Human History Timeline | Prehistory to the Modern World

Combined Timeline

315,000 B.C. Early Homo sapiens fossils at Jebel Irhoud (Morocco).
300,000 B.C. Homo sapiens, the first modern humans, migrate around Africa.
62,000 B.C. Bow and arrows with stone points (arrowheads) are used.
50,000–40,000 B.C. Upper Paleolithic “cultural explosion” (art, tools, expansion).
40,000 B.C. Neanderthals decline toward extinction (timing varies by region).
30,000 B.C. Early modern humans are widespread across Europe; the older term “Cro-Magnon” refers to some of these early European Homo sapiens.
25,000–15,000 B.C. Beringia linked northeast Asia and North America during periods of lower sea level. Humans occupied and moved through this region, while the timing and routes of migration into the Americas remain debated.
c. 18,000 B.C. Some of the earliest known pottery appears in East Asia, made by hunter-gatherer communities long before agriculture became widespread.
c. 14,000–12,000 B.C. Domesticated dogs are clearly present in western Eurasia by this period; genetic evidence suggests the domestication process began earlier.
c. 12,800 B.C. Humans are present at Monte Verde in southern Chile, showing that people had reached far into South America by this time.
c. 11,000 B.C. Evidence from Raqefet Cave in present-day Israel indicates that Natufian hunter-gatherers brewed wheat- or barley-based beer for ritual feasts roughly 13,000 years ago.
c. 10,000–8,000 B.C. Across the Fertile Crescent, communities increasingly cultivate cereals and herd animals, helping drive the Neolithic transition from mobile foraging toward farming and permanent settlements.
c. 9,600–8,200 B.C. Hunter-gatherers build monumental stone enclosures at Göbekli Tepe in southeastern Anatolia, one of the earliest known complexes of monumental megalithic architecture.
c. 8,000 B.C. Ancient Jericho/Tell es-Sultan is already a substantial permanent settlement, with monumental features including a wall, ditch, and tower dating to the 9th–8th millennia B.C.
c. 6,500 B.C. Rising post-glacial seas flood much of Doggerland, severing Britain’s land connection with continental Europe as the North Sea expands.
5,500 B.C. First settled societies in the Mesopotamia region.
c. 5,000–4,700 B.C. Some of the earliest securely dated evidence for animal-drawn ard ploughing appears in Alpine Europe.
c. 4,500 B.C. Copper smelting and metallurgy are established in parts of Eurasia; the earliest known copper smelting evidence dates to about 5,000 B.C. Bronze alloys become important later.
c. 4,200 B.C. Predynastic communities along the Nile continue developing farming, craft production, and increasingly complex social organization in early Egypt.
c. 3,500 B.C. The wheel-and-axle appears in the archaeological record, with early wheeled vehicles and related technologies developing across parts of Europe and western Asia.
c. 3,300 B.C. The earliest known proto-cuneiform writing develops in southern Mesopotamia, initially for administrative recordkeeping.
c. 3,300 B.C. The Early Harappan/Ravi phase begins in the Indus region; the mature urban Indus Civilization develops later, around 2,600–1,900 B.C.
3,200 B.C. Boats use sails on the Nile river.
3,114 B.C. The Maya Long Count uses a mythological creation-era starting date corresponding to August 11, 3114 B.C. in the proleptic Gregorian calendar.
3,100 B.C. Egypt’s 1st Dynasty created by the joining of the upper and lower kingdoms of Egypt.
c. 3,000 B.C. The Bronze Age is underway in parts of the Near East, while its chronology varies substantially by region. Urban city-states and monumental building continue expanding in Mesopotamia and neighboring areas.
c. 2,900 B.C. Cuneiform writing develops from earlier proto-cuneiform signs into a more fully phonetic and flexible writing system in Mesopotamia.
2,686 B.C. The Old Kingdom of Egypt begins in the conventional chronology, a period later associated with the great pyramid-building projects.
c. 2,630–2,611 B.C. King Djoser’s Step Pyramid complex at Saqqara is built, representing Egypt’s earliest preserved monumental stone architecture and the first great pyramid complex.
c. 2,600–1,900 B.C. The mature Indus Valley (Harappan) civilization flourishes, with major cities including Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, extensive trade networks, planned urban centers, and an undeciphered writing system.
c. 2,600 B.C. Gilgamesh, later the hero of the Epic of Gilgamesh, is listed in the Sumerian King List as a king of Uruk; the historical details of his reign remain uncertain.
c. 2,560 B.C. The Great Pyramid of Giza is completed during the reign of Khufu.
c. 2,500 B.C. The major stone settings at Stonehenge are erected; the site’s first major earthwork dates to about 3,000 B.C.
c. 2,100 B.C. The Code of Ur-Nammu, the oldest surviving law code known today, is written in Sumer.
1,792 B.C. Hammurabi begins his rule as king.
c. 1,600 B.C. The Shang dynasty begins in China; archaeological chronologies generally place it around 1,600–1,046 B.C.
c. 1,595 B.C. A Hittite army sacks Babylon, ending the Old Babylonian period in the commonly used middle chronology.
c. 1,550 B.C. The New Kingdom of Egypt begins with the rise of the 18th Dynasty.
c. 1,500 B.C. Olmec culture develops along the Gulf Coast of present-day Mexico and flourishes for more than a millennium.
1,333 B.C. A young boy named Tutankhamun succeeds Akhenaten, he restores the nation to worshiping the old Egyptian gods.
c. 1,250 B.C. The Chogha Zanbil ziggurat is built in Elam, in present-day Iran.
c. 13th–12th century B.C. The biblical Exodus narrative describes Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt; its historicity and exact date remain debated.
c. 1,200 B.C. The Late Bronze Age collapse disrupts many eastern Mediterranean states and trade networks, contributing to the end of several palace-centered societies and a regional transition toward the Iron Age.
1,126 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar I begins his rule as king of Babylon.
c. 1,101 B.C. Ancient writers give this as the traditional founding date of Phoenician Utica in North Africa, although archaeological evidence points to settlement several centuries later.
1077 B.C. Egypt’s New Kingdom ends around the death of Ramesses XI; political power becomes divided during the Third Intermediate Period.
c. 1,070 B.C. The Kingdom of Kush develops in Nubia and later becomes a major regional power.
c. 1,050 B.C. The Phoenician alphabet is established in the early first millennium B.C.; related alphabetic systems ultimately influence Greek, Etruscan, and Latin writing.
c. 1,046 B.C. The Zhou dynasty begins after the Zhou conquer the Shang; the Western Zhou period lasts until 771 B.C.
c. 11th century B.C. Biblical narratives describe prolonged conflict with the Philistines and the rise of Saul as the first king of Israel; the chronology and historical reconstruction of this period remain debated.
c. 10th century B.C. Biblical tradition describes David ruling from Jerusalem and establishing a dynasty; the scale and details of the kingdom described in the biblical text are debated by historians and archaeologists.
c. 10th century B.C. Biblical tradition associates Solomon with the First Temple in Jerusalem and places the division of the monarchy after his reign; precise dates and historical details remain uncertain.
c. late 9th century B.C. Phoenicians establish Carthage on the Gulf of Tunis. Ancient tradition gives 814 B.C. as the foundation date.
c. 8th–7th century B.C. The Homeric epics, the Iliad and Odyssey, take shape from a long oral poetic tradition; their exact dates of composition and authorship remain debated.
776 B.C. The very first recorded Olympic Games are established in Greece.
770 B.C. The Eastern Zhou period begins after the royal court moves east to Luoyang following the fall of the Western Zhou capital.
753 B.C. Roman tradition gives this as the founding year of Rome by Romulus; archaeology shows settlement in the area developed over a longer period.
509 B.C. Roman tradition dates the overthrow of the monarchy and the beginning of the Roman Republic to this year.
490 B.C. An Athenian-led Greek army defeats a Persian invasion force at the Battle of Marathon.
480 B.C. A second Persian invasion brings major battles at Thermopylae and Salamis; the Greek naval victory at Salamis helps turn the campaign.
c. 460 B.C. Hippocrates, later associated with the development of Greek medicine, is traditionally dated as being born around this time.
431 B.C. The Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta and their allies begins.
404 B.C. Sparta defeats Athens, ending the Peloponnesian War; the oligarchic Thirty Tyrants briefly rule Athens.
c. 400 B.C. Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha) dies, traditionally at Kushinagar; the precise chronology of his life remains debated.
394 B.C. Spartan forces under Agesilaus II defeat a coalition army at the Battle of Coronea during the Corinthian War.
c. 390/387 B.C. Senone Gauls led by Brennus sack Rome after defeating a Roman army at the Battle of the Allia; ancient chronologies differ on the exact year.
386 B.C. The King’s Peace (Peace of Antalcidas), backed by Persia, ends the Corinthian War and reshapes relations among the Greek city-states.
c. 370 B.C. Hippocrates, traditionally regarded as an influential figure in the development of Greek medicine, dies around this period.
371 B.C. Thebes defeats Sparta at the Battle of Leuctra, sharply weakening Spartan dominance in Greece.
367 B.C. The Licinio-Sextian laws are traditionally dated to this year, opening the Roman consulship to plebeians; Lucius Sextius becomes the first plebeian consul in 366 B.C.
356 B.C. The Third Sacred War begins in Greece.
339 B.C. The Fourth Sacred War begins and helps draw Philip II of Macedon deeper into central Greek affairs.
338 B.C. Philip II of Macedon defeats an alliance led by Athens and Thebes at the Battle of Chaeronea, establishing Macedonian dominance over much of Greece.
336 B.C. Philip II of Macedon is assassinated, and his son Alexander III—later known as Alexander the Great—becomes king.
332 B.C. Alexander the Great enters Egypt and founds Alexandria on the Mediterranean coast.
323 B.C. Alexander the Great dies in Babylon; his empire is subsequently divided among rival successor dynasties.
264 B.C. The First Punic War begins.
221 B.C. China is united under the reign of Shi Huangdi, China’s first emperor.
218 B.C. The Second Punic War begins – also known as the War Against Hannibal.
c. 220 B.C. — Under Qin Shi Huang, sections of earlier fortifications are joined and extended into a unified northern defense system; construction and rebuilding of the Great Wall continue under later dynasties for centuries.
c. 170–160 B.C. The monumental Pergamon Altar is built during the reign of Eumenes II, becoming one of the best-known monuments of Hellenistic art.
168 B.C. Roman forces defeat Perseus at the Battle of Pydna.
149 B.C. The Third Punic War begins.
142 B.C. Under Simon Maccabeus, Judea secures political independence from Seleucid rule and the Acra citadel in Jerusalem is captured, a key step in the rise of the Hasmonean state.
141 B.C. Emperor Wu (Liu Che) begins his long reign over China’s Han dynasty, a period of major territorial expansion and strengthened imperial institutions.
89 B.C. First Mithridatic War.
63 B.C. Roman general Pompey captures Jerusalem, bringing Judea under Roman political dominance.
53 B.C. A Parthian army decisively defeats Rome at the Battle of Carrhae, where the Roman commander Crassus is killed.
50 B.C. Julius Caesar’s conquest of Gaul is largely complete; Gaul included most of present-day France and neighboring regions.
45 B.C. Julius Caesar defeats the last major Pompeian army at the Battle of Munda and returns to Rome as its dominant political figure.
44 B.C. Caesar is granted the title dictator perpetuo and is assassinated on the Ides of March.
30 B.C. Egypt is absorbed and becomes a province of the current Roman empire.
27 B.C. Augustus begins his rule of the Roman Empire as the first Roman emperor.
c. 6–4 B.C. Jesus is probably born during this period; the exact year is uncertain, and Christian tradition places his birth in Bethlehem.

A.D.

14 A.D. Death of Augustus, the first emperor of the Roman Empire.
18 A.D. Publius Ovidius Naso (Ovid), poet of Heroides, Amores, and Metamorphoses dies.
27 A.D. Jesus is baptized by John the Baptist.
30 A.D. John the Baptist executed.
30 A.D. Crucifixion of Jesus ordered by Pilate.
34 A.D. The disciple Paul makes his first visit to Jerusalem.
41 A.D. Caligula is assassinated as a result of his extravagance and quest for unconstrained personal power.
c. 45–48 A.D. Paul the Apostle undertakes his first missionary journey with Barnabas; the exact chronology of Paul’s travels is debated.
c. 47–50 A.D. The Romans found Londinium, the settlement that develops into modern London, a few years after the Roman invasion of Britain.
59 A.D. Agrippina is murdered by her son, Nero.
64 A.D. Great fire destroys much of Rome.
c. 65–75 A.D. The Gospel of Mark, generally regarded by modern scholars as the earliest canonical gospel, is composed around the time of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.
68 A.D. Death of Roman Emperor Nero.
79 A.D. Mount Vesuvius erupts, burying Pompeii and Herculaneum beneath volcanic material and preserving extraordinary evidence of Roman life.
80 A.D. The Colosseum is inaugurated under Emperor Titus; construction had begun under his father Vespasian.
c. 80–90 A.D. The Gospel of Matthew is composed after the destruction of Jerusalem; many scholars place it at least a decade after 70 A.D.
c. 80–90 A.D. The Gospel of Luke is composed; many scholars date it to this period after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.
c. 90–100 A.D. The Gospel of John reaches its final form, while the Book of Revelation is generally dated near the end of Emperor Domitian’s reign (81–96 A.D.).
105 A.D. Chinese court official Cai Lun is traditionally credited with reporting major improvements to papermaking; archaeological evidence shows paper existed in China before his lifetime.
126 A.D. The Roman Pantheon is built in Rome.
130 A.D. Roman emperor Hadrian founds Antinoöpolis in Middle Egypt in memory of Antinous. It later became an important regional administrative center, but it was not Egypt’s capital.
161 A.D. Marcus Aurelius becomes the new Emperor of Rome.
166 A.D. Chinese records describe a group claiming to represent the Roman ruler “Andun” arriving at the court of Emperor Huan of Han. The visitors may have been merchants rather than an official embassy, and “Andun” may refer to Marcus Aurelius Antoninus or his predecessor Antoninus Pius.
217 A.D. Macrinus becomes the new Emperor of Rome.
220 A.D. The Han dynasty ends, and China enters the Three Kingdoms period, conventionally dated from 220 to 280.
222 A.D. Alexander Severus becomes Roman emperor.
224 A.D. Ardashir I defeats the Parthian king Artabanus IV, establishing the Sasanian Empire as the dominant power in Iran.
c. 3rd–4th century A.D. Emperor Sujin appears in Japan’s later traditional chronicles as an early ruler. His historicity and dates are uncertain, so he should not be treated as a securely documented ruler in 230 A.D.
235 A.D. Maximinus Thrax becomes the new Emperor of Rome.
238 A.D. Gordian III becomes the new Emperor of Rome.
249 A.D. Decius becomes the Emperor of Rome.
250 A.D. Decius persecutes Christians.
251 A.D. Gallus becomes Emperor of Rome, Decius dies in battle with Goths.
253 A.D. Valerian becomes Emperor of Rome, shares throne with his son, Gallienus.
268 A.D. Claudius II becomes Emperor of Rome.
270 A.D. Aurelian becomes Emperor of Rome.
275 A.D. Tacitus becomes Emperor of Rome, killed by his own military troops one year later.
276 A.D. Probus becomes Emperor of Rome.
282 A.D. Carus becomes Emperor of Rome, killed by his own military troops one year later.
284 A.D. Diocletian becomes Roman emperor and begins major administrative and military reforms.
286 A.D. Diocletian elevates Maximian as co-emperor, creating separate imperial courts for the eastern and western parts of the empire while the Roman Empire remains legally one state.
293 A.D. Diocletian formalizes the Tetrarchy, with two senior emperors (Augusti) and two junior emperors (Caesares) sharing imperial rule.
303 A.D. Diocletian and his colleagues begin the Great Persecution, the Roman Empire’s last major state-sponsored persecution of Christians.
306 A.D. After the death of Constantius Chlorus at York, his troops proclaim Constantine emperor; he initially controls part of the western empire.
306 A.D. Maxentius seizes power in Rome and becomes Constantine’s principal western rival until 312.
312 A.D. Constantine defeats Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge. Later Christian accounts associate the victory with Constantine’s vision of the cross and his growing support for Christianity.
313 A.D. Constantine and Licinius issue the Edict of Milan, granting religious toleration in the Roman Empire and restoring confiscated Christian property.
324 A.D. Constantine defeats Licinius and becomes sole ruler of the Roman Empire.
330 A.D. Constantine dedicates Constantinople as a new imperial capital of the Roman Empire.
337 A.D. Constantine dies, is baptized on deathbed.
380 A.D. The Edict of Thessalonica, issued under Emperor Theodosius I, establishes Nicene Christianity as the Roman Empire’s official imperial faith.
410 A.D. The Visigoths under Alaric I sack Rome, the city’s first capture by a foreign enemy in nearly eight centuries.
c. 5th century A.D. Patrick conducts Christian missionary work in Ireland; the traditional chronology of his life is uncertain and debated.
440 A.D. Leo I (Leo the Great) becomes bishop of Rome.
475 A.D. Romulus Augustulus becomes emperor in the western Roman Empire.
476 A.D. The Germanic commander Odoacer deposes Romulus Augustulus, an event conventionally used to mark the end of the Western Roman Empire; the Eastern Roman Empire continues for nearly another thousand years.
590 A.D. Gregory I, known as Gregory the Great becomes Pope.
593 A.D. Suiko becomes the new Empress of Japan.
604 A.D. Construction of the Grand Canal begins in China.
610 A.D. According to Islamic tradition, Muhammad receives the first revelations of the Qur’an near Mecca.
622 A.D. Muhammad and his followers undertake the Hijra from Mecca to Medina; this migration becomes the epoch of the Islamic calendar.
624 A.D. Muhammad and his followers defeat a larger Meccan force at the Battle of Badr, an important turning point for the early Muslim community.
632 A.D. Death of Muhammad.
639 A.D. Muslim conquest of Egypt begins.
762 A.D. Baghdad is founded as the new Abbasid capital and grows into a major center of political, commercial, and intellectual life.
800 A.D. Pope Leo III crowns Charlemagne emperor in Rome on Christmas Day, a major milestone in the political development of medieval western Europe.
c. 825 A.D. The mathematician al-Khwarizmi writes a treatise on calculation with Hindu numerals, helping transmit the Hindu-Arabic decimal numeral system through the Islamic world and later to Europe.
843 A.D. The Treaty of Verdun divides the Carolingian Empire among the three surviving sons of Louis the Pious.
c. 843 A.D. Kenneth MacAlpin emerges as king in Pictland; later tradition treats him as a foundational ruler of the kingdom that develops into Alba (Scotland), although the process was gradual rather than a single conquest.
c. 850 A.D. Persian scholar Ali ibn Sahl Rabban al-Tabari composes Firdaws al-Hikma (Paradise of Wisdom), an influential medical encyclopedia drawing on multiple traditions.
c. 870 A.D. Norse settlement of Iceland begins. Later tradition names Ingólfur Arnarson among the earliest permanent settlers; evidence and written sources place the main settlement period in the late 9th and early 10th centuries.
1054 A.D. The East–West Schism becomes a symbolic turning point in the growing separation between the churches centered on Rome and Constantinople.
1066 A.D. William, Duke of Normandy, defeats King Harold II at the Battle of Hastings, leading to the Norman conquest of England.
1082 A.D. King Henry IV’s troops storm Rome.
1085 A.D. The Moors lose Toledo to Alfonso Vi.
1086 A.D. Canute IV of Denmark is assassinated.
1088 A.D. Urban II becomes the new Pope.
1096 A.D. The First Crusade begins at the urging of Pope Urban.
1098 A.D. Crusaders defeat the Saracens at Antioch.
1099 A.D. Crusaders take Jerusalem.
1108 A.D. Louis VI becomes the new king of France.
1111 A.D. Henry V becomes the Holy Roman Emperor.
1139 A.D. Alfonso becomes the first king of Portugal.
1141 A.D. The Qara Khitai defeat the Seljuk army of Sultan Ahmad Sanjar at the Battle of Qatwan near Samarkand, sharply reducing Seljuk power in Central Asia.
1145 A.D. The Second Crusade begins.
1156 A.D. Military class struggle begins in Japan.
1174 A.D. Syria is conquered by Saladin.
1177 A.D. Saladin is defeated by Baldwin IV at Montgisard.
1180 A.D. A truce is formed between Saladin and Baldwin IV.
1182 A.D. Jews are banished from France by Philip II.
1211 A.D. Mongols invade China.
1215 A.D. King John agrees to Magna Carta at Runnymede, placing important limits on royal power and affirming that the king is subject to the law.
1219 A.D. Mongols invade Persia.
1258 A.D. Mongols destroy Baghdad.
1297 A.D. William Wallace, a Scottish man defeats the English army in the Battle of Stirling Bridge.
1300 A.D. Wenceslas II becomes the new king of Poland.
1304 A.D. Petrarch, the well known Italian poet is born.
1328 A.D. Philip VI becomes the current king of France.
1347–1351 A.D. The Black Death spreads through Europe, killing tens of millions of people and causing profound demographic and social disruption.
1368 A.D. The Ming dynasty is formed in China.
1412 A.D. Joan of Arc (Jeanne d’Arc) is born.
1413 A.D. Henry V becomes the King of England.
1421 A.D. China names Beijing as it’s capital city.
1422 A.D. Death of Henry V (England) and Charles VI (France).
1453 A.D. The Ottoman Empire captures Constantinople, ending the Byzantine Empire. The Hundred Years’ War also effectively ends as France expels nearly all remaining English forces from its territory.
c. 1455 A.D. Johannes Gutenberg completes the Gutenberg Bible, a landmark of European printing with movable metal type.
1458 A.D. Athens is taken over by the Ottomans.
1492 A.D. Christopher Columbus reaches the Caribbean on his first Atlantic voyage and encounters Indigenous peoples who had inhabited the Americas for thousands of years.
1517 A.D. Martin Luther circulates his Ninety-Five Theses, a landmark event in the Protestant Reformation.
1590 A.D. First flushing toilet is invented by John Harrington.
1606 A.D. Japan outlaws Christianity.
1607 A.D. Jamestown, Virginia colony in North America is founded.
1608 A.D. Hans Lippershey tries to obtain a patent for the telescope. This marks this first official documentation of the telescope as an invention.
1609 A.D. Galileo Galilee makes his first observations of stars with a telescope.
1610 A.D. The theory of relative motion is put forward by Galileo Galilee.
1618 A.D. Start of the Thirty Years’ War initiated by the Defenestrations of Prague.
1619 A.D. An English privateer brings the first documented group of enslaved Africans to colonial Virginia at Point Comfort. They had been seized from a Portuguese slave ship; their immediate legal status in Virginia was uncertain, while racialized hereditary slavery became more firmly codified later in the 17th century.
1620 A.D. Pilgrims from England sailing on the Mayflower ship arrive in America and found the colony of Plymouth.
1621 A.D. Philip IV becomes the next King of Spain. In America, Pilgrims celebrate the First Thanksgiving after a bountiful harvest.
1624 A.D. Dutch found New Amsterdam (New York).
1631 A.D. Construction on the Taj Mahal begins.
1642 A.D. French settlers led by Paul de Chomedey de Maisonneuve and Jeanne Mance found Ville-Marie (present-day Montreal). The English Civil War begins.
1648 A.D. Taj Mahal is completed, used as tomb for wife of Emperor Shah Jahan. The Treaty of Westphalia is signed, ending the Thirty Years’ War.
1652 A.D. Cape Town is founded by Dutch. Anglo-Dutch War.
1665 A.D. There is a massive plague that sweeps over London.
1666 A.D. Great fire of London.
1672 A.D. Peter the Great, later tsar and emperor of Russia, is born in Moscow.
1676 A.D. The Polish–Ottoman War of 1672–1676 ends.
1683 A.D. Great Turkish War begins.
1687 A.D. Isaac Newton publishes Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, setting out his laws of motion and universal gravitation and providing a mathematical framework for classical mechanics.
1689 A.D. Treaty of Nerchinsk between Russia and China.
1696 A.D. Peter is the sole ruler of Russia.
1701 A.D. The seed-drill is invented by Jethro Tull.
1703 A.D. Peter the Great founds St Petersburg.
1725 A.D. Peter the Great dies.
1744 A.D. King George War begins.
1747 A.D. Nader Shah assassinated.
1754 A.D. French and Indian War begins.
1755 A.D. Lisbon earthquake kills between 10,000-100,000.
1757 A.D. The British East India Company defeats the Nawab of Bengal at the Battle of Plassey, greatly expanding Company influence in Bengal.
1763 A.D. French and Indian War ends.
1765 A.D. Stamp Act on American colonies.
1770 A.D. Boston Massacre.
1773 A.D. Boston Tea Party.
1774 A.D. The First Continental Congress is formed in opposition to the British rule in America.
1775 A.D. The American Revolutionary War begins.
1776 A.D. On July 4, the Declaration of Independence is signed.
1783 A.D. The American Revolutionary War ends.
1787 A.D. The Constitution of the United States is signed into place at the Federal Convention.
1788 A.D. The Times is created and published for the first time in London.
1789 A.D. George Washington is elected the first president of the United States.
1791 A.D. “The Rights of Man“, written by Thomas Paine is published. The Bill of Rights, which are 10 amendments to the US Constitution, is approved.
1797 A.D. The parachute is invented.
1803 A.D. Britain and France start warring. France sells vast area of land west of the Mississippi to the United States in whats known as The Louisiana Purchase.
1804 A.D. World population reaches 1 billion.
1807 A.D. The slave trade is abolished in Britain via the Slave Trade Act.
1812 A.D. United States and Britain start warring.
1814 A.D. The first permanent Christian mission in New Zealand is established at Rangihoua in the Bay of Islands, with the support of Ngāpuhi leader Ruatara.
1815 A.D. Battle of Waterloo. The Treaty of Vienna is signed.
1820 A.D. The Missouri Compromise is passed – prohibiting slavery to the north and west of the state.
1830 A.D. The Book of Mormon is published by Joseph Smith.
1832 A.D. The foundations of modern democracy are established with the passing of the Great Reform Act.
1835 A.D. The Texas Revolution begins as armed conflict breaks out between Texian settlers and the Mexican government.
1836 A.D. Texas declares independence from Mexico on March 2. Mexican forces capture the Alamo on March 6; on April 21, Texian forces defeat Santa Anna’s army at the Battle of San Jacinto.
1837 A.D. The United States formally recognizes the Republic of Texas.
1843 A.D. Nearly 1,000 emigrants travel west in the Great Migration on the Oregon Trail, helping establish the route as a major path for overland migration to Oregon Country.
1844 A.D. Samuel Morse sends the famous first telegraphic message over the experimental Washington-to-Baltimore line, demonstrating a practical long-distance electric telegraph system.
1845 A.D. The United States annexes Texas.
1848 A.D. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish the “Communist Manifesto”.
1849 A.D. Gold discovered in California leads to a “gold rush”.
1850 A.D. Fugitive Slave Act (United States) established – required every citizen to help in the returning of escaped slaves.
1853 A.D. The Crimean War begins.
1854 A.D. Kansas-Nebraska Act passed (United States). Act established territories of Kansas and Nebraska. Republican Party is founded in opposition of the act as well as to slavery.
1856 A.D. The Crimean War ends.
1858 A.D. Following the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the British Crown takes direct control from the East India Company, beginning the British Raj.
1859 A.D. Charles Darwin publishes On the Origin of Species, presenting evidence for evolution by natural selection.
1861 A.D. The American Civil War begins. Gatling gun is invented.
1863 A.D. Abraham Lincoln issues the emancipation proclamation – changing the status of many people in the southern United States from slave to free. Battle of Gettysburg occurs.
1865 A.D. The United States abolishes slavery with the thirteenth amendment to the US Constitution.
1867 A.D. Alaska is purchased from Russia by the United States. Reconstruction Act allows the Southern US states to re-enter the Union. The explosive dynamite and the typewriter are invented.
1868 A.D. The Meiji Restoration establishes a new imperial government in Japan and begins a period of rapid political, economic, and social transformation.
1869 A.D. Swiss scientist Friedrich Miescher first isolates DNA, which he calls “nuclein.”
1869 A.D. Suez Canal opens. First Transcontinental Railroad is completed in the United States.
1870 A.D. The 15th US Constitutional Amendment is enacted – giving African-Americans the right to vote.
1871 A.D. Huge fire burns most of the city of Chicago.
1876 A.D. Alexander Graham Bell patents the first practical telephone.
1879 A.D. Thomas Edison and his Menlo Park team demonstrate a practical incandescent electric lamp, building on earlier light-bulb experiments and helping make electric lighting commercially viable.
1890 A.D. On December 29, U.S. Army troops kill at least 150 Lakota men, women, and children in the Wounded Knee Massacre in South Dakota.
1901 A.D. Queen Victoria of England dies.
1903 A.D. The Wright Brothers make their first powered flights.
1905 A.D. Albert Einstein publishes his theory of special relativity.
1907 A.D. First manned helicopter flight in France.
1914 A.D. Start of World War I (WWI)
1916 A.D. Albert Einstein publishes his theory of general relativity.
1917 A.D. Albert Einstein publishes his theory of stimulated emission, a principle that later becomes fundamental to lasers. The United States enters World War I.
1918 A.D. WWI ends.
1919 A.D. The 18th Amendment is ratified, setting nationwide Prohibition in motion; its ban on the manufacture, sale, transportation, import, and export of intoxicating beverages takes effect one year later in 1920.
1920 A.D. Commercial radio broadcasting begins in the United States as KDKA in Pittsburgh broadcasts presidential election returns on November 2. The 19th Amendment is ratified, prohibiting denial of the vote on account of sex.
1927 A.D. Charles Lindbergh completes the first solo, nonstop flight across the Atlantic, flying from New York to Paris. Georges Lemaître publishes a model of an expanding universe, helping lay the groundwork for modern Big Bang cosmology. Estimated world population reaches about 2 billion.
1928 A.D. Alexander Fleming observes the antibacterial effects of a Penicillium mold and discovers penicillin. Its development into a widely usable antibiotic follows in the 1940s through work led by Howard Florey, Ernst Chain, and others.
1929 A.D. NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) crashes after a panic induced sell-off of shares.
1933 A.D. The “New Deal” is launched by US President Roosevelt.
1936 A.D. Start of the Spanish Civil War.
1939 A.D. Start of World War II (WWII). The Spanish Civil War ends.
1941 A.D. On December 7, the Imperial Japanese Navy launches a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor and other U.S. military targets in Hawaii. The United States declares war on Japan the following day and enters World War II.
1945 A.D. The United States drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9. Japan announces its surrender in August and formally signs the surrender on September 2, ending World War II. The United Nations Charter enters into force on October 24, marking the establishment of the United Nations.
1947 A.D. Raytheon begins marketing the first commercial microwave ovens under the Radarange name; the earliest units are enormous and expensive.
1947 A.D. India and Pakistan are founded (gained independence).
1948 A.D. Mahatma Gandhi, a leader of the Indian independence movement against British rule, is assassinated.
1949 A.D. On October 1, Mao Zedong proclaims the People’s Republic of China after Communist forces prevail over the Nationalists on mainland China in the Chinese Civil War.
1953 A.D. The Cuban Revolution lead by Fidel Castro begins.
1955 A.D. The first effective polio vaccine, developed by Jonas Salk and his team, is announced as safe, effective, and potent. Following the 1954 Geneva settlement, South Vietnam under Ngo Dinh Diem consolidates while North and South remain divided; historians use different start dates for the conflict later known as the Vietnam War.
1957 A.D. The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite to orbit Earth, marking the beginning of the Space Age.
c. 1960 A.D. World population reaches approximately 3 billion people.
1960 A.D. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves Enovid as the first oral contraceptive pill.
1960 A.D. Theodore Maiman and colleagues demonstrate the first working laser at Hughes Research Laboratories in California.
1961 A.D. East Germany begins building the Berlin Wall, sealing the border between East and West Berlin and becoming a major symbol of the Cold War division of Europe.
1963 A.D. John F. Kennedy (JFK) is assassinated.
1965 A.D. The Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965 suspends capital punishment for murder in Great Britain; Parliament makes the change permanent in 1969.
1967 A.D. The United States, Soviet Union, and United Kingdom sign the Outer Space Treaty, which prohibits placing nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction in Earth orbit or stationing them in outer space or on celestial bodies.
1968 A.D. Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated in Memphis on April 4. Robert F. Kennedy is assassinated in Los Angeles in June.
1969 A.D. During Apollo 11, Neil Armstrong becomes the first person to set foot on the Moon on July 20; Buzz Aldrin follows shortly afterward.
1974 A.D. U.S. President Richard Nixon resigns on August 9 under threat of impeachment amid the Watergate scandal. Estimated world population reaches about 4 billion.
1975 A.D. North Vietnamese forces capture Saigon on April 30, effectively ending the Vietnam War.
1978 A.D. John Paul II is elected as the first non-Italian Pope in over 450 years. Iranian Revolution begins.
1979 A.D. Margaret Thatcher becomes the first female British Prime Minister. During the Iranian Revolution, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi leaves Iran and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returns from exile.
1980 A.D. Iran-Iraq war begins (until 1988).
1981 A.D. Egyptian President Anwar Sadat is assassinated during a military parade in Cairo.
1985 A.D. Mikhail Gorbachev becomes General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, making him the country’s de facto leader.
1986 A.D. The Space Shuttle Challenger breaks apart 73 seconds after launch on January 28, killing all seven crew members.
1987 A.D. Portugal and China sign the Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration on Macao, providing for China to resume sovereignty in 1999. Estimated world population reaches about 5 billion.
1988 A.D. Iran-Iraq war ends.
1989 A.D. The Berlin Wall falls after East Germany opens its border crossings, accelerating the collapse of communist rule in East Germany.
1989 A.D. Tim Berners-Lee proposes the system that becomes the World Wide Web while working at CERN.
1990 A.D. Germany reunifies on October 3 as the former East German states join the Federal Republic of Germany. The Hubble Space Telescope is launched.
1991 A.D. The Soviet Union dissolves. The breakup of Yugoslavia accelerates as Slovenia and Croatia declare independence and armed conflicts begin.
1992 A.D. Bill Clinton is elected as the 42nd President of the United States.
1994 A.D. South Africa holds its first democratic national election in which adults of all races can vote. Nelson Mandela is inaugurated as president on May 10.
1995 A.D. On April 19, the Oklahoma City bombing destroys much of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building and kills 168 people, including 19 children.
1997 A.D. On July 1, sovereignty over Hong Kong transfers from the United Kingdom to China, and Hong Kong becomes a Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China.
1999 A.D. Estimated world population reaches about 6 billion. On December 20, China resumes the exercise of sovereignty over Macao, which becomes a Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China.
2000 A.D. George W. Bush is elected the 43rd President of the United States. As computer calendars roll over to 2000, the feared Y2K computer problem causes only limited disruptions after extensive remediation and preparation.
2001 A.D. On September 11, al-Qaeda terrorists hijack four commercial airliners: two strike the World Trade Center in New York, one strikes the Pentagon, and Flight 93 crashes in Pennsylvania after passengers and crew fight back. The attacks kill 2,977 victims. The online encyclopedia Wikipedia is launched.
2002 A.D. Euro banknotes and coins enter circulation in 12 countries of the euro area. The U.S. opens the Guantánamo Bay detention camp.
2003 A.D. A U.S.- and British-led coalition invades Iraq on March 20 and seizes Baghdad in April. U.S. forces capture former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein on December 13.
2003 A.D. The international Human Genome Project announces completion of its landmark effort to sequence the human genome.
2004 A.D. A magnitude 9.1 earthquake off northern Sumatra generates the Indian Ocean tsunami, leaving about 228,000 people dead or missing across multiple countries. Social networking site Facebook is founded.
2005 A.D. Hurricane Katrina strikes the U.S. Gulf Coast in August, causing catastrophic storm-surge damage in Louisiana and Mississippi and widespread flooding in New Orleans; more than 1,800 people die.
2006 A.D. Former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein is executed by Iraqi authorities after his conviction for crimes against humanity in the Dujail case.
2007 A.D. Apple introduces the iPhone, combining a mobile phone, touchscreen media player, and internet communications device. The global financial crisis begins to unfold amid severe problems in U.S. mortgage and credit markets.
2008 A.D. Barack Obama is elected the 44th President of the United States, becoming the first African American elected to the presidency. On September 10, CERN successfully circulates the first beam around the Large Hadron Collider, the world’s most powerful particle accelerator.
2010 A.D. On April 20, an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig kills 11 workers and triggers the largest marine oil spill in U.S. history.
2011 A.D. Arab Spring uprisings spread across North Africa and the Middle East.
2011 A.D. On March 11, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and devastating tsunami strike Japan, causing widespread loss of life and triggering the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident.
2011 A.D. On May 2, U.S. forces kill al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
2011 A.D. Occupy Wall Street begins in New York City in September.
2011 A.D. On October 31, the United Nations marks world population reaching 7 billion.
2012 A.D. Over 1 billion people actively use the social networking site Facebook. Barack Obama is re-elected president of the United States.
2013 A.D. Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden provides journalists with classified documents revealing extensive U.S. National Security Agency surveillance programs, prompting worldwide debate over privacy, intelligence, and government surveillance.
2016 A.D. Donald J. Trump wins the 2016 U.S. presidential election and is elected the 45th President of the United States.
2017 A.D. Over 2 billion people actively use the social networking site Facebook.
2019 A.D. The first known cases of COVID-19 are detected in China in December 2019.
2020 A.D. On March 11, the World Health Organization characterizes COVID-19 as a pandemic.
2020 A.D. Joe Biden wins the 2020 U.S. presidential election with 306 electoral votes and is elected the 46th President of the United States.
2021 A.D. On December 25, the James Webb Space Telescope launches aboard an Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana.
2022 A.D. On February 24, Russia begins large-scale military operations inside Ukraine, launching a major war in Europe.
2022 A.D. On November 15, the United Nations marks world population reaching 8 billion people.
2023 A.D. On August 23, India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission successfully soft-lands near the Moon’s southern polar region, making India the fourth country to land on the Moon and the first to land near that region.
2024 A.D. On February 22, Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus lander touches down in the Moon’s south polar region, marking the first U.S. lunar landing since Apollo 17.
2025 A.D. On January 20, Donald J. Trump is inaugurated as the 47th President of the United States, beginning his second, nonconsecutive term in office.