-
20,000 BCE
Israel Exerts Control Over Wild Grain
-
11,000 BCE
Syria Plans to Cultivate and Select the Traits of Rye
-
11,000 BCE
Greece Domesticates Lentils, Vetch, Pistachios, and Almonds
-
9500 BCE
Levant Domesticates Eight Key Crops
Levant (Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Cyprus, Turkey)
Crops (emmer wheat, einkorn wheat, barley, peas, lentils, bitter vetch, chickpeas, and flax) -
9100 BCE
Klimonas is Founded
oldest known agricultural settlement; modern-day Cyprus -
9000 BCE
Central and Southwest Asia Domesticate Sheep
-
8000 BCE
Egypt Establishes Farms Along the Nile River
-
8000 BCE
China Domesticates Rice and Millet
-
8000 BCE
Goats are Domesticated
modern-day Iran -
8000 BCE
Pigs are Domesticated
modern-day China and Germany -
8000 BCE
Mexico Domesticates Maize and Squash
-
7000 BCE
Mesopotamia Establishes Agriculture
modern-day Iraq -
7000 BCE
Indus Valley Civilizations Use Agriculture
modern-day Pakistan and India -
7000 BCE
Cattle is Domesticated
North Africa, India, and Mesopotamia -
6000 BCE
The Iberian Peninsula Uses Agriculture
modern-day Spain and Portugal -
6000 BCE
Chickens are Domesticated
India and Southeast Asia -
6000 BCE
Llamas are Domesticated
modern-day Peru -
5500 BCE
Field Systems are Used
stone walls; modern-day Ireland -
5500 BCE
Large-Scale Intensive Cultivation of Land, Mono-Cropping, Organized Irrigation, and a Specialized Agricultural Labor Force is Developed
modern-day Iraq -
5400 BCE
Eridu, Mesopotamia is Settled by the Sumerians
modern-day Iraq -
5000 BCE
Rice and Sorghum are Domesticated in Africa's Sahel Region
Sahel Region (Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Algeria, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Sudan, South Sudan, Eritrea, Cameroon, Central Africa Republic, Ethiopia) -
4500 BCE
Uruk, Mesopotamia Becomes the First City
Sumerian settlement; modern-day Iraq -
4000 BCE
Horse is Domesticated
modern-day Ukraine and Kazakhstan -
3500 BCE
Wheel is Invented
Mesopotamia, Eastern Europe, and the Caucasus (Iraq, Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania -
3200 BCE
Writing Systems are Developed
Mesopotamia (Cuneiform); Egypt (Hieroglyphics); Indus Valley (Indus Script) -
3000 BCE
Ox-Draw Ard Plow is Developed
Egypt -
3000 BCE
Iron Ore Smelting is Developed
made wrought iron; modern-day Iraq and Syria -
2900 BCE
Uruk Becomes the Largest City in the World
-
2560 BCE
Great Pyramid of Giza is Built by the Ancient Egyptians
for Pharaoh Khufu in the Giza Plain -
2075 BCE
Lagash, Mesopotamia Becomes the Largest City in the World
Sumerian city; modern-day Iraq -
2030 BCE
Ur Becomes the Largest City in the World
Sumerian city in Mesopotamia; modern-day Iraq -
1850 BCE
Proto-Canaanite Script is Developed
gave rise to the Phoenician alphabet -
1800 BCE
Iron Ore Smelting is Used in India
-
1754 BCE
Code of Hammurabi is Written
by Babylonian King Hammurabi; one of the earliest legal codes; modern-day Iraq -
1500 BCE
Hittites Develop Furnaces
"bloomers"; modern-day Turkey -
Period: 1200 BCE to 550 BCE
Ancient Near East Iron Age
-
Period: 1200 BCE to 200 BCE
South Asian Iron Age
-
Period: 1200 BCE to 200 BCE
East Asian Iron Age
-
Period: 1190 BCE to 700 BCE
Aegean Iron Age
-
Period: 1100 BCE to 700 BCE
Italian Iron Age
-
Period: 1100 BCE to 150
Balkan Iron Age
-
Period: 1100 BCE to 800 BCE
Greek Dark Ages
-
1050 BCE
Phoenician Alphabet is Developed
all-consonant; gave rise to Semitic, Hebraic, and Arabic scripts -
Period: 900 BCE to 650 BCE
Eastern European Iron Age
-
800 BCE
Greeks Adapt the Phoenician Alphabet
convert some letters to vowels; gave rise to the Roman and Cryllic alphabets -
Period: 800 BCE to 50 BCE
Central European Iron Age
-
Period: 800 BCE to 100
British Iron Age
-
753 BCE
Rome is Founded
-
Period: 700 BCE to 480 BCE
Archaic Greece
-
595 BCE
Solon Institutes Constitutional Reform in Athens
ancient Greece -
Period: 509 BCE to 27 BCE
Reign of the Roman Republic
-
Period: 500 BCE to 800
Northern European Iron Age
-
490 BCE
Battle of Marathon
Greece stops the first Persian invasion -
480 BCE
Athens and Sparta Repel the Second Persian Invasion
Greece; at Salamis and Plataea -
Period: 480 BCE to 280 BCE
Classical Period of Greece
-
479 BCE
Confucianism
-
Period: 461 BCE to 429 BCE
Reign of Pericles
Athens, Greece; during a golden age of arts and culture -
458 BCE
Oresteia is Written
trilogy of tragic plays by Aeschylus; performed in Athens, Greece -
440 BCE
The Histories is Written
by Herodotus; account of the Greco-Persian wars -
432 BCE
Parthenon is Built
Acropolis, Athens, Greece -
Period: 431 BCE to 404 BCE
Peloponnesian War
Greece's civil war; Sparta defeats Athens -
429 BCE
Oedipus Rex is Written
tragic play by Sophocles; performed in Athens, Greece -
400 BCE
Hippocratic Oath is Articulated
for physicians to do no harm; Hippocrates; Greece -
400 BCE
Birth of Buddhism
-
386 BCE
Plato Opens the Academy
Athens, Greece -
338 BCE
Battle of Chaeronea
gave Macedon under Philip II and Alexander power over all Greek city-states, such as Athens -
336 BCE
Aristotle Opens the Lyceum
Athens, Greece -
336 BCE
Alexander the Great Becomes King
of Macedon; modern-day Greece -
333 BCE
Battle of Issus
conflict between Greece under Alexander the Great and Persia under Darius III; in Turkey -
332 BCE
Alexander's Conquest of Syria and Egypt
-
331 BCE
Battle of Gaugamela
conflict between Greece under Alexander the Great and the Persian Empire; Alexander emerges as ruler of the Persian Empire; in Iraqi Kurdistan -
327 BCE
Invasion of the Indian Subcontinent
by Alexander the Great; in Pakistan -
323 BCE
Death of Alexander the Great
-
221 BCE
Unification of China
under Emperor Qin Shi Huang -
Period: 218 BCE to 201 BCE
Second Punic War
wars between Carthage and Rome -
206 BCE
Great Wall of China is Built
under Qin Shi Huang -
202 BCE
Battle of Zama
end of the Second Punic War; modern-day Tunisia; Rome under Scipio Africans defeats Carthage under Hannibal -
Period: 149 BCE to 146 BCE
Third Punic War
final war between Carthage and Rome -
146 BCE
Carthage is Razed
-
49 BCE
Julius Caesar Crosses the Rubicon
initiated the Roman Civil War -
45 BCE
Julian Calendar is Made
reformed under Julius Caesar; had 365 days, 12 months, and leap years; modern-day Italy -
44 BCE
Julius Caesar is Assassinated
by Brutus, Cassius, and the Senate -
31 BCE
Battle of Actium
end of Roman civil wars; Rome under Octavian against Egypt under Mark Antony and Cleopatra; in Greece -
27 BCE
Octavian is Made Imperator by the Senate
ceded power to him and marked the beginning of the Roman Empire -
Period: 27 BCE to 180
Pax Romana
a period of relative peace in the Roman Empire -
Period: 27 BCE to 476
Reign of the Roman Empire
-
4 BCE
Birth of Jesus
-
9
Battle of Teutoberg Forest
Germanic forces under Arminius ambushed and destroyed three Roman legions under Publius Quinctilius Varus; modern-day Germany -
29
Crucifixion of Jesus
-
50
Paul Writes Thessalonians
earliest known Christian text -
312
Battle of Milvian Bridge
Constantine defeats rival Maxentius to become co-emperor of the Roman Empire -
313
Edict of Milan in Issued
by Constantine and Licinius; made Christianity legal in the Roman Empire -
390
Edict of Thessalonica is Issued
by Theodosius; made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire -
395
Death of Theodosius
divided the Roman Empire into Eastern and Western portions -
410
Sack of Rome
by the Visigoths under Alaric -
476
End of the Western Roman Empire
Germanic tribes under Flavius Odoacer revolt and depose Romulus Augustulus -
570
Muhammad is Born
-
622
Muhammad Leads the Hejira from Mecca to Medina
-
632
Qu'ran is Completed
-
632
Death of Muhammad
-
732
Battle of Tours-Poitiers
conflict between the Franks under Charles Martel against the Umayyad Caliphate Army under Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi; halted Muslim advance into Western Europe; in France -
776
Olympic Games are Founded
Archaic Greece -
800
Charlemagne is Crowned First Holy Roman Emperor
crowned by Pope Leo III; Carolingian King of the Franks and the Lombards -
1582
Gregorian Calendar is Created
issued by Pope Gregory XIII to fix the inaccuracies of the amount of leap years; modern-day Italy