NATURAL & HUMAN HISTORY TIMELINE 
Paul Orsay & Eric Hadley-Ives May 29, 2008
 Button for link to Chinese version of this page
BLUE = Western Hemisphere;  PURPLE = Brit.Isles; GREEN = Europe;
BLACK = worldwide + universal;  BROWN = Africa;  PINK = Asia+Australia;
Blue-Gray= inanimate events; ORANGE = Russia;     RED = China;
BYA = billion yrs. ago, MYA = million yrs ago, KYA = thousand years ago

 

 
  Big Bang 13.7 BYA  
  Electrons & protons first able to combine to form matter 13.4 BYA  
  Galaxies form 13-12.7 BYA  
  Milky Way Galaxy forms 13-11 BYA  
  The Sun forms 5-4.5 BYA  
       
4.5 - 3.8 BYA  (Earth forms -cloud to solid, crust, oceans) HADEAN EON
Earth & Meteorites form 4.7-4.55 BYA
Moon forms 4.52-4.5 BYA
“Late Heavy Bombardment Period” - Meteorites bombard the Earth and Moon 4-3.8 BYA
   

 3.8 - 2.5 BYA  (oldest rocks - continents form)

 ARCHEAN EON
First evidence of tectonic plate movement (Southwest Greenland) 3.8 BYA
First sea life / prokaryotes 3.6 BYA
First fossils
3.2-2.8 BYA
  
First large continental shields
2.8-2.5 BYA
  
     
2.5 - 0.543 BYA (single cells, eukarya, fungi, animals)
O2 catastrophe (photosynthesis makes O2);  Plate Tectonics
2.5 BYA
  
Eukaryote (mitochondria, nucleus with DNA)
2.5 BYA
Algae    1.5 BYA  
Rodinia breakup 1.3-0.8 BYA
Cryogenian “Snowball Earth” 850-600 MYA
Metazoa (animals); 656-573 MYA
Ediacaran Period ‘soft bodied’ marine fauna     635-542 MYA
543 MYA - Present________(multicelled life)_
PHANEROZOIC EON
Phanerozoic begins with the Paleozoic Era (Invertebrates, fish, tetrapods, reptiles) 543-240 MYA
“Cambrian Explosion”(abrupt rise/multicelled organisms) 542-530 MYA
1st trilobites 540-245 MYA
Cambrian Period (trilobites, brachiopods, molluscs) 540-505 MYA
1st fish 540 MYA
1st vertebrate (fish fossil found in China) 530 MYA
ORDOVICIAN PERIOD 505-438 MYA
1st of Six Great Extinctions between Ordovician Silurian - perhaps due to cooling? 463-433 MYA
North American Great Lakes under tropic seas 440-395 MYA
Silurian Period 438-408 MYA
First terrestrial animals: eurypterids & millepedes 428 MYA
Warming 420 MYA
Devonian Period wingless insects, silverfish, springtail 408-360 MYA
Bristletail (order Thysanura) 390 MYA
Earliest spider Attercopus fimbriungis
380 MYA
Plants with seeds appear. First land vertebrate (rhipidistian fishes became labyrinthodont amphibians) 375-360 MYA
First collision between North America and Europe. First Amphibian (labyrinthodonts) 370 MYA
2nd of Six Great Extinctions in late Devonian. Frasnian-Famennian & Devonian-Carboniferous. 364 MYA
Carboniferous Period wet and warm. Lush vegetation, forests and swamps. 359-299 MYA
Pangea, a single supercontinent forms. (Ouachita and Allegheny orogenies)
350-250 MYA
Building of the Ozark-Ouachita-Appalachian mountains (South America moves north)
340-300 MYA
Westlothiana lizziae The first reptile, or something like a reptile (East Kirkton limestone)
338 MYA
Africa (Gondwana) collides with North America, Variscan-Appalachian orogeny
320-290 MYA
Early cockroaches blattaria 300 MYA
Synapsid reptiles dominate the land
310-230 MYA
Permian Period early reptiles, snails. 290-245 MYA
Ural Mountains(final step in the formation of Pangea)
250 MYA
3rd of Six Great Extinctions “Great Dying” (at Permian/Triassic boundary)
70% of sea life an 95% of land life
(Volcano, Antarctic meteor, or depletion of atmospheric oxygen)
245-251 MYA
Triassic Period 245-208MYA

Mesozoic Era/Age of Reptiles

 240-65 MYA
4th of 6 Great Extinctions,  (end Triassic) warming & vulcanism 214-199 MYA
1st mammal 210 MYA
Jurassic Period 208-144 MYA
Pangea begins to split into Gondwanaland and Laurasia 200 MYA
1st bird 150 MYA
Cretaceous Period 144-66.4 MYA
Gondwanaland and Laurasia split into seven continents 135 MYA
1st primate 80 MYA
Europe and North America separate to form the N. Atlantic ocean 70-45 MYA
Tertiary Period 66.4-1.6 MYA
Africa and South America separate to form the S. Atlantic ocean 65 MYA
5th of 6 Great Extinctions, Cretacious / Tertiary boundary Yucatan Meteor strike destroys dinosaurs? 65 MYA

 

CENOZOIC ERA, grazing mammals, grass, apes

65 - 0 MYA
India and Asia collide to form Himalaya mountains 60-45 MYA
Global warming 50 MYA
Global cooling 45 MYA
Africa & Europe collide to form Alps, Pyrennes & Carpathian mountains 40 MYA
Hominoids (ape, chimp. & hominids) & old world monkeys separate 30 MYA
Greenland separates from North America 16 MYA
Andes mountains form 15 MYA
Mediterranean sea forms 10 MYA
Oceans cool globally with drying in Africa 8-6 MYA
Chimps and Hominids (Homo ancestor line) split, in Africa 7.7-6.3 MYA
Sahelanthropus tchadensis, possible direct ancestor to man 7.4-6.5 MYA
Australopithecus Afarensis, "Lucy" probable direct ancestor to man 3.9-3 MYA
Hominids separate into Australopithecine & Homo lines 3-2.5 MYA
First Hominid made fire 3 MYA
North and South America rejoined 3 MYA
Severe global cooling and drying 2.8 MYA
First stone tools "Olduwan", Africa 2.6-1.5 MYA

 

AFRICAN LOWER PALEOLITHIC "Old Stone Age"

2.4 MYA
Homo Rudolfensis 2.3-1.9 MYA
Homo Habilus, probable direct ancestor to man 2.3-1.6 MYA
First Homo-made Habitation, Olduvai Gorge   2 MYA
First Homo leaves Africa for Europe, Near East & China c.2 MYA

 

PLEISTOCENE EPOCH "Great Ice Age" (consisting of 9 to 20 ice ages - each lasting 20 K to 100 K years)

1.8 MYA - 10 KYA
Homo Ergaster, probable direct ancestor to man 1.8-1.5 MYA
Homo Erectus, not a direct ancestor to man used Acheulean tools in Africa 1.8-0.4 MYA
Homo Erectus 1st in Rep.of Georgia (oldest disc.outside Africa) 1.8 MYA
Homo Erectus in China, E. Asia (formerly "Pekingensis") 1.8 MYA
Hand axes in France       1.7-0.3 MYA
Homo Erectus used Acheulean tools in Africa 1.5 MYA
Homo in Europe 1 MYA
H. Antecessor in Spain (1st European, ?ancestor of Neanderthal) 1 MYA

LOWER PALEOLITHIC

800-250 KYA
Homo Heidelbergensis ancestor to man and to Neanderthal, Europe & Asia 800 KYA
Controlled fire in Israel 700 KYA
Hominid tools in Great Britain (Pakefield site) 700 KYA
Acheulean tool used in Europe by H. Heidelbergensis 500-200 KYA
Neanderthal arises from Heidelbergensis in Africa c.500 KYA
English Channel 1st cut by sudden overflow from N.Sea lake 450-200 KYA
Homo Sapiens Sapiens (man) from Homo Heidelbergensis in Africa c.400 KYA
Illinoisan "Great" Glaciation (extends almost to Ohio river) (330), 240 & 128 KYA
Modern man (Homo Sapiens Sapiens) evolves the ability to speak ca.300 KYA

 

MIDDLE PALEOLITHIC Modern Man in Africa with Mousterian tools

250 -40 KYA
Mousterian tools used Europe, Africa & Near East 200-40 KYA
H.Neanderthalensis(not ancestor to man)in Europe & Asia  200-30 KYA
Homo Neanderthalensis in Europe 130-30 KYA
Sangamon Interglacial Stage (last full "interglacial' stage) 125-70 KYA
H. Sapiens Sapiens loses body hair & 1st wears clothes      c.114 KYA
Beringia land bridge forms between Asia & North America 100 KYA
Diverse "Homo" groups throughout World 100 KYA
Wisconsin Glaciation covers Gr.Lakes to mid Illinois, mid Indiana -called Würm Glaciation+ in Europe, 70-10 KYA
1st modern man leaves Africa in last of 3 "Homo" migrations c.50 KYA

 

UPPER PALEOLITHIC hunter/gatherers in Eurasia

40-11 KYA
Homo Sapiens develops culture and symbolic language 40 KYA
Homo Sapiens Sapiens (Modern Man) first migrates into Australia & China 40 KYA
First Homo Sapiens Sapiens (Modern Man) in Europe 40-35 KYA
Aurignacian culture in Europe 40-35 KYA
Neanderthals and other Homo groups exinct 30 KYA
Homo Sapiens Sapiens only Hominid group remaining on earth   30 KYA
Paleolithic art in Europe 35-10 KYA
Layered garments sewn with needles 30 KYA
Bird bone flute 23 KYA
Gravettian "M170" culture in Europe  22 KYA
1st man crosses Beringia to North America c spear & dog 18-12 KYA

 

--- 15,000 BC & later - DATES are BC, then AD ---

17 KYA =15K BC
Man enters Britain ? on foot from Iberian Peninsula 16-10 KYA
Wisconsin (Würm) Glaciation ends c.15K-10K BC
Rapid global warming begins 15K BC
Great Lakes form  14K-13K BC
Sahara very dry 13,5K-13K BC
Clovis big game hunters (1st Indians) in Gr. Lakes region 13K-10K BC
Rice cultivated N.Korea and dogs tamed in East Asia 13,000 BC
Figs cultivated along the Jordan river 11,400 BC
Megafauna extinct in North America 11,000 BC
"Younger Dryas", Gulfstream stops last major cold snap in Europe 11K-10K BC

HOLOCENE EPOCH early agriculture - Mesolithic Period (11,000 BC to 9.000 BC)

10,000 BC to Present
Pleistocene ice ages end (began 1.6 MYA)  6th Great Extinction begins         10,000 BC
Wooly mammoths extinct in Europe;1st domestic cat in near Middle East 10,000 BC
Pig domesticated in Near East; wheat in Iraq; barley in Turkey 10,000 BC
Indo-European language fragmentation in Europe established 10,000 BC
Mesolithic Period in Denmark till 3,900 BC 9,300 BC
Pig domesticated in Iran 9,000 BC
Eastern Sahara wet - 1st cattle are domesticated    8.5-3.3 K BC
Cattle+crops Mesoptamia.Syria +Israel 8,000 BC
All megafauna extinct Europe 8,000 BC
Jericho in Jordan settled; sheep in Iraq; cattle inTurkey 8,000 BC
First boats 7,500 BC
Established settlements & livestock in the Sahara      7.5-5.3 K BC
Copper age in the Middle East 7,000 BC
Wheel in Sumeria 6,600 BC
Catal Hüyük, Turkey settled 6,500 BC

 

Neolithic Period

6 K-3 K BC
Modern climate conditions reached 6,000 BC
Agriculture in Greece; cattle in Turkey; rice in Thailand 6,000 BC
English Channel opens due to rising sea levels 6,000 BC
Rising Mediterranean overflows into the Black Sea 5,600 BC
Sahara desert is again dry 5,500 BC
Copper smelting in Persia 5,500 BC
Corn is grown in Mexico 5,500 BC
Earliest estimated arrival of Celtic Language in British Isles c.5,200 BC
Beringia floods closing the route from Asia to N. America 5,000 BC
MID-HOLOCENE WARM PERIOD 5 K-3 K BC
First Irrigation in Mesopotamia 5,000 BC
Wheat and Barley agriculture Nile Valley 5,000 BC
Camel domesticated in Arabia; 5K - 2K BC
Dimini, Greece settled 5,000 BC
Wine first made from wild grapes, Greece 5,000 BC
Sumerians burned oil in lamps 4,500 BC
Horse tamed in Europe 4,300 BC
Bronze Age begins in the Middle East 4,000 BC
Cu smelting Israel c.4,000 BC
Celtic fishermen from the Iberian Peninsula settle England 4,000 BC
Farming in England China and Peru 4,000 BC
Horses tamed and ridden in Kazakhstan & Ukrainian steppes 4,000 BC
Small villages in Mesopotamia 4,000 BC
Neolithic Period begins in Denmark till 1700BC 3,900 BC
Jerusalem settled 3,500 BC
Corn grown Americas 3,500 BC
First civilization in Mesopotamia 3,500 BC
Cuneiform writing first used in Sumeria 3,400 BC
Wheel + First City States in Mesopotamia  3,250 BC
Narmer first unifies Egypt 3,150 BC
Copper age begins, Europe; Neolithic Period begins, Ireland 3,000 BC
Increasing lactose tolerance among cattle raisers in N. Europe 3,000 BC
Horse tamed in Russia 3,000 BC
Large Pyramid built in Ukraine 3,000 BC
Hieroglyphics in Egypt 3,000 BC
Menes first Egyptian Pharoah; First dam at Memphis 3,000 BC

 

Neolithic Period (continued)

Present Sahara desert forms  3,000 BC
Great Pyramid built 2,900 BC
Egypt Old Kingdom 2,868 -2,160 BC
Cycladic culture, Aegean Sea 2.8K-2K BC
Step-Pyramid, Egypt  2,700 BC
Papyrus first used in Egypt           2.5K-2K BC
Akkadians, first language to use vowels 2,500 BC
Stonehenge built in England; Bronze age begins in Ireland 2,400 BC
Bronze age begins in England         2.5K-600 BC
Avebury stone circle, England         2,300 BC
300yr  Global drought 2.3K-2K BC
Achaeans invade from North bring Mycenaen & Greek languages   2,200 BC
Egypt Middle Kingdom ca.2,040 -ca.1,640 BC

 

 

2K -1000 BC
Phoenicians in Eastern Mediterranean, Celts in Europe 2,000 BC
Minoan civilization begins 2,000 BC
Irrigation in Egypt, mathematics in Babylonia 2,000 BC
Judaism begins; first song written, Syria 2,000 BC
Potato grown in Argentina 2,000 BC
Ancient Hittite Empire 1.8 K-1,269
Hammurabi's Code of Laws, Mesopotamia 1,792+ BC
Santorini volcano erupts in Aegean 1,645 BC
Hyksos conquer Egypt 1,640 BC
Hittites conquer Mesopotamia 1.6K-1.2K BC
Mycenaean Greece 1.6K-1.2K BC
Egypt enslaves Jews 1.6 K-1,280
Egyptian New Kingdom (peak of Egypt’s power) 1,550-1070
Persians (Indo-European) migrate from central Asia to Iran c.1,500 BC
Ayrans moved from same Indo-European group into N. India c.1,500 BC
Sunflower cultivated in the Midwest US; Olmec cultivated Cocoa bean 1,500 BC
First Sanskrit texts 1,500 BC
Minoan civilization ends c.1,450 BC
Akhenaten begins first Monotheism in Egypt    1,353-1,336
Tutankhamun restores Polytheism in Egypt 1,334-1,322
Rameses II 1290-1220
Moses and Jews leave Egypt 1,280 BC
Peace treaty between Egypt and the Hittites 1,269 BC
Assyrians sack Babylon 1,240 BC
Trojan War   1,200 BC
Hittite Kingdom destroyed 1,200 BC
1st traces Etruscan civilization in Italy (probably from W. Turkey) 1,200 BC
Olmec civilization begins in Centr.Amer.(lasts to 400BC) 1,200 BC
Dorians with iron weapons destroy Mycenae and begin Greek Dark Ages  "Dorian or Geometric Period" 1,150-500 BC
Iron age begins the Middle East   1,100 BC
Aryans (Medes+Persians) move onto the Iranian Plateau 1,100 BC
Chinese characters are being used (end of Shang Dynasty) 1,046 BC
Assyrian Empire 1100-612 BC
King David 1010-970 BC

 

10th - 7th Centuries BC " Rise of Empires & Religions"

1000-601 BC
First known villages on present day site of Rome 1,000 BC
Solomon's temple 1,000 BC
First Phoenician and Hebrew alphabets - with no vowels 1,000 BC
Olmecs in the Americas use "glyphs" 1,000 BC
Kingdom of Israel divides into North (Israel) & South (Judah) 931 BC
First Greek City States 900 BC
First Etruscan towns in the Italian Peninsula 900 BC
1st split between Irish & Welsh Celtic languages 900 BC
First Celts from Northern Europe arrive in England 833-800 BC
Greeks adopt Phoenician alphabet 814 BC
Phoenicians colonize Eastern Mediterranean and Carthage 814 BC
Iron Age begins in Western Europe 800 BC
Paper currency used in Ancient China 800 BC
Greeks colonize Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea 800-750 BC
Traditional date of founding of Rome 753 BC
Homer's "Iliad" -date uncertain c.750-700 BC
Greek Dark Age ends 750 BC
Assyrians overthrow Damascus 732 BC
Assyrians conquer Israel     722 BC
Phoenicians circumnavigate Africa 672 BC
Assyrians rule Egypt 671-651 BC
Ancient Greeks found Byzantium  660 BC
1st coinsstruck in Lydia 650 BC
Assyrian Assurbanipal destroys Elamites 639 BC
Zoroaster or Zarathustra teaches monotheism c.621-558 BC
Etruscan Kings rule Italian Peninsula & Rome 616-509 BC
Babylonians & Medes conquer Assyria 612 BC

 

6th - 4th CENTURIES BC " Rise of Empires & Religions"

600-301 BC
Migrations of the Jews 600-500 BC & 500-400 BC
Lao Tzu: Taoism, China                                                           6th cent.
Babylonians capture Jerusalem  597 BC
Babylonians destroy the Temple and exile the Jews 586 BC
Croesus King of Lydia captures Greek cities 559 BC
Cyrus King of Persia 559-529 BC
Confucius, Chinese philosopher c.551-479 BC
Cyrus (Achmaenid Dynasty) conquers the Medes and Lydia 550 BC
Cyrus conquers Babylon Empire frees Jews & controls Fertile Crescent 539 BC
Cambysses son of Cyrus conquers - Persia rules Egypt for 100 years 525 BC
Latins expel the Etruscan king and form a Roman Republic 509 BC
Judaism fully developed; Bible first written; 500 BC
Buddha begins Buddhism 500 BC
Iron Age Denmark (ends 750 AD) 500 BC
Pericles of Athens 495-429 BC
Darius K. of Persia invades Greece in 1st Persia Wars 490-478 BC
Greeks defeat Xerxes K. of Persia at Salamis & Platea 485-465 BC
Herodotus 484-c.424 BC
Victory against Persia at Salamis & Platea begins Greek Classical Period (ends 323 BC) 480 BC
Battle of Thermopylae, Spartans delay a large Persian force 480 BC
Athenian Democracy 464-402 BC
Thucydides c.460-400 BC
Zeno’s paradoxes (the arrow, the dichotomy) 450 BC
Parthenon 447-438 BC
Socrates 439-c.399 BC
Second Peloponnesian War, Sparta defeats Athens 431-404 BC
Olmec civilization in central America ends (began 1200 BC) 400 BC
Arabic numerals first developed in India 400-300 BC
London founded; Celts move into England 390 BC
Celts (Gauls) sack Rome 390 BC
Aristotle 384-322 BC
Phillip II King of Macedon 358-336 BC
Hand drilled oil well China to 800 ft. 347 BC
Persia conq. Egypt, dynasties end c Dynasty XXX (began 3100 BC) 343 BC
Phillip defeats Athens 339 BC
First Roman coins 338 BC
Greek Classical Period ends 336 BC
Alexander the Great 336-322 BC
Alexander the Great defeats the Persian Emperor Darius the Great at Issus 332BC
Alexander drives Persians from Egypt 332BC
Alexander dies in Persia 323BC
Ptolemaic period begins and lasts till Cleopatra‘s death (300 yrs) 323BC
Seleucus begins Empire in Antioch, but loses Persia & Mesopotamia 323BC
Hellenistic Age Begins (Greek Classical Period ends) 323-31BC

3rd - 1st CENTURIES BC "Rise of Empires & Religions"

300-1 BC
Warm period in Europe throughout Peak of the Roman Empire 300BC-300AD
Teotihuacan civilization begins in the Valley of Mexico 300 BC
Chanquillo Monument Peru oldest solar observatory, Americas  c.300 BC
1st Punic War - in Sicily 264-241 BC
Qin Dynasty unifies China 221 BC
2nd Punic War in Spain,  Hannibal defeated 218-202 BC
Nanyue Kingdom: Zhao Tuo 1st unifies Southern China 203-111 BC
Celts sack Athens and Sparta 200 BC
Rome conquers the last Etruscan city in the Italian Peninsula 200 BC
Parachute in China c.200 BC
Eratosthenes measures earth's circumference 195 BC
Rome conquers Greece 147 BC
3rd Punic war. Rome def.Carthage 149-146 BC
King of Pergamon wills kingdom to Rome, brings Rome to W.Asia Minor 133 BC
China gas/oil drilling and wheelbarrow c.100 BC
Julius Caesar 100-44 BC
Roman Pompey conquers Syria 64 BC
Pompey conquers Jeruslem 63 BC
Caesar conquers Gaul 58-51 BC
Caesar-raids England 55/54 BC
Caesar becomes dictator of Rome 45 BC
A.def.Antony@Actium 31 BC
Octvian(Augustus) completes conquest, Eastern Mediterranean 31 BC
Virgil's Anaeid 27 BC
Augustus becomes the first Roman Emperor 27BC-14 AD
Rome briefly occupies Germany from the Rhine to the Elbe  12BC-9 AD

 

1st-3rd  CENTURIES AD     Early Christianity Europe Warm     

1 AD-300 AD
Bow and arrow North America c.1 AD
Jesus Christ's birth c.4 AD
German Arminius defeats Romans at Teutoberger Wald ending Roman Occupation of Germany 9 AD
Augustus' death 14 AD
Christ Crucified c.29 AD
Saul "Paul" converted 34 AD
Claudius conquers England 43-84 AD
Paul's letter to the Galatians 48-59 AD
Boudicca's revolt against Rome 61 AD
Rome burns and Nero persecutes Christians 64 AD
Mark's Gospel 65-70 AD
Paul and Peter Crucified 68 AD
Jerusalem Temple destroyed 70 AD
Rome defeats Jews and diaspora begins 73 AD
Ptolemy - geocentric theory 87-150 AD
Trajan; (Roman Empire is at it's largest) 98-117 AD
Shyu-Shen (Xu Shen) creatres the first Chinese dictionary. c,100-121 AD
John's Gospel c,100-125 AD
Hadrian's wall across Northern England    122-136 AD
Galen of Pergamum c,130-200 AD
Marcus Aurelius & peak Roman Emp. 161-180 AD
Abacus used China. Described by Xu Yueh. c.190 AD
Maya begin (ended 800AD) 200 AD
All inhabitants of the Empire are declared Roman citizens    212 AD
Magnet north known and used in China 3rd Cent.AD
Sassanid Empire (Persia) 226-642 AD
Breakup into various Romance languages begins 250 AD
General Postumus Gallic Empire 259-274 AD
Goths sack Athens, Corinth and Sparta with great destruction   268 AD
Diocletian divides the Roman Empire     286 AD
First Saxon raid on England c.300 AD
Breakup into various Germanic languages 300 AD
China 1st used stirrup   300 AD

 

4th-6th CENTURIES  AD   Barbarian Migrations, Rome falls     

301-600
Constantine Roman Emperor   306-337
Edict of Milan, tolerance for Christians in Roman Empire          313
Arianism begins in Egypt 320
Constantine calls Council of Nicaea against Arianism 324
Capitol of Roman Empire moved to Constantinople 330
Constantius II sole Eastern Roman Emperor is Arian 350
St.Augustine 354-430
Gr. Barbarian Invasion of England by Picts, Saxons, Franks  367
Huns defeat Ostrogoths in Ukraine     375
fleeing Visigoths allowed by Rome to cross the Danube and then allowed by Rome to starve 376
Angry Visigoths defeat & kill Emperor Valens at Adrianople 378
Emperor Theodosius outlaws Arianism Arianism persists over 200y in Lombardy and in Spain-till 589 379
Emperor Theodosius declares Christianity State Religion 395
400AD to 1000AD                  Dark Ages 400-1000
Great Invasion, fleeing Franks,Vandals,Sueves and Burgundians cross the Rhine 405,406
Romans quit England 407
The Visigoth Alaric defeats Stilicho and sacks Rome 410
Pelagian heresy begins in Britain 413
Pelagianism outlawed in Rome 418
Visigoths in France 418
Visigoths in Spain 419
Visigoths drive Vandals into North Africa 429
Vandals conquer Carthage 439
Saxons, Angles and Jutes invade England c.440-650
Pannonia lost to the invading Huns 446
Saxons in Kent 450
Romans under Aetius and Visigoth Theodoric defeat Huns under Atilla at Chalons (in NE France)   451
Atilla invades the N. Italian Peninsula & dies the next year 452- 453
The Vandals sack Rome 455
Ostrogoth Theodoric invades the Eastern Empire & Rome 470-526
Odacer overthrows Augustulus Romulus - last Roman Emperor 476
The Ancient World ends (Traditional) 476
Saxons in Sussex  477
Merovingian's Clovis I King of the Franks 481-511
Saxons in Wessex    495
Clovis King of the Franks become Catholic, not Arian, eventually ending the Arians near monopoly on military power. 496 
Northumbria & Mercia founded 500-600
Justinian & Theodora crowned Byzantine Emperor & Empress  527
Nika revolt quelled by Empress Theodora 532
Arian Vandals defeated in North Africa 534
20 years worldwide cold, drought - ?Large volcanic eruptions 535-555
Asian drought drives Avars into Europe 536-538
Emperor Justinian reconquers Rome
Drought and plague in Europe 542
Ethelbert king in Kent      560
Visigoths in Spain quit Arianism to become Christian 587
Lombards in Italy quit Arianism to become Christian 589
Saxonsin Kent convert from Pelagianism to Christianity      597

 

 

7th -9thCENTURIES   Rise of Islam 632, 1st Viking raids 793

601-900
Hijira, -Mohammed and followers flee to Mecca 622
Mohammed's death begins 100 years Islamic expansion from Arabia      632
St.Oswald King of Northumbria 633-642
Frankish Empire 636
Arabs defeat Sassanid Empire 642
Arianism ends in Lombardy & Spain 650
Arabs defeat Carthage   698
Moors defeat Visigothic Spain 711
Moorish Arabs bring "arabic numbers" to Europe 711
Charles Martel defeats Moors at Poitiers 732
Pepin son of Martel expells the Moors from Aquitania 752
Offa King of Mercia and England 757-796
First English silver penny 757-796
Charlemagne son of Pepin king of the Franks 768-814
Charlemagne takes Rome from Byzantine rulers 774
Danes first raid Lindisfarne, Jarrow and Iona 793-795
Charlemagne crowned Holy Roman Emperor 800
1st spacing between words; 1st lower case letters used 800
Viking age begins in Denmark c.800
Drought leads to Maya collapse (Maya began 200 AD) 800
Charlemagne's empire divided at treaty of Verdun     843
Michael III sends monks Cyril and Methodius with glagolitic + cyrillic alphabets + translations of Gospels + liturgy to Moravia 863-867
Ethelred I  Saxon; son of Ethlwulf and king of All England 865/866-871
Danes take Northumbria and East Anglia 867
Vikings discover and settle Iceland 870-874
Alfred Saxon son of Ethlwulf, King of all England Son of Watling St. 871-901
Anglo-Saxon Chronicles 875-1154
Alfred defeats and Christianizes Danes @ Battle of Edlington 878
Carolingian Empire ends  888
Magyars enter Hungarian plain 895

10th CENTURY AD    "Medieval Warm Period" begins (900-1300)     "Medieval Warm Period" begins (900 to 1300)

901-1000
Edward "the elder" son of Alfred, King of all England South of Humber river 901-924
Viking, Rollo, wins Normandy, Neustria 911
Otto I "The Great" son of Henry I 936-973
Edmund Saxon  son of Edward wins York from Danes            939-946
Eadred Saxon  son of Edward lost York to Eric Bloodaxe   946-955
Scandinavia converts to Christianity 950
Eadwig Saxon son of Edward k.     955-959
Otto defeats Magyars at Lechfeld 955
Edgar "The Great, Peaceful" son of Edward 959-975
Otto crowned Holy Roman Emperor 962
Edgar 1st King of all England 973
Edward Saxon "the Martyr" son of Edgar -assassinated              975-978
Ethelred II Saxon "the Unread " son of  Edgar- paid danegeld  978-1016
Danes renew raids on England 980

Norse Eric the Red settles Greenland

986
Kievan Russ adopt Orthodoxy      988
Leif Eriksson discovers Vinland (?Newfoundland) 992

11th CENTURY AD Dark Ages Ended (400-1000) High Middle Ages

1001-1100
Edmund II "Ironside" Saxon son of Ethelred II 1016-1017
Cnute Dane gs.of Richard-"the fearless"of Normandy defeated Edmund II to become 1st King of All England 1017-1035
Harold I "Harefoot", son of Cnute 1035-1040
Harthacanute s.Cnute.  1035-1042
Edward" Confessor" Saxon son of Ethelred    1042-1066
Chinese invent moveable type printing press 1043
Earliest gunpowder formula, China c1044
Printed books and paper widespread in China, exported to many lands c1050
Confucianism a major governing ideology 1050-1101
Cahokia Mounds c1050-c1300
Great Schism between Eastern Orthodox & Roman Catholic Churches 1054
Harold II  brother-in-law of Edward Confessor elected king by Witan  1066
William Conqueror Norman great grandson of Rich."the fearless"-Normandy 1066-87
Norman Conquest 1066-1072
Middle English  spoken 1066-c.1550
Ottoman Turks defeat Byzantines @ Manzikert 1071
Domesday Book population of England=1.1mil.  1086
William II Norman "rufus" son of W I; tyrant; ?murdered         1087-1100

Urban II begins 1stCrusade vs. Jews &infidels 

1095
King Kalman "lawgiver", union of Hungary, Croatia & Slavonia   1099
1st Crusade takes Jerusalem   1099

12th CENTURY AD High Middle Ages

1101-1200
Germans move east against the Slavs, 12th+13th centuries
Iron plows replace wooden plows /most of Northern Europe 12th cent.
Barley growing ended in Iceland due to increasing cold 12th cent.
1st written Portuguese texts 12th cent.
Henry I  Norman 4th son of W I  pennies called "starlings"      1100-1135
1st record of a Compass in China 1119
Averroës, Islamic philosopher judge and physician, tried to reconcile GK. & Islamic ideas 1125-1198
StephenNorman grandson of W I, son of Adela (daughter of WI) 1135-1154
Civil war in England 1138-1153
Saladin conquers Egypt + Syria 1138-1193
Henry II Plantagenet grandson of H I marries Eleanor of Aquitaine 1154-1189
Ghengis Khan  c.1162-1227
Strongbow inv. Ireland & English conquest of Ireland begins 1169-1172
Saladin + Muslims retake Jerusalem 1187
Richard I "Lionheart"Plantagenet son of H II 1189-1199
Richard I in 3rd Crusade   1189-1199

John Plantagenet son of H II     

1199-1216

13th CENTURY High Middle Ages

1201-1300
Germans move east against the Slavs, 12th+13th centuries  
Arabic numerals little used in  13 century Europe  
Catholic Priests first required to be celibate 1200
Louvre Palace, destined to become the Louvre Art Museum 1200
Leonardo Fibonacci - Fibonacci numbers     1202
4th Crusade conquers Jerusalem      1202-1204
Latin mercenaries sack Constantinople  1204
King John- loses Normandy to Phillip II 1208
University of Paris 1209
Battle of Bouvines 1214
Lateran Council against Jews 1215
Magna Carta 1215
Henry III Plantagenet son of J, -"Provisions of Oxford" Parliament 1216-1272
Friedrick II Holy Roman Emperor 1220
Andras II King of Hungary and the Golden Bull 1222
St.Thomas Aquinas 1225-1274
Mongols invade Russia destroying cities   1227
Frederick II devolves authority to the German Princes   1232
Mongols invade Hungary 1242
1st gunpowder in Europe from China 1242
Florentine Florin, reintroduced gold coins   1252
Great Interregnum of H.R.E 1254-1273
German monarchy made elective 1257
Provisions of Oxford England=no autocracy 1258
Hanseatic League c1259-17thC
btl. of Lewes /deMontfort capts.H III    1264
Edw.wins @Evesham-deMontfort killed 1265
Dante Aleghieri 1265-1321
Marco Polo's journeys 1271+1295
Kublai Khan conquers China begins Mongol, Yuan, Dynasty 1271-1368
Edward I Anjou son of H III "longshanks; Hammer of Scots"   1272-1307
Rudolph 1st Count Hapsburg elected Holy Roman Emperor 1273
Edw I conquers Wales 1277-1282
Rudolph def. Otakar v Bohemia 1278
Osman I -1st Ottoman ruler 1281-1324
Jews expelled from England 1290
Swiss Confederation 1291

 

14th CENTURY   Late Middle Ages  

1301-1400
Edward II Anjou s.of E I 1307-1327
Edward II-defeated by Scots at Bannockburn 1314
Crop failure & famine in Europe 1315+1316
"Little Ice Age" lasted 550yrs -7deg.colder and wetter Uncertain Summers in Northern Europe c1316-c1860
Florence / 1st gunpowder weapons 1320
English civil war  1321+1322
Osman Turks invade Bursa 1326
Edw. III Anjou son of EII seeks French Throne; New English coins, gold florin & gold noble 1327-1377
John Wyclif      1330-1384
Ibn Khaldun, author of "Muqaddima" 1332-1406
100 Years War 1338-1453
Engl.-victory@naval Battle.of Sluys - Ed III titled, king of France 1340
Geoffrey Chaucer, author of Canterbury Tales 1340-1400

Ottoman Turks invade Thrace

1340s
Paris Notre-Dame cathedral completed 1345
English victory over France at Crecy with longbows 1346
Plague kills 1/3 of Europe and 1/2 of England 1347-1350
Inca Empire Peru 1350-1533
English victory@Poitiers 1356
Papal Bull gives German Princes autonomy  1356
English language replaces French in English law courts 1362
Ming ("brilliant") Dynasty replaces Mongol rule in China 1368
English replaces French in English schools    1385
Richard II,  grandson of Ed III,  deposed and imprisoned at Pontefract 1377-1399
Wyclif condemned   1382
First Bible in English 1388
Ottoman Turks first invade Hungary 1390
Jews expelled From France 1394
Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal -begins "The Age of Discovery" 1394-1460
Henry  IV Lancaster grandson of E III "the usurper" 1399-1413

15th Century  "Peak of The Renaissance" "The Age of Discovery" "End of The Middle Ages "

1401-1500
Great vowel shift in English speech c1400-1550
Arabic numerals used in Europe 15th C.
Poland and Lithuania defeat The Teutonic Knights of Prussia at Tannenberg 1410
Henry V Lancaster son of HIV; first sent letters in English 1413-1422
Henry V defeats the French at Agincourt 1415
Henry VI  Lancaster son of H V; insane, deposed and murdered    1422-1471
Joan of Arc   1429-1431
Portuguese reach Guinea in search of slaves    1440
1st slaves taken from Azores by Portugal 1444
France retakes Normandy     1449-1450
Increasing cold forces the end of grape cultivation in England 1450
English driven from France 1453
Ottoman Turks Mehmet II conquers Constantinople 1453

Wars of the Roses "Cousin's War" "Lancaster vs.York"  

1455-1487
Gutenberg Bible     1461
1st cannon used in battle in Europe 1350-1533
Edward IV York  great grandson of E III   1461-70 and 1471-83
Erasmus of Rotterdam 1466-1636
Niccolo Macchiavelli, ( "The Prince" 1513) 1469-1527
St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre 1472
Ferdinand of Aragon & Isabella of Castille rule Spain 1469-1516
1st book printed in Magyar - Hungary 1473
1st book printed in London 1477
The Spanish Inquisition 1478
Thomas More 1478-1535
Martin Luther 1483-1546
Greenland Norse population disappears -due to extreme cold 1480-1500
Edward V York murdered in the Tower at age 12 1483
Writing in England no longer in Latin or French 1483
Richard III York brother of Ed IV; killed @ Battle of Bosworth 1483-1485
Henry VII Tudor defeats Richard III  1485-1409
 B. Diaz sails around Cape of Good Hope   1487
1st gold sovereign 1489
Ignatius Loyola 1491-1556
Christopher Columbus discovers the West Indes 1492
Islamic Granada falls; Jews expelled from Spain 1492
Treaty of Tordisellas, the Pope divides the world between Spain and Portugal 1494
Vasco Da Gama sails around Africa to India, outflanking Islam 1497-1498
John Cabot claims Newfoundland for England     1497

 

 

16th CENTURY  Renaissance ends  (2nd sack of Rome, 1527) 

1501-1600
Middle English slowly ends & Modern English takes its place.  c.1500-1550
Peak of Jagellonian Dynasty in Bohemia Hungary, Poland & Lithuania 1500
First English Shilling (Testoon) 1504
Henry VIII Tudor son of HVII 1509-1547
John Calvin 1509-1567
First Slaves arrive in the Carribean 1510
Macchiavelli's "The Prince" 1513

Ponce DeLeon establishes St. Augustine (1st colony in future Continental United States      

1513
Henry VIII defeats Scots @ Flodden field 1513
Balboa discovered Pacific 1513
Copernicus' heliocentric theory 1514
Francis I, France 1515-1547
Chas.V,Spain granddaughter of Ferdinand+Isabella 1516-1556
Luther posts 95 Theses beginning The Reformation 1517
Mexico discovered 1517
Thaler coin (named after Joachimstaler silver mine) 1519
Charles V Holy Roman emperor
1519-1558
Aztec Teotihaucan conq. by Cortes/defeat of Aztec empire 1519-1521
German invents the rifle 1520
Bacon's scientific method 1520
Magellan sails around globe and is killed in the Phillipines 1520-1522
Suleyman   "The Magnificent" 1520-1566
Suleyman captures Belgrade 1521
Charles V bans Luther at Worms 1521
Suleyman +Ottomans kill Lajos II king of Hungary at Mohacs     1526
Ferdinand I, 1st Habsburg to rule Hungary 1526-1564
Second sack of Rome 1527
Ottoman Turks siege Vienna 1529
Pizzaro defeats Inca empire 1533
Henry VIII establishes Church of England 1534
Cartier charts the Gulf of the St. Lawrence river 1534
Union of England +Wales 1536
Henry VII's dissolution of the English monasteries 1536-1539
Coronado reaches Kansas 1540
Ignatius Loyola's Jesuits (Society of Jesus) recognized by church 1540
Turks occupy Buda 1541-1686
Cabrillo explores California coast    1542
Roman Inquisition (Counter Reformation)     1542
Copernicus' "On The Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres" & Vesalius' "On The Structure of the Human body " published 1543
Council of Trent (Paul III+Chas.V.) begin Counter-Reformation 1545-1563
Edward VI Tudor son of HVIII  Protestant; 1st dated English shilling 1547-1553

16th CENTURY (continued )

1551-1600
Middle English spoken in England and Gr. Vowel Shift complete 1400-1550
Peak of the Ottoman invasion of Europe 1550s
Mary Tudor daughter of H VIII -restores Catholicism 1553-1558
British slave trade begins c 4 slaves brought back to England 1554
Phillip II of Spain marries MaryTudor Queen of England Cath. 1554
Mary begins persecuting Protestants 1555
Peace of Augsburg brings temporary truce in religious conflict in the H.R.Empire Cath. & Luth. areas -each took the ruler's faith 1555
Charles V Holy Roman Emperor (1520-1556) resigns in favor of Chas. V son Phillip II and Chas. V brother Ferdinand I 1555
Chas.V gives his son Phillip Spain, Naples and Sicily 1556-1598
Chas.V gives his brother Ferdinand the Austrian territories and the title Holy Roman Emperor 1556-1564 1558-1564
Elizabeth I tudor,daughter of HVIII 1558-1603
Catholic Index Librorum Prohibitorum (book censorship until 1966) 1559
Puritans (English Calvinists) 1560
Potato brought to Europe from Chile 1564-1565
William Shakespeare 1564-1616
St.Augustine is the 1st permanent settlement in North America  1565-1763
Selim II "the Sot" rules the Ottoman empire 1566-1574
Sir Frances Drake circumnavigated the globe 1577-1580
Cossacks retake Russia from the Mongols 1581
Gregorian calendar 1582
Mary Queen of Scots executed by Elizabeth I    1587
Spanish Armada defeated by Elizabeth I and a bad storm  1588
Thomas Hobbes 1588-1679
Hand dug oil wells in Baku, Persia on the Caspian Sea 1594
De Onate establishes Pueblo Company 1598
Edict of Nantes (tolerance for Protestants) issued by Henry IV of France 1598
The potato is brought to England  1599
Baroque Music Period in Europe 1600-1750

17th CENTURY  Scientific Revolution & Enlightenment

1601-1700
"Little Ice Age" 150 years of much colder climate
Fairy tales first written down 1600-1750
English East India Company  1600
The Potato is introduced to Ireland  c1600
Dutch East India Company 1602
1st permanent French settlement Port Royal, Nova Scotia 1605
Catholic plot Guy Fawkes 1605
Jamestown 1st permanent British colony in North America .1607
Champlain found Quebec City 1608
Kepler, planet's orbits are elliptical 1609
James I Stuart (s. Mary Queen of Scots) King of England 1603-1625
Hudson discovered Hudson River 1609
Poles occupy Moscow 1610+1617/18
King James Bible 1611
Gustavus Adolphus king of Sweden 1611-1632
Mihail,1st Romanoff Tsar 1613-1645
Galileo defends Copernicism 1616
1st "modern" English dictionary 1616
France colonizes Quebec 1617
1st North American slaves brought to Jamestown 1619
30 years War (Catholic vs. Protestant) (handheld guns1stused) ends with The Treaty of Westphalia 1618-1648
Mayflower and Pilgrims arrive at Plymouth Rock    1620
Rev Wm. Oughtred invents slide rule 1622
Pascal 1623
Dutch settle New Amsterdam    1624
Charles I Stuart  son of J. I, executed 1625-1649
1st slaves arrive at New Amsterdam 1628
Wm Harvey theorizes human blood circulation    1628
Parliament Dissolved 1629
Massachussets Bay Charter: religious freedom & English rights    1629
Gustavus Adolphus saves Protestant Cause @ Breitenfeld & Lutzen 1631-1632
John Locke   1632-1704
Galileo, under threat of death from church, abjures Copernicus 1633
English civil wars 1638-1651
Louis XIV  of France 1643-1715
"Maunder minimum" , 70 years of decreased sunspots & very cold weather 1645-1715
Battle of Naseby 1645
Charles I executed    1649
Oliver Cromwell -conq.Ireland 1649 -conq.Scotland 1650-52 1649-1660
French colony in Canada 1650

17th CENTURY  (continued ) Enlightenment

1651-1700
Hobbes Leviathan; 1st milled coins in England 1651
Potato introduced to Hungary 1654
Charles X invades Poland       1655
Charles II Stuart son of Js. I - English Monarchy restored 1660-1685
Louis XIV adult rule begins 1661

Last hammered English shilling

1662
Plague in Holland 1663
English seize New Amsterdam & New Jersey from the Dutch     1664/65
Plague in London 1665
Vico 1668-1744
Liberum Veto 1st used in Polish Parliament   1669
Hudson's Bay Company 1670
First English government-issued copper coins 1672
Marquette & Joliet explore Illinois and Mississippi Rivers 1673
Van Luewenhoek invents the microscope 1674
King Philip's War (Metacomet) 1675
Römer, speed of light finite and constant 1676
Peter the Great of Russia  1682-1725
La Salle claims all land drained by the Mississippi river for France 
1682
Louis XIV moves his court to the new chateau at Versailles
1682
Turks defeated at the Battle of Vienna 1683
Leibnitz differential & integral Calculus 1684
Louis XIV revokes Edict of Nantes (tolerance for Protestants) 1685
James II Stuart son of JI Cath. 1685-1689
J.S. Bach 1685-1750
Newton's Principia Mathematica 1687
James II flees to France 1688
William of Orange & Mary Stuart daughter of J II Protestant 1689-1694
Montesquieu 1689-1755
William III 1694-1702
K. Wm's War, in N. America = War of League of Augsburg in Europe 1689-1697
Wm.III defeats Irish and French at "the Battle of the Boyne" 1690
Engl.press censorship ends 1695
Treaty of Ryswick ends war of France against England Neth.+Sp. 1697
Pierre Bayle, "Historical and Critical Dictionary" 1697
Habsburgs defeat Ottomans and take Hungary at Karlowitz    1699
1st French colony in Louisiana & French mission @ Cahokia 1699

18th CENTURY  Enlightenment cont. / Industrial Rev. begins

 

 1701-1800
First English daily newspaper 1702
Anne Stuart daughter of J II 1702-1714
War of Spanish Succession -aka. Queen Anne's War in North America 1702-1713 -1701-1712
Hungarians revolt against Habsburg rule 1703-1711
John Wesley founder of Methodism 1703-1791
French defeated at the Battle of Blenheim 1704
Union of Scotland and England 1707
Piano 1709
Iron smelting with coke 1709
Hume 1711
Newcomen, 1st steam engine 1712
Diderot 1713-1784
George I Hannover great grandson of Js I; spoke no English 1714-1727
New Orleans 1718
Scotland & England warmer 1720
Kant         1724-1804
George II Hannover son of G I 1727-1760
Turnpike roads in England 1730
Illinois a Royal French Province governed directly by Louis XIV 1731

Methodism

1738
Arkwright mill (1770) begins Industrial Revolution in England 1730-1840
Enlightenment +entry of middle class & philos.Humanism 1730-1780
Maria Theresa of Austria d.Ch VI & w. of Francis I 1740-1780
War of Austrian Succession p.death of Chas. VI H.R.E.         1740-1748
Fredrick The Great of Prussia 1740-1786
Slave revolt in NYC 1741
Fredrick The Great takes Silesia from Austrian Habsburgs 1742
War of Austrian Succession -aka King George's War in N. Amer. 1744-1748
1st stage coach travel in Hungary  1750
Baroque Music Era (began1600) ends 1750
Classical Music Era (i.e. music without folk origins)    1750

18th CENTURY (continued )  Enlightenment / Industrial Revolution

1751-1800
French and Indian War in North America   aka Seven Years War in Europe -Brit. Prussia vs Fr.Aust.Russ. 1754-1763 1756-1763
Great Lisbon earthquake killed thousands of churchgoers on Sunday 1755
William Amadeus Mozart 1756-1791
British take French Quebec  1759
Voltaire’s “Candide“ from his disillusion c God p Lisbon earthquake  1759
1st canals in France and England 1760
George III Hanover grandson of GII elector Hanover 1760-1820
Catherine the Great, Russia 1762-1796
British drive the French from Canada  1763
Treaty.of Paris, Louis XV cedes New France (terr. East of Miss.River) to Britain 1763
St.Louis village established 1764
Stamp Act 1765
Watt steam engine patented 1769
First English stagecoach roads 1770s
Ludwig van Beethoven   1770-1827
Boston Massacre 1770
1st Partition Poland, Russia Prussia &Austria take 1/2pop.+1/3land 1772
Boston Tea Party 1773
"Quebec Act" allows, French speech & laws, and gives Ohio valley to Canada 1774

Martial law in Massachusetts,  "Intolerable Acts"

1774
Louis XVI 1774-1792
1st Continental Congress 1775
American Revolution Lexington+Concord 1775-1783
Slaves make up one fifth of the American population 1776
Americans take Montreal and besiege Quebec 1776
Declaration of Indepence 1776
Articles of Confederation; include states rights; no federal tax 1776
1st American settlers in Illinois 1779
1st bicycle in France 1779
British surrender at Yorktown 1781
1st balloon flight in France 1782
Treaty of Paris ends American Revolution 1783
Northwest Ordinance Survey 1785-1787
US Constitution 1785-1787
Federalist Papers 1785-1787
French Revolution   1789-1794
George Washington, the 1st US President 1789-1797
Alexander Hamilton 4 Reports 1790
Gas lights in European streets 1790
Bill of Rights 1791
Methodist church 1791
Vancouver explores Pacific coast of North America 1792-1794
Eli Whitney's Cotton Gin 1793
2nd Partition of Poland Russ. &Pruss. take >1/2 land +1/3 pop. 1793
Louis XVI executed 1795
3rd+last Partition Poland, gone 123yrs 1795
Battle of Fallen Timbers 1795
Jay's Treaty 1795
Pinckney's Treaty 1795
John Adams, the 2nd US President 1797-1801
Alien+Sedition Acts 1798

 

Napoleon's  reign

1799-1814
19th Century French Revolution ends The Enlightenment and begins The Era of Nationalism 1801-1900
Romantic period in poetry begins 1800
Volta pile battery    1800
Alexander I, Russia 1801-1825
Thomas Jefferson, the 3rd US President   1801-1809
Fort Dearborn (future site of Chicago) 1803
Louisiana  Purchase 1803
Ludwig Van Beethoven's "Eroica" dedication to Napoleon removed 1803
Steam locomotive England 1803
Napoleon crowns himself Emperor 1804
1st railway in U.K. in Wales 1805
Battle of Trafalgar England's Nelson defeats French & Spanish fleets 1805
Napoleon declares The Holy Roman Empire ended 1806
Fulton's steamboat 1807
Britains & Americans abolish the slave trade 1807
James Madison, the 4th US President 1809-1817
Paddlewheeler on the Ohio River  1811
Geo.IVes.GIII, named regent in 1811 and King of Hannover, Germany 1814
War of 1812 1812
Ft. Dearborn massacre (Ft. burned and all troops slain by Indians) 1812
Napoleon's failed invasion of Russia  1812
Potato now suitable food in Germany, Scotland, Italy Switz. Holland   1813
Americans burn York (nowToronto) Canada 1813
Napoleon defeated @ Leipzig & @ Vittoria by Wellington 1813
Napoleon abdicates 1814
Louis XVIII rules France 1814-1824
Andrew Jackson defeats the British at the Battle of New Orleans  1815
British empire occupies 1/4 of world's land 1815-1914
"The Year Without a Summer" 1816
"Indian Boundaryline Treaty." Chicago area 1816
James Monroe, the 5th US President 1817-1825
Illinois becomes a state 1818
US-Canada border defined West of "Lake of the Woods" 1818
U.S. border follows the 49th parallel to Pacific 1819
U.S.gains Florida from Spain in Adams Onis Treaty 1819
Music classical period ends & romantic period begins ca1820
Oerstedt discovers electromagnetism 1820
George IV-Hann.es.of GIII 1820-1830
Mexican independence    1821
Greek War of independence against the Turks 1821-1828
Monroe Doctrine 1823
Charles X King of France 1824-1830
Vitus Bering proves that Asia & North America are separated by water   1825
Erie Canal opened providing passage from New York City to Chicago 1825
Nicholas I of Russia 1825-1855
First railway line in England to carry both goods and passengers  1825
John Q. Adams, the 6th U.S. President 1825-1829
Niépce makes first permanent photographic image    1826
English Catholics emancipated 1829
Andrew Jackson, the 7th U.S. President 1829-1837
William IV Hann. 3rd son of G III 1830-1837
Louis-Philippe "King of the French"      1830-1848
France occupies Algeria 1830-1962
Faraday induces electric current in a wire with a magnet    1831
BlackHawk War / Ft.Dearborn regarrisoned    1832
1st street railway NYC 1832
Johannes Brahms  1833-1897
Chicago incorporated as a city 1833
England abolishes slavery 1833
The first railway line in Germany "The Ludwigsbahn" 1835
Camille Saint-Saens  1835-1921
Martin Van Buren, the 8th U.S. President 1837-1841
Victoria  Hannover  granddaughter of GIII  1837-1901
1st English penny postal service 1840
1st Trans-Atlantic steamer  1840
Farm steam engines  1840s
William Henry Harrison, the 9th U.S. President 3/1841-4/41
John Tyler, the 10th U.S. President 1841-1845
Aroostok War / Maine-Canada border 1842
William James theologian philosopher and psychologist 1842-1910
Telegraph 1844
“The Bab“announces (precursor Baha‘i faith) 1844
James K. Polk, the 11th U.S. President 1845-1849
Irish potato famine ca.1 million die 1846-1850
Mexican War - U.S. gains land, areas of CA, AZ, NM, NV, UT WY & CO 1846-1848
Illinois-Michigan canal opens 1848
California gold rush           1849
Russia helps defeat Hungarian Revolt against Austria    1849
Zachary Taylor, the 12th U.S. President 1849-1850
Millard Fillmore, the 13th U.S. President  1850-1853
1st store-bought clothes England     1850
1833;

19th CENTURY    (continued )     

1851-1900
"Little Ice Age" ends & gradual global warming begins ca1850
Franklin Pierce, the 14th U.S. President  1853-1857
1st railway to Mississippi river @ Rock Island IL 1854-1856
1st railway bridge to cross the Mississippi river at Rock Island IL 1856
Bessemer blast furnace making steel 1856
James Buchanan, the 15th U.S. President 1857-1861
Charles Darwin's "Origin of Species" published 1859
1st US oil well in Titusville, Pennsylvania 1859
1st street railway in Chicago 1859
U.S. Civil War 1860-1865
1st US transcontinental telegraph. 1861
Emancipation edict in Russia 1861
Albraham Lincoln, the 16th U.S. President - assassinated 1861-1865
Conscription Act and New York City Draft Riots 1863
Battle of Gettysburg; Emancipation Proclamation US 1863
Baha’u’llah declares himself God’s messenger, Baha‘i faith founded 1863

Maxwell unifies electricity & magnetism theories

1865
Andrew Johnson, the 17th U.S. President 1865-1869
U.S. Fenians invade Canada 1866
Austro-Prussian War, Prussia & Italy defeat Austria in 7 weeks Prussia annexes Hanover, Hesse, Nassau, Frankfurt and Hesse-Holstein 1866
Alaska purchase "Seward's Folly" 1867
"British North America Acts" brings Canada, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick under one Dominion with a Governor General under Britain 1867
US.trys to buy Ruperts Land (drainage basin of Hudson's Bay) from Britain 1867
Hungary-gains "dual monarchy" status from Austria 1867
U.S. Transcontinental Railway completed 1869
Pius IX gives Catholic stance on "fetus animatus" (life at fertilization)  1869
Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th U.S. President 1869-1877
Franco Prussian War, Prussia, Bavaria, Baden, Wurtmbg. defeat France  1870-1871
Emperor Napoleon III abdicates: German Empire declared 1871
Canadian Northwest Mounties begun 1873
Eads bridge built in St.Louis, over steamboat owner's objections 1874
Paris opera house (Garnier opera house) 1875
Winston Churchill     1874-1965
Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone 1876
Rutherford B. Hayes, the 19th US President 1877-1881
Thomas A. Edison invents the incandescent electric light  1879
Electric street car 1880
James A. Garfield, the 20th U.S. President assassinated 1881
Chester Arthur, the 21st U.S. President 1881-1885
Britain occupies Egypt (independent under British supervision p.1922) 1882-1946
Grover Cleveland, the 22nd U.S. President 1885-1889
Rubber tires 1886
1st Kodak camera 1888
Benjamin Harrison, the 23rd U.S. President 1889-1893
Eiffel tower 1889
Wounded Knee Massacre (last US battle with indians) 1890
Duryea automobile; gasoline tractor 1892
Biltmore 1895
1st large scale long distance electric power transmission at Niagara; Tesla 1896
Grover Cleveland, the 24th U.S. President 1893-1897
Becquerel discovers radioactivity 1896
Thomson discovers the electron 1897
William McKinley, the 25th U.S. President - assassinated 1897-1901
Spanish American War; U.S. annexes Hawaii, takes Puerto Rico, Guam, Philipines & Cuba 1898
Boxer Rebellion in China 1900
Australia becomes a Commonwealth 1900
Max Planck, Quantum Theory 1900
Sigmund Freud, Dreams 1900

20th  CENTURY

1901-2000
Trans-Atlantic radio signal    1901
Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th U.S. President 1901-1909
Edw.VII Saxe-Coburg es.of Edw.V 1901-1910
Boer War ends, South Africa 1902
First silent movies   1903
Wright Brothers 1st flight   1903
Subway New York City 1904
Trans-Siberian railway 1904
Russo-Japanese War 1904
Einstein Special Relativity, e=mc2  1905
Einstein proves atomic nature of matter 1905
Russian Revolution 1905-1917
Einstein, quanta in light and atoms 1907
Model T Ford    1908

Oil discovered in the Middle East, Iraq

1908
Admiral Peary becomes the 1st to reach the North Pole 1909
Plastic invented 1909
William Howard Taft, the 27th U.S. President 1909-1913
George V Saxe-Coburg 2nd son of EdVII 1910-1936
Rutherford hypothesizes atomic nucleus 1911
1st bomb dropped from an airplane 1911
Woodrow Wilson, the 28th U.S. President. 1913-1921
Fords 1st mass-produce 1914
World War I 1914-1918
Einstein, General Relativity 1915
Communist Russian October Revolution 1917
Tzar Nicholas II b1868+family killed by Bolsheviks @ Ekaterinberg 1918
V.I.Lenin rules Russia 1918-1924
Rutherford discovers proton 1919
League of Nations 1919
1st US commercial radio station 1920
Women's Suffrage in United States 1920
Schroedinger Equation, Quantum Theory emerges in modern form 1920
Anti-Jewish riots by Arabs in Palestine 1920-1921
U.S. Prohibition 1920-1933
Warren G. Harding, the 29th U.S. President 1921-1923
Egypt independent 1922
Kemal Ataturk westernizes Turkish dress, government & alphabet 1923
"Talking" cinema 1923
Calvin Coolidge, the 30th U.S. President 1923-1929
1st television transmission 1925
Lindbergh flies Atlantic 1927
Heisenberg, Uncertainty Principle 1927
Joseph Stalin rules Russia 1927-1953
1st all-electronic television system; Penicillin  1928
Herbert Hoover, the 31st U.S. President 1929-1933
Worldwide depression 1929-1933
England abandons gold standard  1930
Pauli hypothesizes the neutrino  1930
Air conditioning      1932
Technicolor movies       1932
Chadwick discovers neutron 1932
Von Neumann develops foundation for Quantum Mechanics 1932
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd U.S. President 1933-1945
Mao"s long march 1935
U.S. Social Security System 1935
Spanish Civil War 1935
BBC TV Service begins 1936
Edward VIII Windsor, son of GV abdicates 1936
George VI Windsor 2nd son of GV 1936-1952
Street & Stevenson disciscover the muon 1936/37
Krystallnacht - Nazi's vandalize Jewish shops 1938
Germany occupies Czech Sudetenland        1938
World War II 1939-1945
Germany and Russia invade Poland Sep.1939
Battle of Britain Jul.-Sep.1940
Fermi, Beta decay 1940
1st US commercial TV station  1941
Germany invades Russia June 1941
Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor 12/7/1941
1st long range ballistic missle 1942
ENIAC 1st large programmable computer @ U Penn          1943
D. Day Jun/1944
German surrender  May/1945
Von Neumann develops 1st computer architecture 1945
Microwave oven  1945
UN founded 1945
Harry Truman, the 33rd U.S. President 1945-1953
USA bombs Japan with two Atomic bombs 1945
Japan surrenders 9/1945
U.S. Marshall Plan 1945
Dead Sea Scrolls discovered 1947
G.Gamow predicts Big Bang 1948
First transistor 1948
State of Israel founded 1948
Berlin Blockade 1948/49
Germany divided into East & West    1949
1st organ transplant 1950
Credit cards 1950
Korean War 1950-1953

20th  CENTURY (continued )  

1951-2000
Color TV 1951
Germany agrees to pay holocaust reparations     1952
Elizabeth II Windsor d.G VI 1952
Polio vaccine 1952
DNA discovered 1953
Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th U.S. President 1953-1961
Segregation illegal in US 1954
Hungarian revolution 1956
Velcro 1956
Interstate Hwys 1956
TV remote control 1956
1st computer hard drive 1956
Vietnam War 1956-1975
Russia's Sputnik, 1st satellite 1957

U.S. Civil Rights Act

1957
European Union founded 1957
Mao's "great leap forward" 1958
Castro rules Cuba 1959
Laser invented 1960
Berlin Wall         1961
John F.Kennedy, the 35th U.S. President - assasinated    1961-1963
Cuban missle crisis 1962
Lyndon B.Johnson, the 36th U.S. President  1963-1969
Saudis outlaw slavery 1964
Gell-Mann discovers quark   1964
Civil Rights Act 1964
UK.ends hanging 1965
Radiation detected from 400,000yr after the "Big Bang" 1965
US troops sent to Vietnam 1965
Vatican II 1965
Martin Luther King assassination 1966
Catholic Index Librorum Prohibitorum (Book censorship since 1559) ends 1966
Arab - Israeli "6 day war" 1967
1st human heart transplant 1967
Portable calculator 1967
1st moon walk 1969
Richard M.Nixon, the 37th U.S. President, resigned 1969-1974
Aswan Dam built by USSR in Egypt 1970
String Theory "born" 1970
VCR 1971
UK switches to a decimal currency 1971
Watergate, 1973
Pocket calculators, First cellular phone call 1973
Common Market 1973
Vietnam War ends 1973
World 1st cellphone call 1973
Gerald R. Ford, the 38th U.S. President      1974-1977
Microsoft computer founded 1975
Perl discovers tau Lepton 1976
Apple I 1977
MRI 1977
James Carter, the 39th U.S. President 1977-1981
USSR invades Afghanistan 1979
Rapid global warming begins  1980-
Oil discovered in the North Sea 1980
1st compact disk 1980
AIDS identified    1981
IBM PC    1981
Ronald W. Reagan, the 40th U.S. President 1981-1989
String Theory accepted as a possible unifying theory in physics 1984
Macintosh computer 1984
Ozone layer "hole" discovered 1985
MS shows "Windows" 1987
DNA convicts criminals    1987
Muon neutrino discovered     1988
USSR quits Afghanistan 1988
Berlin wall falls 1989
USSR quits Eastern Europe 1989
3 light neutrinos determined (tau,electron,muon) 1989
World wide web 1989
George H.W.Bush, the 41st U.S. President  1989-1993
Hubble space telescope     1990
USSR collapse 1991
1st Gulf War, USA invades Iraq following invasion of Kuwait 1991
1st web page 1991
William Jefferson Clinton, the 42nd U.S. President  1993-2001
English Channel Tunnel 1994
European Union 1994
Yahoo 1994
DVD   1995
Google   1998
11 European States  (not UK)  adopt Euro    1999
International space station 2000
   

 

21st CENTURY

2001-2100
George W.Bush, the 43rd U.S. President   2001-2008
NYC World Trade Center attacked Sept.11 2001
USA invades Afghanistan 2002
Latin no longer used in UK legal documents 2002
USA invades Iraq 2003
European Union = 23 states (8 more join)        2004
You Tube       2005
The International Astronomical Union decides to remove Pluto from the list planets of the solar system        2006
Kosova independent       2007
Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, China      2008
The credit and property value bubble collapses, Wall Street and other equities markets crash, demand evaporates, and a global economic recession ensues       2008
Barack Obama, the 44th U.S. President. The 1st African American President of the United States       2008