This spectacular animated map shows how writing spread around the world, and it will surprise you

Writing is one of the keys to human civilization. Thanks to her, contracts, sales, literature, and collective memory were born.

The writing has been a key discovery in human evolution, because it helped fix the words and reflect on what we say, allowing to develop the thought. “Words fly and what is written remainsSaid the Roman orator Gaius Titus 2,000 years ago.

Linguists consider it proven that we learned to speak before writing. And there is consensus that writing originated from the need to establish economic agreements and contracts between merchants.

It was not an invention of a person or a tribe and the rest copied it, but emerged in different parts of the world, and it was extended and modified in many different ways. East animated writing mapcreated by YouTube channel Ollie Byeit shows us the evolution of writing in a very visual and entertaining way:

The first written symbols representing spoken language emerged about 5,000 years ago, on the year 3,000 before Christ (BC)

The Sumerian, Hindu and Egyptian hieroglyphs they are considered the first known written languages. They spread throughout Mesopotamia, until They arose in Europe around 2,000 BC, in Crete.

We have to jump a year 1300 BC for them to appear the first writings in China and in continental Europe, in Greece.

about the year 800 BC they are dated the first Olmec glyphs, in Mayan America. Around the year 600 BC, the Phoenicians bring writing to Spaincenturies before it reached what is now France, the United Kingdom or Germany.

Around the 400 BC. the Aramaic It was the most widespread written language, throughout Asia. Around 330 BC, Latin originated in Italy.which would end up spreading throughout almost all of Western Europe, resulting in several European languages, including modern Spanish.

In Northern Europe, runes spread from Viking lands to the UK around the 1st centurywhere Latin had remained.

Modern Arabic is born around the year 500a language that will conquer much of Africa and Asia.

The Cyrillic script originates around the year 900, and will spread through Eastern Europe and Russia. In most cases the different types of writing expand through military conquest, trade, or religion.

The discovery of America, in 1,492brings European scripts of Latin origin to the American continent: Spanish English Portuguese, etc. They all have the same root. Also to Africa, where English and French prevailed.

After the end of Colonialism in the 19th century, the distribution of writing has hardly changed in the world.

A fascinating evolution that is much easier to remember, with wonderful animated maps like the one we just saw.