The first era of the Phanerozoic Eon is the Paleozoic, which can be then divided into six periods: the Cambrian, the Ordovician, the Silurian, the Devonian, the Carboniferous, and the Permian. This stretch of time, the largest of the Phanerozoic, can possibly be considered the most pivotal, as unprecedented lifeforms would diversify and colonize a new frontier only touched before by far simpler organisms: land. Many groups, such as embryophytes, arthropods, and vertebrates, would thrive, groups that would alter the history of Earth in unexpected ways and still continue to do so in the present day. Be that as it may, three of the five mass extinctions would occur during this era, these being the Ordovician-Silurian extinction, the Late Devonian Extinction, and the Permian-Triassic extinction event, which is also called the Great Dying, a not at all subtle hint of the catastrophe it unleashed.
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