Timeline of Inventions

  • Period: 200,000 BCE to 600 BCE

    Prehistoric Era

  • Period: 200,000 BCE to 3000 BCE

    Stone Age

    Human migration from Africa and first use of tools by Neanderthals.
  • Period: 3000 BCE to 1300 BCE

    Bronze Age

    Humans settle in Mesopotamia. Invention of wheel and metalworking.
  • Period: 1300 BCE to 600 BCE

    Iron Age

    Formation of planned cities. Introduction of ironwork, steel, and writing systems.
  • Period: 753 BCE to 476

    Ancient Rome

    Political power that developed the legal system, irrigation, architecture, city roads, and Christianity.
  • Period: 600 BCE to 476

    Classical Era

  • Period: 600 BCE to 600

    Ancient Greece

    Foundation of democracy, philosophy, mathematics, drama, and poetry.
  • Period: 550 BCE to 330 BCE

    Persian Empire

    Middle Eastern empire that practiced Zoroastrianism before Islam and fell to Alexander the Great in 330 B.C.
  • Period: 285 to 1453

    Byzantine Empire

    Mediterranean culture that incorporated practices and beliefs from ancient Greece and Rome; the only major power not to fall until after the Renaissance.
  • Period: 476 to 1450

    Middle Ages (Medieval)

  • Period: 476 to 1000

    Early Middle Ages (Dark Ages)

    This period shows most powers rebuilding after the collapse of the Roman Empire and the beginning of Islam in the Middle East.
  • Period: 1000 to 1250

    High Middle Ages

    250-year period that saw the height of the Catholic church’s power in the Crusades.
  • Period: 1250 to 1450

    Late Middle Ages

    Period that saw the Black Plague, the beginning of European exploration and the invention of the printing press.
  • Period: 1400 to 1500

    Renaissance Humanism

    Break from medieval scholasticism that incorporated Classical thought into Early Modern ideas.
  • Period: 1450 to

    Early Modern Era

  • Period: 1450 to

    European Renaissance

    Cultural “rebirth” in art, music, literature, society, and philosophy.
  • Period: 1517 to

    Protestant Reformation

    Religious movement in which Lutheranism (started by Martin Luther) broke with the Catholic church and redefined Christianity.
  • Period: to

    Enlightenment

    Intellectual movement that is also called the Age of Reason; saw the re-examination of politics, economics and science before giving way to Romanticism in the 19th century.
  • Period: to

    Modern Era

  • Period: to

    First Industrial Revolution

    Beginning of the modern era that saw several technological innovations, including the invention of the cotton gin, the increase of city factories and mills and the completion of the Erie Canal.
  • Period: to

    Revolutionary Period

    Period of revolutions around the world, including the American Revolution, French Revolution, Spanish-American Wars for Independence, Italian Revolutions, Greek War of Independence, and the Spring of Nations.
  • Period: to

    Age of Imperialism

    Century of time in which France, Britain, Spain, the Netherlands, and the United States colonized in other nations around the world.
  • Period: to

    Victorian Era

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

    Second Industrial Revolution

    Period in which the light bulb, the telephone, the airplane, and the Model T automobile were invented.
  • Period: to

    World War I

    Worldwide conflict centered in Europe; also known as the Great War
  • Period: to

    Great Depression

    Extended period of worldwide economic hardship that started with the stock market crash in 1929.
  • Period: to

    World War II

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

    Contemporary Period

    Known as the Information Age; the period in which technological advances define social, economic and political life.