HISTORY OF THE WORLD

Last: 1900 to 2000 Back to Main Index Combined: -15bn to -1000 Colour Key Next: -1000 to 1000

-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

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