Chronological Timeline of World History Events

8000 BCE

Beginnings of Agriculture

3500 BCE

Beginnings of Bronze Age / Early Civilizations

1300 BCE

Iron Age

6th C BCE

Beginnings of Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism

5th C BCE

Greek Golden Age - Philosophers

323 BCE

Alexander the Great

221 BCE

Qin unified China

184 BCE

Fall of Mauryan Dynasty

130 BCE

Silk Road open by Emperor Wu (Han)

32 CE

Beginnings of Christianity

180 CE

End of Pax Romana

220 CE

End of the Han Dynasty

333 CE

Roman capital moved to Constantinople

476 CE

Fall of Rome

527 CE

Justinian rule of Byzantine Empire

550 CE

Fall of the Gupta Dynasty/Empire

622 CE

Rise of Islam

661 CE

Umayyad Caliphate begins rule

732 CE

Battle of Tours

750 CE

Ghana gold and salt trade

800 CE

Indian Ocean trade settlements established in E.

900 CE

Vikings discovered Greenland

1054 CE

Great Schism in Christian Church

1066 CE

Norman conquest of England

1071 CE

Battle of Manzikert

1095 CE

First Crusade

1206 CE

Genghis Khan begins Mongol conquests

1258 CE

Mongols sack Baghdad (end of Abbasid Dynasty)

1271-95 CE

Marco Polo travels

1279-1368 CE

Yuan Dynasty in China

1324 CE

Mansu Musa's pilgrimage

1325-49 CE

Travels of Ibn Battuta

1347-48 CE

Bubonic plague in Europe

1368-1644 CE

Ming Dynasty

1405-33 CE

Zheng He's voyages

1438 CE

Rise of Inca Empire

1450-1750 CE

Period 4

1453 CE

Ottomans capture Constantinople

1455 CE

Johann Gutenberg invented printing press

1488 CE

Dias rounded the Cape of Good Hope

1492 CE

Columbus voyage / Reconquista of Spain

1494 CE

Treaty of Tordesillas

1498 CE

Portuguese control of Kilwa (Swahili trading state)

1502 CE

Slaves to America

1503 CE

Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa (Renaissance)

1517 CE

Martin Luther / 95 Theses / Reformation

1521 CE

Cortez conquered the Aztecs

1532 CE

Pizarro toppled Incas

1571 CE

Battle of Lepanto

1580 CE

Francis Drake circumnavigates the globe

1588 CE

Defeat of the Spanish Armada by the British

1600 CE

Battle of Sekigahara - beginning of Tokugawa

1607 CE

Founding of Jamestown

1618-48 CE

Thirty Years' War

1644 CE

Qing (Manchu) overthrow the Ming Dynasty

1648 CE

Taj Mahal (Mughal Empire)

1689 CE

Glorious Revolution / English Bill of Rights

1703 CE

Peter the Great founded St. Petersburg

1750-1900 CE

Period 5

1756-64 CE

Seven Year War (French and Indian War)

1769 CE

Industrial Revolution / Watt steam engine

1776 CE

American Revolution / Smith Wealth of Nations

1789 CE

French Revolution

1804 CE

Haitian independence

1815 CE

Congress of Vienna

1820s CE

Independence in Latin America

1839 CE

First Opium War in China / Tanzimat Reforms

1848 CE

Failed European revolutions / Communist Manifesto

1853 CE

Commodore Perry opens Japan to trade

1857 CE

Sepoy Mutiny

1861 CE

End of Russian serfdom / Italian unification

1863 CE

Emancipation Proclamation in U.S.

1868 CE

Meiji Restoration begins

1871 CE

German unification

1885 CE

Berlin Conference - division of Africa

1898 CE

Spanish-American War

1899 CE

Boer War - British in control of South Africa

1900-Present CE

Period 6

1905 CE

Russo-Japanese War

1910-20 CE

Mexican Revolution

1911 CE

Chinese Revolution (end of Qing Dynasty)

1914-18 CE

World War I

1917 CE

Russian Revolution

1929 CE

Stock market crash (USA) / Global Great Depression

1931 CE

Japanese invasion of Manchuria

1939-45 CE

World War II

1947 CE

Independence and partition of India

1948 CE

Birth of Israel

1949 CE

Chinese Communist Revolution (Mao Zedong)

1950-53 CE

Korean War

1954 CE

Vietnamese defeat French at Dien Bien Phu

1956 CE

Destalinization / Suez Canal

1959 CE

Cuban Revolution (Fidel Castro)

1960 CE

Congo declares independence

1962 CE

Cuban missile crisis

1967 CE

Six-Day war / Chinese Cultural Revolution

1973 CE

Yom Kippur war

1975 CE

Saigon falls (end of Vietnam War)

1979 CE

Iranian Revolution (capture of USA Embassy)

1979 CE

China begins "Socialist Market Economy" reforms