World History Timeline
Prehistory
CHRONOLOGY
8 – 6 million years ago Bi-pedal hominids in Africa
2.6 million years ago Homo habilis begin to use tools
43,000 BCE Homo sapiens expand out of Africa
50,000 – 10,000 BCE Homo sapiens complete their migration to all continents
22,000 – 14,000 BCE Last Glacial Maximum
c. 9,000 BCE Younger Dryas event
c. 9,000 BCE Jericho reaches its height
c. 7,000 BCE Çatalhüyük reaches several thousand inhabitants
2,000 BCE Paleo-Eskimos appear in the Arctic
2,000 BCE Humans begin to make pottery
Early Middle Eastern and Northeast African Civilizations
CHRONOLOGY
Ancient Mesopotamia
c. 10,000 BCE Beginnings of the Agricultural Revolution
c. 3500 BCE Appearance of Sumerian city-states in lower Mesopotamia
c. 3200 BCE Early use of cuneiform
c. 2900 BCE Production of bronze
2334 – 2100 BCE Akkadian Empire
c. 2000 BCE Gilgamesh first recorded in cuneiform
1792 – 1595 BCE Babylonian Empire
1792 – 1750 BCE Reign of Hammurabi
900 – 612 BCE Assyrian Empire
626 – 539 BCE New Babylonian Empire
605 – 562 BCE Reign of Nebechadnezzar
Ancient Israel
c. 1300 – 1200 BCE Israelites leave Egypt (following Moses)
c. 1050 – 1010 BCE Israelites establish a kingdom
c. 1000 – 970 BCE Reign of King David
c. 979 – 930 BCE Reign of King Solomon
931 BCE Israel divides into two kingdoms
586 – 539 BCE Babylonian captivity of Israelites
Northeast Africa (Egypt and Nubia)
c. 7000 BCE Beginnings of Agricultural Revolution in Northeast Africa
c. 6000 – 3500 BCE Desiccation of the Sahara Desert pushed people towards Nile River Valley
c. 4000 BCE Towns and villages grew along the Nile River
c. 3100 BCE Unification of Egypt
3100 – 2600 BCE Egyptian Archaic Period
2660 – 2160 BCE Egyptian Old Kingdom
2400 – 1450 BCE The Kingdom of Kerma
2040 – 1640 BCE Egyptian Middle Kingdom
1640 – 1570 BCE Egypt’s Second Intermediate Period (Egypt under Hyksos Rule)
1530 – 1070 BCE Egyptian New Kingdom
1350 – 1325 BCE Amarna Period (under Pharaoh Akhenaten)
1040 – 332 BCE Egyptian Late Period
750 – 656 BCE The Kingdom of Kush ruled Egypt, creating the “Ethiopian Dynasty”
750 – 593 BCE Kingdom of Kush (with capital at Napata)
656 – 639 BCE Assyrians occupied Egypt
593 BCE Egyptian army sacked Napata, the capital of Kush
593 BCE The Kingdom of Kerma moved its capital to Meroe
525 BCE Persian conquest of Egypt
323 BCE Alexander the Great conquered Egypt/Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt
30 BCE Roman conquest of Egypt
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Ancient and Early Medieval India
CHRONOLOGY
2600 – 1700 BCE Harappan/Indus Valley Civilization
1700 – 600 BCE Vedic Age
1700 – 1000 BCE Early Vedic Age
1000 – 600 BCE Later Vedic Age
321 – 184 BCE Mauryan Empire
c. 2nd century BCE to
3rd century CE Kushan Kingdom
c. 320 – 550 CE Gupta Empire
600 – 1300 CE Early Medieval India
1206 – 1526 CE Delhi Sultanate
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China and East Asia to the Ming Dynasty
CHRONOLOGY
China
8000 – 2000 BCE Neolithic Cultures in China
5000 – 3000 BCE Yangshao Culture
3000 – 1900 BCE Longshan Culture
c. 1900 – 1600 BCE Xia Dynasty
c. 1600 – 1046 BCE Shang Dynasty
1045 – 256 BCE Zhou Dynasty
1045 – 771 BCE Western Zhou
770 – 256 BCE Eastern Zhou
551 – 479 BCE Confucius
475 – 221 BCE Warring States Period
221 – 210 BCE Qin Dynasty
221 – 210 BCE First Emperor of Qin
202 BCE – 220 CE Han Dynasty
141 – 87 BCE Emperor Wu
220 – 589 CE Period of Division
220 – 280 CE Three Kingdoms Period
155 – 220 CE Cao Cao
265 – 317 CE Western Jin
317 – 589 CE Northern and Southern Dynasties
581 – 618 CE Sui Dynasty
618 – 907 CE Tang Dynasty
960 – 1279 CE Song Dynasty
1271 – 1368 CE Yuan Dynasty
1215 – 1294 CE Kublai Khan
1368 – 1644 CE Ming Dynasty
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Korea
c. 400 BCE – 313 CE Early Historical Period
313 – 668 CE Three Kingdoms
c. 37 BCE – 668 CE Goguryeo Dynasty
668 – 892 CE Silla Dynasty
Japan
11,000 – 500 BCE Jōmon Period
500 BCE – 250 CE Yayoi Period
250 – 600 CE Mounded Tomb Period
600 – 800 CE Asuka-Nara Period
The Greek World from the Bronze Age to the Roman Conquest
CHRONOLOGY
c. 3300 – 1150 BCE Bronze Age
c. 1100 – 700 BCE Dark Ages
c. 700 – 480 BCE Archaic Period
480 – 323 BCE Classical Period
431 – 404 BCE The Peloponnesian War
323 – 146 BCE Hellenistic Period
The Roman World from 753 BCE to 500 CE
CHRONOLOGY
753 BCE Founding of Rome
c. 753 – 510 BCE Regal Period
c. 510 BCE – 44 BCE* Roman Republic
264 – 146 BCE The Punic Wars
133 BCE – 44 BCE The Late Republic
44 BCE – 476 CE Roman Empire
44 BCE – 68 CE Julio-Claudian Dynasty
69 CE Year of the Four Emperors
69 CE – 96 CE Flavian Dynasty
96 – 180 CE The Five Good Emperors
235 – 284 CE The Third Century Crisis
395 CE Permanent division of the Empire into East and West
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Western Europe and Byzantium circa 500 – 1000 CE
CHRONOLOGY
410 CE Roman army abandons Britain
476 CE The general Odavacar deposes last Western Roman Emperor
496 CE The Frankish king Clovis converts to Christianity
500s CE Anglo-Saxons gradually take over Britain
533 CE Byzantine Empire conquers the Vandal kingdom in North Africa
535 – 554 CE Byzantine Empire conquers the Ostrogothic kingdom in Italy
560s CE Lombard invasions of Italy begin
580s CE The Franks cease keeping tax registers
597 CE Christian missionaries dispatched from Rome arrive in Britain
610 – 641 CE Heraclius is Byzantine emperor
636 CE Arab Muslims defeat the Byzantine army at the Battle of Yarmouk
670s CE Byzantine Empire begins to lose control of the Balkans to Avars, Bulgars,
and Slavs
674 – 678 CE Arabs lay siege to Constantinople but are unsuccessful
711 CE Muslims from North Africa conquer Spain, end of the Visigothic kingdom
717 – 718 CE Arabs lay siege to Constantinople but are unsuccessful
717 CE Leo III becomes Byzantine emperor. Under his rule, the Iconoclast
Controversy begins.
732 CE King Charles Martel of the Franks defeats a Muslim invasion of the
kingdom at the Battle of Tours
751 CE The Byzantine city of Ravenna falls to the Lombards; Pepin the Short of the
Franks deposes the last Merovingian king and becomes king of the Franks;
King Pepin will later conquer Central Italy and donate it to the pope
750s CE Duke of Naples ceases to acknowledge the authority of the Byzantine emperor
770s CE Effective control of the city of Rome passes from Byzantium to the papacy
c. 780 – 840 CE The Carolingian Renaissance
782 CE Charlemagne crushes a Saxon rebellion
787 CE Second Council of Nicaea authorizes the use of icons in worship
793 CE Viking raids begin
800 CE Charlemagne crowned Roman emperor by Pope Leo III
830 CE Abbasid caliph Al-Mamun founds the House of Wisdom in Baghdad
843 CE In the Treaty of Verdun, Charlemagne’s three sons, Lothar, Louis, and
Charles the Bald, divide his empire among themselves
843 CE Final resolution of the Iconoclast Controversy under Empress Theodora
846 CE Muslim raiders from Aghlabid North Africa sack the city of Rome
c. 843 – 900 CE Macedonian Renaissance
Mid-800s: CE Cyril and Methodius preach Christianity to the Slavic peoples
864 CE Conversion of the Bulgars to Christianity
867 CE Basil I murders the reigning Byzantine emperor and seizes control of the Empire
871 – 899 CE Alfred the Great is king of England. He defeats Norse raiders and creates
a consolidated kingdom.
899 CE Defeated by the Pechenegs, the Magyars begin moving into Central Europe
955 CE Otto the Great, king of East Francia, defeats the Magyars in battle
976 – 1025 CE Basil II is Byzantine Emperor
988 CE Vladimir, Grand Prince of Kiev, converts to Christianity
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Islam to the Mamluks
CHRONOLOGY
632 – 661 CE Rashidun Caliphs
661 – 750 CE Umayyad Caliphate
750 – 1258 CE Abbasid Caliphate
909 – 1171 CE Fatimid Caliphate
1096 – 1487 CE Crusades
1171 – 1250 CE Ayubid Sultanate
1250 – 1517 CE Mamluk Sultanate
African History to 1500
CHRONOLOGY
200,000 – 100,000 BP
(Before Present)
First behaviorally modern human emerged in Africa
c. 7000 BCE Beginnings of the Agricultural Revolution in Africa
c. 3000 BCE – 1500 CE The Bantu expansions
900s BCE Rule of Queen Makeda (Ethiopia)
c. 800 BCE – 300 CE Kingdom of Da’amat (Ethiopia)
c. 250 BCE Founding of Djenne-Jeno, one of Africa’s first cities (Western Sudan)
c. 100 – 950 CE The Empire of Aksum
c. 300 CE Ghana emerged as a state (Western Sudan)
c. 325 – 350 CE The rule of King Ezana (Aksum/Ethiopia)
c. 800 CE Ghana became an empire (Western Sudan)
1000 – 1500 CE Height of Swahili society (East Africa)
1200 – 1450 CE Height of Great Zimbabwe (southern Africa/ Zimbabwe Plateau)
1235 CE Sundiata Keita founded the Mali Empire (Western Sudan)
1324 – 1325 CE Mansa Musa performed the hajj (Western Sudan)
Early 1400s CE Portuguese began to explore the Atlantic coast of West Africa; beginnings
of the Age of Exploration
1460s CE Sunni Ali built the Songhai Empire (Western Sudan)
1493 – 1528 CE Askia the Great ruled during the Golden Age of the Songhai Empire
(Western Sudan)
Early 1500s CE The Portuguese built a Trading Post Empire in the Indian Ocean (East Africa)
1591 CE Moroccans invaded the Songhai Empire (Western Sudan)
1699 CE The Omanis (allied with some Swahili rulers) seized Swahili city-states
from the Portuguese (East Africa)
The Americas
CHRONOLOGY
18,000 – 15,000 BCE First humans migrate to the Americas
c. 13,000 BCE Big game hunters inhabit the Great Plains
c. 10,000 BCE Mesoamericans begin to cultivate squash
10,000 – 3,500 BCE Paleo-Indian Period
5600 – 3000 BCE Early Plains Archaic Period
2000 BCE – 250 CE Preclassic or Formative period in Mesoamerica
c. 1900 BCE Mesoamericans begin to make pottery
1800 – 800 BCE Late Initial Period in Peru
1500 – 400 BCE Middle Formative Period in Mesoamerica. Peak of Olmec statue carving
c. 1000 BCE Maize becomes widespread in North America
400 BCE – 100 CE Late Formative Period in Mesoamerica
200 BCE The Moche begin their conquest of Peru’s north coast
200 BCE – 400 CE The Hopewell culture flourishes in North America
100 BCE – 600 CE The Nazca culture flourishes in Peru
400s CE Tiwankau founded
550 CE Teotihuacán reaches 125,000 residents
700 CE The Huari Empire reaches its height
700 – 1400 CE Cahokia
750 CE Tikal reaches 80,000 residents
800 CE The Toltec city of Tula reaches a population of 35,000
1000 CE The Chimu establish the capital city of Chan Chan
1050 CE The population of Chaco Canyon’s five great pueblos reaches 5,000
inhabitants
1325 CE Tenochtitlán founded
1471 CE Death of Inca Pachacuti
Central Asia
CHRONOLOGY
1206 – 1368 CE Mongol Empire
1240s – 1502 CE Khanate of the Golden Horde
1225 – 1370 CE The Khanate of Chagatai
1265 – 1335 CE The Khanate of the Ilkhans
1370 – 1507 CE Timurid Dynasty
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Western Europe and Byzantium
circa 1000 – 1500 CE
CHRONOLOGY
962 CE Otto I crowned Holy Roman Emperor
987 CE Hugh Capet elected king of France
c. 1000 – 1100 CE Emergence of Western European feudalism
1031 CE Fall of the Cordoba Caliphate
1049 CE Pope Leo IX begins papal efforts at Church reform
1054 CE Schism between the pope and the patriarch of Constantinople
1066 CE Norman Conquest of England
1071 CE Battle of Manzikert annihilates Byzantine field army
1077 CE Henry IV repents to Pope Gregory VII at Canossa
1085 CE Fall of Muslim Toledo to the Christian kingdom of Leon-Castile
1088 – 1231 CE Foundation of Universities of Bologna, Paris, Oxford, and Cambridge
1091 CE Norman conquest of Muslim Sicily complete
1095 CE Council of Clermont, calling of the First Crusade
1099 CE Fall of Jerusalem to Christian Crusaders, establishment of Crusader States
1100 – 1135 CE King Henry I rules England
1118 – 1143 CE Emperor John II rules the Byzantine Empire
1122 CE Concordat of Worms
1125 – 1152 CE Raymond is archbishop of Toledo, begins sponsoring the translation of
Muslim and Greek philosophy from Arabic into Latin
1143 – 1180 CE Emperor Manuel Komnenos rules the Byzantine Empire
1154 – 1189 CE King Henry II rules England
1176 CE Frederick Barbarossa defeated by Lombard League at the Battle of Legnano;
Manuel Komnenos defeated by Saljuq Turks at the Battle of Myriokephalon
1187 CE Kingdom of Jerusalem defeated by Saladin at the Battle of Hattin, fall of
Jerusalem, Pope Gregory VIII issues Audita tremendi, calling the Third
Crusade
1189 – 1192 CE The Third Crusade, a rump (remnant of a larger government) Christian
Kingdom of Jerusalem is re-established, but Jerusalem remains in
Muslim hands
1203 – 1226 CE France’s Capetian kings extend the control of lands directly ruled by the
crown
1204 CE Crusaders sack Constantinople, break-up of the Byzantine Empire
1212 CE Almohad Caliphate defeated by Spanish Christian kingdoms at the Battle
of Las Navas de Tolosa
1215 CE Magna Carta
1215 – 1250 CE Frederick II is Holy Roman Emperor
1224 – 1274 CE Life of St. Thomas Aquinas
1229 CE A treaty between Frederick II and Egyptian sultan al-Kamil returns
Jerusalem to Christian rule
1240 CE Mongol Conquest of Kievan Rus
1241 CE Mongol invasion of Hungary
1244 CE Jerusalem falls to Ayyubid Egypt
1248 – 1254 CE The Seventh Crusade, France’s King Louis IX defeated by Egypt,
Egyptian Mamluk coup d’état
1250 – 1273 CE There is no Holy Roman Emperor
1261 CE Restoration of the Byzantine Empire
1291 CE Last Crusader territory in the Levant falls to Mamluk Egypt
c. 1300 CE Genoese sailors begin exploring the Atlantic Ocean
early 1300s CE Genoese sailors are visiting the Canary Islands
1309 CE Beginning of Avignon papacy
1314 – 1326 CE Civil war in the Holy Roman Empire
1315 – 1322 CE The Great Famine
1324 CE Mansa Musa’s hajj
1331 CE Nearly all Byzantine territory in Asia Minor has fallen to the Ottoman Turks
1337 CE The Hundred Years’ War begins
c. 1350 CE Beginning of Italian Renaissance and Humanism
1347 – 1351 CE The Black Death, nearly a third of Europe’s population dies
1356 CE The Holy Roman Empire becomes an elected monarchy
1358 CE French peasant revolt
1378 CE Beginning of Great Schism
1385 CE Lithuania united with Poland, Lithuanian monarch converts to Christianity
1396 CE Ottoman Turks conquer Bulgaria
1397 CE Union of Kalmar unites Sweden, Denmark, and Norway under a single
crown
c. 1400 – 1500 CE Renaissance Humanism spreads throughout Europe
1404 CE Castilian effort to conquer the Canaries begins
1415 – 1417 CE Council of Constance resolves the Great Schism
1440 CE Lorenzo Valla shows the Donation of Constantine to be a forgery
mid 1400s CE Iberians are settling the Azores, a plantation economy worked by African
slaves begins to flourish in the Canaries and Azores
1453 CE Ottoman conquest of Constantinople, final fall of the Byzantine Empire;
End of Hundred Years’ War and English attempts to conquer France
1454 CE Treaty of Lodi brings nearly a half century of peace to Italy
1455 – 1485 CE Wars of the Roses in England
1459 CE Final Ottoman conquest of Serbia
1479 CE Marriage of Queen Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon creates a
united Spanish monarchy
1492 CE King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella complete the Reconquista with the
conquest of Granada, Christopher Columbus, sailing for the Spanish
crown, makes landfall in the Western Hemisphere
1494 CE France invades Italy
Content Source: University of North Georgia Press
