| -13,700,000,000 |
|
Beginning of the universe: "Big Bang" |
| -4,600,000,000 |
|
Age of Sun and Earth |
| -3,800,000,000 |
|
Earliest single-celled life appears on Earth |
| -1,000,000,000 |
|
First multi-cellular plants (algae) appear |
| -540,000,000 |
|
Start of Cambrian Period, life proliferates in the sea |
| -450,000,000 |
|
Vegetation colonizes land, and Arthropods first land animals |
| -350,000,000 |
|
Formation of Pangaea supercontinent |
| -300,000,000 |
|
First amphibians and reptiles |
| -230,000,000 |
|
First dinosaurs and early mammals appear |
| -200,000,000 |
|
Continents begin to split into present configuration |
| -150,000,000 |
|
Archaeopteryx earliest known bird |
| -70,000,000 |
|
First primates and other modern mammals appear |
| -65,000,000 |
|
Dinosaurs die out |
| -15,000,000 |
|
Great apes speciate from other apes and monkeys |
| -4,000,000 |
|
Bipedal ape-like hominids first appear in Africa |
| -2,500,000 |
|
Australipithecus and Homo Habilis start to make tools |
| -1,500,000 |
|
Homo Erectus and Homo Ergaster control fire |
| -200,000 |
|
Homo Neanderthalensis and Homo Sapiens appear |
| -40,000 |
|
"Great Leap Forward" in human cognitive development |
| -25,000 |
|
Cro-Magnon Man reaches Europe - earliest Paleolithic art |
| -25,000 |
|
Neanderthals die out and Homo Sapiens dominates |
| -15,000 |
|
First Asian migrants cross Bering Straits to North America |
| -11,000 |
|
End of last "ice age" and start of current interglacial period |
| -8,000 |
|
Extinction of mastodons and other megafauna |
| -7000 |
|
Founding of Jericho - world's earliest known city |
| -6000 |
|
New Stone Age (Neolithic) in Europe - settled agriculture |
| -5000 |
|
Early Sumerian civilization in Mesopotamia |
| -5000 |
|
Earliest Egyptian settlements |
| -4400 |
|
Minoan (or Aegean) culture established in Crete |
| -3500 |
|
Sumerian cuneiform (picture-writing) developed |
| -3500 |
|
Sumerians invent wheel |
| -3400 |
|
Hieratic writing developed by Egyptians |
| -3100 |
|
First Egyptian dynasty under Pharoah Menes - Memphis built |
| -3000 |
|
Bronze Age in Europe |
| -3000 |
|
Advanced civilization (Dravidians) in Indus Valley |
| -2800 |
|
Papyrus used as writing material by Egyptians |
| -2700 |
|
First settlement at Troy |
| -2600 |
|
Old Kingdom of Egypt - first pyramid built at Saccara |
| -2500 |
|
Pyramid of Giza built |
| -2500 |
|
Tribes of Aryans (Indo-Europeans) gradually move into India |
| -2500 |
|
Early Hebrew civilization in Israel area |
| -2500 |
|
First Golden Age of China under Yao, Shun and Yu |
| -2100 |
|
Babylon established by the Chaldeans |
| -2040 |
|
Middle Kingdom of Egypt - reunification under Theban kings |
| -2000 |
|
Hittite empire established in Asia Minor |
| -2000 |
|
Gilgamesh Epic (heroic poem) written in cuneiform |
| -2000 |
|
Phoenicians trading in Eastern Mediterranean |
| -2000 |
|
Abraham migrates from Ur to Canaan |
| -2000 |
|
Neolithic cultures in Peruvian desert |
| -1800 |
|
Babylonian king Hammurabi codifies laws |
| -1800 |
|
Main circle built at Stonehenge, Britain |
| -1600 |
|
Phoenicians develop phonetic alphabet |
| -1600 |
|
Greek tribes settle in Greece and Asia Minor |
| -1600 |
|
Shang Dynasty - advanced civilization and literature |
| -1500 |
|
New Kingdom of Egypt - civilization peaks |
| -1500 |
|
First alphabet developed in Egypt |
| -1500 |
|
Olmecs settle on Gulf Coast of Mexico |
| -1400 |
|
Knossos sacked - end of Minoan civilization |
| -1400 |
|
Hebrews invade Canaan (Joshua) |
| -1327 |
|
Death of Tutankhamun |
| -1300 |
|
Hebrew Exodus from Egypt under Moses |
| -1250 |
|
Israelites invade Palestine |
| -1200 |
|
Siege of Troy, and adventures of Iliad and Odyssey |
| -1200 |
|
Mycaenean civilization starts to decline |
| -1200 |
|
Hittites overthrown by Assyrians |
| -1030 |
|
Chou Dynasty - feudal system established |
| -1020 |
|
Saul becomes King of Israel |
| -1000 |
|
Iron Age in Europe |
| -1000 |
|
Rig Veda (first Indian sacred text) written |
| -1000 |
|
David becomes King of Israel - Philistines defeated |
| -1000 |
|
Early Roman tribes settle around Rome |
