World History Timeline Chart

By Matt Baker email   Updated 15 Dec 2011

Note: This timeline of world history is designed to give a very broad overview and therefore the dates given are very much approximate.

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Major Civilizations & Powers

Age

Century

People/Events

Early
Bronze Age







 30th BC
(2900's)		 First Egyptian dynasty
29th BC
(2800's)		 Methuselah tree (oldest tree still living) germinates
28th BC
(2700's)		 Tea is invented in China
27th BC
(2600's)		 Indus civilization blossoms
26th BC
(2500's)		 Great Pyramid built in Egypt
25th BC
(2400's)		 Semites integrate into Sumeria
24th BC
(2300's)		 World's first empire (Akkadian)
23rd BC
(2200's)		 Sargon the Great of Akkad
4.2 KILOYEAR EVENT

Middle
Bronze Age





 22nd BC
(2100's)		 4.2 kiloyear event causes arid conditions worldwide
21st BC
(2000's)		 Great Ziggurat of Ur built
20th BC
(1900's)		 Stonehenge completed
19th BC
(1800's)		 Abraham (if historical)
18th BC
(1700's)		 Hammurabi of Babylon enacts one of the earliest codes of law
17th BC
(1600's)		 Mammoths become extinct

Late
Bronze Age



 16th BC
(1500's)		 Volcano erupts on the island of Santorini, contributing to the fall of the Minoan civilization
Mitanni 15th BC
(1400's)		 Aryans migrate into India - Vedic Period begins; Moses (if historical)
14th BC
(1300's)		 King Tut
13th BC
(1200's)		 Trojan War (if historical)
Elam
Emp.

Early
Iron Age







 12th BC
(1100's)		 Bronze Age collapse leads to Greek Dark Ages
G R E E K   D A R K   A G E S 11th BC
(1000's)		 Zoroaster?
10th BC
(900's)		 Hebrew Kings David & Solomon
Assyrian
Empire		 9th BC
(800's)		 Homer writes the Illiad & Odyssey
8th BC
(700's)		 Rome founded
7th BC
(600's)		 Nebuchadnezzar
Neo-
Babylonian
Empire		  
Median
Emp.		 6th BC
(500's)		 Cyrus the Great conquers Babylon; Lao Tzu, founder of Taoism
Persian
(Achaemenid)
Empire		 The Buddha; Confucius

Classical
Antiquity


(Middle Iron Age)










 5th BC
(400's)		 Greco-Persian Wars
Socrates; Peloponnesian War in Greece
Nanda
Empire
(India)		 4th BC
(300's)		 Plato & Aristotle
Alexander's Empire Alexander the Great defeats Persia
Seleucid
Empire		 Maurya
Empire		 3rd BC
(200's)		 Ashoka the Great, Buddhist emperor of India;
1st Punic War (Carthage vs Rome)
2nd Punic War; Hannibal crosses the Alps;
Qin Shi Huang, first emperor of China
Sunga
Empire		 2nd BC
(100's)		 3rd Punic War; Carthage destroyed
Parthian
Empire		  
1st BC
(00's)		 Pompey & Julius Caesar expand Rome's territory
Augustus Caesar, first emperor of Rome
ROMAN

EMPIRE		 1st AD
(00's)		 Jesus
Mr. Vesuvius erupts, destroying the city of Pompeii
2nd AD
(100's)		 Ts'ai Lun invents paper in China
 
Sassanid
Empire		 3rd AD
(200's)		 Bantus reach South Africa
 
Western
Roman
Empire		 Eastern
Roman
Empire

Late
Antiquity


(Late Iron Age)		 4th AD
(300's)		 Constantine embraces Christianity
Huns Barbarian tribes start to migrate into Roman territory
5th AD
(400's)		 Rome sacked by the Goths; St. Augustine; Attila the Hun
Anglo-Saxons migrate to England

Early
Middle Ages






 6th AD
(500's)		 King Arthur (if historical)
PLAGUE OF JUSTINIAN The Plague of Justinian (1st Bubonic Plague) cripples the Eastern Roman Empire
D A R K

A G E S		 7th AD
(600's)		 Muhammed
Umayyad
Caliphate
(Arab Empire)		  
8th AD
(700's)		  
Abbasid
Caliphate
(Arab Empire)		 Charlemagne, King of the Franks
Frankish
Empire		 9th AD
(800's)		 Beowulf written
West
Francia		 East
Francia		  
10th AD
(900's)		  
Otto the Great becomes the first Holy Roman Emperor; Vikings reach Newfoundland

High
Middle Ages


 11th AD
(1000's)		 The Great Schism splits the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church
William the Conqueror conquers England
12th AD
(1100's)		 First Crusade
 
Mongol
Empire		 13th AD
(1200's)		 Mongol leader Genghis Khan builds the largest contiguous empire in history
St. Thomas Aquinas
Ottoman Empire

Late
Middle Ages


Early
Renaissance		 14th AD
(1300's)		 Hundred Years' War begins
BLACK DEATH The Black Death (2nd Bubonic Plague) kills about 50% of Europe's population
15th AD
(1400's)		 Gutenberg invents the modern printing press
Aztecs
&
Incas		 Da Vinci, War of the Roses; Columbus crosses the Atlantic; Spanish Inquisition
X

Age of
Discovery


Late Renaissance

 16th AD
(1500's)		 Martin Luther & the Protestant Reformation; Magellan's crew circumnavigates the globe
Spanish
Empire		 Copernicus; Scientific Revolution; deadliest earthquake on record hits Shaanxi, China
17th AD
(1600's)		 Thirty Years War; Rene Descartes; William Shakespeare; Galileo; Baroque Period begins; Taj Mahal built
Oliver Cromwell & the English Civil War;
Sir Isaac Newton; Peter the Great of Russia

Industrial
Revolution


 18th AD
(1700's)		 J.S. Bach; The Enlightenment (Age of Reason) begins
Seven Years War; American Revolution; steam engine invented; French Revolution
France Austrian
Empire		 19th AD
(1800's)		 Napoleon; Beethoven; Karl Marx; Romantic movement; major volcanic eruption causes the 'Year Without a Summer' (1816)
German
Empire
&
Austria-
Hungary		 Queen Victoria; Charles Darwin; Sigmund Freud; light bulb & telephone invented
United
States
of
America

Machine
Age

 20th AD
(1900's)		 Albert Einstein; first cars & airplanes;
World War I; Spanish Influenza kills 50+ million
Nazi
Germany		 Soviet
Union
(USSR)		 The Great Depression; World War II; first nuclear bombs; UN founded; Mahatma Gandhi
UK France E. & W.
Germany

Post-War Era

 Mao Zedong; Cold War between US & USSR; The Beatles; Moon landings; Vietnam War

Information
Age

 Berlin Wall falls; The Internet is born; Gulf War
European
Union		 Russia 21st AD
(2000's)		 9/11; Iraq War; Asian tsunami; Arab Spring

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