About 10,000 years ago the Ice Age came to an end. The change did not happen in a day; it took thousands of years. But it changed the surface of the Earth so much that it shaped the world we live in now.
The Earth warms up
The main change was that the climate became warmer. As the temperature rose, the huge ice sheets and glaciers melted. This released enormous amounts of water back into the oceans.
The sea rises
Because the melting ice returned water to the sea, the sea level rose greatly. The rising water slowly flooded the low land bridges. Land that had been dry for thousands of years disappeared under the sea. Places that were once joined became separate islands, and new coastlines and seas were formed.
New living conditions
The warmer, wetter climate allowed forests to grow where cold tundra had been. Some cold-loving animals like the woolly mammoth died out, while new plants and animals spread. These warmer conditions later made it possible for people to begin farming. As the land and seas settled into new shapes, people had to learn fresh ways to live, find food and travel. In this way the end of the Ice Age was not only a natural event but also the start of a new chapter in the human story.
Key idea
At the end of the Ice Age the climate warmed, ice melted, the sea rose, and land bridges were flooded — separating land into islands and reshaping the world.