Must Know Dates: AP World History 1200-2001

A collection of significant historical dates that are essential for the AP World History exam, covering important events from 1200 to 2001.

1258

Mongols sack Baghdad.

1271-1295

Marco Polo’s Travels.

1324

Mansa Musa’s pilgrimage.

1325-1349

Ibn Battuta’s travels.

1347-1348

Bubonic Plague in Europe.

1405-1433

Zheng He’s voyages.

1453

Ottomans seized Constantinople.

1492

Columbus sailed to the Americas.

1514

Battle of Chaldiran (Ottomans stop Safavids in modern-day Turkey).

1517

Martin Luther posts the 95 Theses.

1600

Spanish Armada is defeated by Britain.

1600

Tokugawa Shogunate established, leading to Japan's isolation.

1600

Akbar creates divine religion to unify Muslims and Hindus.

1600

Romanovs established, marking 300 years of Tsar rule in Russia.

1607

Jamestown becomes the first permanent settlement in present-day United States.

1600

Decline of the Ottomans begins.

1600

Qing dynasty established as China’s last dynasty.

1750

Industrial Revolution begins.

1776

American Declaration of Independence.

1789

French Revolution begins.

1825

Latin American independence movements complete.

1839-1860

Opium Wars.

1848

Publication of the Communist Manifesto.

1870

Second Industrial Revolution begins.

1885

Berlin Conference held.

1905

Russo-Japanese War marks the rise of Japan.

1910-1920

Mexican Revolution.

1914

World War I begins.

1917

Russian Revolution occurs.

1918

Treaty of Versailles signed; Spanish flu outbreak begins.

1929

Great Depression begins.

1939

World War II starts with German invasion of Poland.

1945

World War II ends.

1947

Partition of India enacted.

1948

Creation of the State of Israel.

1949

Communist China established under Mao.

1989-91

End of the USSR and Fall of the Berlin Wall.

2001

September 11 terrorist attacks.