Learn Earth History
Guides, periods and articles in one place
Everything on this site, organized. Start with the big-picture guides, dive into a single geological period, or browse articles by topic. Every page links back to the interactive map so you can see it for yourself.
Start here
- Interactive mapScrub through 540 million years of continental drift.
- Earth's history4.5 billion years in one story, from a molten planet to today.
- Plate tectonicsHow plates move, collide and build mountains and oceans.
- Geological periodsTwelve periods, each with a map, dinosaurs and climate.
- FAQQuick answers about Pangea and the map.
Explore by geological period
Each period page has a reconstructed map, climate, life, dinosaurs (when there were any) and the data behind it.
- Cambrian The Cambrian explosion: almost every animal body plan appears in the sea.
- Ordovician Seas teem with life, the first plants creep ashore, and an ice age ends it.
- Silurian Life recovers, vascular plants and arthropods move onto land, and fish get jaws.
- Devonian The Age of Fishes: the first forests and the first four-legged animals.
- Carboniferous Coal swamps, giant insects and the assembly of Pangea.
- Permian Pangea at its fullest, ending in the Great Dying, the worst extinction ever.
- Triassic Life rebuilds after the Great Dying, and the first dinosaurs and mammals appear.
- Jurassic Dinosaurs rule, the Atlantic opens, and the first birds take flight.
- Cretaceous Peak dinosaurs, flowering plants and high seas, ending with the Chicxulub impact.
- Paleogene Mammals take over, India hits Asia, and a hothouse turns into an icehouse.
- Neogene Grasslands spread, the Mediterranean dries out, and our ancestors walk upright.
- Quaternary Ice ages, mammoths and the spread of modern humans around the globe.
Articles by topic
Countries & places through time
Where your country, continent or city was in the deep past.
- Where Was Your Country During Pangea?
- Where Was the United States 250 Million Years Ago?
- Where Was Brazil 200 Million Years Ago?
- Where Was Brazil 250 Million Years Ago?
- Where Was Australia Before It Became an Island?
- Where Was Australia 250 Million Years Ago?
- Where Was India Before It Crashed Into Asia?
- Where Was India 250 Million Years Ago?
- Where Was China 250 Million Years Ago?
- Where Was Finland During the Age of Dinosaurs?
- How Fast Has Finland Moved Across Earth?
- Which Countries Were Neighbors on Pangea?
- Countries That Traveled the Furthest Since Pangea
- Which Modern Countries Were Closest to the Equator on Pangea?
- Which Countries Have Moved the Least Since Pangea?
- Was Your Country Near the South Pole?
- 10 Modern Cities That Were Underwater 100 Million Years Ago
- What Was Your Country's Climate During the Jurassic?
Dinosaurs
When and where dinosaurs lived, and how they vanished.
Supercontinents & plate tectonics
Rodinia, Pangea and the future supercontinent.
Deep time & big events
Impacts, ice ages and mass extinctions.
No articles match your search.
Where our data comes from
Continental positions come from the GPlates Web Service (Müller et al. 2019 for 0–250 Ma, Merdith et al. 2021 for older times). Ancient elevation and shorelines come from the PALEOMAP PaleoDEMs of Scotese & Wright (2018, CC BY 4.0). Dinosaur fossils come from the Paleobiology Database. All are scientific reconstructions that are refined as research advances.
Keep exploring
- Geological periodsTwelve periods, each with a map, dinosaurs and climate.
- Earth's history4.5 billion years in one story, from a molten planet to today.
- Plate tectonicsHow plates move, collide and build mountains and oceans.
- FAQQuick answers about Pangea and the map.
- About & data sourcesWhere the reconstructions and fossil data come from.