I think it depends on how this very story develops and how approaches to teaching history change. Let's assume that by that time people will not become robots, and they will learn the same way as before.

Two aspects can be considered - a change in approaches and the events themselves.

About approaches:
Firstly, it seems to me that in 500 years they will look at the situation of our time a little differently, because in textbooks there will be less political coloring of the situation, and more pure facts; due to the development of the Internet, it will simply be difficult to hammer pure politics into the brain instead of history. I hope, at least, that the political-emotional color that exists now will disappear from the history books.

Secondly, most likely, modernity will be presented in brief facts, such as - there was such and such a conflict, with such and such results. Without those details that modern textbooks about the events of the 21st century are usually stuffed with (information that is designed to show the student what is happening at the moment, but is useless for a student in 2516). That is, the coverage will be more global. Details, such as “the causes of the systemic crisis of 2xxx,” will be considered by historians.

Thirdly, everything very much depends on what happens next in the story? How technology will develop, how human rights and philosophy in general will develop. The higher the role of the development of technology and information in history, the more attention will be paid to this. The greater the role of globalization in world history, the more “Foreign” there will be in “domestic” history. Will the era of space colonization begin? Will history be revealed purely planetary, interplanetary, or, as now, by state?

As for the content, many questions are simply impossible to predict now
What will happen to the leading political powers? Will the world Islamic revolution, which conservatives and nationalists fear, happen, will Europe change? What will happen to the USA, to Russia? Will there be major conflicts and/or open wars? What will happen to humanity anyway? All these questions will be revealed depending on what humanity will be (will it be?) in that era.

All purely IMHO, without claims to the ultimate truth.

To do this, you need to know what will happen over the next 500 years.

And all modern events are ALREADY recorded in textbooks. Ask any relatively recent graduate if they were told in history lessons about the First (and maybe Second) Chechen War, the Orange Revolution, and the September 11 terrorist attacks? His answer will most likely be “yes.”

In just five years, the latest course will include the war in Syria, the war in Donbass, Brexit and other historical events.

Accordingly, the question “what will be in history books in 500 years?” It will be possible to answer only to our descendants.

I will slightly paraphrase the previous answer and the question itself: what are the most significant modern events that will go down in history and will be studied in 500 years?

As Marcus Stein correctly noted, there may not be textbooks in the form we know now. Why is it possible? If we believe that technological progress will continue without failures, then textbooks will be replaced by more modern technologies. What could it be? Don't know. There is an expression: “since the 1950s, more discoveries have been made in science than in the entire history of mankind.” And how much will be done in the next 5 years is already difficult to guess. For example, imagine what kind of groups you would organize on VK that exist now and didn’t exist in 2011?))))
But the growth of the technical process cannot continue all the time, and it is quite possible that the next round of development regression will occur precisely in these same 500 years. The reasons can be very diverse - from nuclear war to religious domination. Here is the second option - why textbooks can be in our modern form).

So what are the most significant current events that can be studied in the future?

It is clear that the collapse of the USSR will make a passing mention of economic crises (if these crises do not now lead to war or revolution). Perhaps they will remember the war with Georgia in 2008. Most likely, the Crimean issue will be mentioned, but this is a rather minor event on a global scale, again, if it does not lead to war. Otherwise, our time is not remarkable for anything super-interesting from a political point of view, so far.
By the way, perhaps the history of the LGBT movement in the United States and Western countries will also go down in history, just as the movement in defense of the rights of African Americans previously did.

From the point of view of culture and the arts, first of all - performances, the emergence and development of digital art. In painting - the development of hyperrealism. In cinema, a period of technical development (4K-8K-128K..., computer graphics), but creative regression (more remakes and fewer original ideas). In sculpture - the combination and use of new materials. Literature - it’s generally not clear what they can remember after 500 years. Paradoxical as it may seem, I’m afraid it will be Hitler’s forbidden “Mein Kampf”, using the example of “The Witches’ Hammer” (I think that’s the name of the book of the inquisitors).

But all these are vague assumptions, because you never know in 5 years you will write a new book, or aliens will arrive and everything that I described will not have any meaning at all.

Incredible facts

If we could time travel and go back five centuries, we would see the thriving Aztec Empire in Central Mexico, the newly painted Mona Lisa in Renaissance Europe, and cooler temperatures in the northern hemisphere. This is what the world was like at the height of the Little Ice Age(1300-1850) and during the period of great European colonization, now known as the Age of Discovery.

But what if we could look into the future and see what our planet will be like in the 26th century? Will it seem to us as different from ours as the 21st century might have seemed to the inhabitants of the 16th? Let's start with what will the weather be like?

Depending on who you ask this question, you will receive the answer that The 26th century will be very cold or hellishly hot. Some scientists suggest that by 2500 the Earth's climate will be even cooler than during the Little Ice Age. Other researchers predict that current climate change and excessive use of fossil fuels will lead to the fact that by 2300 the planet will become so hot that people will not be able to live on it.

Some experts say that Human impact on the climate began with the Industrial Revolution in the 1800s, while others argue that it began in prehistoric times with the birth of agriculture. In any case, people have plenty of tools in their hands to change environmental conditions, and in the 26th century these tools may be even more impressive.

Theoretical physicist and futurist Michio Kaku predicts that in just 100 years, humanity will make a leap from civilization type zero to type 1 on the Kardashev scale. In other words, we will become a species that will be able to use all the energy on the planet. With such power, people of the 26th century will be masters of clean energy technologies, such as solar energy. In addition, they will have the ability to manipulate planetary energy in order to control global climate conditions. Physicist Freeman Dyson, on the other hand, suggests that the transition to a type 1 civilization will occur within about two hundred years.

Technology has advanced greatly since the 1500s, and this pace is likely to continue. Physicist Stephen Hawking suggests that by 2600, 10 new theoretical papers by physicists will be published every 10 seconds. If Moore's Law is true, and computer speed and complexity doubles every 18 months, then some of this research will be the result of highly intelligent machines.

What other technologies will shape the world of the 26th century? Futurist author Adrian Berry believes that human lifespan will reach 140 years and that digitally storing human personalities will create a kind of computer immortality. Man will conquer the ocean, travel in starships, live on lunar and Martian colonies, while robots will explore outer space.

On the scale of the history of the planet and even of humanity, the life of one particular person is catastrophically short. We, born at the turn of the millennium, were lucky to witness unprecedented technological progress and the flourishing of civilization. But what will happen next? In 50, 10, 1000 years? In these documentaries, eminent scientists and researchers will try to imagine what awaits humanity and our planet in the future.

Age of Fools

The film will paint us a picture of the near future (2055), when global warming is already destroying humanity. The main character of the film must compose a message for those people who may survive. The purpose of the message is to draw conclusions about why all this happened.

From a scientific point of view: Earth Apocalypse

Imagine our planet in 250 million years. It will faintly resemble today's Earth; most likely it will be one large continent, mostly occupied by deserts. There will be no oceans in today's view. Coastal areas will be destroyed by devastating storms. Ultimately, planet Earth is doomed to destruction.

Wild world of the future

Without a time machine, you will be transported into the future 5,000,000, 100,000,000 and 200,000,000 years to see a world worthy of the pen of a brilliant science fiction writer. But what appears before your eyes is not fiction at all! Using the most complex calculations, strictly substantiated forecasts and a wealth of knowledge in biology and geology, leading scientists from the USA, Great Britain, Germany and Canada, together with masters of computer animation, created a portrait of our planet and its inhabitants many centuries after the last person leaves it.

The world in 2050

Can you imagine our world in 2050? By mid-century, there will already be about 9 billion people on the planet, consuming more and more resources, surrounded by an increasingly technological environment. What will our cities be like? How will we eat in the future? Is global warming coming or will engineers have the opportunity to prevent the climate crisis? This BBC documentary examines the problem of overpopulation on earth. Of course, demographic problems await us in the future. Rockefeller Institute theoretical biologist Joel Cohen suggests that it is likely that most of the world's people will live in urban areas and their average life expectancy will be significantly higher.

New World - Future life on earth

Programs from the “New World” series tell us about the latest technologies, developments, and radical ideas that are already shaping the world of the future today. What will life on our planet be like in a few decades? Will there really be cities under the ocean, bio-suits and space tourism; will machines be able to develop super-speed, and human life expectancy will reach 150 years? Scientists say our descendants will live in floating cities, fly to work and travel underwater. The time of polluted megacities will end, because people will stop driving cars, and the invention of the teleport will save cities from eternal traffic jams.

Earth 2100

The very idea that within the next century, life as we know it could end will seem very strange to many. Our civilization may collapse, leaving only traces of human existence. To change your future, you must first imagine it. It seems outlandish, extraordinary and even impossible. But according to cutting-edge scientific research, it is a very real possibility. And if we continue to live the way we live now, all this will definitely happen.

Life after people

This film is based on the results of a study of territories suddenly abandoned by people, as well as the possible consequences of stopping the maintenance of buildings and urban infrastructure. The abandoned world hypothesis is illustrated with digital images showing the subsequent fate of such architectural masterpieces as the Empire State Building, Buckingham Palace, Sears Tower, Space Needle, Golden Gate Bridge and the Eiffel Tower.

From a scientific point of view: The Death of the Earth

Planet Earth: 4 billion years of evolution, all this will disappear. Titanic forces are already at work that will destroy the world as we know it. Together with scientific researchers, we will make a grand journey into the future of the Earth in which natural disasters will wipe out all life and destroy the planet itself. We begin the countdown to the end of the world.

Consequences: An Overcrowded Planet

Both scientists and science fiction writers often imagine how human civilization will disappear - whether it will be destroyed by a meteorite, the awakening of all volcanoes, or by people themselves.
But I wonder what will happen to the planet after there are no more people? Will this benefit nature, who will become the new owner of the Earth, and how long will it take for our planet to forever erase the mention of people from its memory?

Shock therapy, or Reboot after us

Without human control, nuclear power plants, dams, oil and gas storage facilities will not be able to function as before. It only takes a few weeks for a planet-wide catastrophe to begin.

The earth will be engulfed in fires that there will be no one to put out. After the explosions of nuclear power plants, it takes thousands of years for radiation to stop destroying the world around us.

Evolution or death

Not all predators can survive the absence of people. After all, man himself contributed to the fact that many species of animals began to disappear from the planet. Man has created many nature reserves and zoos, but their inhabitants will not be able to withstand all the difficulties of the free world.

Scientists suggest that primates could become the new masters of the earth if there is an impetus for their mental development, and they use the ruins of our civilization to build their own.

A real dead city - the price of human error

It seems that our steel jungle can last forever, but this is a delusion.

There is a real ghost town in Ukraine that is known throughout the world. Twenty-nine years ago, all its inhabitants left Chernobyl. It seems that this is not an age for buildings, but nature stubbornly fights against brick, concrete and asphalt. And nature wins. Corrosion eats away metal every day, making it more and more vulnerable.

Farewell, symbols of nations

In 500 years, only ruins will remain of all human buildings.

Man's attempts to conquer nature will play a cruel joke. Oceans, rivers, seas, deserts, plants will begin to reclaim their territories, which were taken away by man. And now there will be no one to resist nature.

Our planet, our beautiful home, looks like a sparkling ball from space. But after the disappearance of people, the Earth will plunge into darkness. Cities will become gray ghosts. There will be no neon signs or street lights.

The pyramids will remain until the end

The only invincible enemy of the buildings of the ancient Egyptians was sand. He can simply bury these ancient architectural monuments.

What will we leave as a legacy?

Tons of garbage accumulate on land and water. If a person today realizes the destructive power of his activities and tries to do something about it, then after our civilization no one will clean up after us. Marine animals will have to drink for a long time the toxic cocktail that we treated them to without asking anyone’s permission.

After us, space is a mess

About 3,000 thousand artificial Earth satellites circle the planet several times a day. Without people they will become uncontrollable. If for some time they are able to follow the laid out routes, then sooner or later all the satellites will lose their coordinates and spin in the last dance of death, and fire will rain down on the ground.

Message for posterity

Of all the inhabitants of the Earth, man is the only animal that destroys itself. We understand this and want to protect ourselves, if not from death, then from oblivion.

In 1977, Voyagers spacecraft were launched into space with plates on which all information about a person was recorded. And this is not the last attempt to perpetuate the memory of himself. Today there is a Last Pictures project, thanks to which information about people can be preserved for billions of years.

In 10,000 thousand years there will be no trace left of modern civilization

They are persistent in their conclusions - in 10,000 thousand years there will be no trace left of modern civilization. Nature will reclaim its territory - it will flood it, cover it with sand, and plant it with plants.

The only evidence that people once dominated here will be our bones. After all, bones can lie in the ground for a million years.

There is just one question that haunts us - will there be anyone to study the presence of people on Earth after our era?

Human civilization is developing very quickly. Just five thousand years ago, the first knotted writing appeared - and today we have already learned to exchange terrabytes of information at the speed of light. And the pace of progress is growing.

It is almost impossible to predict what human impact on our planet will look like even a thousand years from now. However, scientists like to fantasize about what awaits the Earth in the future if our civilization suddenly disappears. Let us, following them, imagine an unusual situation: let’s say that in the 22nd century all earthlings fly to Alpha Centauri - what awaits our abandoned world in this case?

Global extinction

Through its activities, humanity constantly influences the natural cycle of substances. In fact, we have become another element capable of causing a cataclysm of unprecedented proportions. We are changing the biosphere and climate, extracting minerals and producing mountains of garbage. But, despite our power, it will take nature only a few thousand years to return to its former “wild” state. Skyscrapers will collapse, tunnels will collapse, communications will rust, and dense forests will conquer the territory of cities.

Since carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere will stop, nothing will be able to prevent the onset of a new ice age - this will happen in about 25 thousand years. The glacier will begin to advance from the north, shackling Europe, Siberia and part of the North American continent.

It is clear that under many kilometers of layers of creeping ice the last evidence of the existence of civilization will be buried and ground into fine dust. However, the biosphere will suffer the greatest damage. Having mastered the planet, humanity has practically destroyed natural ecological niches, which led to one of the most massive animal extinctions in history.

The departure of humanity will not stop this process, because the chains of interaction between organisms have already been broken. The extinction will continue for over 5 million years. Large mammals and many species of birds will completely disappear. The biological diversity of fauna will decrease. Genetically modified plants, which scientists have adapted to the harshest living conditions, will have an obvious evolutionary advantage.

Such plants run wild, but being protected from pests, they will quickly take over the vacated niches, giving rise to new species. Moreover, during these millions of years, two dwarf stars will pass at a close distance from the Sun, which will inevitably lead to a change in the planetary characteristics of the Earth, and a hail of comets will fall on the planet. Such catastrophic events will further accelerate pestilence among the species of animals and plants known to us. Who will replace them?

Revival of Pangea

It has long been established that the earth's continents move, although very slowly: at a speed of several centimeters per year. During a human lifetime, this drift is practically unnoticeable, but over millions of years it can radically change the geography of the Earth.

During the Paleozoic era, there was a single continent of Pangea on the planet, washed on all sides by the waves of the World Ocean (scientists gave the ocean a separate name - Panthalassa). About 200 million years ago, the supercontinent split into two, which in turn also continued to fragment. Now the planet is facing a reverse process - another reunification of the land into a common colossal territory, which scientists have dubbed Neopangea (or Pangea Ultima).

It will look something like this: in 30 million years Africa will merge with Eurasia; in 60 million years Australia will crash into East Asia; in 150 million years Antarctica will join the Eurasian-African-Australian supercontinent; in 250 million years, both Americas will be added to them - the process of formation of Neopangea will be completed.

Continental drift and collisions will significantly affect the climate. New mountain ranges will appear, changing the movement of air currents. Due to the fact that ice will cover most of Neopangea, the level of the World Ocean will decrease noticeably. The global temperature of the planet will fall, but the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere will increase. In areas of tropical climate (and there will always be such areas, despite the cooling), an explosive multiplication of species will begin.

Insects (cockroaches, scorpions, dragonflies, centipedes) develop best in such an environment, and again, as during the Carboniferous period, they will become real “kings” of nature. At the same time, the central regions of Neopangea will be an endless scorched desert, since rain clouds simply will not be able to reach them. The temperature difference between the central and coastal regions of the supercontinent will cause monstrous monsoons and hurricanes.

However, Neopangea will not exist for long by historical standards - about 50 million years. Due to powerful volcanic activity, the supercontinent will be cut by colossal cracks, and parts of Neopangea will separate, setting off on a “free float.” The planet will again enter a period of warming, and oxygen levels will fall, threatening the biosphere with another mass extinction. Some chance of survival will remain for those creatures that adapt to life on the border of land and ocean - primarily amphibians.

New person

In the press and science fiction, one can find speculative statements that humans continue to evolve, and that in a few million years our descendants will be as different from us as we are from monkeys. In fact, human evolution stopped at the moment when we found ourselves outside of natural selection, gaining independence from environmental changes and defeating most diseases.

Modern medicine allows even such children to be born and grow up who would have been doomed to death in the womb. In order for a person to begin to evolve again, he must lose his mind and return to the animal state (before the invention of fire and stone tools), and this is practically impossible due to the high development of our brain. Therefore, if a new person ever appears on Earth, he is unlikely to come from our evolutionary branch.

For example, our descendants can enter into symbiosis with a closely related species: when a weaker but smart monkey controls a more massive and formidable creature, literally living on the back of its neck. Another exotic option is that a person will move to the ocean, becoming another marine mammal, but due to climate change and resource shortages, he will return to land in the form of a clumsy “aquatic biota” crawling in search of food. Or the development of telepathic abilities will direct the evolution of new people in an unexpected direction: communities of “hives” will arise in which individuals will be specialized, like bees or ants...

In 250 million years, the galactic year will end, that is, the Solar system will complete a revolution around the center of the Galaxy. By that time, the Earth will be completely transformed, and any of us, if he finds himself in such a distant future, will hardly recognize it as our home planet. The only thing that will remain at that time from our entire civilization is the small traces on the Moon left by American astronauts.

Paleontologists have found that mass extinctions of animals were a periodic phenomenon in the Earth's past. There are five mass extinctions: Ordovician-Silurian, Devonian, Permian, Triassic and Cretaceous-Paleogene. The worst was the “great” Permian extinction 252 million years ago, which killed 96% of all marine species and 70% of terrestrial animal species. Moreover, it also affected insects, which usually manage to avoid the disastrous consequences of a biosphere catastrophe.

Scientists have not been able to determine the causes of the global pestilence. The most popular hypothesis states that the Permian extinction was caused by a sharp increase in volcanic activity, which changed not only the climate, but also the chemical composition of the atmosphere.

Anton Pervushin