In 10,000 BC, the world was home to thousands of civilizations, all but or completely isolated from one another. By 1450 AD, their numbers had declined dramatically, and more than 90% of the world’s population lived in a single macro-civilization in Afro-Eurasia. The remaining 10% of the world’s population was divided among the civilizations of Mesoamerica, the Andes, Australia, and Oceania. Over the next three centuries, the Afro-Eurasian macro-civilization engulfed the other four worlds: Mesoamerica in 1521, the Andes in 1532, Australia in 1788 (and Tasmania, the last outpost, in 1803).
