me for giving a little presentation of Islam, because it is very misunderstood nowadays, especially on those « Antichrist's » times, where media and politics are mixed to distort history and truth. And terrorists (puppets of the Antichrist) who misinterpret verses, out of ignorance and political motivations, and take them out of historical context (just like radical atheists do by the way), don't help either. Thank you very much for your time. Islam is an arabic word that means the Surrender to the One and Only God, our Creator, Protector, Provider, who gives us life and all that we have, we are safe and sound by his will and grace, we are His and to Him we return, and we have to thank him in this trial life by submitting to him by our free will, or later in the Day of judgment when it's too late to save our own skin. Islam was the original Religion descended to earth from heaven with Adam and Eve (peace and blessing be upon them) in the beginning of humanity. and was passed to people with the succession of the 124 000 prophets and 315 messengers of God to all nations and civilizations since, passing by Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Ismaël, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, Joshua, David, Solomon and Jesus (Peace and blessing be upon them) during the history of mankind, the last replaces and completes the previous, until the succession of the last messenger of God fourteen centuries ago, Muhammad (Peace and blessing be upon him) to complete the noble morals of all mankind, to bring humans and jinns out of darkness into light, and to purify people's religion and belief from corruption and polytheism, and return it to purity and true monotheism, like it was in the times of the prophets (Peace and blessing be upon them). Many Religions that we know nowadays, at their beginning were true and under Islam, initiated by one of the prophets of God, but their original teachings, history and scriptures have been corrupted over time with falsification and polytheism, or lost and replaced with false ones. That's why Islam is the only Religion accepted by God nowadays, which consists in bearing witness that there is no god besides Allah (God in Aramaic, the original language of Jesus and the Gospel), and that Muhammad is His servant and messenger, just like Jesus and Moses and others are His servants and messengers. Never a messenger of God said he was God or literally son of God, it was the people after him who changed the words of God and corrupted the Religion. God is unique and absolute, He does not need to have a family and sons or to associate anyone else with His kingdom, He can simply create whatever He wants, everything belongs to Him, and to Him everything will return. Allah said in Surah Al-Mu’minun : “God has never begotten a son, nor is there any god besides Him. Otherwise, each god would have taken away what it has created, and some of them would have gained supremacy over others. Glory be to God, far beyond what they describe. The Knower of the hidden and the manifest. He is exalted, far above what they associate. (91-92 / Translated by ITANI). Allah means the one and only God, the God of all prophets and creatures, the creator of the universe and mankind, and the Master of the Day of judgment, where our destiny, Hell or Paradise, is decided based on our faith and deeds in this trial life, and above all, Allah's mercy. Allah said in Surah Al-Ikhlas : In the name of God, the Gracious, the Merciful. Say, “He is God, the One. God, the Absolute. He begets not, nor was He begotten. And there is none comparable to Him.” (1-4 / Translated by ITANI). Allah said in Surah An-Nisa : O FOLLOWERS of the Gospel! Do not overstep the bounds [of truth] in your religious beliefs, and do not say of God anything but the truth. The Christ Jesus, son of Mary, was but God's Apostle - [the fulfilment of] His promise which He had conveyed unto Mary - and a soul created by Him. Believe, then, in God and His apostles, and do not say, "[God is] a trinity". Desist [from this assertion] for your own good. God is but One God; utterly remote is He, in His glory, from having a son: unto Him belongs all that is in the heavens and all that is on earth; and none is as worthy of trust as God. Never did the Christ feel too proud to be God's servant, nor do the angels who are near unto Him. And those who feel too proud to serve Him and glory in their arrogance [should know that on Judgment Day] He will gather them all unto Himself: (171-172 / Translated by Muhammad Asad). Allah the Most Merciful said in Surah Ali-Imran : Behold, the only [true] religion in the sight of God is [man's] self-surrender unto Him; and those who were vouchsafed revelation aforetime took, out of mutual jealousy, to divergent views [on this point] only after knowledge [thereof] had come unto them. But as for him who denies the truth of God's messages - behold, God is swift in reckoning! Thus, [O Prophet,] if they argue with thee, say, "I have surrendered my whole being unto God, and [so have] all who follow me!" - and ask those who have been vouchsafed revelation aforetime, as well as all unlettered people, "Have you [too] surrendered yourselves unto Him?" And if they surrender themselves unto Him, they are on the right path; but if they turn away - behold, thy duty is no more than to deliver the message: for God sees all that is in [the hearts of] His creatures. Verily, as for those who deny the truth of God's messages, and slay the prophets against all right, and slay people who enjoin equity - announce unto them a grievous chastisement. It is they whose works shall come to nought both in this world and in the life to come; and they shall have none to succour them. (19-22 / Translated by Muhammad Asad).. Salam (Peace) ----------

[@tsoii]

SCHIZO MUSLIM ABOVE

[@烏梨師斂]

Burmese script IS Mon script. In the same way Hebrew script is Imperial Aramaic

[@paullunsford8921]

This was one of the best videos I've seen you produce. The amount of research you must do to make this is staggering to imagine! I have only two suggestions for SE Asia: 1. Hinduism (and the related written language) made a big push into almost all of SE Asia starting from 290 BC. The ancient settlement Oc Eo on the Mekong Delta has produced artifacts such as Roman coins and Sanskrit steles. 2. A very minor point, but the earliest Chamic inscriptions (on the coast of central vietnam) go back to the some time during the 4th century: the Đông Yên Châu Inscription. There is some argument as to whether it was Chamic or Old Malay, but it was undoubtedly written in Sanskrit.

[@Myckelin]

It's a shame they don't teach this in schools in my country. One of the best maps I've seen

[@崔莱]

Totally get that feeling. However it's also important to realize that most people don't *need* to know any of this.

[@Asta0125]

I know this is minor, but I'd like to put forth that Cherokee Syllabaric Script emerges in the 19th century and is one of the first North American languages to have a majority of its population adopt it and become literate. Cherokee around the 1820's becomes one of the first places in North America and within the United States hegemony to have a higher than 50% literacy rate among its speakers, making the Cherokee Nation one of the highest literacy rate locations in the world at the time.

[@tranvans98]

fantastic video because it not only explains from a historical point of view the evolution of writing, but also for the various conquests, that made the scriptures come, that have made them standard in parts of the world. keep publishing these phenomenal videos because they teach me so much, history is not forgotten, because as the ancient Romans said: VERBA VOLANT SCRIPTA MANENT = the words fly but the written remains forever ✍🏼❤

[@DLC1325]

What an incredible video! It’s crazy that the Central American script was there for thousands of years and nearly obliterated in only a few years.

[@samu48467]

0:40 Really mysterious how they just vanished from existence and we still haven't deciphered their script...

[@cinema6444]

I feel like indian history is just poorly researched. If we try hard we can reveal many secrets.

[@KasumiRINA]

Not surptising, outside of Mediterranean, civilizations have blank spots and LONG periods of places formerly densely populated that became barren. See Ukraine going from a bunch of Greek colonies in B.C. era to being almost barren during dark ages. Hell, even in Greece itself you have places like Sparta which depopulated at some point. Plenty of Mesoamerican civilizations fell into ruins way before Columbus as well. People moved. Only places on major rivers stayed populated but even then not always.

[@Rasyader]

Great work! Although I was expecting Easter Island Rongorongo or some West African scripts to be included...

[@OllieBye]

I've mentioned some scripts that weren't shown in the description.

[@godofthisshit]

@@OllieBye Nobody read the descriptions. Another video disregarding history of others.

[@aaronmarks9366]

Loved everything about this vid, including the color scheme and the music. Just a phenomenal job. I'll be showing this (with credit) in my linguistics classes.

[@islamisthetruewaytogod6812]

Hello ! May Allah protect and guide you to his light and happiness in this life and the hereafter, God bless, Ameen. Excuse me for giving a little presentation of Islam, because it is very misunderstood nowadays, especially on those « Antichrist's » times, where media and politics are mixed to distort history and truth. And terrorists (puppets of the Antichrist) who misinterpret verses, out of ignorance and political motivations, and take them out of historical context (just like radical atheists do by the way), don't help either. Thank you very much for your time. Islam is an arabic word that means the Surrender to the One and Only God, our Creator, Protector, Provider, who gives us life and all that we have, we are safe and sound by his will and grace, we are His and to Him we return, and we have to thank him in this trial life by submitting to him by our free will, or later in the Day of judgment when it's too late to save our own skin. Islam was the original Religion descended to earth from heaven with Adam and Eve (peace and blessing be upon them) in the beginning of humanity. and was passed to people with the succession of the 124 000 prophets and 315 messengers of God to all nations and civilizations since, passing by Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Ismaël, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, Joshua, David, Solomon and Jesus (Peace and blessing be upon them) during the history of mankind, the last replaces and completes the previous, until the succession of the last messenger of God fourteen centuries ago, Muhammad (Peace and blessing be upon him) to complete the noble morals of all mankind, to bring humans and jinns out of darkness into light, and to purify people's religion and belief from corruption and polytheism, and return it to purity and true monotheism, like it was in the times of the prophets (Peace and blessing be upon them). Many Religions that we know nowadays, at their beginning were true and under Islam, initiated by one of the prophets of God, but their original teachings, history and scriptures have been corrupted over time with falsification and polytheism, or lost and replaced with false ones. That's why Islam is the only Religion accepted by God nowadays, which consists in bearing witness that there is no god besides Allah (God in Aramaic, the original language of Jesus and the Gospel), and that Muhammad is His servant and messenger, just like Jesus and Moses and others are His servants and messengers. Never a messenger of God said he was God or literally son of God, it was the people after him who changed the words of God and corrupted the Religion. God is unique and absolute, He does not need to have a family and sons or to associate anyone else with His kingdom, He can simply create whatever He wants, everything belongs to Him, and to Him everything will return. Allah said in Surah Al-Mu’minun : “God has never begotten a son, nor is there any god besides Him. Otherwise, each god would have taken away what it has created, and some of them would have gained supremacy over others. Glory be to God, far beyond what they describe. The Knower of the hidden and the manifest. He is exalted, far above what they associate. (91-92 / Translated by ITANI). Allah means the one and only God, the God of all prophets and creatures, the creator of the universe and mankind, and the Master of the Day of judgment, where our destiny, Hell or Paradise, is decided based on our faith and deeds in this trial life, and above all, Allah's mercy. Allah said in Surah Al-Ikhlas : In the name of God, the Gracious, the Merciful. Say, “He is God, the One. God, the Absolute. He begets not, nor was He begotten. And there is none comparable to Him.” (1-4 / Translated by ITANI). Allah said in Surah An-Nisa : O FOLLOWERS of the Gospel! Do not overstep the bounds [of truth] in your religious beliefs, and do not say of God anything but the truth. The Christ Jesus, son of Mary, was but God's Apostle - [the fulfilment of] His promise which He had conveyed unto Mary - and a soul created by Him. Believe, then, in God and His apostles, and do not say, "[God is] a trinity". Desist [from this assertion] for your own good. God is but One God; utterly remote is He, in His glory, from having a son: unto Him belongs all that is in the heavens and all that is on earth; and none is as worthy of trust as God. Never did the Christ feel too proud to be God's servant, nor do the angels who are near unto Him. And those who feel too proud to serve Him and glory in their arrogance [should know that on Judgment Day] He will gather them all unto Himself: (171-172 / Translated by Muhammad Asad). Allah the Most Merciful said in Surah Ali-Imran : Behold, the only [true] religion in the sight of God is [man's] self-surrender unto Him; and those who were vouchsafed revelation aforetime took, out of mutual jealousy, to divergent views [on this point] only after knowledge [thereof] had come unto them. But as for him who denies the truth of God's messages - behold, God is swift in reckoning! Thus, [O Prophet,] if they argue with thee, say, "I have surrendered my whole being unto God, and [so have] all who follow me!" - and ask those who have been vouchsafed revelation aforetime, as well as all unlettered people, "Have you [too] surrendered yourselves unto Him?" And if they surrender themselves unto Him, they are on the right path; but if they turn away - behold, thy duty is no more than to deliver the message: for God sees all that is in [the hearts of] His creatures. Verily, as for those who deny the truth of God's messages, and slay the prophets against all right, and slay people who enjoin equity - announce unto them a grievous chastisement. It is they whose works shall come to nought both in this world and in the life to come; and they shall have none to succour them. (19-22 / Translated by Muhammad Asad).. Salam (Peace) ----------

[@KellyfromMemphisDD214]

I enjoyed the music also!

[@theoryianabsolute8777]

​@@islamisthetruewaytogod6812who asked for that, why are you pushing your nonsense to others, just stop please

[@DS-uy6jw]

What a pleasure to have such an information dense visualisation. Thanks.

[@AncientAmericas]

I appreciate the detail you gave to Mesoamerica! Nicely done!

[@ilhajugun]

漢字 changed so little in the last two thousand years, that even if simplified script have been used in mainland China and Singapore for more than 50ys, traditional script are still used in many occasions. Most educated Chinese can identify lots of their words since 隸書. And even a Chinese middle school student with good grades can read a newly unearthed book with two thousand years of history without the help from any scholars. That’s amazing~

[@팝송용계정-d4g]

The Chinese letter maintained its form but the Chinese language changed very drastically.

[@yanyanz3011]

Chinese writing system is called Hanzi, not hanja or kanji. Each type of script has its own name. Jiaguwen, zhuanshu, lishu, kaishu. Chinese deserves its own name for the proper nouns!

[@롤케익]

The problem is that most of them were burned down during the Cultural Revolution, so there is no material left to read..

[@Katzeleben6028]

luckily at the point of cultural revolution most books had copies, so historical documents and stuff were mainly preserved, it’s most people’s family trees which didn’t have copies that got ruined and lost eternally

[@blue-d4g]

@@yanyanz3011 Your point is very unclear, I understand the part about differentiating different Chinese writing forms but what's with the Hanzi Hanja Kanji thing? What are you trying to say? Learn English before spamming the same comment everywhere, people can't understand you.

[@pauliogaming8705]

First you do history if the world, know you do history of writing. There is simply no excuse to not subscribe. Congrats, dude, you earned a sub and I have to say you definitely deserve it :)

[@walterdiaz2003]

I like how you circled out Central America and proceded to update its progress. Usually, people just consider "the old world" but you went far ahead.

[@NikhileshSurve]

It's an interesting video. 5:34 One problem was the depiction of the Nagari script which was shown to be Eastern Nagari i.e. Bengali-Assamese script whereas the Nagari script looks quite different & is the much older version or ancestor form of the modern day Devanagari script. Also some major scripts like Punjabi (ਪੰਜਾਬੀ) in the North & Odia (ଓଡ଼ିଆ) in the South-East weren't shown.

[@surajitmondal823]

Odia also came from.eastern nagari and punjabi (gurumukhi) is based on sharada script

[@NikhileshSurve]

@@surajitmondal823 Odia script looks like a combination of Eastern & Southern variants of scripts, although Eastern influence seems stronger. I feel Odia script may be born out of either a much older form of Eastern Nagari script or both Eastern Nagari script & older form of modern Odia script could possibly be sister scripts with a common ancestor possibly Siddham script.

[@singhnirbhau]

Just saying, shahmukhi is also used in panjabi, its gurmukhi the name of script

[@NikhileshSurve]

@@singhnirbhau Yes that's right. But Shahmukhi is still a form of Perso-Arabic script used for Punjabi while Gurmukhi is a unique script among the Brahmic scripts.

[@deacudaniel1635]

I'm surprised that you also included the Ba-Shu scripts because there's still debate around them if they are real writing systems or just ornamental patterns.

[@Bharatheeyudu88]

ప్రపంచ భాషలందు తెలుగు లెస్స 👌. భారత్ మాతాకీ జై 🇮🇳

[@mathoskualawa9000]

It'd be interesting if we could explore the origins of Rongo-rongo "proto-writing" of Rapa Nui (Easter Island). It could be one of the few independent writing systems ever invented, or turn out to be more like Nordic Runes, inspired by another older writing system.

[@daffa9488]

Correction for Nusantara : We never used Lontara or Javanese in Sumatra, but we use Jawi, Batak, and Surat Ulu scripts. And Banjar at southern Borneo used Jawi. Also, you forgot to put Sundanese script for western Java. Anyways, great vid👍

[@davidivory3234]

Do you mean kawi or javanese script? Most of script developed in sumatra are descended from kawi, so I guess you said about the modern javanese script.

[@daffa9488]

@@davidivory3234 Kawi & Javanese script are different although they're related. Sumatra is labelled as Javanese here, not Kawi

[@oreo5607]

Kesultanan Banjar di taklukkan & masuk Islam karena demak di Jawa , jadi mereka juga yang pakai kawi

[@lunaris7235]

Nice video! :) I think I found a minor correction: As far as I know, the Kawi Script is a Javanese Innovation which originated from southeast and central Java, not from eastern Sumatra! Also, there are some older writings (450 CE) from Indonesia from Kutai-Region (Eastern Borneo), which use the Pallava Script and are in Sanskrit. And around 4th century CE, the Old Cham language was written in a southern Brahmi Script in Southern Vietnam.

[@cloroxbleach9222]

I too was surprised when I did not see any mention of the early Malay and Indochinese scripts. There were definitely scripts used by the people before Arabic Jawi arrived.

[@dayangmarikit6860]

In the Philippines too... The earliest written document in the Philippines is the Laguna Copperplate Inscription which was written using the Kawi Script. It was dated to be from around 900 AD. There are also other artifacts, such as coins which are known as (Bulawan) or (Piloncitos), the Butuan Ivory seal and the Butuan silver strip that also show Kawi letters or inscriptions etched on them.

[@BDJJ2026_.]

Idk if it's correct or not but when I was scrolling through Twitter I saw some similar words betweet my language Assamese(it's an Indian Language)and Javanese(that's what people said there when I replied) so my language's script was taken from Magadhi Prakrit . Like the word "itu" In your language is known as "eitu" In my language, and there are some more words I got like "asli" "Apa kabar " And here it is called as "ki khabar".I was shocked when I got that.

[@snakecharmer109]

Love your vids man. Love how Greek influenced so much.

[@sirmiles1820]

Sumerians are the first people who used writing. There are evidences of it and Egyptian hieroglyphics is the best example of Sumerian literature because Sumerian first writings are the inspiration of the first Egyptian hieroglyphics.

[@tranchedecake3897]

I really love this style of maps, plus showing indus script as writing even though it isn't deciphered means that u made a very good research

[@BEAST-eu9xx]

Tamil-Brahmi, also known as Tamizhi or Damili, was originally known as a variant of the Brahmi script. It was used to write inscriptions in the early form of Old Tamil. The Tamil-Brahmi script has been paleographically and stratigraphically dated between the third century BCE and the first century CE, and it constitutes the earliest known writing system evidenced in many parts of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Sri Lanka. Tamil Brahmi inscriptions have been found on cave entrances, stone beds, potsherds, jar burials, coins,seals, and rings.

[@pritsingh9766]

Why are you trying to make Brahmi as tamil ? Brahmi script was used for almost all languages in Indian subcontinent but you talk as if your father invented it and you own it 😂

[@BEAST-eu9xx]

@@pritsingh9766 where did I said Brahmi and Tamil-brahmi are same ? Open ur eyes 👀 and read itagain .

[@kshitijpaliwal]

@@pritsingh9766 He didn't say that at all and you are rude for no reason. What he is trying to say that when Tamil first started being written it was in a variation of the Brahmi Script. Don't be rude just cuz you think it's going to bring you some imaginary online clout.

[@maharishi9111]

Do you know what script the Tamil used before venturing into Brahmi? I mean the original script?

[@disailankan590]

@@maharishi9111 It is unknown, but Tamil-Brahmi is the oldest type of Brahmi found in the Indian Subcontinent so before this, it might have been an oral language similar to Sanskrit.

[@TheHolyMongolEmpire]

God, I’ve been looking for a video like this for years. Writing timelines are so confusing without a visual representation. Thank you so much for this!

[@vanacharlasaipavankumar6331]

The history between Indus civilization and Brahmic languages yet to be found

[@sitandchill2897]

Great video Ollie!! :) You missed one event in 900 CE: the Philippines' first ever found document (the Laguna Copperplate Inscription, found near Laguna de Ba'y lake and referencing Tundun- now Tondo in Metro Manila) was written in the Kawi script too, meaning that before 900 CE it was also written and understood by at least the elites of the Southern Luzon/Manila Bay area. Also we have another breakthrough event in the Philippines around 1000 CE, where we see the Butuan Seal artefact from Butuan in northern Mindanao, which had the placename "Butuan" written in both Kawi ("but-ban")and a variation of a suyat/baybayin script ("bu[t]wa[n]"). So we also have proof that Kawi and Suyat scripts were also used in tandem in northern Mindanao too prior to the arrival of Jawi, from at least from the 11th century CE, prior to the arrival of Islam in the 14th century.

[@coldplayfan7357]

Why is it that despite being colonized by Europeans, Countries like India and Malaysia still retains its writing system but Philippines doesn't? They also all converted to Christianity and adapted spanish names unlike other colonized countries of asia

[@komander2534]

@@coldplayfan7357 it' because of diff. Colonizers, India and Malaysia was a colony of Uk while Philippines was Spanish, they have diff ways

[@kikovelasco2366]

@@coldplayfan7357 there are some tribes in the philippines that still remain their traditional script like the tagbanwas and the buhid script but they are the just the minority of the population.

[@justrandomthings709]

@@coldplayfan7357 Malaysia write in LATIN ALPHABET as well, they don't write in Kawi anymore unless you're reading the Quran or you're a scholar.

[@dologongpoloponobonotongpo235]

@@justrandomthings709 I thought the Quran was written in Arabic?

[@mojobag01]

Poor old New Zealand.

[@superboy3633]

Where is it?😂

[@regularly_priced]

@@superboy3633It’s off the map (and it’s called Aotearoa, its original name, now)

[@VotMaf]

Actually, today's simplified Chinese and so called traditional Chinese are all 楷書/楷书. “汉字” represents "Chinese characters". So I think using “楷书” instead of "汉字" after 1950s would be better. “楷书” in Mainland China “楷書” in Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan “漢字/ひらがな/カタカナ” in Japan

[@minera7595]

What is the pinyin of the characters at the end of first sentence??

[@jianqiaocao2446]

@@minera7595kǎi shū

[@minera7595]

@@jianqiaocao2446 Thanks

[@Aman-qr6wi]

Chinese looks like I could stare at it all day.

[@minera7595]

@@Aman-qr6wi Especially Traditional Chinese, it look so charming

[@centralmapping6566]

This is a really professional and in detail map! This is a lot of information packed into one video, amazing job!

[@Aranyparipaa]

The nordic runes are totally missing...

[@shivampatnaik2000]

A wonderful video! But you did miss a good number of Brahmic scripts of the Indian subcontinent. India's got non-Brahmic scripts as well! The subcontinent is full of different scripts just as it is full of different languages. And I don't agree with calling the script "Bengali" in a video such as this. One may call it "Bengali" while talking about the Bengali language. But in a general video about different languages or scripts, "Eastern Nagari" or "Bengali-Assamese" is the choice to go with.

[@rbcso9144]

for some reason he represented the original nagari script with bengali assamese script...

[@1000g2g3g4g800999]

@@rbcso9144 It probably would have been better if the video maker didn't try to categorize scripts at all.

[@evilmurlock]

10:20 Nooo!! Not the Aral sea!

[@dani.kn20]

holy shit that’s one tiny ass detail he decided to put in

[@Beak7861]

I love the video! Thanks for showing Hangeul as independent letter from Hanja! Btw I think it is wrong that even northeast part of Japan is highly populated. Japan's highly populated areas till medieval Japan was Kyoto-Osaka-Hiroshima-Nagasaki line+Edo in some point.

[@sammic974]

fascinating upload of the stasis and progress of different areas around the world, ranging from centuries to only a few years. Both conquests and trade effected those changes, and subsumed other languages. I love stuff like this 😊

[@sanjithsaravanan8469]

Small correction, recent excavations in Keezhadi, India found tamil Brahmi script written on pottery dating to 600 BC. This was before Brahmi emerged in the north during Ashoka's time. Though this mistake is understandable as the news is relatively recent (around 2-3 years ago)

[@ChristopherRayMiller]

@sanjith saravanan - Actually, it’s not clear that the marks were Tamil Brahmi, nor is it clear that the ages of the soil samples were the ages of the potsherds themselves. From an online report: Experts Question Dates of Script in Tamil Nadu’s Keeladi Excavation Report - The Wire Science Experts Question Dates of Script in Tamil Nadu’s Keeladi Excavation Report - The Wire Science

[@porothashawarma2339]

Brahmi is way older than 300BCE , I think this is a mistake

[@ChristopherRayMiller]

My reply didn’t turn out as I thought it would and for some reason I can’t edit it, so I’ll just add a new reply. Some of the press reports I read on this were unclear (as is so often the case), but since then I’ve read some first-hand academic reports that make things clearer. (I’ve linked to these in other replies elsewhere where people bring up the Kiladi artifacts.) The main problem with the 600 BCE dating that several Indian academic critics point out is that it merely applies to soil samples and not to the actual associated ceramic objects, so we don’t know what their dates are in fact. Second, applying this dating technology to more recent timespans is apparently less accurate than for deeper timespans, according to critics. It turns out that many of the pottery inscriptions were names (most Tamil, but some of Prakrit origin), however none of these was dated. There are some “graffiti”-inscribed potsherds, but they are no proof of any hypothetical intermediate stage between IVC symbols and Brahmi for the simple reasons that (a) nobody knows what the IVC symbols stood for or even whether it was a script rather than the equivalent of clothes tag or airport pictographs and (b) no sound-based connections can therefore be made with Brahmi letters of (superficially) similar appearance. To date, no Brahmi artifacts, northern, Bhattiprolu or Tamil, have been reliably dated earlier than the mid-third century BCE.

[@orphan9334]

@@ChristopherRayMiller indian gov wants to destroy all the history and credibility of tamils sir ..... right now we tamils are under the colony of hindi belt .......again all excavation were stopped by indian gov ......

[@islamisthetruewaytogod6812]

Hello ! May Allah protect and guide you to his light and happiness in this life and the hereafter, God bless, Ameen. Excuse me for giving a little presentation of Islam, because it is very misunderstood nowadays, especially on those « Antichrist's » times, where media and politics are mixed to distort history and truth. And terrorists (puppets of the Antichrist) who misinterpret verses, out of ignorance and political motivations, and take them out of historical context (just like radical atheists do by the way), don't help either. Thank you very much for your time. Islam is an arabic word that means the Surrender to the One and Only God, our Creator, Protector, Provider, who gives us life and all that we have, we are safe and sound by his will and grace, we are His and to Him we return, and we have to thank him in this trial life by submitting to him by our free will, or later in the Day of judgment when it's too late to save our own skin. Islam was the original Religion descended to earth from heaven with Adam and Eve (peace and blessing be upon them) in the beginning of humanity. and was passed to people with the succession of the 124 000 prophets and 315 messengers of God to all nations and civilizations since, passing by Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Ismaël, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, Joshua, David, Solomon and Jesus (Peace and blessing be upon them) during the history of mankind, the last replaces and completes the previous, until the succession of the last messenger of God fourteen centuries ago, Muhammad (Peace and blessing be upon him) to complete the noble morals of all mankind, to bring humans and jinns out of darkness into light, and to purify people's religion and belief from corruption and polytheism, and return it to purity and true monotheism, like it was in the times of the prophets (Peace and blessing be upon them). Many Religions that we know nowadays, at their beginning were true and under Islam, initiated by one of the prophets of God, but their original teachings, history and scriptures have been corrupted over time with falsification and polytheism, or lost and replaced with false ones. That's why Islam is the only Religion accepted by God nowadays, which consists in bearing witness that there is no god besides Allah (God in Aramaic, the original language of Jesus and the Gospel), and that Muhammad is His servant and messenger, just like Jesus and Moses and others are His servants and messengers. Never a messenger of God said he was God or literally son of God, it was the people after him who changed the words of God and corrupted the Religion. God is unique and absolute, He does not need to have a family and sons or to associate anyone else with His kingdom, He can simply create whatever He wants, everything belongs to Him, and to Him everything will return. Allah said in Surah Al-Mu’minun : “God has never begotten a son, nor is there any god besides Him. Otherwise, each god would have taken away what it has created, and some of them would have gained supremacy over others. Glory be to God, far beyond what they describe. The Knower of the hidden and the manifest. He is exalted, far above what they associate. (91-92 / Translated by ITANI). Allah means the one and only God, the God of all prophets and creatures, the creator of the universe and mankind, and the Master of the Day of judgment, where our destiny, Hell or Paradise, is decided based on our faith and deeds in this trial life, and above all, Allah's mercy. Allah said in Surah Al-Ikhlas : In the name of God, the Gracious, the Merciful. Say, “He is God, the One. God, the Absolute. He begets not, nor was He begotten. And there is none comparable to Him.” (1-4 / Translated by ITANI). Allah said in Surah An-Nisa : O FOLLOWERS of the Gospel! Do not overstep the bounds [of truth] in your religious beliefs, and do not say of God anything but the truth. The Christ Jesus, son of Mary, was but God's Apostle - [the fulfilment of] His promise which He had conveyed unto Mary - and a soul created by Him. Believe, then, in God and His apostles, and do not say, "[God is] a trinity". Desist [from this assertion] for your own good. God is but One God; utterly remote is He, in His glory, from having a son: unto Him belongs all that is in the heavens and all that is on earth; and none is as worthy of trust as God. Never did the Christ feel too proud to be God's servant, nor do the angels who are near unto Him. And those who feel too proud to serve Him and glory in their arrogance [should know that on Judgment Day] He will gather them all unto Himself: (171-172 / Translated by Muhammad Asad). Allah the Most Merciful said in Surah Ali-Imran : Behold, the only [true] religion in the sight of God is [man's] self-surrender unto Him; and those who were vouchsafed revelation aforetime took, out of mutual jealousy, to divergent views [on this point] only after knowledge [thereof] had come unto them. But as for him who denies the truth of God's messages - behold, God is swift in reckoning! Thus, [O Prophet,] if they argue with thee, say, "I have surrendered my whole being unto God, and [so have] all who follow me!" - and ask those who have been vouchsafed revelation aforetime, as well as all unlettered people, "Have you [too] surrendered yourselves unto Him?" And if they surrender themselves unto Him, they are on the right path; but if they turn away - behold, thy duty is no more than to deliver the message: for God sees all that is in [the hearts of] His creatures. Verily, as for those who deny the truth of God's messages, and slay the prophets against all right, and slay people who enjoin equity - announce unto them a grievous chastisement. It is they whose works shall come to nought both in this world and in the life to come; and they shall have none to succour them. (19-22 / Translated by Muhammad Asad).. Salam (Peace) ----------

[@ksplatypus]

It makes me sad that writing systems that were used for thousands of years can so easily be replaced by other systems so quickly without a trace. Writing systems that developed from Olmec writing are essentially no longer in use outside of anthropology, archaeology, and possibly some indigenous communities trying to revitalize them. I hope we get to see their use once again someday.

[@uan9166]

They were not practical compared to latin

[@tsopmocful1958]

It makes me sad that we lost our tails. I hope we get to see them grow back someday.

[@Naninani-ic2oc]

@@uan9166 Any linguists will agree that you statement is bullshit.

[@ksplatypus]

@@tsopmocful1958 me too! A tail would be quite useful!

[@ksplatypus]

@@uan9166 maybe. But that's up for interpretation. I guess it's just a shame that such a big part of human civilization is pretty much gone

[@limajacques]

Hello, stranger, thanks for creating this magnificent piece.

[@EldaMengisto]

This was really cool to see! especially with how different civilizations use such scripts and spread them over time.

[@Hassenfeki]

Arabic and Persian are languages, however the writing systems and letters are called "Abjad" : Abjadic letters Latin : A,B,C,D...etc (languages : Italian, French...etc) Abjad : ا ب ن ....إلخ (languages: Arabic , Urdu , Persian...etc)

[@briandiehl9257]

That is not true, Abjad is a type of writing system that doesn't use vowels, as apposed to a true alphabet. Paleo hebrew is also an abjad and looks vastly different

[@Hassenfeki]

@@briandiehl9257 yes that's true Abjad system doesn't contain short vowels . Here I'm talking about the Arabic Abjad .

[@ChristopherRayMiller]

@@briandiehl9257 The letters are actually called "الحروف الابجدية" - ʔal-ḥurūf ˀal-ʔabjadiyya - in Arabic, literally "the abjad letters". That comes from the earlier letter order that was based on the Aramaic order found in Hebrew and slightly adapted in Greek, Latin and Caucasian scripts. It's still used for numbering things with letters in a way analogous to how we number points a, b, c etc. in certain kinds of texts. This is where Peter T. Daniels got the term from which he then used in a more specific way to refer to what others had called consonantaries.

[@geographysloth]

We’re here since 3500 years and we will also stay here -some Greek guy

[@bruh666]

Also rememeber this is only cases of writing that were preserved long and well enough that we can study it now. There could have and might have been many groups of people that used some form of writing but on organic material, or e.g in sand/mud etc.

[@redluna622]

Hey Ollie, I'm just curious to know where you got your research explaining that the Brahmi script evolved from the Aramaic script like you show in your legend. Although it is surely one possibility, from what I know at least, the exact origins of Brahmi have never been definitively proven as there exists other possibilities too as to where it came from; such as it may have evolved from the Indus Valley script, it may have come from an equivalent script to Aramaic like the Kharosthi script, it may have evolved from some unknown ancient Indian script that is now lost to record, or that it may have emerged on its own as an indigenous script or was a brand new invention for the time.

[@spandandasgupta5773]

I don't know the details and would like to learn as well but afaik, it's the most widely accepted theory, but ofc like everything in ancient history, it's just the most plausible guess people came up with.

[@GrigRP]

It's the most accepted origin.

[@gunnsspace1300]

Where can we study about this on professional level. Btw I gonna apply for college so any suggestions?

[@surfexcel9178]

Too many similarities for it to be a indigenous script

[@sertaki]

Any college that allows you to take a major in linguistics (especially empirical linguistics with a focus on Indo-European linguistics and comparative linguistics)

[@CBZ-vk9bz]

The arabic script was far more extended in the Iberian Peninsula during the middle ages than shown here. Heck, even the christian kingdoms used it as motiffs for aesthetic purpouses.

[@Gadanfer]

Sicily was half Arabic

[@cakecwkecake7479]

​@@Gadanfer wouldn't say half Arabic, but certainly a nice chunk was african/arab before being assimilated into Christian cultures that really only used latin to write, similar to malta

[@anhemapping2282]

Moors lost control of North half of Spain in 900s.

[@jaif7327]

@@anhemapping2282what northern half? are you talking about cantabria asturias and catalonia?

[@Stormfae9746]

This video is West-centered.

[@kimberlyperrotis8962]

Wonderful way to show the spread of literacy, which of course, reflects the spread of civilizations (by that, I simply mean urban life, don’t shoot fire arrows at me, anyone, please). Thank you this must have required a ton of work. It’s excellent!

[@awellculturedmanofanime1246]

Lmfao i mean without writing much of what we do would've been impossible to achieve or replicate 😂 so youre not wrong its just an important part of what makes or breaks a civilization

[@clarencejohncabahug5466]

Inca be like: We use knots instead of writing so we're technically illiterate.

[@regularly_priced]

I mean, they only used knots as a counting system, not as a written version of their language

[@Whelknarge]

Quick correction: A text called "The Cathach" was written in Latin script in Ireland in 560, so the timeline is a little off for Ireland. Also, not sure why Runic script and Ogham seem to be lumped together here, as far as I know they have nothing to do with one another.

[@SmokingLaddy]

German philologist Klaus Düwel pointed out the similarities between Ogham and Runic script in 1963. Runic origin would elegantly explain the presence of "H" and "Z" letters unused in Irish, as well as the presence of vocalic and consonantal variants "U" vs. "W", unknown to Latin writing and lost in Greek.

[@jzargovalyrian8679]

Thanks for the influence, India! We've loved the script ever since and even resisted the French attempt to Romanized it :D #Khmer Latin script is efficient for sure, but not as pretty lol Interesting how for a small, insignificant country, we got our script quite early on, even before the Japanese.

[@BostonianKhmer]

Ancient Angkor was not insignificant. At it's zenith the Khmers were the powerhouse of Southeast Asia. Modern Cambodia would be insignificant. Till this day Khmer has the oldest physical evidence of the number 0.

[@VICTORY481]

​@@BostonianKhmer😂

[@i_boole6639]

It's interesting to see how a writing system first developed in the middle east some how managed to evolve into three major writing systems that came to dominate the world.

[@islamisthetruewaytogod6812]

Hello ! May Allah protect and guide you to his light and happiness in this life and the hereafter, God bless, Ameen. Excuse me for giving a little presentation of Islam, because it is very misunderstood nowadays, especially on those « Antichrist's » times, where media and politics are mixed to distort history and truth. And terrorists (puppets of the Antichrist) who misinterpret verses, out of ignorance and political motivations, and take them out of historical context (just like radical atheists do by the way), don't help either. Thank you very much for your time. Islam is an arabic word that means the Surrender to the One and Only God, our Creator, Protector, Provider, who gives us life and all that we have, we are safe and sound by his will and grace, we are His and to Him we return, and we have to thank him in this trial life by submitting to him by our free will, or later in the Day of judgment when it's too late to save our own skin. Islam was the original Religion descended to earth from heaven with Adam and Eve (peace and blessing be upon them) in the beginning of humanity. and was passed to people with the succession of the 124 000 prophets and 315 messengers of God to all nations and civilizations since, passing by Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Ismaël, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, Joshua, David, Solomon and Jesus (Peace and blessing be upon them) during the history of mankind, the last replaces and completes the previous, until the succession of the last messenger of God fourteen centuries ago, Muhammad (Peace and blessing be upon him) to complete the noble morals of all mankind, to bring humans and jinns out of darkness into light, and to purify people's religion and belief from corruption and polytheism, and return it to purity and true monotheism, like it was in the times of the prophets (Peace and blessing be upon them). Many Religions that we know nowadays, at their beginning were true and under Islam, initiated by one of the prophets of God, but their original teachings, history and scriptures have been corrupted over time with falsification and polytheism, or lost and replaced with false ones. That's why Islam is the only Religion accepted by God nowadays, which consists in bearing witness that there is no god besides Allah (God in Aramaic, the original language of Jesus and the Gospel), and that Muhammad is His servant and messenger, just like Jesus and Moses and others are His servants and messengers. Never a messenger of God said he was God or literally son of God, it was the people after him who changed the words of God and corrupted the Religion. God is unique and absolute, He does not need to have a family and sons or to associate anyone else with His kingdom, He can simply create whatever He wants, everything belongs to Him, and to Him everything will return. Allah said in Surah Al-Mu’minun : “God has never begotten a son, nor is there any god besides Him. Otherwise, each god would have taken away what it has created, and some of them would have gained supremacy over others. Glory be to God, far beyond what they describe. The Knower of the hidden and the manifest. He is exalted, far above what they associate. (91-92 / Translated by ITANI). Allah means the one and only God, the God of all prophets and creatures, the creator of the universe and mankind, and the Master of the Day of judgment, where our destiny, Hell or Paradise, is decided based on our faith and deeds in this trial life, and above all, Allah's mercy. Allah said in Surah Al-Ikhlas : In the name of God, the Gracious, the Merciful. Say, “He is God, the One. God, the Absolute. He begets not, nor was He begotten. And there is none comparable to Him.” (1-4 / Translated by ITANI). Allah said in Surah An-Nisa : O FOLLOWERS of the Gospel! Do not overstep the bounds [of truth] in your religious beliefs, and do not say of God anything but the truth. The Christ Jesus, son of Mary, was but God's Apostle - [the fulfilment of] His promise which He had conveyed unto Mary - and a soul created by Him. Believe, then, in God and His apostles, and do not say, "[God is] a trinity". Desist [from this assertion] for your own good. God is but One God; utterly remote is He, in His glory, from having a son: unto Him belongs all that is in the heavens and all that is on earth; and none is as worthy of trust as God. Never did the Christ feel too proud to be God's servant, nor do the angels who are near unto Him. And those who feel too proud to serve Him and glory in their arrogance [should know that on Judgment Day] He will gather them all unto Himself: (171-172 / Translated by Muhammad Asad). Allah the Most Merciful said in Surah Ali-Imran : Behold, the only [true] religion in the sight of God is [man's] self-surrender unto Him; and those who were vouchsafed revelation aforetime took, out of mutual jealousy, to divergent views [on this point] only after knowledge [thereof] had come unto them. But as for him who denies the truth of God's messages - behold, God is swift in reckoning! Thus, [O Prophet,] if they argue with thee, say, "I have surrendered my whole being unto God, and [so have] all who follow me!" - and ask those who have been vouchsafed revelation aforetime, as well as all unlettered people, "Have you [too] surrendered yourselves unto Him?" And if they surrender themselves unto Him, they are on the right path; but if they turn away - behold, thy duty is no more than to deliver the message: for God sees all that is in [the hearts of] His creatures. Verily, as for those who deny the truth of God's messages, and slay the prophets against all right, and slay people who enjoin equity - announce unto them a grievous chastisement. It is they whose works shall come to nought both in this world and in the life to come; and they shall have none to succour them. (19-22 / Translated by Muhammad Asad).. Salam (Peace) ----------

[@i_boole6639]

@@islamisthetruewaytogod6812 I'm atheist, dude, save your preaching for someone who cares.

[@artugert]

More than just 3.

[@kgbkgb7616]

ancient middle easterners were yamnayan/aryan/indo europeans

[@AppleCinnamonPie]

It seems to me like it's the religion that made it into a major writing system. I would assume the same case with Latin being due to Christianity.

[@inigoloyola1869]

Great, comprehensive video. I have some questions (which others who know could answer): -At 2:30, what's the story/preservation of the greek on the eastern part of modern iran? -At 5:35, what happened with literacy disappearance on the balkans? -At 6:15, why did persian suddenly take the place of arabic in modern Iran? -At 6:50, what prompted the sudden blow up of Cyrillic? -What is the meaning of the font change for the `AB' Latin? I see Helvetica font earlier, then a Gothic font later on. Also, I was surprised at the area that Tibetian languages maintained. Again, awesome video; it was detailed enough to be very enlightening, whereas not too detailed such that it made for a confusing jumble of colors.

[@LemurEater]

alexander the great, slavic migrations, an independant persian movement and orthodox christianity

[@judyp.]

​@@LemurEater most efficient answer i ever read 😍😄

[@cauwenberghsroeland8607]

This is uncomplete. You are missing several african "techniques to write". In about 1600, Pigafetta did describe the hieroglyphes employed by Kongo - scribes. I did discover that long time after I knew "they wrote" - and allmost all Bantu - before meeting whites ( including muslim) , seen all have "autochtone vocabulary" for write, read, scribe, written document. The Krou-alphabet - Krou aren't Bantu - , a syllabian one, "should be inspired during a dream" , but is one of those still known by Marroons Nengue ( Maroni, Suriname, France), and colled "Kromanti" or "Kormantin"...what is a city of Krou-country... , and its knowledge is not limited to initiated as the one of the bus-doctors secret society "Adoki" of the Saramacca-marroons , what can be the one seen by Pigafetta, but can allso be another one, "local reproduction of the concept" or still Kongo, but not from Kongo dia Ntotila, but from Luangu/Loango. To notice: Luangu is not but in Africa, but allso one of the "secret languages" used by "mediums " even by neighbouring Marroons ( Ndjuka ). If it is hard to know whén it started where... the "vocabulary" let suppose two possibilities. One, after the last big migrations provoked by the first muslim-slavehunters ( 600 - 800 AC ) ...because all have a very particular vocabulary, not rooting in the common bantu-vocabulary ( however, for to write, as in most tongues, "scratch".... ). So, they did name it after separation... This mass-migration can have provoked also "re-invention". ( when you saw and did understand for what reason they did "scratch", but didn't know how, so you invent one system yourselve )... Other possibilty is that pre-existing communities , Khoi, San, but also - as I suppose to be the case - lot older former Bantu-migrants, did, them, write. ( for instance, Ndama are not that recent "coming out of Ethiopia" and also Kongo-cultural-ancestors had to cross Burundi more than...4000 years ago, if not, no Lukeni could never become king because he knew how to melt iron... in about 1350 AC... ( In Burundi, Iron is produced since 4000 years, before actual tribes did live there, but still , those who started that industry, weren't nor Khoy , nor San, so a branch of Bantu long before the big run-away migrations of 600- 1600... Pity that many tongues are desappearing, because vocabulary is a book of history... The big migration is as such reality, but is NOT the first migration of Bantu from north-east Africa to the south and the west... even if Bakongo did sew eleusine, have trypanotolerant cow, sheep (as did Ndama and Owambo...), and say NTSAMBADUI for SABAT/SEPT/SEVEN/SIEBEN/SEPTA....- that common radical can be of very old immaterial trade... ( Masa, Mayi in lingala is Ma in Arab and Mayi in Cananean....: water...( 40 is present in Slavian and Ougrian languages as a "special" number, not in Bantu-languages. 7 for sure is, also in time-concepts to join moon-month and sun-year in Kikongo...). So the "migration-theory" of main linguist migth be correct, it is uncomplete. AND, pity, they did not notice the linguistical evidence those peoples didn't learn the concepts of "writing and reading" from Europeans or Semithics.... Pigafetta did leave us his remark, but didn't copy those hieroglyphics. Krou (Liberia, Ivory Coast) and Kromanti ( Ndjuka Marroons) use exactly the same syllabic alphabet... At least 4 alphabets are employed by initiated by those Marroons. That of the Adoki not included ( that is Saramakka).

[@Nakalololo]

I can't imagine the work that must have taken. This is awesome ! Thank you !

[@vavqnok473]

There's so much detail! Even the disappearance of the Aral Sea was included!

[@A.staris]

Amazing achievement. Well done! I don't know if this a correction but pre-Assyrian Empire Hebrew-Canaanite-Phoenician didn't yet use Aramaic/Squared Aramaic script, but used paleo-Hebrew letters. Possibly that's what you mean by Sinaiatic.

[@hlibushok]

Sometimes, I want to (quite literally) cry, when I remember how much undeciphered scripts there is, and how much was lost to history in general.

[@mrvn000]

Or how much interesting thing were not written at all.

[@崔莱]

you should consider becoming a linguist/historian. they literally do this as their life long passion.

[@hlibushok]

@@崔莱 I do think of becoming historian. There isn't much money to be made, but at least it is the profession I'm 99,8% sure I'll be passionate about. Linguistics on the other hand... There's too much technical stuff related to languages.

[@崔莱]

@@hlibushok Some people spend their entire lives making money so they can get what they want. And then some people spend their entire lives living the dream. Which do you choose? Also becoming a historian doesn't necessarily mean you'll make low income. You gotta be creative. we live in a wonderful era where there are endless possibilities. There are so many ways of making money for so many professions. For example I know a lot of history-based video games pay a crap ton for good historians.

[@yucol5661]

Think about Rongo-Rongo from Rapanui. That’s a really sad one. Not just from how isolated they where, so they seem to have came up with writing on their own. But how brutal the treatment of the people there was, leading to Rongo-Rongo being lost and yet undeciphered.

[@Sam-wc2mc]

Nice video! This is a really interesting topic. I was gonna try to catch you out by mentioning Rongorongo since I heard about it in a podcast, but you have mentioned it in the description. I think the concept of uniquely concieved scripts is pretty cool. It's interesting to see what people come up with, and if there are any similarities between scripts.

[@kamelryke31]

Thank you. You even included the Berber Script, Tifinagh.

[@VIII-SINCHANCHATTERJEE]

I like how you give importance to Megasthenes's announcement and make India without a writing system for centuries........ Also I like the idea of presenting the Brahmi letters "DHA" and "MA" for Brahmi was often considered as the "Dhamma lipi" or 'the Dhamma ( Dharma or duty , righteousness) script' . However this creates a confusion. In one of the pillar edicts of Ashoka , there's a "slokha" which is in Devanagari Sanskrit........ This could mean that Devanagari was also in use..... And also for a long time because , Nearchus stated that Indians wrote one materials like cloth and palm leaves...... Kinda weird..

[@वायुः]

Considering Indo-Aryan migration, Indus scripts (or its derivatives) should have also moved down the south along with the people. Is there any report stating reason for its disapperence? Why there was a vacuum for writing system in India for centuries?

[@varunmanjunath9123]

Megasthanes shouldn't be considered the only source, since it was not preserved well...

[@Aman-qr6wi]

@@OkarinHououinKyouma panini also mentions something about lipi and he was a linguist from 500 BCE. Recent khezadi excavation has shown that tamil brahmi didn't develop from brahmi or phoenician but matched with indus script.

[@Blacksaber54]

@@Aman-qr6wi Panini is not just "a" linguist but is considered the father of linguistics. Since material to write on and write with was scarce/luxury ancient Indians skillfully passed down their knowledge in articulated poems so the least amount of words could transfer the most amount of information. Panini was the first person considered to have studied and researched this skill of linguistics. I am not an expert just ran into this video (kzbin.info/www/bejne/kH2vn3Sanq2jkNk) on Megasthenes's record and its credibility.

[@roguepratap7284]

@@वायुः there is no vaccum , they forgot to mention ,

[@TheTrueOnyxRose]

The Cree language group is a major surprise coming seemingly out of nowhere. This covers no small amount of territory. We should be learning it along with the other international languages. I don’t know why it took so long to find out not all Native languages have dwindled down to next to nothing.

[@PLKartofel]

Large area, VERY low population.

[@TheTrueOnyxRose]

@@PLKartofel: Well apparently they noticed it. So why shouldn’t we?

[@PLKartofel]

@@TheTrueOnyxRose wdym ''they noticed it'' who is they

[@TheTrueOnyxRose]

@@PLKartofel: You question this? Whoever made this video of course.

[@PLKartofel]

@@TheTrueOnyxRose Well, they noticed it to make the video more accurate?