Evolution: A Very Short Introduction - Brian Charlesworth, Deborah Charlesworth

Less than 450 years ago, all European scholars believed that the Earth was at the center of a universe that was at most a few million miles in extent, and that the planets, sun, and stars all rotated around this center. Less than 250 years ago, they believed that the universe was created essentially in its present state about 6,000 years ago. Even less than 150 years ago, the view that living species were the result of special creation by God was still dominant. The recognition by Charles Darwin