History is said to be the study of past events, people, and times directly connected to mankind through the present. It has been expanded to include how the events and actions of the people affect the present; by doing so, specialized branches of history have been established.
The history of the world is recorded geologically, socially, and naturally. Whether it is excavating catacombs in Mesopotamia or spending time with a lost tribe in Oceania, history has been recorded, and for that, we are enriched by the knowledge that history provides. How we treat history will determine the extent in which all of mankind will co-exist, we ought to treat what we learn in history with respect and awe. We can allow it to benefit us or leave it unheeded, resulting in harm.
Eighteenth century British statesman Edmund Burke once said, “Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.” Learn.
| 10000 BC | Development of agriculture begins. |
|---|---|
| 3500 BC | First known use of the wheel. |
| 3100 BC | First Egyptian dynasty established, marking the beginning of the Egyptian civilization. |
| 2334 BC | Sargon of Akkad unifies Sumer, creating the first empire in Mesopotamia. |
| 1600 BC | Start of the Shang Dynasty in China, marking the beginning of Chinese civilization. |
| 1500 BC | Development of the Rigveda, the oldest known sacred text of Hinduism. |
| 1200 BC | Trojan War in ancient Greece, as described in Homer’s Iliad. |
| 1046 BC | Start of the Zhou Dynasty in China. |
| 753 BC | Founding of Rome by Romulus and Remus. |
| 509 BC | Establishment of the Roman Republic. |
| 500 BC | Birth of Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism. |
| 480 BC | Battle of Thermopylae, a major battle during the Greco-Persian Wars. |
| 356 BC | Birth of Alexander the Great in Macedonia. |
| 323 BC | Death of Alexander the Great, leading to the division of his empire. |
| 221 BC | Unification of China under Emperor Qin Shi Huang, marking the beginning of the Qin Dynasty. |
| 44 BC | Assassination of Julius Caesar, marking the end of the Roman Republic. |
| 27 BC | Augustus Caesar becomes the first Roman Emperor, marking the beginning of the Roman Empire. |
| 4 BC | Birth of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem (approximate date). |
| AD 14 | Death of Augustus Caesar, succeeded by Tiberius. |
| AD 29 | Crucifixion of Jesus Christ (approximate date). |
| AD 43 | Roman invasion of Britain led by Emperor Claudius. |
| AD 64 | Great Fire of Rome under Emperor Nero. |
| AD 70 | Roman forces destroy Jerusalem and the Second Temple, leading to the Jewish Diaspora. |
| AD 79 | Eruption of Mount Vesuvius, burying the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. |
| AD 96 | Assassination of Roman Emperor Domitian, succeeded by Nerva, marking the beginning of the Five Good Emperors period. |
| AD 100 | Completion of the Colosseum in Rome (approximate date).
Paper is invented in China during the Han Dynasty. |
| 220 | The Han Dynasty in China comes to an end, beginning the Three Kingdoms period. |
| 313 | Roman Emperor Constantine the Great legalizes Christianity through the Edict of Milan. |
| 476 | Fall of the Western Roman Empire. |
| 610 | Prophet Muhammad receives his first revelation, marking the beginning of Islam. |
| 618 | Tang Dynasty is established in China, marking the start of a cultural golden age. |
| 732 | Charles Martel’s Frankish army stops the expansion of Muslim forces at the Battle of Tours in France. |
| 800 | Charlemagne is crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Leo III. |
| 960 | The Song Dynasty begins in China, a period of cultural and technological advancement, including the invention of the movable type printing press. |
| 1066 | Norman Conquest of England led by William the Conqueror. |
| 1096 | First Crusade begins, with the goal of retaking the Holy Land from Muslim rule. |
| 1206 | Genghis Khan founds the Mongol Empire. |
| 1215 | King John of England signs the Magna Carta, limiting the power of the monarchy. |
| 1271 | Marco Polo begins his journey to Asia, later inspiring European exploration. |
| 1337 | Beginning of the Hundred Years’ War between England and France. |
| 1347 | Outbreak of the Black Death, a devastating pandemic that kills millions in Europe. |
| 1392 | Joseon Dynasty begins in Korea, lasting until 1897. |
| 1415 | Battle of Agincourt, a major English victory in the Hundred Years’ War. |
| 1439 | Johannes Gutenberg invents the printing press, revolutionizing the spread of information. |
| 1453 | Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire, marking the end of the Byzantine Empire. |
| 1492 | Christopher Columbus reaches the Americas, initiating widespread European exploration and colonization. |
| 1500 | Portuguese explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral discovers Brazil. |
| 1517 | Martin Luther sparks the Protestant Reformation with his Ninety-five Theses. |
| 1543 | Nicolaus Copernicus publishes “On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres,” proposing a heliocentric model of the universe. |
| 1600 | Giordano Bruno is burned at the stake for heresy, after supporting Copernicus’ heliocentric model and asserting the existence of infinite worlds. |
| 1603 | Tokugawa Shogunate begins in Japan, initiating a period of isolation and stability. |
| 1607 | English settlers establish Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North America. |
| 1644 | Fall of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty in China. |
| 1687 | Isaac Newton publishes “Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica,” laying the groundwork for classical mechanics. |
| 1751 | First volume of “Encyclopédie” is published, an important symbol of the Age of Enlightenment. |
| 1776 | American colonies declare independence from Britain, leading to the American Revolution. |
| 1789 | French Revolution begins, leading to the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte and the end of the Bourbon monarchy. |
| 1848 | Publication of “The Communist Manifesto” by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, a pivotal moment in the development of socialism and communism. |
| 1861 | Start of the American Civil War, resulting in the end of slavery in the United States. |
| 1905 | Albert Einstein publishes his Special Theory of Relativity, forever changing our understanding of space and time. |
| 1914 | World War I begins, involving major global powers and resulting in millions of casualties. |
| 1917 | Russian Revolution leads to the establishment of the Soviet Union. |
| 1939 | World War II begins, eventually involving most of the world’s nations and resulting in tens of millions of casualties. |
| 1945 | World War II ends with the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany and the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. |
| 1947 | India gains independence from Britain, and Pakistan is created as a separate nation following the partition. |
| 1948 | Establishment of the state of Israel, leading to ongoing conflict in the Middle East. |
| 1950 | Korean War begins, eventually leading to the division of the Korean Peninsula into North and South Korea. |
| 1957 | Launch of Sputnik 1 by the Soviet Union, marking the beginning of the space age and the space race between the US and the USSR. |
| 1962 | Cuban Missile Crisis, a 13-day confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union over the deployment of nuclear missiles in Cuba. |
| 1969 | Apollo 11 mission successfully lands astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the Moon. |
| 1979 | Iranian Revolution results in the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran, replacing the Pahlavi monarchy. |
| 1989 | Fall of the Berlin Wall, symbolizing the end of the Cold War and the beginning of the collapse of the Soviet Union. |
| 1991 | Dissolution of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War. |
| 2001 | September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, leading to the War on Terror. |
| 2008 | Global financial crisis, the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. |
| 2011 | Arab Spring, a series of anti-government protests and uprisings across the Middle East and North Africa. |
| 2020 | COVID-19 pandemic, a global health crisis caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, leading to widespread social and economic disruption.
Black Lives Matter protests erupt worldwide following the killing of George Floyd in the United States, raising awareness about systemic racism and police brutality. United States presidential election: Joe Biden is elected as the 46th President of the United States, defeating incumbent President Donald Trump. United Kingdom formally leaves the European Union (Brexit) on January 31, ending 47 years of membership. Devastating wildfires in Australia, known as the “Black Summer,” result in the loss of more than 18 million hectares of land, killing or displacing an estimated 3 billion animals. Conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region escalates, leading to a six-week war with thousands of casualties. Lebanon experiences a massive explosion in the port of Beirut, causing widespread destruction, killing over 200 people, and injuring thousands more. |