A Timeline of Inventions That Shaped Human Communication

Did you know that human speech emerged in 100,000 BC? How about the fact that smoke signals were used on the Great Wall of China as early as 900 BC? Have you heard of Yoruba talking drums that mimic human speech? These are just a few of the inventions you’ll learn about through this timeline of communication technology created by Ooma. The team takes us on a trip through human history through the lens of communication.

Here are some of the highlights from the detailed timeline:

1. Ts’ai Lun invents paper in 105
2. The first pencil is created in France in 1795
3. The Cooke and Wheatstone system introduces electric telecommunication in 1838
4. The first telephone is designed in 1849
5. Radio waves are discovered in 1887
6. Commercial televisions are broadly available in 1929
7. The Internet Age dawns in 1969

How many technologies on the timeline can you recognise? Timelines like this are a great learning tool because they fill in gaps between technology we recognise from the past and our modern counterparts.