AP World Important Dates

Dates and Periods

c. 3000 BCE

Beginning of Bronze Age and early civilizations (Mesopotamia, Egypt, Indus, Shang)

600 BCE

Emergence of major belief systems (Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism)

221 BCE

Qin Dynasty unifies China under legalism

476 CE

Fall of Western Roman Empire

622 CE

Founding of Islam (Hijra – Muhammad’s migration to Medina)

732 CE

Battle of Tours – Islam stopped from expanding into Western Europe

1054 CE

Great Schism – Split between Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches

1206 CE

Genghis Khan begins Mongol conquests

1258 CE

Mongols sack Baghdad – end of Abbasid Caliphate

1347–1351 CE

Black Death spreads in Europe

1453 CE

Fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans

1492 CE

Columbus's first voyage / End of Reconquista in Spain

1517 CE

Martin Luther posts 95 Theses – Protestant Reformation begins

1521 CE

Fall of Aztec Empire to Hernán Cortés

1600 CE

British East India Company founded

1644 CE

Beginning of Qing Dynasty in China

1750 CE

Industrial Revolution begins in Britain

1776 CE

American Declaration of Independence

1789 CE

French Revolution begins

1804 CE

Haitian Revolution (first successful slave revolt)

1839 CE

First Opium War (Britain vs China)

1848 CE

European Revolutions / Communist Manifesto published

1857 CE

Sepoy Rebellion in India against British rule

1861 CE

Emancipation of serfs in Russia

1871 CE

Unification of Germany

1914–1918

World War I

1917

Russian (Bolshevik) Revolution

1939–1945

World War II

1947

Independence and Partition of India

1949

Chinese Communist Revolution – Mao Zedong comes to power

1960s

Peak of African independence movements

1991

Fall of the Soviet Union / End of Cold War