The History of the English Language Timeline Project

  • 9000 BCE

    Old Era

    The period between the appearance of humans on the planet roughl 2.5 million years ago.
  • The Stone Age
    3000 BCE

    The Stone Age

    Documents the human migration from Africa and first use of tools.
  • The Bronze Age
    1300 BCE

    The Bronze Age

    Humans settle in Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley and ancient Egypt.
  • The Iron Age
    600 BCE

    The Iron Age

    Formation of planned cities, introduction of ironworks, steel, and writing systems.
  • Period: 975 to 1025

    Beowulf's Writing

    One of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature.
  • 1066

    The Norman Invasion

    The 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Bretons, Flemish, and men from other French provinces
  • Period: 1387 to 1400

    Chaucer's Canterbury Tales

    A collection of 24 stories that runs to over 17,000 lines written in Middle English.
  • 1436

    The invention of the Printing Press

    The printing press was invented by Johannes Gutenberg.
  • Period: 1450 to

    Early Modern Era

    This is the era the Europeans "wake-up", expand, and build empires.
  • Jun 24, 1497

    The discovery of North America

    Italian navigator and explorer Giovanni Caboto discovered what we know today as North America.
  • Renaissance Humanism
    1500

    Renaissance Humanism

    The study of classical antiquity, at first in Italy and then spreading across Western Europe.
  • The European Renaissance

    The European Renaissance

    A cultural “rebirth” in art, music, literature, society, and philosophy.
  • Publication of Shakespeare's First Folio

    a book about half of Shakespeare's plays that had never previously appeared in print.
  • Protestant Reformation

    Protestant Reformation

    Religious movement in which Lutheranism broke with the Catholic church and redefined Christianity.
  • Period: to

    Modern Era

    The influences of both the Renaissance and the Enlightenment led to a technological boom.
  • Period: to

    The American Revolution

    Gaining independence from the British Crown and establishing the United States of America
  • Victorian Era

    Victorian Era

    Reign of Queen Victoria I that saw increased urbanization, the American Civil War and the end of African slavery.
  • Age of Imperialism

    Age of Imperialism

    Century of time in which France, Britain, Spain, the Netherlands, and the United States colonized in other nations around the world.
  • World War 2

    World War 2

    Wartime period that began with Germany’s invasion of Poland and ends with the surrender of Japan, the last standing Axis power.

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