"Double Extra Large World History!"

Have you ever considered what people are actually referring to when the term "history" is used? Is it the history of a certain nation, person, or culture? Or even the history of our world? It seems as though most of the time, "history" is not including all that it can. We overlook and forget about tremendous events that are all a significant part of how we have came to the point we are at today. You see, we divide history into several periods and often only consider the latest of these. For example, what is known as Small World History only encompasses the last 5000 years, the start of civilization, or the invention of writing. However, I'd like to reflect on the big picture, all the way back to the beginning of the universe. The following include events from over the last 13 billion years, what is called Big History.

The Big Bang
Visit this interactive time line to explore the origins of the universe. The effects of a single event happening over 13 billion years ago are still occurring today. Out of an extremely hot explosion, expanding faster than the speed of light from the size of an atom came the beginning of time, space, matter, and energy. Continue exploring the time line for a chronicle of Big History.
http://www.johnkyrk.com/evolution.html

The Beginning of the Earth
Dig deeper! What actually allowed our world to exist? How did the Solar System fall into place? Over millions of years, the survivors of the millions of collisions occurring beforehand settled into their orbits. Presently, the planets maintain respective distances from our center star, leading to the reasoning behind Bode's Law, for all of you scientists.
http://novan.com/solar.htm

The Great Permian Extinction
Learn about the Earth's most severe extinction event. Over 90% of every living thing disappears, but what caused this catastrophe? How did we go on to recover from this loss?
http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/dinosaurs-permian-extinction-death-and-life.html

The Super-Continent
Imagine the earth as one large land mass surrounded by one vast sea. This is the case hundreds of millions of years ago. The land mass is known ad Pangaea, with Panthalassa as the resulting enormous sea. Explore how the continents arrive in their present location over time.
http://www.exploratorium.edu/origins/antarctica/ideas/gondwana2.html

Put it into Perspective
A key concept to understanding Big History is realizing the vast time periods that it includes. Furthermore, examining the lengths of these periods relative to more familiar times can be quite astonishing. Look at the history of the universe in a one-year calendar representation in order to get a sense of how long ago these events happened. What is the most shocking to you?
http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schooladventures/universe/itsawesome/cosmiccalendar/page2.html

These events throughout the past billions of years have clearly helped determine our present state. Can you think of any other significant elements of Big History?