The word history comes from the same Latin root as “story.”

Some scholars believe written history begins in Sumeria around 3500 BC in the form of the pictograph (picture-writing).

Egyptians invented hieroglyphics, their own form of writing, around 3000 BC.

Before written history it was “prehistoric” times.

BC = Before Christ
AD = Ano Domini, Latin for “Year of Our Lord,” the years after Jesus’s birth

BCE = Before Common Era
CE = Common Era