The past

Here is the history part, without any promises of brevity. It goes from the beginning — at least as far back as we can go with any degree of certainty — to the present day.

So it starts with what cosmology and astronomy tell us.

Then we jump from interstellar space to the earth for what geology tells us.

And then the history of life as revealed by fossils, finding out what paleontology and evolution tell us.

And now we are in the present.