In Which Century Do You Belong?

About This Quiz

Human progress has certainly not been a linear affair. For generations, it was generally the case that people would live very similar lives to those of their parents. Things didn't change quickly, including the number of people out there. Indeed, the human population didn't even break a billion until the 1800s, so slow was population growth.

A change didn't really get going until the 1700s. The century prior, the Age of Exploration, was probably the last in which the world ever felt very large or static. After that, as the Industrial Revolution kicked off and railways and then aviation shrank the world, it was no longer possible to disappear over a faraway horizon and never return. The adventures grew less mysterious, even as the tragedies grew larger - with ever-bigger wars - and simultaneously fewer, as humanity fought back at last against disease and illiteracy that hampered us from living free and prosperous lives.

Where would you fit into this history, if you were not alive now? We children of the 21st century enjoy many advantages, but some of us might be temperamentally more suited to other times. Take this quiz, and we'll figure out which century of human history would suit you down to the ground!