History of Writing

Cave Paintings

40,000 BCE

The earliest form of writing was pictures being drawn on cave walls in the form of cave paintings. The pictures conveyed what the cavemen had seen and done. The paintings were done during the stone age(roughly 40,000-14,000BC).

Photo writing

6000 BCE

Photo writing was the closest writing form to writing while still using pictures. These writing systems were a gradual process of images slowly being used together to make an entire photo sentence. Photo writing served as a transition for several cultures towards a true writing system. The system was prevalent around the neolithic period(6000 BC)

First Language

3200 BCE

The Sumerian and Egyptian writing systems were the first to make an actual written language. Both used clay tablets to write on, and only the most elitely educated were literate in the language. It is disputed whether or not Sumerian influenced Egyptian writing, but it is accepted both gained relevance around 3200 BC.

Phoenician alphabet

1000 BCE

The Phoenician alphabet was a Proto-Canaanite alphabet that gained relevance in the iron age. However its true significance came from what it influenced. The alphabet spawned the Greek and Aramaic alphabets, which went on to develop into the languages used in Africa, Europe, and Western Asia. Greek specifically spawning Latin which is a base for most European languages.

Paper

100 BCE

The use of paper allowed for more things to be written and recorded as it was far easier to write on then stone, clay, or leather. First being invented during the Han dynasty in China. With the mass producing of paper in 100 AD by Ts'ai Lun. Paper spread throughout the world and literacy rates increased as it became easier to write.

Islam

600

Rome fell, this left a massive power gap over the mediterranean and the middle east. Islam stepped into the place of power and arabic influence grew. Arabic grew to influence Greek, Latin, and Persian languages. It also spread the Hindu-Arabic numerical system across Europe.

Printing Press

1440

The invention of the printing press in the Holy Roman Empire was one of the most significant leaps in human evolution. Books could now be mass produced. The press almost single handedly caused the Protestant Reformation. As well as improving literacy rates as it was now far easier to make books.

Electronic writing

2000

The introduction of devices that one could write on revolutionized language. Anyone and everyone could and wanted to write. Not only is it far more efficient, but it became popular and fun. On top of that every amount of writing one did could be stored in a chip a fourth the size of a book. Technology continues to advance beyond that remarkable feat, and literacy rates are at an all time high.

Future Writing

2019

Physical copies of writing will be obsolete in the near future. Electronics are fasters, smaller, and better for storing information. Eventually we will only use electronic copies, already schools and businesses are moving from large stacks of paper and books to small laptops and hard drives.