🌍 World History Timeline

50 key events in world history with dates, from ancient to modern (English)

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All Questions & Answers (50)

When did Sumerian (Mesopotamian) civilization begin?c. 3500 BC — the first cities, irrigation and record-keeping appear
When was cuneiform, the first writing system, first used?c. 3200 BC — writing lets societies store law, trade and history
When was the Great Pyramid of Giza built?c. 2560 BC — a royal tomb that still defines ancient engineering
When was the Code of Hammurabi written?c. 1750 BC — one of the earliest written law codes, 'an eye for an eye'
When was the Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama) born?c. 563 BC — his teaching became one of the world's great religions
When did Confucius live?551–479 BC — his ideas shaped East Asian ethics and government for 2,000 years
When was the Battle of Marathon?490 BC — a small Greek force stopped Persia and saved the city-states
When did Alexander the Great begin his eastern campaign?334 BC — his conquests spread Greek culture from Egypt to India
When did the Hellenistic era begin (after Alexander's death)?323 BC — Greek and Eastern cultures blend across three continents
When did Qin Shi Huang unify China?221 BC — the first unified Chinese empire, with one script and one measure
When did Rome become an empire (Augustus)?27 BC — the Republic ends; one man now rules the Mediterranean world
When was the Roman Empire split into East and West?AD 395 — the split that eventually became Latin West and Greek East
When did the Western Roman Empire fall?AD 476 — the end of antiquity in western Europe
When was Islam founded (Muhammad's Hijra)?AD 622 — a new faith that reshaped the Middle East, Africa and Europe
When was Charlemagne crowned emperor?AD 800 — a revived Roman ideal binds Europe to the Church
When did the First Crusade begin?1096 — two centuries of religious war between Europe and the Middle East
When did Genghis Khan found the Mongol Empire?1206 — the largest contiguous land empire in history begins
When was England's Magna Carta signed?1215 — the first check on a king's power, an ancestor of constitutions
When did the Black Death sweep Europe?1347–1351 — a third of Europe died; labor shortages broke feudalism
When did Gutenberg invent movable-type printing?c. 1450 — cheap books spread ideas faster than any ruler could control
When did Columbus reach the Americas?1492 — the Old and New Worlds collide, reshaping both
When did Vasco da Gama open the sea route to India?1498 — Europe reaches Asia by sea and takes over the spice trade
When did Luther start the Protestant Reformation?1517 — Western Christianity splits, triggering a century of war
When did Newton publish the Principia (gravity)?1687 — one set of laws explains both falling apples and orbiting planets
When did the British Industrial Revolution take off?from the 1760s — machines replace muscle; population and cities explode
When did the United States declare independence?1776 — a colony argues that governments answer to the governed
When did the French Revolution begin?1789 — an absolute monarchy falls; 'liberty, equality, fraternity' spreads
When did Napoleon crown himself emperor?1804 — revolutionary France turns into an empire
When was Napoleon defeated at Waterloo?1815 — the end of 20 years of European war; borders redrawn
When did Darwin publish On the Origin of Species?1859 — life is explained by descent with modification, not design
When was the American Civil War?1861–1865 — the Union holds and slavery ends in the United States
When did Lincoln issue the Emancipation Proclamation?1863 — slavery in the rebel states is declared abolished
When did the Wright brothers make the first powered flight?1903 — humanity leaves the ground and the world shrinks
When did Einstein publish special relativity?1905 — time and space stop being absolute
When was World War I?1914–1918 — empires collapse and a harsh peace sets up the next war
When was the Russian Revolution?1917 — the first communist state is born
When did the Great Depression begin?1929 — a global collapse that fed extremism through the 1930s
When was World War II?1939–1945 — the deadliest conflict in history, about 70 million dead
When were atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki?1945 — nuclear weapons enter the world and never leave
When was the United Nations founded?1945 — an attempt to stop war through permanent negotiation
When was the State of Israel established?1948 — a new state in a contested land; conflict continues today
When was the first satellite, Sputnik, launched?1957 — the space race begins; satellites now run daily life
When did humans first land on the Moon (Apollo 11)?1969 — the farthest humans have ever travelled
When did the Berlin Wall fall?1989 — the Cold War's most visible barrier comes down
When did the Soviet Union dissolve?1991 — the Cold War ends and fifteen new states appear
When was the World Wide Web released to the public?1991 — information becomes instantly shareable worldwide
When was the European Union established?1993 — former enemies bind their economies to prevent war
When did the 9/11 attacks occur?2001 — terrorism reshapes security, travel and foreign policy
When was the first iPhone released?2007 — the pocket computer replaces phone, camera, map and wallet
When did the WHO declare the COVID-19 pandemic?2020 — the first global pandemic of the connected age

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