How the Indo-Europeans conquered the world
For most of the time that our species has studied its own history, much of the past has been shrouded in darkness. Then, scholars of languages noticed something: From the jungles of Bengal to the British Isles, languages separated by thousands and thousands of miles shared structure and vocabulary. These came to be called the Indo-European languages, and they are spoken by some 45% of all humans on earth today. What was going on?
Then, about ten years ago, a technological breakthrough in a flash illuminated entire stretches of our history that were utterly unknown to us. And the story is stranger, more brutal and more epic than we ever thought. This is the story of how the Indo-Europeans conquered the world.
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Sources and recommendations (with Amazon links- I will earn a small commission)
Proto: How One Ancient Language Went Global, Laura Spinney, 2025 (https://amzn.to/46NAypP)
This is THE book to read on the story as we currently know it. Highly readable and excellent.
The Indo-Europeans Rediscovered: How a Scientific Revolution is Rewriting Their Story, J. P. Mallory (https://amzn.to/4rlhS81)
More about how the search for the Indo-European homeland has evolved over centuries. Less useful as an introduction, but good for broader context.
Foreign Devils on the Silk Road: The Search for the Lost Treasures of Central Asia, Peter Hopkirk (https://amzn.to/40gDOGE)
A terrifically fun read on the re-discovery of the Tocharian civilisations, told like an adventure story.
Razib Khan (https://www.razibkhan.com/)
00:00 Intro
0:32 The Indo-European languages
05:34 Origins
08:30 The Steppe
12:05 Horses and Wheels
16:39 Europe
22:15 Corded Ware and Bell Beakers
27:31 How?
35:11 Finnish, Estonian, Hungarian, Basque
40:38 Europe and it's languages
45:55 Tocharians
49:13 Aktobe
55:00 Sintashta
58:15 Iranians
1:09:26 Kalash
1:23:21 Indo-Aryans
1:25:06 Nuristanis
1:34:09 The Aryans
1:38:40 Hinduism
1:46:15 Caste and the Aryans
1:47:48 'Out of India' Theory
1:50:43 The World of the Steppe