Human History Timeline

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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.
6000 B.C.. First beer is brewed from grain in the Near East.
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.
3,000 B.C. Bricks are used widely(and made by a fired process). First city-states are created, palaces are starting to be build. Temples are usually build at the center of the cities. There were large military campaigns by ethnic groups of people. Bronze Age begins.
2,900 B.C. Cuneiform writing system developed
2,750 B.C. Rule of Gilgamesh. King of Uruk.
2,686 B.C. Beginning of the Old Kingdom of Egypt, and also known as the “Age of the Pyramids”.
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. 2,560 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.
1140 B.C. The First North African city of Utica (Tunisia) is established by the Phoenicians.
1,126 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar I begins his rule as king of Babylon.
1122 B.C. The Chou Dynasty is formed in China by Emperor Wu Wang. The feudal system follows.
1077 B.C. The New Kingdom phase in Egypt is over when Rameses XI dies. Smendes ascends to Pharaoh and forms the XXIst Dynasty.
1,070 B.C. The Kingdom of Kush in Nubia begins.
1050 B.C. Israel is invaded and defeated by the Philistines.
1020 B.C. Saul is anointed king of Israel by the one of the last remaining Israelite judges.
1000 B.C. In the battle of Gilboa, Saul is killed and David ascends to the throne.
961 B.C. David dies and his throne is replaced by his son Solomon.
953 B.C. The Dedication of Temple at Jerusalem is built by Solomon.
922 B.C. Solomon dies and his throne is replaced by his son Rehoboam who faces a rebellion soon after his ascension.
814 B.C. Carthage is founded by the Phoenicians, not far from Utica.
800 B.C. The great poet Homer writes “The Iliad” and “The Odyssey“.
776 B.C. The very first recorded Olympic Games are established in Greece.
770 B.C. The Eastern Chou Dynasty in China begins.
483 B.C. Buddha dies in India.
460 B.C. Hippocrates is born.
431 B.C. Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta begins.
404 B.C. The Government of the Thirty Tyrants begins. Spartans defeat the Athenians to end the Peloponnesian War.
394 B.C. Spartan forces win the Battle of Coronea.
390 B.C. The city of Rome is ransacked by The Gauls from France.
386 B.C. Antalcidas of Sparta forms a peace pact with Persia.
377 B.C. Hippocrates dies.
371 B.C. Sparta and The Athenian League form a peace pact.
367 B.C. Rome elects its first plebeian council member.
356 B.C. The Third Sacred War begins.
339 B.C. The Fourth Sacred War begins.
336 B.C. Philip II of Macedonia is assassinated.
332 B.C. Alexander the Great invades Egypt and founds the city Alexandria.
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.
180 B.C. Great alter of Zeus and Athena built in Pergamon.
168 B.C. Roman forces defeat Perseus at the Battle of Pydna.
149 B.C. The Third Punic War begins.
141 B.C. Jewish people liberate Jerusalem.
140 B.C. Wu (Liu Che) becomes “Martial Emperor” of China.
89 B.C. First Mithridatic War.
63 B.C. Judea is captured by the Roman empire.
53 B.C. The Battle of Carrhae, between Parthian and Roman empires.
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. Caesar becomes dictator of Rome.
44 B.C. Caesar is assassinated.
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. 47–50 A.D. The Romans found Londinium, the settlement that develops into modern London, a few years after the Roman invasion of Britain.
45 A.D. Disciple (apostle) Paul begins his missionary works.
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.
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.
79 A.D. The volcano Vesuvius erupts, spewing lava so quickly that it preserved the city of Pompeii. Titus is the current emperor of Rome.
80 A.D. The Roman Colosseum and the Baths of Titus are completed.
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. Cai Lun creates the paper-making process in China.
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. End of Han Dynasty and China’s “Imperial Age”. The period of “Three Kingdoms” in China begins (an last’s until 265 a.d.)
222 A.D. Alexander Severus becomes the new Emperor of Rome.
227 A.D. A new Persian empire is founded by Ardashir.
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 Emperor of Rome.
286 A.D. The Roman Empire is divided by Diocletian, he rules the East, Maximiam rules the West.
303 A.D. Christians are persecuted by Diocletian.
306 A.D. Constantine I (known as Constantine the Great) becomes Emperor of Rome in the East kingdom.
308 A.D. Maxentius becomes Emperor of Rome in the West kingdom.
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. Rome is sacked by the Goths.
428 A.D. St. Patrick begins his missionary work in Ireland.
440 A.D. Leo, known as Leo the Great, becomes Pope.
475 A.D. Romulus Augustus becomes Emperor.
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.
814 A.D. Arabs start using the Indian numerals 0 through 9.
762 A.D. Baghdad is founded as the new Abbasid capital and grows into a major center of political, commercial, and intellectual life.
843 A.D. Treaty of Verdun is signed and divides the current Frankish Empire into 3 (east of Rhine, France and then Italy, Provence, Burgundy and Lorraine.)
844 A.D. The Picts are defeated by Kenneth MacAlpine (King of the Scots) and a new unified Scotland is established.
850 A.D. The Muslim scholars of Tabari compile the medical writings of Greece, Rome, Persia and India.
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.
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. Chinese defeat Muslim ruler of Persia.
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.
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.
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 Hundred Years War comes to an end.
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.
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. The first shipment of African slaves arrive in Virginia to work the tobacco plantations.
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.
1676 A.D. Polish-Ottoman War ends.
1682 A.D. Peter the Great is born.
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. Texas makes independence claim away from Mexico, known as the Texas Revolution.
1836 A.D. Battle of the Alamo – Mexican Army storms the Texas fort known as the Alamo. United States passes resolution recognizing the independence 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.
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.
1946 A.D. First microwave oven is sold under the name of Radarange.
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. The Communist party lead by Mao Zedong comes to power in China.
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. The Vietnam War begins.
1959 A.D. World population reaches 3 billion.
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.
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.
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. Osama bin Laden, founder of Al-Qaeda, is killed in Pakistan by U.S. Navy Seals (SEAL Team Six). The Occupy Wall Street movement begins. A magnitude 9.0 earthquake and devastating tsunami strike Japan, causing the majority of 15,848 deaths recorded by WHO and triggering the Level 7 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident. Arab Spring revolutionary uprisings occur in North Africa and the Middle East. World population reaches 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 is elected as the 46th President of the United States.