Dalam satu tahun dikira mengikut peredaran musim sejuk- musim luruh – musim bunga & musim panas atau lebih tepat ialah satu pusingan orbit bumi mengelilingi matahari. Satu bulan pula ialah satu pusingan bulan di orbit nya mengelilingi bumi.
Adakah kamu tahu apa yang berlaku didalam dunia pada 2011? Peristiwa-peristiwa yang terjadi yang kamu baca di dalam surat khabar berita TV & majalah di tanda tarikh kejadian nya mengikut tahun kiraan manusia. Apa sahaja yang terjadi pada tahun ini maka ia akan terukir dalam sejarah untuk generasi akan datang. Sekiranya manusia tidak mencipta kiraan tahun maka tidak lah dapat diukur umur & usia sesuatu itu. Misalnya kita tidak akan tahu berapa umur kita kalau unit kiraan tahun tidak dicipta. Dengan adanya tarikh-tarikh atau tahun, manusia dapat mengingat kembali akan kemusnahan akibat perang & bencana.
Tarikh sebenarnya ialah tanda kejadian & peristiwa yang telah berlaku. Bilakah tarikh yang di tanda akan masa kamu lahir? Terima kasih kepada tarikh ciptaan Rom kerana tanpanya kamu tidak tahu usia kamu. Sekirannya kamu tahu tarikh tahun kelahiran kamu, maka senanglah kamu untuk merujuk kembali apa peristiwa dunia & kejadian yang berlaku pada tarikh kelahiran kamu. Tarikh juga membolehkan kita untuk mengetahui sesuatu kejadian & peristiwa mengikut peredaran masa. Tarikh juga membolehkan kita untuk mengetahui kehidupan & politik serta kebudayaan dunia pada 2,000 atau 1,000 ataupun 100 tahun dahulu. Dengan satu tanda dalam ukuran masa mengikut pusingan orbit bumi mengelilingi matahari jugalah yang membolehkan kita mengetahui apa yang berlaku di masa silam.
Kamu ingin mengetahui apa rupa bentuk kehidupan nenek moyang kamu 100 tahun dahulu? Maka kamu pergi lah cari rekod-rekod, gambar atau catatan di tarikh 1901. Kalau tidak ada pun gambar nenek moyang kamu, sedikit rekod atau catatan sejarah yang ditulis orang pada tahun itu mungkin dapat menggambarkan serba sedikit akan perjalanan masa & kehidupan mereka. Dengan adanya penanda bagi tahun-tahun dimasa silam ini sesorang tidak boleh menipu perkara yang tidak pernah berlaku. Kalau dia nak tipu pun, mungkin orang yang tak tahu sejarah saja yang akan terpedaya.
Sejarah & tarikh tidak terbatas pada politik, kebudayaan, ugama & kehidupan dunia manusia semata-mata tetapi juga pada geologi bumi, evolusi binatang & tumbuhan juga zarah-zarah atom/nuclear dan juga angkasa lepas termasuk kejadian pembentukan galaksi, ruang angkasa, planet, bintang, super nova & pelbagai lagi. Dalam keluarga kamu juga ada sejarahnya yang tersendiri. Kenapa mesti di tulis tarikh kelahiran pada kad pengenalan & sijil kelahiran? Supaya kerajaan dapat menganggar jumlah penduduk bagi warga emas, belia, remaja, kanak- kanak & bayi.
Sejarah mungkin tidak diajar kepada kanak-kanak diperingkat usia awal kerana mereka mungkin sukar untuk memahami akan peristiwa lampau yang berlaku bukan di masa kehidupan mereka.
Bukan nya nak suruh kamu menghafal tarikh & belajar sejarah pun, tapi elok lah kalau kamu tahu walau sedikit pun bila masa sesuatu peristiwa itu samada ia di tanda pada sekitar kurun, abad atau pun dekad. Dalam satu hari dikira mengikut pusingan paksi bumi dari timur ke barat. Dan dalam satu hari itu pun masa berjalan seperti yang diterangkan dalam nahu bahasa melayu – ‘tadi, sekarang, nanti & semalam/kelmarin, hari ini,esok’(English – just, now, later & yesterday, today, tomorrow).
Pasti ramai orang yang tidak tahu akan sejarah kaum & bangsa mereka sendiri. Ramai juga yang mungkin tidak tahu kenapa, mengapa, bila kebudayaan atau kaum mereka boleh terbentuk menjadi apa yang mereka lihat & dengar hari ini. Mungkin sebab mereka ini tak minat lah tu tapi kalau tarikh pergaduhan orang atau konflik keluarga mungkin mereka tahu.
Kalau peristiwa & kejadian sejarah dunia itu dapat kita ketahui tarikh & waktu kejadian nya, maka dapatlah diketahui rumusan jawapan kepada soalan mengapa, kenapa, di mana, bila & siapa. Apakah makna tarikh 2020 kepada rakyat Malaysia? Itu adalah satu tarikh di masa depan yang telah di tanda oleh para pemimpin sebagai tahun Malaysia mencapai taraf negara maju.
4.5 billion earth formed
3.8 billion – simple cells (prokaryotes)
3 billion photosynthesis,
2 billion complex cells (eukaryotes),
1 billion multicellular life,
600 million animals,
570 million arthropods
550 million complex animal,
500 million fish & proto-amphibians,
475 million land plants,
360 million amphibians,
300 million reptiles,
200 million mammals,
150 million birds,
130 million flowers,
2.5 million species Homo,
The Evolution of Hominids
5,000,000 to 25,000 BC
5,000,000 -1,000,000 BC: Australopithecus
2,200,000 - 1,600,000 BC: Homo habilis
1,600,000 - 500,000 BC: Homo erectus
Stone artifacts and weapons
500,000 - 80,000 BC: Homo sapiens
125,000: Homo sapiens sapien
100,000 - 33,000 BC: Homo neanderthalensis
Ice Ages
Stone tools
Foraging Societies
From 30,000 BC
30,000 to 25,000 BC: Woman of Willendorf
27,000 to 23,000 BC: Dolni Vestonice
25,000 - 12,000 BC: Venus Figures
18,000 BC: Chauvet cave, France
15,000 BC: Lascaux cave paintings
14,000 to 10,000 BC: Altamira Cave Paintings
12,000 to 8,000 BC: The Ice Age
The Beginning of Settled Agriculture
8,000 to 6,500 BC
While it is often described as the "Agricultural Revolution," the development of settled societies took several millennia after the first discovery of agriculture. Moreover, this process occurred at different times in different parts of the world based on the domestication of different plants. If one is going to speak in term of revolution, one might better speak in terms of "agricultural revolutions."
10,000 BC: Beginnings of Settled Agriculture
10,000 BC: First agricultural villages
10,000 BC: Invention of the bow and arrow
10,000 BC: Dogs and reindeer are domesticated
10,000 BC: Beginnings of settled agriculture
10,000 BC: Earliest pottery (Japan)
10,000 to 4,000 BC: Painted Pottery Bowl (China)
8,000 to 6,500 BC: Settled Agriculture in Mesopotamia
7,000: Beginning of Settled Agricultural Revolution
6,500-5,650 BC: Catal Hulyuk
6,000 BC - c. 2,000 BC: Settled Agriculture in Africa
6,000 BC: Beginning of Settled Agriculture in the Nile River Valley
5,0000 to 2,700 BC: Yangshao culture
6,000 to 3,000: Settled Agriculture in India
5,000 to 3,000 BC: Settled Agriculture in China
5,000 to 2,700 BC: Yangshao culture
3,500 to 2,000 BC: Longsham culture
6, 000 BC: Village of Ban Po in China
4,000 to 1,000 BC: Settled Agriculture in Europe
4000 BC: The Culture of Vra
3,000 BC to AD 700: Settled Agriculture in the Americas
2000 BC: Stonehenge
2,000 BC: Beginning of Settled Agriculture in the Niger River Valley
3,000 BC to AD 700: Settled Agriculture in the Americas
200 BC: Height of Nok culture
4250 BC: the earliest known date, the beginning of the Egyptian calendar.
4th millennium BC: Sumerian cuneiform, history's oldest writing system. This marks the beginning of recorded history
3300 BC: Bronze Age begins in the Near East
3300 BC: Newgrange Ireland
3300 BC: Hakra Phase of the Indus Valley Civilization begins
3200 BC: Cycladic civilization in Greece
3200 BC: Norte Chico civilization begins in Peru
3200 BC: Rise of Proto-Elamite Civilization in Iran
3100 BC: Skara Brae Scotland
3000 BC: Stonehenge construction begins. In its first version, it consisted of a circular -- ditch and bank, with 56 wooden posts.
3000 BC: Cucuteni-Trypillian culture in the Ukraine
3100 BC: First dynasty of Egypt
3000 BC: Jiroft civilization Begins in Iran
3000 BC: First known use of papyrus by Egyptians
2800 BC: Kot Diji phase of the Indus Valley Civilization begins
2800 BC: Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors period in China
2700 BC: Minoan Civilization ancient palace city Knossos reach 80,000 inhabitants
2700 BC: Rise of Elam in Iran
2600 BC: Mature Harappan phase of the Indus Valley civilization (in present-day Pakistan and India) begins
2600 BC: Emergence of Maya culture in the Yucatán Peninsula
2600 BC: Completion of the Great Pyramid of Giza
2200 BC: completion of Stonehenge.
2070 BC: Yu the Great established the Xia Dynasty in China
2000 BC: Domestication of the horse
1800 BC: alphabetic writing emerges
1700 BC: Indus Valley Civilization comes to an end but is continued by the Cemetery H culture; The beginning of Poverty Point Civilization in North America
1600 BC: Mycenaean Greece
1600 BC: The beginning of Shang Dynasty in China, evidence of a fully developed Chinese writing system
1600 BC: Beginning of Hittite dominance of the Eastern Mediterranean region
1500 BC: Composition of the Rigveda is completed
1400-400 BC: Olmec civilization flourishes in Pre-Columbian Mexico, during Mesoamerica's Formative period
1200 BC: The Hallstatt culture
1200 BC: Theorized time of the Trojan War
1180 BC: Disintegration of Hittite Empire
1046 BC: The Zhou force (led by King Wu of Zhou) overthrow the last king of Shang Dynasty; Zhou Dynasty established in China
1000 BC: Mannaeans Kingdom Begins
890 BC: Approximate date for the composition of the Iliad and the Odyssey
800 BC: Rise of Greek city-states
776 BC: First recorded Olympic Games. The history of the Games is believed to reach as far back as the 13th century BC but no older written record survives.[citation needed]
753 BC: Founding of Rome (traditional date)
745 BC: Tiglath-Pileser III becomes the new king of Assyria. With time he conquers neighboring countries and turns Assyria into an empire
728 BC: Rise of the Median Empire
722 BC: Spring and Autumn Period begins in China; Zhou Dynasty's power is diminishing; the era of the Hundred Schools of Thought
700 BC: the construction of Marib Dam in Arabia Felix
660 BC: purported date of the accession of Jimmu, the mythical first Emperor of Japan
653 BC: Rise of Persian Empire
612 BC: Attributed date of the destruction of Nineveh and subsequent fall of Assyria.
600 BC: Sixteen Maha Janapadas ("Great Realms" or "Great Kingdoms") emerge in India.
600 BC: Evidence of writing system appear in Oaxaca used by the Zapotec civilization
600 BC: Pandyan kingdom in South India
586 BC: Destruction of the First Temple in Jerusalem (Solomon's Temple) by the Babylonians
563 BC: Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha), founder of Buddhism is born as a prince of the Shakya tribe, which ruled parts of Magadha, one of the Maha Janapadas
551 BC: Confucius, founder of Confucianism, is born
550 BC: Foundation of the Persian Empire by Cyrus the Great
549 BC: Mahavira, founder of Jainism is born
546 BC: Cyrus the Great overthrows Croesus King of Lydia
544 BC: Rise of Magadha as the dominant power under Bimbisara.
539 BC: The Fall of the Babylonian Empire and liberation of the Jews by Cyrus the Great
529 BC: Death of Cyrus
525 BC: Cambyses II of Persia conquers Egypt
512 BC: Darius I (Darius the Great) of Persia, subjugates eastern Thrace, Macedonia submits voluntarily, and annexes Libya, Persian Empire at largest extent
509 BC: Expulsion of the last King of Rome, founding of Roman Republic (traditional date)
508 BC: Democracy instituted at Athens
500 BC: completion of Euclid's Elements
500 BC: Panini standardizes the grammar and morphology of Sanskrit in the text Ashtadhyayi. Panini's standardized Sanskrit is known as Classical Sanskrit
500 BC: Pingala uses zero and binary numeral system
490 BC: Greek city-states defeat Persian invasion at Battle of Marathon
483 BC: Death of Gautama Buddha
480 BC: Invasion of Greece by Xerxes; Battles of Thermopylae and Salamis
479 BC: death of Confucius
475 BC: Warring States Period begins in China as the Zhou king became a mere figurehead; China is annexed by regional warlords
469 BC: Birth of Socrates
465 BC: Murder of Xerxes
460 BC: First Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta
447 BC: Building of the Parthenon at Athens started
424 BC: Nanda dynasty comes to power.
432 BC: Construction of the Parthenon
404 BC: End of Peloponnesian War between the Greek city-states
400 BC: Zapotec culture flourishes around city of Monte Albán
399 BC: Death of Socrates
331 BC: Alexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia in the Battle of Gaugamela
326 BC: Alexander the Great defeats Indian king Porus in the Battle of the Hydaspes River.
323 BC: Death of Alexander the Great at Babylon
321 BC: Chandragupta Maurya overthrows the Nanda Dynasty of Magadha.
305 BC: Chandragupta Maurya seizes the satrapies of Paropanisadai (Kabul), Aria (Herat), Arachosia (Qanadahar) and Gedrosia (Baluchistan)from Seleucus I Nicator, the
Macedonian satrap of Babylonia, in return for 500 elephants.
300 BC: Construction of the world's largest pyramid, the Great Pyramid of Cholula, begins in Cholula, Puebla, Mexico
273 BC: Ashoka the Great becomes the emperor of the Mauryan Empire
257 BC: Thục Dynasty takes over Việt Nam (then Kingdom of Âu Lạc)
250 BC: Rise of Parthia (Ashkâniân), the second native dynasty of ancient Persia
232 BC: Death of Emperor Ashoka the Great; Decline of the Mauryan Empire
230 BC: Emergence of Satavahanas in South India
221 BC: Qin Shi Huang unifies China, end of Warring States Period; marking the beginning of Imperial rule in China which lasts until 1912. Construction of the Great Wall by the Qin Dynasty begins.
207 BC: Kingdom of Nan Yueh extends from North Việt Nam to Canton
202 BC: Han Dynasty established in China, after the death of Qin Shi Huang; China in this period officially becomes a Confucian state and opens trading connections with the West, i.e. the Silk Road
202 BC: Scipio Africanus defeats Hannibal at Battle of Zama
200 BC: El Mirador, largest early Maya city, flourishes
200 BC: Chera dynasty in South India
185 BC: Sunga Empire founded.
149 BC–146: Third and final Punic War; destruction of Carthage by Rome
146 BC: Roman conquest of Greece, see Roman Greece
111 BC: First Chinese domination of Việt Nam in the form of the Nanyue Kingdom.
100 BC: Chola dynasty rises in prominence.
49 BC: Roman Civil War between Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great
44 BC: Julius Caesar murdered by Marcus Brutus and others; End of Roman Republic; beginning of Roman Empire
6 BC: Earliest theorized date for birth of Jesus of Nazareth
4 BC: Widely accepted date (Ussher) for birth of Jesus Christ
Anno Domini
9 AD: Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, the Imperial Roman Army's bloodiest defeat
14: Death of Emperor Augustus (Octavian), ascension of his adopted son Tiberius to the throne
29: Crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
68: Year of the four emperors in Rome
70: Destruction of Jerusalem by the armies of Titus.
79: Destruction of Pompeii by the volcano Vesuvius
117: Roman Empire at largest extent under Emperor Trajan
192: Kingdom of Champa in Central Việt Nam
200s: The Buddhist Srivijaya Empire established in the Malay Archipelago.
220: Three Kingdoms period begins in China after the fall of Han Dynasty.
226: Fall of the Parthian Empire and Rise of the Sassanian Empire
238: Defeat of Gordian III (238–244), Philip the Arab (244–249), and Valerian (253–
260), by Shapur I of Persia, (Valerian was captured by the Persians).
280: Emperor Wu established Jin Dynasty providing a temporary unity of China after the
devastating Three Kingdoms period.
285: Emperor Diocletian splits the Roman Empire into Eastern and Western Empires
313: Edict of Milan declared that the Roman Empire would be neutral toward religious worship
325 Constantine I organises the First Council of Nicaea
335: Samudragupta becomes the emperor of the Gupta empire
378: Battle of Adrianople, Roman army is defeated by the Germanic tribes
395: Roman Emperor Theodosius I outlaws all pagan religions in favour of Christianity
410: Visigoths sacks Rome for the first time since 390 BC
455: Skandagupta repels an Indo-Hephthalite attack on India.
476: Romulus Augustus, last Western Roman Emperor is forced to abdicate by Odoacer, a chieftain of the Germanic Heruli; Odoacer returns the imperial regalia to Eastern Roman Emperor Zeno in Constantinople in return for the title of dux of Italy; most frequently cited date for the end of ancient history
406
Visigoths, Suevi and Burgundians cross the Rhine and invade Roman Gaul.
Beginning of the collapse of the Western Roman Empire.
410
Rome is captured by the Visigoths under Alaric I.
416
Visigothic conquest of Spain.
418
Roman Empire recognises the Visigothic kingdom of Toulouse.
428
Vandals begin North African conquest.
430
Saint Patrick's Irish mission begins.
444
The "Groans of the Britons", a last appeal to Roman government.
451
Attila the Hun is repelled from Gaul by Roman–Barbarian forces at the Battle of Châlons.
452
Attila the Hun raids Italy, destroying Aquileia and causing the foundation of Venice by refugees.
455
The Vandals pillage Rome.
476
The last Western Roman Emperor, Romulus Augustus, is deposed by Odovacar, conventionally ending the Western Roman Empire.
481
Clovis becomes King of the Franks.
493
Ostrogothic Kingdom founded in Italy by Theodoric.
496
Clovis converted to the Catholic faith.
6th century
Year Date Event Significance
507
The Franks under Clovis defeat the Visigoths in the Battle of Vouillé, forcing them to retreat into Spain.
515
Battle of Mons Badonicus.
The West Saxon advance is halted by Britons.
527 August 1
Justinian I becomes Eastern Roman Emperor.
Justinian is best remembered for his Code of Civil Law (529), and expansion of imperial territory retaking Rome from the Ostrogoths.
529—534
Justinian I publishes the Code of Civil Law.
This compiled centuries of legal writings and imperial pronouncements into three parts of one body of law.
529
Benedict of Nursia founds monastery at Monte Cassino.
The first of twelve monasteries founded by Saint Benedict, beginning the Order of Saint Benedict.
534
Byzantines, under Belisarius, retake North Africa from the Vandals.
552
The Byzantine conquest of Italy completes.
563
Saint Columba founds mission in Iona.
568
The Kingdom of the Lombards is founded in Italy.
571
Mohammed is born. Professed receiving revelations from God, which were recorded in the Qur'an, the basis of Islamic theology, in which he is regarded as the most important prophet.
577
The West Saxons continue their advance at the Battle of Deorham.
581—618
Sui Dynasty in China.
590
Gregory the Great becomes Pope.
597
Augustine arrives in Kent.
7th century
605 Grand Canal of China constructed.
602-629 Last great Roman-Persian War Long conflict leaves both empires exhausted and unable to cope with the newly united Arab armies under Islam in the 630s
618—907 T'ang Dynasty in China. The essential administrative system of this dynasty lasts for 1,300 years.
622 Muhammad flees Mecca for Medina.
626 Joint Persian-Avar-Slav Siege of Constantinople Constantinople saved, Avar power broken and Persians henceforth on the defensive 627 Battle of Nineveh. The Byzantines, under Heraclius, crush the Persians.
631 Death of Muhammed. By this point, all of Arabia is Muslim.
632 Accession of Abu Bakr as first Caliph.
633/634 Battle of Stolberg. Northumbrian army under Oswald defeat Welsh army.
638 Jerusalem captured by Muslims.
641 Battle of Nehawand. Muslims conquer Persia.
643 Muslims take Alexandria.
645 In Japan, the Soga clan falls.This initiates a period of imitation of Chinese culture.
650 Slav occupation of Balkans complete.
663 Synod of Whitby. Roman Christianity triumphs over Celtic Christianity in England.
674-678 First Arab siege of Constantinople. First time Islamic armies stopped, saving Europe from Islamic conquest.
681 Establishment of the Bulgarian Empire. A country with great influence in the European history in the Middle Ages.
685 Battle of Nechtansmere. Picts defeat Northumbrians, whose dominance ends.
687 Battle of Tertry
698 Muslims take Carthage.
8th century
Year Date Event Significance
711
Muslims under Tarik invade Spain.
718
Second Muslim attack on Constantinople, ending in failure. The combined Byzantine–Bulgarian forces stop the Arab threat in Eastern Europe.
726
Iconoclast movement begun in the Byzantine Empire under Leo III. This was opposed by Pope Gregory II, and an important difference between the Roman and Byzantine churches.
732
Battle of Tours. Charles Martel halts Muslim advance.
735
Death of Bede. Bede was later regarded as "the father of history"
750
Beginning of Abbasid Caliphate.
751
Pepin founds the Carolingian dynasty.
754
Pepin promises the Pope central Italy. This is arguably the beginning of the temporal power of the Papacy.
768
Beginning of Charlemagne's reign.
778
Battle of Roncevaux Pass.
786
Accession of Harun al-Rashid in Baghdad.
793
Sack of Lindisfarne. Viking attacks on Britain begin.
795
Death of Offa. Marks the end of Mercian dominance in England.
9th century
Year Date Event Significance
800
Charlemagne is crowned Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire by Pope Leo III.
814
Death of Charlemagne.
825
Battle of Ellandun. Egbert defeats Mercians. Wessex becomes the leading kingdom of England.
827
Muslims invade Sicily.
840
Muslims capture Bari and much of southern Italy.
843
Division of Charlemagne's Empire between his grandsons with the Treaty of Verdun.
Sets the stage for the founding of the Holy Roman Empire and France as separate states.
840
Kenneth McAlpin becomes king of the Picts and Scots, creating the Kingdom of Alba.
862
Viking state in Russia founded under Rurik, first at Novgorod, then Kiev.
864
Christianization of Bulgaria.
866
Fujiwara period in Japan.
866
Viking "Great Army" in England. Northumbria, East Anglia, and Mercia were overwhelmed.
868
Earliest known printed book in China with a date.
871
Alfred the Great assumes the throne, the first king of a united England. He defended England from Viking invaders, formed new laws and fostered a rebirth of religious and scholarly activities.
872
Harold Fairhair becomes King of Norway.
874
Iceland is settled by Norsemen.
885
Arrival of the disciples of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Bulgaria
Creation of the Cyrillic alphabet; in the following decades the country became the cultural and spiritual centre of the whole Eastern Orthodox Slavic World.
885—886
Vikings attack Paris.
893
Simeon I becomes ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire in the Balkans.
896
Arpad and the Magyars are present in Pannonia.
897
Death of Alfred the Great.
10th century
Year Date Event Significance
910
Edward the Elder, son of Alfred, defeats the Northumbrian vikings at the Battle of Tettenhall; they never raid south of the River Humber again.
910
Cluny Abbey is founded by William I, Count of Auvergne.
Cluny goes on to become the acknowledged leader of Western Monasticism. Cluniac Reforms initiated with the abbey's founding.
911
The Viking Rollo and his tribe settle in what is now Normandy by the terms of the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte, founding the Duchy of Normandy.
917
Battle of Anchialus. Simeon I the Great defeats the Byzantines.
Recognition of the Imperial Title of the Bulgarian rulers.
919
Henry the Fowler, Duke of Saxony elected German King. First king of the Ottonian Dynasty.
Henry I considered the founder and first king of the medieval German state.
925
The first King of Croatia (rex Croatorum), Tomislav (910–928) of the Trpimirović dynasty was crowned.
Tomislav united Croats of Dalmatia and Pannonia into a single Kingdom, and created a sizeable state.
927
According to Theophanes Continuatus (The Continuer of Theophanes's Chronicle) - Tomislav of Croatia defeated Bulgarian army of Tsar Simeon I under Duke Alogobotur, in battle of the Bosnian Highlands.
Bulgarian expansion to the west was stopped.
927
Death of Simeon I the Great. Recognition of the Bulgarian Patriarchate, the first independent National Church in Europe.
929
Abd-ar-Rahman III of the Ummayad dynasty in al-Andalus (part of the Iberian peninsula) takes the title of Caliph or ruler of the Islamic world. Beginning of the Caliphate of Córdoba (929-1031).
955
Battle of Lechfeld. Otto the Great, son of Henry the Fowler, defeats the Magyars.
This is the defining event that prevents the Hungarians from entering Central Europe.
960
Mieszko I becomes duke of Polans.
First historical ruler of Poland and de facto founder of the Polish State.
962
Otto the Great crowned the Holy Roman Emperor.
963-964
Otto deposes Pope John XII who is replaced with Pope Leo VIII.
Citizens of Rome promise not to elect another Pope without Imperial approval.
965-967
Mieszko I of Poland and his court embrace Christianity, which becomes national religion.
969
John I Tzimiskes murders Nikephoros II and is crowned Byzantine co-emperor in his place.
976
Death of John I Tzimiskes; Basil II (his co-emperor) takes sole power. Under Basil II zenith of the power of Eastern Empire after Justinian.
978
Al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir becomes de facto ruler of Muslim Al-Andalus. Peak of power of Moorish Iberia under "Almanzor".
981
Basil II (called "Bulgar Slayer") begins final conquest of Bulgaria by Eastern Empire. Conquest finished by 1018.
985
Eric the Red, exiled from Iceland, begins Scandinavian colonization of Greenland.
987
Succession of Hugh Capet to the French Throne. Beginning of Capetian Dynasty.
High Middle Ages
11th century
Year Date Event Significance
1018
The Byzantines under Basil II conquer Bulgaria after a bitter 50-years struggle.
1049
Pope Leo IX ascends to the papal throne.
1050
The astrolabe, an ancient tool of navigation, is first used in Europe.
1054
The East-West Schism which divided the church into Western Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy.
1066
William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, invades England and becomes King after the Battle of Hastings.
End of Anglosaxon rule in England and start of Norman lineage
1067
Pope Gregory VII elevated to the papal throne.
This begins a period of church reform.
1071
The Seljuks under Alp Arslan defeat the Byzantine army at Manzikert. The Normans capture Bari, the last Byzantine possession in southern Italy. Beginning of the end of Byzantine rule in Asia Minor.
1075
Dictatus Papae in which Pope Gregory VII defines the powers of the pope.
1077
Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV walks to Canossa where he stands barefoot in the snow to beg forgiveness of the Pope for his offences, and admitting defeat in the Investiture Controversy.
This helps establish Papal rule over European heads of state for another 450 years.
1077
The Construction of the Tower of London begins. The tower of London was the ultimate keep of the British Empire.
1086
The compilation of the Domesday Book, a great land and property survey commissioned by William the Conqueror to assess his new possessions. This is the first such undertaking since Roman times.
1098
The Cistercian Order is founded.
1099
First Crusade. Jerusalem is re-taken from the Muslims on the urging of Pope Urban II.
12th century
Year Date Event Significance
1102
Kingdom of Croatia and Kingdom of Hungary formed a personal union of two kingdoms united under the Hungarian king. The act of union was deal with Pacta conventa, by which institutions of separate Croatian statehood were maintained through the Sabor (an assembly of Croatian nobles) and the ban (viceroy). In addition, the Croatian nobles retained their lands and titles. Medieval Hungary and Croatia were (in terms of public international law) allied by means of personal union until 1526. Although, Hungarian-Croatian state existed until the beginning of the 20th century and the Treaty of Trianon.
1106 9/28 Henry I of England defeats his older brother Robert Curthose, duke of Normandy, at the Battle of Tinchebrai, and imprisons him in Devizes castle; Edgar Atheling and William Clito are also taken prisoner.
This victory made a later struggle between England and the rising Capetian power in France inevitable.
1107
Through the Compromise of 1107, suggested by Adela, the sister of King Henry, the Investiture Struggle in England is ended. This compromise removed one of the points of friction between the English monarchy and the Catholic Church.
1109
In the Battle of Naklo, Boleslaus III Wrymouth defeats the Pomeranians.
Polish access to the sea is re-established.
1109 8/24
In the Battle of Hundsfeld, Boleslaus III Wrymouth defeats Emperor Henry V.
German expansion to the east is stopped.
1116
The Byzantine army defeats the Turks at Philomelion. The Turks abandon the entire coastal area of Anatolia and all of western Anatolia
1117
The University of Oxford is founded.
1118
The Knights Templar are founded to protect Jerusalem and European pilgrims on their journey to the city.
1121 12/25
St. Norbert and 29 companions make their solemn vows marking the beginning of the Premonstratensian Order. This order played a significant role in evangelizing the Slavs, the Wends, to the east of the Holy Roman Empire.
1122 9/23
The Concordat of Worms was drawn up between Emperor Henry V and Pope Calixtus II.
This concordat ended the investiture struggle, but bitter rivalry between emperor and pope remained.
1123 3/18-3/27
The First Lateran Council followed and confirmed the Concordat of Worms.
1125
Lothair of Supplinburg, duke of Saxony, is elected Holy Roman Emperor instead of the nearest heir, Frederick of Swabia.
This election marks the beginning of the great struggle between the Guelfs and the Ghibellines.
1130 12/25
Roger II is crowned King of Sicily, a royal title given him by the Antipope Anacletus II.
This coronation marks the beginning of the Kingdom of Sicily and its Mediterranean empire under the Norman kings, which was able to take on the Holy Roman Empire, the Papacy, and the Byzantine Empire.
1139 April
The Second Lateran Council declared clerical marriages invalid, regulated clerical dress, and punished attacks on clerics by excommunication.
1147–1149
The Second Crusade was in retaliation for the fall of Edessa, one of the first Crusader States founded in the First Crusade. It was an overall failure. This was the first Crusade to have been led by European kings.
1150
Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona, married Queen Petronilla of Aragon. They had been betrothed in 1137. This marriage gave the Kingdom of Aragon access to the Mediterranean Sea, creating a powerful kingdom which expanded to control many of the Mediterranean lands.
1152
The Synod of Kells-Mellifont established the present diocesan system of Ireland (with later modifications) and recognized the primacy of Armagh.
This synod marks the inclusion of the Irish Church into western European Catholicism.
1158
The Hanseatic League is founded.
This marks a new period of trade and economic development for northern and western Europe.
1163
The first cornerstone is laid for the construction of Notre Dame de Paris.
1171
King Henry II of England lands in Ireland to assert his supremacy and the Synod of Cashel acknowledges his sovereignty. With his landing, Henry begins the English claim to and occupation of Ireland which would last some seven and a half centuries.
1174 7/12
King William I of Scotland, captured in the Battle of Alnwick by the English, accepts the feudal lordship of the English crown and does ceremonial allegiance at York. This is the beginning of the gradual acquisition of Scotland by the English.
1175
Hōnen Shōnin (Genkū) founds the Jōdo shū (Pure Land) sect of Buddhism. This event marks the beginning of the Buddhist sectarian movement in Japan.
1176 5/29
At the Battle of Legnano, the cavalry of Frederick Barbarossa is defeated by the infantry of the Lombard League.
This is the first major defeat of cavalry by infantry, signaling the new role of the bourgeosie.
1179 March
The Third Lateran Council limits papal electees to the cardinals alone, condemns simony, and forbids the promotion of anyone to the episcopate before the age of thirty.
1183
The final Peace of Constance between Frederick Barbarossa, the pope, and the Lombard towns is signed. The various articles of the treaty destroyed the unity of the Empire and Germany and Italy underwent separate developments.
1183
The Taira clan are driven out of Kyōto by Minamoto Yoshinaka.
The two-year conflict which follows ends at the Battle of Dan no Ura (1185).
1184 November
Pope Lucius III issues the papal bull Ad Abolendam.
This bull set up the organization of the medieval inquisitions.
1185
Windmills are first recorded.
1185
The reestablishment of the Bulgarian Empire.
1185
At the Battle of Dan no Ura, Minamoto Yoshitsune annihilates the Taira clan.
The elimination of the Taira leaves the Minamoto the virtual rulers of Japan and marks the beginning of the first period of feudal rule known as the Kamakura Period.
1186 1/27
The future emperor Henry VI marries Constance of Sicily, heiress to the Sicilian throne.
This marriage shifts the focus of the Guelphs/Ghibelline struggle to Sicily and marks the ruin of the House of Hohenstaufen.
1187
Saladin recaptures Jerusalem.
1188
Richard I ascends the throne of England. His heavy taxation to finance his European ventures created an antipathy of barons and people toward the crown, but his being absent enabled the English to advance in their political development.
1189–1192
The Third Crusade follows upon Saladin's uniting the Muslim world and recapturing Jerusalem.
Despite managing to win several major battles, the Crusaders did not recapture Jerusalem.
1192
Minamoto Yoritomo is appointed Sei-i Taishōgun, or shōgun for short. He is the first of a long line of military dictators to bear this title. The institution would last until 1913.
1193
Turkic Muslim invaders sack and burn the university at Nalanda.
This is the beginning of the decline of Buddhism in India.
1193
The first known merchant guild.
13th century
Year Date Event Significance
1202
The Fourth Crusade sacked Croatian town of Zadar (Italian: Zara), a rival of Venice. Unable to raise enough funds to pay to their Venetian contractors, the crusaders agreed to sack the city despite letters from Pope Innocent III forbidding such an action and threatening excommunication.
Siege of Zara was the first major Crusade's action and the first attack against a Catholic city by Catholic crusaders.
1204
Sack of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade.
1205
Battle of Adrianople. The Bulgarians under Emperor Kaloyan defeat Baldwin I.
Beginning of the decline of the Latin Empire.
1206
Genghis Khan was elected as Khagan of the Mongols and the Mongol Empire was established. The Mongols would conquer much of Eurasia, changing former political borders.
1208
Pope Innocent III calls for the Albigensian Crusade which seeks to destroy a rival form of Christianity practiced by the Cathars.
1209
The University of Cambridge is founded.
1212
Children's Crusade.
1212
Spanish Christians succeed in defeating the Moors in the long Reconquista campaigns. By 1248, only the small southern kingdom of Granada remained under Muslim control.
1215
The Magna Carta is sealed by John of England.
This marks one of the first times a medieval ruler is forced to accept limits on his power.
1215
Fourth Lateran Council. Dealt with transubstantiation, papal primacy and conduct of clergy. Proclaimed that Jews and Muslims should wear identification marks to distinguish them from Christians.
1216
Papal recognition of the Dominican Order.
1223
Founding of the Franciscan Order.
1257
Founding of the University of Paris.
1257
Provisions of Oxford forced upon Henry III of England.
This establishes a new form of government-limited regal authority.
1273
Rudolph I of Germany is elected Holy Roman Emperor. This begins the Habsburg de facto domination of the crown that lasted until is dissolution in 1806.
1274
Thomas Aquinas' work, Summa Theologica is published.
1295
Marco Polo publishes his tales of China.
A key step to the bridging of East and West
1296
Edward I of England invades Scotland, starting the First War of Scottish Independence.
1297
William Wallace emerges as the leader of the Scottish resistance to England.
Late Middle Ages
14th century
Year Date Event Significance
1307 Friday, October 13th
The Knights Templar are rounded up and murdered by Philip the Fair of France, with the backing of the Pope.
1307
Beginning of the Babylonian Captivity of the Papacy during which the Popes moved to Avignon.
1310
Dante publishes his Divine Comedy.
1314
Robert the Bruce restores Scotland's de facto independence at the Battle of Bannockburn.
1328
The First War of Scottish Independence ends in Scottish victory with the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton and de jure independence.
1337
The Hundred Years' War begins. England and France struggle for dominance of Western Europe.
1347
The Black Death ravages Europe for the first of many times. An estimated 20% - 40% of the population is thought to have perished within the first year.
1347
The University of Prague is founded.
1361
The fall of the Yuan Dynasty. Its successor state-Northern Yuan was founded in Mongolia.
The break up of the Mongol Empire, which marked the end of Pax Mongolica.
1378
The Western Schism during which three claimant popes were elected simultaneously. The Avignon Papacy ends.
1380
Prince Dmitry Donskoy of Moscow led a united Russian army to a victory over the Mongols in the Battle of Kulikovo.
1380
Chaucer begins to write The Canterbury Tales.
1381
Peasants' Revolt in England.
1381
The Bible is translated into English by John Wycliffe.
1386
The University of Heidelberg is founded.
1396
The Battle of Nicopolis the last great crusade fails.
15th century
Year Date Event Significance
1409
Ladislaus of Naples sells his "rights" on Dalmatia to the Venetian Republic for 100,000 ducats.
Dalmatia would with some interruptions remain under Venetian rule for nearly four centuries, until 1797.
1415
Battle of Agincourt. Henry V and his army defeat a numerically superior French army, partially because of the newly-introduced English longbow.
1417
The Council of Constance ends the western Schism at last, and elects Pope Martin V as the sole pope.
1429
Joan of Arc lifts the siege of Orléans for the Dauphin of France, enabling him to eventually be crowned at Reims.
The battle at Orléans is the first of many which ultimately drive the English from continental Europe.
1430
Capture, trial, and execution of Joan of Arc.
1434
The Medici family rises to prominence in Florence.
1439
Johannes Gutenberg invents the printing press
1453
Constantinople falls to the Ottoman Turks
1461
The Empire of Trebizond falls to the Ottoman Turks.
Last Roman outpost to be conquered by the Ottomans
1485
Thomas Malory composes Le Morte d'Arthur
1492
Reconquista
1492
Christopher Columbus reaches the New World.
1492-1499
Events between the traditional end of the Middle Ages in 1492 and the beginning of the 16th century:
Year Date Event Significance
1494
Spain and Portugal sign the Treaty of Tordesillas and agree to divide the World outside of Europe between themselves. The Italian Wars begin.
Italian Wars will eventually lead to the downfall of the Italian city-states
1497
Vasco da Gama begins his first voyage from Europe to India and back.
1499
Ottoman fleet defeats Venetians at the Battle of Zonchio.
16th century
1500: Spanish navigator Vicente Yáñez Pinzón encounters Brazil but is prevented from claiming it by the Treaty of Tordesillas.
1500: Portuguese navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral claims Brazil for Portugal.
1500: The Ottoman fleet of Kemal Reis defeats the Venetians at the Second Battle of Lepanto.
1501: Michelangelo returns to his native Florence to begin work on the statue David.
1501: Safavid dynasty reunified Iran and ruled over it until 1736. Safavids adopt a Shia branch of Islam.[2]
1502 : First reported African slaves in The New World
1503: Foundation of the Sultanate of Sennar by Amara Dunqas, in what is modern Sudan
1503: Spain defeats France at the Battle of Cerignola. Considered to be the first battle in history won by gunpowder small arms.
1503: Leonardo da Vinci begins painting the Mona Lisa and completes it three or four years later.
1503: Nostradamus was born on either December 14, or December 21.
1504: A droughty period, with famine in all of Spain.
1506: King Afonso I of Kongo wins the battle of Mbanza Kongo, resulting in Catholicism becoming Kongo's state religion.
1506: At least two thousand converted Jews are massacred in a Lisbon riot.
1506: Christopher Columbus dies in Valladolid, Spain.
1506: Poland is invaded by Tatars from the Crimean Khanate.
1507: The first recorded epidemic of smallpox in the New World occurs on the island of Hispaniola and decimates the native Taíno population.[3]
1509: The Battle of Diu marks the beginning of Portuguese dominance of the Spice trade.
1510s
1509–10: The 'great plague' afflicts various parts of Tudor England.
1511: Afonso de Albuquerque of Portugal conquers Malacca, the capital of the Sultanate of Malacca.
1512: Copernicus writes Commentariolus, and moves the sun to the center of the solar system.
1512: The southern part (historical core) of the Kingdom of Navarre is invaded by Castile and Aragon.
1513: Machiavelli writes The Prince, a treatise about political philosophy
1513: The Portuguese mariner Jorge Álvares lands at Macau, China, during the Ming Dynasty.
1513: Henry VIII crush the French at the Battle of the Spurs.
1513: The Battle of Flodden Field in which invading Scots are defeated by Henry VIII's forces.
1513: Sultan Selim I ("The Grim") orders the massacre of Shia Muslims in Anatolia.
1513: Vasco Núñez de Balboa, in service of Spain arrives at the Pacific Ocean (which he called Mar del Sur) across the Isthmus of Panama. It was the first European to do so.
1514: The Battle of Orsha halts Muscovy's expansion into Eastern Europe.
1514: The Battle of Chaldiran, the Ottoman Empire gains decisive victory against Safavid dynasty.
1515: The Ottoman Empire wrests Eastern Anatolia from the Safavids after the Battle of Chaldiran.
1516–17: The Ottomans defeat the Mamluks and gain control of Egypt, Arabia, and the Levant.
1517: The Sweating sickness epidemic hits Tudor England.[5]
1517: The Protestant Reformation begins when Martin Luther posts his 95 Theses in Saxony.
1518: Mir Chakar Khan Rind leaves Baluchistan and settled in Punjab.
1519: Leonardo da Vinci dies of natural causes at May 2.
1519: Wang Yangming, the Chinese philosopher and governor of Jiangxi province, describes his intent to use the fire power of the fo-lang-ji, a breech-loading Portuguese culverin, in order to suppress the rebellion of Prince Zhu Chen-hao.
1519: Barbary pirates led by Hayreddin Barbarossa raid Provence and Toulon in southern France.
1519: Charles I of Spain becomes Emperor of Holy Roman Empire as Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (ruled until 1556).
1519–22: Spanish expedition commanded by Magellan and Elcano first to circle Earth
1519–21: Hernán Cortés leads the Spanish conquest of Mexico.
1520s
1520–1566: The reign of Suleiman the Magnificent marks the zenith of the Ottoman Empire.
1520: The first European diplomatic mission to Ethiopia, sent by the Portuguese, arrives at Massawa 9 April, and reaches the imperial encampment of Emperor Dawit II in Shewa 9 October.
1521: Belgrade is captured by the Ottoman Empire.
1521: After building fortifications at Tuen Mun, the Portuguese attempt to invade Ming Dynasty China, but are expelled by Chinese naval forces.
1521: Philippines encountered by Ferdinand Magellan. He was later killed in battle in central Philippines in the same year.
1522: Rhodes falls to the Ottoman Turks of Suleiman the Magnificent.[6]
1523: Sweden gains independence from the Kalmar Union.
1524–25: German Peasants' War in the Holy Roman Empire.
1524 – Giovanni da Verrazzano is the first European to explore the Atlantic coast of North America between South Carolina and Newfoundland.
1524 - Ismail I, the founder of Safavid dynasty, dead and Tahmasp I became king.
1525: Spain and Germany defeat France at the Battle of Pavia, Francis I of France is captured.
1526: The Ottomans defeat the Kingdom of Hungary at the Battle of Mohács.
1526: Mughal Empire, founded by Babur, rules India until 1739 and hold titles until 1857.
1527: Sack of Rome, which is considered the end of the Italian Renaissance.
1527: Protestant Reformation begins in Sweden.
1529: The Austrians defeat the Ottoman Empire at the Siege of Vienna.
1529: Treaty of Zaragoza defined the antimeridian of Tordesillas attributing the Moluccas to Portugal and Philippines to Spain.
1529: Imam Ahmad Gragn defeats the Ethiopian Emperor Dawit II in the Battle of Shimbra Kure, the opening clash of the Ethiopian–Adal War
1530s
1531–32: The Church of England breaks away from the Roman Catholic Church and recognizes King Henry VIII as the head of the Church.
1531: The Inca Civil War is fought between the two brothers, Atahualpa and Huáscar.
1532: Francisco Pizarro leads the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire.
1533: Anne Boleyn becomes Queen of England.
1533: Elizabeth Tudor is born.
1534: Jacques Cartier claims Quebec for France.
1534: The Ottomans capture Baghdad.
1534: Affair of the Placards – Francis becomes more active in repression of French Protestants.
1535: The Münster Rebellion, an attempt of radical, millennialist, Anabaptists to establish a theocracy ends in bloodshed.
1536: Katherine of Aragon dies in Kimbolton Castle.
1536: Anne Boleyn is beheaded for adultery and treason.
1536: Establishment of the Inquisition in Portugal
1536: Foundation of Buenos Aires by Pedro de Mendoza
1537: Portuguese establishes Recife in Pernambuco, north-east of Brazil.
1537: William Tyndale's partial translation of the Bible into English is published, which would eventually be incorporated into the King James Bible.
1538: Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada founds Bogotá.
1538: Spanish–Venetian fleet is defeated by the Ottoman Turks at the Battle of Preveza.
1539: Hernando de Soto explores inland North America.
1540s
1541: Pedro de Valdivia founds Santiago de Chile.
1541: An Algerian military campaign by Charles V of Spain (Habsburg) is unsuccessful.
1541: Amazon River is encountered and explored by Francisco de Orellana.
1541: Capture of Buda and the absorption of the major part of Hungary by the Ottoman Empire.
1541: Sahib I Giray of Crimea invade Russia.
1542: War resumes between Francis I of France and Emperor Charles V. This time Henry VIII is allied to the Emperor, while James V of Scotland and Sultan Suleiman I are allied to the French.
1543: Ethiopian/Portuguese troops decisively defeat the Muslim army at the Battle of Wayna Daga; Imam Ahmad Gragn killed.
1543: The Nanban trade period begins after Portuguese traders make contact with Japan.
1544: The French defeat an Imperial–Spanish army at the Battle of Ceresole.
1544: Battle of the Shirts in Scotland. The Frasers and Macdonalds of Clan Ranald fight over a disputed chiefship; reportedly, 5 Frasers and 8 Macdonalds survive.
1545: Songhai forces sack the Malian capital of Niani
1546: Michelangelo Buonarroti is made chief architect of St. Peter's Basilica.
1547: Emperor Charles V decisively dismantles the Schmalkaldic League at the Battle of Mühlberg.
1547: Grand Prince Ivan the Terrible is crowned tsar of (All)Russia, thenceforth becoming the first Russian tsar.
1548: Battle of Uedahara: Firearms are used for the first time on the battlefield in Japan, and Takeda Shingen is defeated by Murakami Yoshikiyo.
1548: The Ming Dynasty government of China issues a decree banning all foreign trade and closes down all seaports along the coast; these Hai jin laws came during the Wokou wars with Japanese pirates.
1549: Tomé de Souza establishes Salvador in Bahia, north-east of Brazil .
1550: Mongols led by Altan Khan invade China and besiege Beijing.
1550–1551: Valladolid debate concerning the existence of souls in Amerindians
1551: Fifth outbreak of sweating sickness in England. John Caius of Shrewsbury writes the first full contemporary account of the symptoms of the disease.
1551: North African pirates enslave the entire population of the Maltese island Gozo, between 5,000 and 6,000, sending them to Libya.
1552: Russia conquers the Khanate of Kazan.
1553: Mary Tudor becomes the first queen regnant of England.
1553: Portuguese found a settlement at Macau.
1554: Portuguese missionaries José de Anchieta and Manuel da Nóbrega establishes São Paulo, southeast Brazil.
1555: The Muscovy Company is the first major English joint stock trading company.
1556: Publication in Venice of Delle Navigiationi et Viaggi (terzo volume) by Giovanni Battista Ramusio, secretary of Council of Ten, with plan La Terra de Hochelaga, an illustration of Indian village Hochelaga. See [1]
1556: The Shaanxi Earthquake in China is history's deadliest known earthquake.
1556: Georgius Agricola, the "Father of Mineralogy", publishes his De re metallica.
1556: Akbar the Great defeats the Sultan of Bengal at the Second battle of Panipat
1556: Russia conquers the Astrakhan Khanate.
1556–1605: During his reign, Akbar expands the Mughal Empire in a series of conquests.
1556: Mir Chakar Khan Rind captured Delhi with Emperor Humayun.
1556: Pomponio Algerio, radical theologian, is executed by boiling in oil as part of the Roman inquisition.
1557: Spain became the first sovereign nation in history to declare bankruptcy. Philip II of Spain had to declare four state bankruptcies in 1557, 1560, 1575 and 1596.
1557: The Portuguese settle in Macau.
1557: The Ottomans capture Massawa, all but isolating Ethiopia from the rest of the world.
1558 Elizabeth Tudor becomes Queen Elizabeth I at age 25.
1558–1603: The Elizabethan era is considered the height of the English Renaissance.
1558–83: Livonian War between Poland, Grand Principality of Lithuania, Sweden, Denmark and Russia.
1558: After 200 years, the Kingdom of England loses Calais to France.
1559: With the Peace of Cateau Cambrésis, the Italian Wars conclude.
1560s
1560: Ottoman navy defeats the Spanish fleet at the Battle of Djerba.
1560: Erzsebet Bathory is born in Nyirbator, Hungary.
1560: By winning the Battle of Okehazama, Oda Nobunaga becomes one of the pre-eminent warlords of Japan
1561: Sir Francis Bacon is born in London.
1561: Guido de Bres draws up the Belgic Confession of Protestant faith.
1562: Mughal leader Akbar reconciles the Muslim and Hindu factions by marrying into the powerful Rajput Hindu caste.
1562–98: French Wars of Religion between Catholics and Huguenots.
1562: Massacre of Wassy and Battle of Dreux in the French Wars of Religion.
1563: Plague outbreak claimed 80,000 people in Elizabethan England. In London alone, over 20,000 people died of the disease.
1564: Galileo Galilei born on February 15
1564: William Shakespeare baptized 26 April
1565: Battle of Talikota fought between the Hindu kingdom of Vijayanagar and the Deccan sultanates.
1565: Mir Chakar Khan Rind died age of 97.
1565: Estácio de Sá establishes Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.
1565: The Hospitallers defeat the Ottoman Empire at the Siege of Malta (1565).
1566–1648: Eighty Years' War between Spain and the Netherlands.
1567: Mary, Queen of Scots, is imprisoned by Elizabeth I.
1568–1571: Morisco Revolt in Spain.
1568–1600: The Azuchi-Momoyama period in Japan.
1569: Rising of the North in England.
1569: The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is created with the Union of Lublin which lasts until 1795.
1570s
1570: Ivan the Terrible orders the massacre of inhabitants of Novgorod.
1571: Pope Pius V completes the Holy League as a united front against the Ottoman Turks.
1571: The Holy League destroys the Ottoman Empire navy at the Battle of Lepanto.
1571: Crimean Tatars attack and sack Moscow, burning everything but the Kremlin.
1571: Spanish missionaries killed by Indians at what would later be Jamestown, Virginia.
1572: Brielle is taken from Habsburg Spain by Protestant Watergeuzen in the Capture of Brielle, in the Eighty Years' War.
1572: Spanish conquistadores apprehend the last Inca leader Tupak Amaru at Vilcabamba, Peru, and execute him in Cuzco.
1572: Catherine de' Medici instigates the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre which takes the lives of Protestant leader Gaspard de Coligny and thousands of Huguenots. The violence spreads from Paris to other cities and the countryside.
1572: First edition of the epic The Lusiads of Luís Vaz de Camões, three years after the author returned from the East.
1573: After heavy losses on both sides the Siege of Haarlem ends in a Spanish victory.
1574: in the Eighty Years' War the capital of Zeeland, Middelburg declares for the Protestants.
1574: After a siege of 4 months the Siege of Leiden ends in a comprehensive Dutch victory.
1575: Oda Nobunaga finally captures Nagashima fortress.
1576: Tahmasp I, Safavid king, died.
1576: Sack of Antwerp by badly paid Spanish soldiers.
1577–80: Francis Drake circles the world.
1578: King Sebastian of Portugal is killed at the Battle of Alcazarquivir.
1579: The Union of Utrecht unifies the northern Netherlands, a foundation for the later Dutch Republic.
1579: The Union of Arras unifies the southern Netherlands, a foundation for the later states of the Spanish Netherlands, the Austrian Netherlands and Belgium
1580s
1580: Drake's royal reception after his attacks on Spanish possessions, influences Philip II of Spain to build up the Spanish Armada. English ships in Spanish harbours are impounded.
1580: Spain unifies with Portugal under Philip II. The struggle for the throne of Portugal ends the Portuguese Empire. The Spanish and Portuguese crowns are united for 60 years, i.e. until 1640.
1582: Pope Gregory XIII issues the Gregorian calendar.
1582: Yermak Timofeyevich conquers the Siberia Khanate on behalf of the Stroganovs.
1584–85: After the Siege of Antwerp, many of its merchants flee to Amsterdam. According to Luc-Normand Tellier, "At its peak, between 1510 and 1557, Antwerp concentrated about 40% of the world trade...It is estimated that the port of Antwerp was earning the Spanish crown seven times more revenues than the Americas."[7]
1585–1604: The Anglo-Spanish War is fought on both sides of the Atlantic.
1587 - The reign of Abbas I marks the zenith of the Safavid dynasty.
1588: England repulses the Spanish Armada.
1589: Spain repulses the English Armada.
1590s
1591: Gazi Giray leads a huge Tatar expedition against Moscow.
1591: In Mali, Moroccan forces of the Sultan Ahmad al-Mansur led by Judar Pasha defeat the Songhai Empire at the Battle of Tondibi.
1592–1593: John Stow reports 10,675 plague deaths in London, a city of approximately 200,000 people.
1592–98: Korea, with the help of Ming Dynasty China, repels two Japanese invasions.
1593–1606: The Long War between the Habsburg monarchy and the Ottoman Turks.
1596: Birth of René Descartes.
1598: The Edict of Nantes ends the French Wars of Religion.
1598: Abbas I moved Safavids capital from Qazvin to Isfahan in 1598.
1598–1613: Russia descends into anarchy during the Time of Troubles.
1599: The Mali Empire is defeated at the Battle of Jenné
1600: Giordano Bruno is burned at the stake for heresy in Rome.
1600: Battle of Sekigahara in Japan. End of the Warring States period and beginning of the Edo period.
17th century
1600: Giordano Bruno is burned at the stake for heresy in Rome.
1600: Battle of Sekigahara in Japan. End of the Warring States period, beginning the Edo period lasting until 1869.
1601: Battle of Kinsale, one of the most important battles in Irish history, fought.
1601: Michael the Brave (first unificator of Romania), voivode of Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania, is assassinated by the order of the Habsburg general Giorgio Basta at Câmpia Turzii.
1601–1603: The Russian famine of 1601–1603 kills perhaps a third of Russia.
1602: Dutch East India Company founded. Its success contributes to the Dutch Golden Age.
1603: Elizabeth I of England dies and is succeeded by her cousin King James VI of Scotland, uniting the crowns of Scotland and England.
1603: Tokugawa Ieyasu seizes control of Japan and establishes the Tokugawa Shogunate, beginning the Edo period that lasts until 1869.
1603–1623: After modernizing his army, Abbas I expands the Persian Empire by capturing territory from the Ottomans and the Portuguese.
1605: Gunpowder Plot failed in England.
1605: The fortresses of Veszprém and Visegrad are retaken by the Ottomans.
1606: The Long War between the Ottoman Empire and Austria is ended with the Peace of Zsitvatorok.
1606: Captain Willem Janszoon and his crew aboard the Dutch East India Company ship Duyfken becomes the first recorded Europeans to sight and make landfall in Australia.
1607: Jamestown, Virginia, is settled as what would become the first permanent English colony in North America.
1607: Flight of the Earls (the fleeing of most of the native Gaelic aristocracy) occurs from County Donegal in the west of Ulster in Ireland.
1608: Quebec City founded by Samuel de Champlain in New France (present-day Canada).
1609: The Netherlands and Spain agree to a Twelve Years' Truce in the Eighty Years' War.
1609: Pedro de Peralta, a later governor of New Mexico, establishes the settlement of Santa Fe.
1609: Maximilian of Bavaria establishes the Catholic League.
1610s
1610: The Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth army defeats combined Russian- Swedish forces at the Battle of Klushino and conquers Moscow.
1613: The Time of Troubles in Russia ends with the establishment of the House of Romanov which rules until 1917.
1613–1617: Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth is invaded by the Tatars dozens of times.
1616: The last remaining Moriscos (Moors who had nominally converted to Christianity) in Spain are expelled.
1616: Shakespeare dies
1618: The Bohemian Revolt precipitates the Thirty Years' War which devastates Europe in the years 1618–48.
1618: Bethlen Gabor, Prince of Transylvania joins Protestant Rebels.
1618: The Manchus start invading China. Their conquest eventually topples the Ming Dynasty.
1619: Bethlen Gabor is defeated outside Vienna.
1620s
1620: Emperor Ferdinand II defeats the Bohemian rebels in the Battle of White Mountain.
1620: The Puritan Pilgrims arrive in the Mayflower at Cape Cod
1620–1621: Polish-Ottoman War over Moldavia.
1620: Bethlen Gabor allies with the Ottomans and an invasion of Moldavia takes place. The Polish suffer a disaster at Cecora on the River Prut.
1621: The Battle of Chocim: Poles and Cossacks under Jan Karol Chodkiewicz defeat the Ottomans.
1622: Capture of Ormuz; The island of Hormuz was captured by an Anglo-Persian force from Portuguese.
1622: Jamestown massacre: Algonquian natives kill 347 English settlers outside Jamestown, Virginia (1/3 of the colony's population) and burn the Henricus settlement.
1623: Maffeo Barberini is elected Pope Urban VIII at the Papal conclave of 1623.
1624–1642: As chief minister, Cardinal Richelieu centralises power in France.
1625: New Amsterdam founded by the Dutch West India Company in North America.
1626: St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican completed.
1627: Cardinal Richelieu lays siege to Protestant La Rochelle which eventually capitulates.
1629: Abbas I, the Safavids king, died.
1629: Cardinal Richelieu allies with Swedish Protestant forces in the Thirty Years' War to counter Ferdinand II's expansion.
1630s
1631: Mount Vesuvius erupts
1632: Battle of Lützen, death of king of Sweden Gustav II Adolf.
1632: Taj Mahal building work started in Agra, India
1633: Galileo Galilei arrives in Rome for his trial before the Inquisition.
1633-1639: Japan transforms into "locked country".
1634: Battle of Nördlingen results in Catholic victory.
1634: Emperor Fasilides expels the Catholic Patriarch Afonso Mendes and several Jesuit missionaries from Ethiopia.
1636: Emperor Fasilides founds the city of Gondar, which becomes the capital of Ethiopia for the next two centuries.
1636: Harvard University is founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
1637: Shimabara Rebellion of Japanese Christians, rōnin and peasants against Edo.
1639: Naval Battle of the Downs – Republic of the United Provinces fleet decisevely defeats a Spanish fleet in English waters.
1639: Disagreements between the Farnese and Barberini Pope Urban VIII escalate into the Wars of Castro and last until 1649.
1639–1651: Wars of the Three Kingdoms, civil wars throughout Scotland, Ireland, and England.
1640s
1640: King Charles was compelled to summon Parliament due to the revolt of the Scots.
1640–1668: The Portuguese Restoration War led to the end of the Iberian Union.
1640: Torture is outlawed in England.
1641: The Tokugawa Shogunate institutes Sakoku- foreigners are expelled and no one is allowed to enter or leave Japan.
1641: The Irish Rebellion.
1641: René Descartes publishes Meditationes de prima philosophia Meditations on First Philosophy.
1642: Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman achieves the first recorded European sighting of New Zealand.
1642: Beginning of English Civil War, conflict will end in 1651 with the execution of King Charles I, abolishment of the monarchy and the establishment of the supremacy of Parliament over the king.
1644: Giovanni Battista Pamphili is elected Pope Innocent X at the Papal conclave of
1644.
1644: The Manchu conquer China ending the Ming Dynasty. The subsequent Qing Dynasty rules until 1912.
1644–1674: The Mauritanian Thirty-Year War.
1645: The death of Miyamoto Musashi, legendary Japanese Samurai warrior of natural causes.
1645–1669: Ottoman war with Venice. The Ottomans invade Crete and capture Canea.
1647: Seven-year-old Mehmed IV becomes sultan.
1647–1652: The Great Plague of Seville.
1648: The Peace of Westphalia ends the Thirty Years' War and the Eighty Years' War and marks the ends of Spain and the Holy Roman Empire as major European powers.
1648–1653: Fronde civil war in France.
1648–1667: The Deluge wars leave Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in ruins.
1648–1669: The Ottomans capture Crete from the Venetians after the Siege of Candia.
1649–1653: The Cromwellian conquest of Ireland.
1650s
1651: English Civil War ends with the Parliamentarian victory at the Battle of Worcester.
1652: Cape Town founded by the Dutch East India Company in South Africa.
1652: The First Anglo-Dutch War begins.
1654–1661: Mehmed Köprülü is Grand Vizier.
1655–1661: The Northern Wars cement Sweden's rise as a Great Power.
1658: After his father Shah Jahan completes the Taj Mahal, his son Aurangzeb deposes him as ruler of the Mughal Empire.
1660s
1660: The Commonwealth of England ends and the monarchy is brought back during the English Restoration.
1660: Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge founded.
1661: Mehmed Köprülü dies and is succeeded by his son Ahmed.
1661: The reign of the Kangxi Emperor of China begins.
1662: Koxinga captures Taiwan from the Dutch and founds the Kingdom of Tungning which rules until 1683.
1662: Jacques Aymar-Vernay, who later reintroduced Dowsing into popular use in Europe, is born.
1663: Ottoman war against Habsburg Hungary.
1663: France takes full political and military control over its colonial possessions in New France.
1663: Robert Hooke discovers cells using a microscope.
1664: The Battle of St. Gotthard: count Raimondo Montecuccoli defeats the Ottomans. The Peace of Vasvar – intended to keep the peace for 20 years.
1664: British troops capture New Amsterdam and rename it New York.
1664: John Evelyn's forestry book, Sylva, is published in England.
1665: The Great Plague of London.
1665: Portugal defeats the Kongo Empire.
1665-1667: The Second Anglo-Dutch War fought between England and the United Provinces.
1666: The Great Fire of London.
1667: The Raid on the Medway during the Second Anglo-Dutch War.
1667–1668: The War of Devolution; France invades the Netherlands. The Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle (1668) brings this to a halt.
1667–1699: The Great Turkish War halts the Ottoman Empire's expansion into Europe.
1668: Peace Treaty of Lisbon between Spain and Portugal recognizes Portugal as independent country.
1669: The Ottomans capture Crete.
1670s
1670: The Hudson's Bay Company is founded in Canada.
1672–1673: Ottoman campaign to help the Ukrainian Cossacks. John Sobieski defeats the Ottomans at the second battle of Khotyn (1673).
1672–1676: Polish-Ottoman War.
1672: Rampjaar in the Netherlands – Combined attack by France, England and two German states on the Republic of the United Provinces.
1672: Lynching of Johan de Witt and his brother Cornelis de Witt in the Hague – William III of Orange takes power.
1672–1678: Franco-Dutch War.
1674: The Treaty of Westminster ends the war between England and the Republic of the United Provinces.
1674: Maratha Empire founded in India by Shivaji.
1676: The Treaty of Zurawno brings Polish-Ottoman hostilities to a halt.
1676: Kara Mustafa becomes Grand Vizier.
1676–1681: Russia and the Ottoman Empire commence the Russo-Turkish Wars.
1678: The Treaty of Nijmegen ends the hostilities with France
1680s
1680: The Pueblo Revolt drives the Spanish out of New Mexico until 1692.
1681: The Pasha of Buda supports Imre Thököly's rebellion in Hungary.
1682: Sultan Mehmed IV, advised by Kara Mustafa, decides to disregard the existing peace treaty with Leopold I, due to expire in 1684.
1682–1683: The Ottomans make camp at Adrianople.
1682: Peter the Great becomes joint ruler of Russia (sole tsar in 1696).
1682: La Salle explores the length of the Mississippi River and claims Louisiana for France.
1683: China conquers the Kingdom of Tungning and annexes Taiwan.
1683: A Habsburg council of war is held in Vienna.
1683: The Battle of Vienna finishes the Ottoman Empire's hegemony in south-eastern Europe.
1685: Edict of Fontainebleau outlaws Protestantism in France. King Charles II dies
1687: Isaac Newton publishes Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica.
1688: The Siege of Derry.
1688: Siamese revolution of 1688 ousted French influence and virtually severed all ties with the West until the 19th century.
1688–1689: The Glorious Revolution starts with the Dutch Republic invading England, England becomes a constitutional monarchy.
1688-1691: The War of the Two Kings in Ireland.
1688–1697: The Grand Alliance sought to stop French expansion during the Nine Years War.
1689: William ascends to the throne over England, Scotland, and Ireland.
1689: John Locke publishes his first 'Letter Concerning Toleration'.
1689: The Treaty of Nerchinsk established a border between Russia and China.
1689: The Battle of Killiecrankie is fought between Jacobite and Williamite forces in Highland Perthshire
1689: The Karposh rebellion is crushed in present-day Republic of Macedonia, Skopje is retaken by the Ottoman Turks. Karposh is killed, and the rebels are defeated.
1690s
1690: The Battle of the Boyne in Ireland.
1692: Salem witch trials in Massachusetts.
1692–1694: Famine in France kills 2 million.[4]
1693: The College of William and Mary is founded in Williamsburg, Virginia by a royal charter.
1694: The Bank of England is established.
1694: Mary II of England dies
1696–1697: Famine in Finland wipes out almost a third of the population.[5]
1697: The earliest known first-class cricket match took place in Sussex.
1699: The Treaty of Karlowitz ends the Great Turkish War.
1699: Thomas Savery demonstrates his first steam engine to the Royal Society.
18th century
1700–1709
1700: The 1700 Cascadia earthquake (magnitude 9) occurs off the coast of the Pacific Northwest; Japan is struck by a tsunami.
1700–21: Russia supplants Sweden as the dominant Baltic power after the Great Northern War.
1701–1714: War of the Spanish Succession was a conflict which involved most of Europe.
1701–1702: The Daily Courant and The Norwich Post becomes the first daily newspapers in England.
1702: Forty-seven Ronin attack Kira Yoshinaka and then commit seppuku in Japan.
1702–1715: Camisard Rebellion in France.
1703: Saint Petersburg founded by Peter the Great. Russian capital until 1918.
1703–1711: The Rákóczi Uprising against the Habsburg Monarchy.
1704: End of Japan's Genroku period.
1707: Act of Union passed merging the Scottish and the English Parliaments, thus establishing The Kingdom of Great Britain.[7]
1707: After Aurangzeb's death, the Mughal Empire enters a long decline and the Maratha Empire slowly replaces it.
1707: Mount Fuji erupts in Japan.
1707: War of 27 years between the Marathas and Mughals ends in India.
1708: The Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East Indies and English Company Trading to the East Indies merged to form the United Company of Merchants of England Trading to the East Indies.
1708–1709: Famine kills one-third of East Prussia's population.
1709: Great Frost of 1709, coldest winter in 500 years.
1709: Hotaki dynasty founded in Afghanistan.
1709: Charles XII of Sweden flees to Ottoman Empire after Peter I of Russia defeats his army at the Battle of Poltava.
1710s
1710-1711: Ottoman Empire fights Russia in the Russo-Turkish War
1713-1714: Tarabai establishes rival Maratha Empire government in Kolhapur against Chattrapati Shahu.
1714: Accession of George I, Elector of Hanover, to the throne of Great Britain.
1715: First Jacobite rebellion breaks out
1715: Louis XIV dies, leaving France greatly enlarged but deep in debt.
1715: Pope Clement XI declares Catholicism and Confucianism incompatible.
1716: Establishment of the Sikh Confederacy along the India Pakistan border.
1718: City of New Orleans founded by the French in North America
1718: Blackbeard (Edward Teach) is killed by Robert Maynard in a North Carolina inlet on the inner side of Ocracoke Island
1718-1730: Tulip period of the Ottoman Empire
1719: Spanish attempt to restart the Jacobite rebellion fails.
1720s
1720: The South Sea Bubble
1720: Spanish military embarks on the Villasur expedition from Mexico and travel into the Great Plains
1720–1721: The Great Plague of Marseille
1721: Robert Walpole became the first Prime Minister of Great Britain (de facto).
1721: Treaty of Nystad signed, ending the Great Northern War.
1721: Kangxi Emperor bans Christian Missionaries because of Pope Clement XI's decree.
1721: Peter I reforms the Russian Orthodox Church
1722: Afghans conquered Iran, overthrowing the Safavid Shah Soltan Hosein.
1722: Kangxi Emperor of China dies.
1722: Bartholomew Roberts is killed in a sea battle off the African coast.
1722–23: Russo-Persian War
1722–1725: Controversy over William Wood's halfpence leads to the Drapier's Letters and begins the Irish economic independence from England movement.
1723: Slavery abolished in Russia. Peter the Great converted the household slaves into house serfs.
1723–1730: The "Great Disaster" – an invasion of Kazakh territories by the Dzungars.
1725: The Fulani nomads took complete control of Fuuta Jallon and set up the first of many Fulani jihad states to come
1726: The enormous Chinese encyclopedia Gujin Tushu Jicheng of over 100 million written Chinese characters in over 800,000 pages is printed in 60 different copies using copper-based Chinese movable type printing.
1727–1729: Anglo-Spanish War
1729–1735: Charles Wesley and John Wesley begin the Methodism in England
1730s
1730: Mahmud I takes over Ottoman Empire after the Patrona Halil revolt, ending the Tulip period.
1730–1760: First Great Awakening takes place in Great Britain and North America.
1732–1734: Crimean Tatar raids into Russia.[10]
1733–1738: War of the Polish Succession.
1735–1739: Russo-Turkish War.
1735–1799: The Qianlong Emperor of China oversaw a huge expansion in territory.
1736: Nader Shah assumed title of Shah of Persia and founded the Afsharid dynasty. Ruled until his death in 1747.
1736: Qing Dynasty Chinese court painters recreate Zhang Zeduan's classic panoramic painting, Along the River During Qingming Festival.
1738–1756: Famine across the Sahel, half the population of Timbuktu died.[11]
1738: Pope Clement XII issues the Eminenti Apostolatus Specula prohibiting Catholics from becoming Freemasons.
1739: Nader Shah defeated the Mughals at the Battle of Karnal and sacked Delhi.
1739: Great Britain and Spain fight the War of Jenkins' Ear in the Caribbean.
1740s
1740: Frederick the Great comes to power in Prussia.
1740: British attempt to capture St. Augustine, Florida but lose to the Spanish during the Siege of St. Augustine.
1740–1741: Famine in Ireland killed ten per cent of the population.
1740–1748: War of the Austrian Succession
1741: Russians began settling the Aleutian Islands.
1741: Pope Benedict XIV issues Immensa Pastorum principis against slavery.
1744: The First Saudi State is founded by Mohammed Ibn Saud.[13]
1744: French attempt to restart the Jacobite rebellion fails
1744–1748: The First Carnatic War fought between the British, the French, the Marathas, and Mysore in India.
1745: Second Jacobite Rebellion began by Charles Edward Stuart in Scotland.
1747: Ahmed Shah Durrani founded the Durrani Empire in modern day Afghanistan.
1748: Treaty of Aix-La-Chapelle ends the War of the Austrian Succession and First Carnatic War.
1748–1754: The Second Carnatic War fought between the British, the French, the Marathas, and Mysore in India
1750s
1750: Peak of the Little Ice Age
1754: Treaty of Pondicherry ends Second Carnatic War and recognizes Muhammed Ali Khan Wallajah as Nawab of the Carnatic.
1754–1763, The French and Indian War, Fought in the U.S. and Canada mostly between the French and French allies and the English and English allies. The North American chapter of the Seven Years' War.
1755: The Lisbon earthquake
1755–1763: The Great Upheaval, forced population transfer of the French Acadian population from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick
1756–1763: Seven Years' War fought among European powers in various theaters around the world.
1756–1763: The Third Carnatic War fought between the British, the French, the Marathas, and Mysore in India.
1757: Battle of Plassey signaled the beginning of formal British rule in India after years of commercial activity under the auspices of the East India Company.
1758: British colonel James Wolfe issues the Wolfe's Manifesto
1759: French commander Louis-Joseph de Montcalm and British commander James Wolfe die during the Battle of the Plains of Abraham.
1760s
1760: George III became King of Britain.
1760: Zand dynasty founded in Iran
1761: Maratha Empire defeated at Battle of Panipat
1762–1796: Reign of Catherine the Great of Russia.
1763: Treaty of Paris ends Seven Years' War and Third Carnatic War
1763: Kingdom of Mysore conquers the Kingdom of Keladi
1765: Stamp Act introduced into the American colonies by the UK Parliament.
1766–1799: Anglo-Mysore Wars
1767: Burmese conquered the Ayutthaya kingdom.
1768: Gurkhas conquered Nepal.
1768–1774: Russo-Turkish War
1769: Spanish missionaries established the first of 21 missions in California.
1769–1770: James Cook explores and maps New Zealand and Australia
1769–1773: The Bengal famine of 1770 killed one third of the Bengal population.
1770s
1770: James Cook claims the East Coast of Australia (New South Wales) for Great Britain.
1770–1771: Famine in Czech lands killed hundreds of thousands.
1771: The Plague Riot in Moscow.
1771: Richard Arkwright and his partners build the world's first water-powered mill at Cromford.
1772: Reformer Johann Friedrich Struensee executed in Denmark.
1772: Gustav III of Sweden stages a coup d'état, becoming almost an absolute monarch.
1772: Partitions of Poland marks the end of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
1772–1779: Maratha Empire fights Britain and Raghunathrao's forces during the First Anglo-Maratha War
1772–1795: The Partitions of Poland ended the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and erased Poland from the map for 123 years.
1773–1775: Pugachev's Rebellion was the largest peasant revolt in Russia's history.
1773: East India Company starts operations in Bengal to smuggle Opium into China.
1775 John Harrison H4 and Larcum Kendall K1 Marine chronometers are used to measure longitude by James Cook on his Second voyage (1772–1775)
1775–1782: First Anglo-Maratha War
1775–1783: American Revolutionary War
1776: Illuminati founded by Adam Weishaupt
1776: United States Declaration of Independence adopted by the Continental Congress in Philadelphia.
1778: Tây Sơn Dynasty established in Vietnam.
1778: James Cook becomes first European on the Hawaiian Islands.
1779–1879: Xhosa Wars between British and Boer settlers and the Xhosas in South African Republic
1780s
1780: Outbreak of indigenous rebellion led by Túpac Amaru II in Peru.
1781: Spanish settlers founded Los Angeles.
1781–1785: Serfdom abolished in the Austrian monarchy (first step; second step in 1848)
1783: Famine in Iceland caused by the eruption of the Laki volcano.
1783: Russian Empire annexed the Crimean Khanate.
1783 The Treaty of Paris formally ends the American War of Independence.
1785–1791: Imam Sheikh Mansur, a Chechen warrior and Muslim mystic, led a coalition of Muslim Caucasian tribes from throughout the Caucasus in a holy war against the Russian invaders.
1785–1795: Northwest Indian War between the United States and Native Americans
1787: United States Constitution was written in Philadelphia and submitted to the states for ratification.
1787: Freed slaves from London founded Freetown in present-day Sierra Leone.
1787: Kansei Reforms instituted in Japan by Matsudaira Sadanobu.
1787–1792: Russo-Turkish War
1788 First French Quaker community established in Congénies
1788: First European settlement established in Australia at Sydney.
1788: New Hampshire ratifies the United States Constitution as the 9th state, and by the terms of Article VII it is in effect.
1788–1789 Inconfidência Mineira, conspiracy against the colonial authorities in Brazil.
1789: George Washington elected President of the United States. Served until 1797.
1789: Great Britain and Spain dispute the Nootka Sound during the Nootka Crisis.
1789–1799: The French Revolution
1790s
1790: United States of Belgium proclaimed following the Brabant Revolution.
1790: Establishment of the Polish-Prussian Pact
1791 The Constitutional Act (Or Canada Act) creates the two provinces of Upper and Lower Canada in British North America.
1791–1795: George Vancouver explores the world during the Vancouver Expedition.
1791–1804: The Haitian Revolution
1792–1815: The Great French War started as the French Revolutionary Wars which lead into the Napoleonic Wars.
1792: New York Stock & Exchange Board founded.
1792: King Gustav III of Sweden was assassinated by a conspiracy of noblemen.
1793: Upper Canada bans slavery.
1793: The largest yellow fever epidemic in American history killed as many as 5,000 people in Philadelphia—roughly 10% of the population.[15]
1793–1796: Revolt in the Vendée against the French Republic at the time of the Revolution.
1794: Polish revolt
1794: Jay's Treaty concluded between Great Britain and the United States, by which the Western outposts in the Great Lakes are returned to the U.S., and commerce between the two countries is regulated.
1794: Qajar dynasty founded in Iran after replacing the Zand dynasty.
1795: Mohammad Khan Qajar razes Tbilisi to the ground.
1795: Pinckney's Treaty between the United States and Spain granted the Mississippi Territory to the US.
1795: The Marseillaise officially adopted as the French national anthem.
1795: Kamehameha I of the Island of Hawaii defeats the Oahuans at the Battle of Nu'uanu.
1796: Edward Jenner administers the first smallpox vaccination. Smallpox killed an estimated 400,000 Europeans each year during the 18th century (including five reigning monarchs).[16]
1796: Battle of Montenotte. Engagement in the War of the First Coalition. Napoleon Bonaparte's first victory as an army commander.
1796: British ejected Dutch from Ceylon.
1796: Mungo Park, backed by the African Association, is the first European to set eyes on the Niger River in Africa.
1796–1804: The White Lotus Rebellion against the Manchu Dynasty in China.
1797: Napoleon's invasion and partition of the Republic of Venice ended over 1,000 years of independence for the Serene Republic.
1798: The Irish Rebellion failed to overthrow British rule in Ireland.
1798–1800: Quasi-War between the United States and France.
1799: Napoleon staged a coup d'état and became First Consul of France.
1799: Dutch East India Company is dissolved.
1799: The assassination of the 14th Tu'i Kanokupolu, Tukuʻaho, plunges Tonga into half a century of civil war.
19th century
1800–1809
1800: The Company of Surgeons are awarded their Royal Charter and became the Royal College of Surgeons of England.
1800: The inception of the Second Great Awakening for the United States.
1800: Alessandro Volta invents the first chemical battery
1801: Giuseppe Piazzi discovers the dwarf planet Ceres.
1801: Thomas Jefferson elected President of the United States by the United States House of Representatives, following a tie in the Electoral College (United States)
1801: The Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland merge to form the United Kingdom.
1801: Ranjit Singh crowned as King of Punjab.
1801: Napoleon signs the Concordat of 1801 with the Pope.
1801: Cairo falls to the British.
1801: Assassination of Tsar Paul I of Russia.
1801: British defeat French at the Second Battle of Abukir
1801–15: Barbary War between the United States and the Barbary States of North Africa
1802: Treaty of Amiens between France and the United Kingdom ends the War of the Second Coalition.
1802: Ludwig van Beethoven performs his Moonlight Sonata for the first time.
1803: William Symington demonstrates his Charlotte Dundas, the "first practical steamboat".
1803: The United States more than doubles in size when it buys out France's territorial claims in North America via the Louisiana Purchase. This begins the U.S.'s westward expansion to the Pacific referred to as its Manifest Destiny which involves annexing and conquering land from Mexico, Britain, and Native Americans.
1803: The Wahhabis of the First Saudi State capture Mecca and Medina.
1803: War breaks out between Britain and France; this is considered by some to be the beginning of the Napoleonic Wars.
1804: Haiti gains independence from France and becomes the first black republic.
1804: Austrian Empire founded by Francis I.
1804: Napoleon crowns himself Emperor of the French.
1804: World population reaches 1 billion.
1804: First steam locomotive begins operation.
1804: Morphine first isolated.
1804–10: Fulani Jihad in Nigeria.
1804–15: Serbian revolution erupts against the Ottoman rule. Suzerainty of Serbia recognized in 1817.
1805: The Battle of Trafalgar eliminates the French and Spanish naval fleets and allows for British dominance of the seas, a major factor for the success of the British Empire later in the century.
1805: Napoleon decisively defeats a Austrian-Russian army at the Battle of Austerlitz.
1805–48: Muhammad Ali modernizes Egypt.
1806: Holy Roman Empire dissolved as a consequence of the Treaty of Pressburg.
1806: Cape Colony becomes part of the British Empire.
1807: Britain declares the Slave Trade illegal.
1808: Beethoven performs his Fifth Symphony
1808–09: Russia conquers Finland from Sweden in the Finnish War.
1808–14: Spanish guerrillas fight in the Peninsular War.
1809: Napoleon strips the Teutonic Knights of their last holdings in Bad Mergentheim.
1810s
1810: The University of Berlin is founded. Among its students and faculty are Hegel, Marx, and Bismarck. The German university reform proves to be so successful that its model is copied around the world (see History of European research universities).
1810: The Grito de Dolores begins the Mexican War of Independence.
1810s–20s: Most of the Latin American colonies free themselves from the Spanish and Portuguese Empires after the Latin American wars of independence.
1812: The French invasion of Russia is a turning point in the Napoleonic Wars.
1812–15: War of 1812 between the United States and the United Kingdom
1813: Jane Austen publishes Pride and Prejudice
1814: Napoleon abdicates and is exiled to Elba.
1813–1907: The contest between the British Empire and Imperial Russia for control of Central Asia is referred to as the Great Game.
1814–16: Anglo-Nepalese War between Nepal(Gurkha Empire) and British Empire.
1815: The Congress of Vienna redraws the European map. The Concert of Europe attempts to preserve this settlement, but it fails to stem the tide of liberalism and nationalism that sweeps over the continent.
1815: Napoleon escapes exile and begins the Hundred Days before finally being defeated at the Battle of Waterloo and exiled to St Helena. His defeat brings a conclusion to the Napoleonic Wars and marks the beginning of a Pax Britannica which lasts until 1870.
1816: Year Without a Summer: Unusually cold conditions wreak havoc throughout the Northern Hemisphere, likely caused by the 1815 explosion of Mount Tambora.
1816: Independence of Argentina
1816–28: Shaka's Zulu Kingdom becomes the largest in Southern Africa.
1817: Principality of Serbia becomes suzerain from the Ottoman Empire. Officially independent in 1867.
1817: First Seminole War begins in Florida.
1817: Russia commences its conquest of the Caucasus.
1818: Mary Shelley writes Frankenstein
1818: Independence of Chile
1819: Peterloo massacre in England.
1819: The modern city of Singapore is established by the British East India Company.
1819: Théodore Géricault paints his masterpiece The Raft of the Medusa, and exhibits it in the French Salon of 1819 at the Louvre.
1820s
1820: Missouri Compromise
1820: Regency period ends in the United Kingdom
1820: Discovery of Antarctica
1820: Liberia founded by the American Colonization Society for freed American slaves.
1821: Mexico gains independence from Spain with the Treaty of Córdoba.
1821: Peru declares its independence from Spain.
1821: Navarino Massacre
1822–23: First Mexican Empire, as Mexico's first post-independent government, ruled by Emperor Agustín I of Mexico.
1821–30: Greece becomes the first country to break away from the Ottoman Empire after the Greek War of Independence.
1822: Prince Pedro of Portugal proclaimed the Brazilian independence on September 7. On December 1, he was crowned as Emperor Dom Pedro I of Brazil.
1823–87: The British Empire annexed Burma (now also called Myanmar) after three Anglo-Burmese Wars.
1823: Monroe Doctrine declared by US President James Monroe.
1824: Premiere of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.
1825: Erie Canal opened connecting the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean.
1825: First isolation of aluminum.
1825: Independence of Bolivia.
1825: The Stockton and Darlington Railway, the first public railway in the world, is opened.
1825–28: The Argentina-Brazil War results in the independence of Uruguay.
1826: Samuel Morey patents the internal combustion engine.
1826–28: After the final Russo-Persian War, the Persian Empire took back territory lost to Russia from the previous war.
1827: Death of William Blake
1828–1832: Black War in Tasmania leads to the near extinction of the Tasmanian aborigines
1829: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust premieres.
1829: First electric motor built.
1829: Sir Robert Peel founds the Metropolitan Police Service, the first modern police force.
1830s
1830: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is established on April 6, 1830.
1830: July Revolution in France.
1830: The Belgian Revolution in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands led to the creation of Belgium.
1830: Greater Colombia dissolved and the nations of Colombia (including modern-day Panama), Ecuador, and Venezuela took its place.
1830 November Uprising in Poland against Russia.
1831: France invades and occupies Algeria.
1831: Great Bosnian uprising against Ottoman rule occurs.
1831–1836: Charles Darwin's journey on the HMS Beagle.
1831: November Uprising ends with crushing defeat for Poland in the Battle of Warsaw.
1831–33: Egyptian–Ottoman War.
1832: The British Parliament passes the Great Reform Act.
1833: Slavery Abolition Act bans slavery throughout the British Empire.
1833–76: Carlist Wars in Spain.
1834: The German Customs Union is formed.
1834: Spanish Inquisition officially ends.
1834: Britain amends the Poor Law demanding that any paupers requesting assistance must go to a workhouse.
1834–59: Imam Shamil's rebellion in Russian-occupied Caucasus.
1835–36: The Texas Revolution in Mexico resulted in the short-lived Republic of Texas.
1836: Battle of the Alamo ends with defeat for Texan separatists.
1836: Battle of San Jacinto leads to the capture of General Santa Anna.
1837: Telegraphy patented.
1837: Charles Dickens publishes Oliver Twist
1837–1838: Rebellions of 1837 in Canada.
1837–1901: Queen Victoria's reign is considered the apex of the British Empire and is referred to as the Victorian era.
1838: By this time, 46,000 Native Americans have been forcibly relocated in the Trail of Tears.
1838–40: Civil war in the Federal Republic of Central America led to the foundings of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica.
1839: Kingdom of Belgium declared.
1839–51: Uruguayan Civil War
1839–60: After two Opium Wars, France, the United Kingdom, the United States and Russia gained many concessions from China resulting in the decline of the Qing Dynasty.
1839–1919: Anglo-Afghan Wars lead to stalemate and the establishment of the Durand line
1840s
1840: New Zealand is founded, as the Treaty of Waitangi is signed by the Māori and British.
1841: The word "dinosaur" is coined by Richard Owen
1842: Treaty of Nanking cedes Hong Kong to the British.
1842: Anaesthesia used for the first time.
1843: The first wagon train sets out from Missouri.
1843: Short stories A Christmas Carol and The Tell-Tale Heart published.
1844: Persian Prophet the Báb announces his revelation on May 23, founding Bábísm. He announced to the world of the coming of "He whom God shall make manifest". He is considered the forerunner of Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith.
1844: First publicly funded telegraph line in the world—between Baltimore and Washington—sends demonstration message on May 24, ushering in the age of the telegraph. This message read "What hath God wrought?" (Bible, Numbers 23:23)
1844: Millerite movement awaits the Second Advent of Jesus Christ on October 22. Christ's non-appearance becomes known as the Great Disappointment.
1844: The Great Auk is rendered extinct.
1844: Dominican War of Independence from Haiti.
1845: Unification of the Kingdom of Tonga under Tāufaʻāhau (King George Tupou I)
1845–1846: First Anglo-Sikh War
1845–72: The New Zealand Land Wars
1845–49: The Irish Potato Famine leads to the Irish diaspora.
1846–48: The Mexican-American War leads to Mexico's cession of much of the modern-day Southwestern United States.
1846–47: Mormon migration to Utah.
1847: The Brontë sisters publish Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey
1847–1901: The Caste War of Yucatán.
1848–1849: Second Anglo-Sikh War
1848: The Communist Manifesto published.
1848: Revolutions of 1848 in Europe
1848: Seneca Falls Convention is the first women's rights convention in the United States and leads to the battle for suffrage and women's legal rights.
1848–58: California Gold Rush
1849: The first boatloads of gold prospectors arrive in California, giving them the nickname 49ers.
1849: the safety pin and the gas mask are invented
1849: earliest recorded air raid, as Austria employs 200 balloons to deliver ordinance against Venice.
1850s
1850: The Little Ice Age ends around this time.
1850–1864: Taiping Rebellion is the bloodiest conflict of the century, leading to the deaths of 20 million people.
1851: The Great Exhibition in London was the world's first international Expo or World's Fair.
1851: Louis Napoleon assumes power in France in a coup.
1851–52: The Platine War ends and the Empire of Brazil has the hegemony over South America.
1851–60s: Victorian gold rush in Australia
1852: Frederick Douglass delivers his speech "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro" in Rochester, New York.
1853: United States Commodore Matthew C. Perry threatens the Japanese capital Edo with gunships, demanding that they agree to open trade.
1853–56: Crimean War between France, the United Kingdom, the Ottoman Empire and Russia
1854: Battle of Balaclava and the Charge of the Light Brigade.
1854: The Convention of Kanagawa formally ends Japan's policy of isolation.
1854–1855: Siege of Sevastapol; city falls to British forces.
1855: Bessemer process enables steel to be mass produced.
1856: World's first oil refinery in Romania
1856: Neanderthal man first identified.
1857–58: Indian Rebellion of 1857. The British Empire assumes control of India from the East India Company.
1858: Invention of the phonautograph, the first true device for recording sound.
1859: Charles Darwin publishes The Origin of Species.
1859–1869: Suez Canal is constructed.
1860s
1860: Guiseppe Garibaldi launches the Expedition of the Thousand
1861–65: American Civil War between the Union and seceding Confederacy
1861: Russia abolishes serfdom.
1861–67: French intervention in Mexico and the creation of the Second Mexican Empire, ruled by Maximilian I of Mexico and his consort Carlota of Mexico.
1862: French gain first foothold in Southeast Asia
1862–1877: Muslim Rebellion in northwest China.
1863: Bahá'u'lláh declares His station as "He whom God shall make manifest". This date is celebrated in the Bahá'í Faith as The Festival of Ridván.
1863: Formation of the International Red Cross is followed by the adoption of the First Geneva Convention in 1864.
1863: First section of the London Underground opens.
1863: France annexes Cambodia.
1863–1865: Polish uprising against the Russian Empire.
1864–66: The Chincha Islands War was an attempt by Spain to regain its South American colonies.
1864–70: The War of the Triple Alliance ends Paraguayan ambitions for expansion and destroys much of the Paraguayan population.
1865–77: Reconstruction in the United States; Slavery is banned in the United States by the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
1865-April 9, 1865 Robert E. Lee surrenders the Army of Northern Virginia (26,765 troops) to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia, effectively ending the American Civil War.
1865-April 14, 1865, United States President Abraham Lincoln is assassinated while attending a performance at Ford's Theater, Washington, D.C.. He dies approximately nine hours after being shot on April 15, 1865.
1865: Gregor Mendel formulates his laws of inheritance
1866: Successful transatlantic telegraph cable follows an earlier attempt in 1858.
1866: Austro-Prussian War results in the dissolution of the German Confederation and the creation of the North German Confederation and the Austrian-Hungarian Dual Monarchy.
1866–1868: Famine in Finland.
1866–69: After the Meiji Restoration, Japan embarks on a program of rapid modernization.
1867: The United States purchases Alaska from Russia.
1867: Canadian Confederation formed.
1867: The Principality of Serbia passes a Constitution which defines its independence from the Ottoman Empire. International recognition followed in 1878.
1868; The Expatriation Act is approved by Congress, guaranteeing U.S. citizens the right to expatriate. Coupled with the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution approved only one day later, the Expatriation Act allows U.S. citizens to renounce federal citizenship in order to regain Constitutional rights ceded by U.S. citizens as defined by the 14th Amendment.
1868: The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is approved.
1868: Cro-Magnon man first identified.
1868–1878: Ten Years' War between Cuba and Spain
1869: First Transcontinental Railroad completed in United States on May 10.
1869: The Suez Canal opens linking the Mediterranean to the Red Sea.
1870s
1870–71: The Franco-Prussian War results in the unifications of Germany and Italy, the collapse of the Second French Empire, the breakdown of Pax Britannica, and the emergence of a New Imperialism.
1871–1872: Famine in Persia is believed to have caused the death of 2 million.
1871–1914: Second Industrial Revolution
1870s-90s: Long Depression in Western Europe and North America
1871: The feudal system is dismantled in Japan.
1871: Henry Morton Stanley meets Dr. David Livingstone near Lake Tanganyika.
1872: Yellowstone National Park, the first national park, is created.
1872: The first recognised international soccer match, between England and Scotland, is played.
1873: Maxwell's A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism published.
1873: The samurai class is abolished in Japan.
1873: Blue jeans and barbed wire are invented.
1874: The Société Anonyme Coopérative des Artistes Peintres, Sculpteurs, and Graveurs, better known today as the Impressionists organize and present their first public group exhibition at the Paris studio of the photographer Nadar.
1874: The Home Rule Movement is established in Ireland.
1874: The British East India Company is dissolved.
1874–1875: First Republic in Spain.
1875: HMS Challenger surveys the deepest point in the Earth's oceans, the Challenger Deep
1875–1900: 26 million Indians perish in India due to famine.
1876: Bulgarians instigate the April Uprising against Ottoman rule.
1876: Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle is first performed in its entirety.
1876: Queen Victoria becomes Empress of India.
1876: Battle of the Little Bighorn leads to the death of General Custer and victory for the alliance of Lakota, Cheyenne and Arapaho
1876–1879: 13 million Chinese die of famine in northern China.
1876–1914: The massive expansion in population, territory, industry and wealth in the United States is referred to as the Gilded Age.
1877: Great Railroad Strike in the United States may have been the world's first nationwide labor strike.
1877: Crazy Horse surrenders and is later killed
1877: Asaph Hall discovers the moons of Mars
1877: Thomas Edison invents the phonograph
1877–78: Following the Russo-Turkish War, the Treaty of Berlin recognizes formal independence of the Principality of Serbia, Montenegro and Romania. Bulgaria becomes autonomous.
1878: First commercial telephone exchange in New Haven, Connecticut.
1879: Anglo-Zulu War in South Africa.
1879: Thomas Edison tests his first light bulb
1879–1880: Little War against Spanish rule in Cuba leads to rebel defeat.
1879–83: Chile battles with Peru and Bolivia over Andean territory in the War of the Pacific.
1880s
1880–1881: the First Boer War.
1880–1881: the Brsjak Revolt ends in present-day Macedonia,
.
1881: Tsar Alexander II is assassinated
1881: Wave of pogroms begins in the Russian Empire.
1881: Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Sitting Bull surrenders in Tombstone Arizona USA.
1881: First electrical power plant and grid in Godalming, Britain.
1881–1899: The Mahdist War in Sudan.
1882: The British invasion and subsequent occupation of Egypt
1883: Krakatoa volcano explosion, one of the largest in modern history Indonesia.
1883: The quagga is rendered extinct.
1883: Robert Lewis Stevenson's Treasure Island is published
1884: Siege of Khartoum Sudan
1884: Germany gains control of Camaroon Africa
1884: Mark Twain publishes The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn USA.
1884–85: The Berlin Conference signals the start of the European "scramble for Africa". Attending nations also agree to ban trade in slaves.
1884–85: The Sino-French War led to the formation of French Indochina.
1885: King Leopold II of Belgium establishes the Congo Free State as a personal fiefdom
1885: Britain establishes a protectorate over Bechuanaland (modern Botswana)
1885: "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" by Robert Louis Stevenson is published.
1885: Singer begins production of the 'Vibrating Shuttle' which would become the Model T of sewing machines.
1886: Burma is presented to Queen Victoria as a birthday gift
1886: Karl Benz sells the first commercial automobile
1886: Construction of the Statue of Liberty
1886: Russian-Circassian War ended with the defeat and the exile of many Circassians. Imam Shamil defeated.
1887: The British Empire takes over Balochistan India
1887: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle publishes his first Sherlock Holmes story, A Study in Scarlet.
1888: Jack the Ripper murders occur in Whitechapel, London
1888: Slavery banned in Brazil.
1889: Eiffel Tower is inaugurated in Paris.
1889: Mirza Ghulam Ahmad establishes the Ahmadi Muslim Community.
1889: End of the Brazilian Empire and the beginning of the Brazilian Republic
1889: Vincent van Gogh paints Starry Night
1889: Aspirin patented.
1890s
1890: The Wounded Knee Massacre was the last battle in the American Indian Wars. This event represents the end of the American Old West.
1890: Italy annexes Eritrea
1890: Independence of Luxembourg
1890: Death of Vincent van Gogh
1890: The cardboard box is invented.
1891: Chilean Civil War
1892: Basketball is invented.
1892: The World's Columbian Exposition was held in Chicago celebrating the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World.
1892: Fingerprinting is officially adopted for the first time in UK
1892: Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite premières in St Petersberg
1893: US forces overthrow the government of Hawaii
1893: New Zealand becomes the first country to enact women's suffrage
1894: First commercial film release by Jean Aimé Le Roy
1894: First gramophone record
1894: France and the Russian Empire form a military alliance
1894–95: After the First Sino-Japanese War, China cedes Taiwan to Japan and grants Japan a free hand in Korea.
1895: Volleyball is invented
1895: Trial of Oscar Wilde and premiere of his play The Importance of Being Earnest
1895: French troops capture Antananarivo in Madagascar
1895: Wilhelm Röntgen identifies x-rays
1894–1900: Dreyfuss Affair
1895–1896: Ethiopia defeats Italy in the First Italo–Ethiopian War.
1895–1898: Cuban War for Independence results in Cuban independence from Spain
1896: Olympic Games revived in Athens.
1896: Philippine Revolution ends declaring Philippines free from Spanish rule.
1896: Ethiopia defeated Italy at the Battle of Adwa.
1896: Klondike Gold Rush in Canada.
1896: Henri Becquerel discovers radioactivity; JJ Thompson identifies the electron, though not by name.
1897: Gojong, or Emperor Gwangmu, proclaims the short-lived Korean Empire: lasts until 1910.
1897: Benin Expedition of 1897 loots and burns Benin
1897: Greco-Turkish War.
1898: The United States gains control of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines after the Spanish-American War.
1898: Empress Dowager Cixi of China engineers a coup d'état, marking the end of the Hundred Days' Reform; the Guangxu Emperor is arrested.
1898: H. G. Wells publishes The War of the Worlds
1898–1900: The Boxer Rebellion in China is suppressed by an Eight-Nation Alliance.
1898–1902:The One Thousand Days war in Colombia breaks out between the "Liberales" and "Conservadores", culminating with the loss of Panama in 1903.
1899: Second Boer War begins (-1902); Philippine-American War begins (-1913).
1899: Indian famine begins.
Modern history
1900s
1900:
Galveston Hurricane kills 8000 people.
Indian famine ends.
1901:
Boxer Rebellion ends.
Death of Queen Victoria.
Platt Amendment limits the autonomy of Cuba in exchange for withdrawal of US troops.
1902:
Second Boer War ends.
Philippine–American War ends.
Cuba gains independence from the United States.
Unification of Saudi Arabia begins.
1903:
First controlled heavier-than-air flight of the Wright Brothers.
Herero and Namaqua Genocide, the first genocide of the 20th century, begins in German South-West Africa.
In Russia the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks form from the breakup of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party.
The teddy bear is invented.
1904:
Entente cordiale signed between Britain and France.
Russo-Japanese War begins.
Trans-Siberian railway is completed.
Construction of the Panama Canal begins.
Roger Casement publishes his account of Belgian atrocities in the Congo Free State.
1905:
Russo-Japanese War ends; 1905 Revolution.
Trans-Siberian Railway opened.
Albert Einstein's formulation of relativity.
Schlieffen Plan proposed.
Las Vegas founded.
1906:
Earthquakes in San Francisco, California (death toll: 3000) and Valparaíso,
Chile (death toll: 20,000) occur.
Dreyfus Affair ends.
Stolypin reform in Russia creates a new class of affluent kulaks.
1907:
Herero and Namaqua Genocide ends.
A peasants' revolt in Romania kills roughly 11,000.
1908:
First commercial radio transmissions.
The Ford Motor Company invents the assembly line.
Boy Scouts founded.
First commercial Middle-Eastern oilfield established, at Masjid-al-Salaman in southwest Persia.
The Tunguska event (later conjectured to be a meteorite strike) devastates thousands of square kilometres of Siberia.
Young Turk Revolution in the Ottoman Empire.
Independence of Bulgaria.
Pu Yi, the last Emperor of China, assumes the throne.
1909:
Independence of Panama.
United States troops leave Cuba.
1910s
1910:
Beginning of the Mexican Revolution.
George V becomes King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India.
Union of South Africa created.
Portugal abolishes its Monarchy.
1911:
Roald Amundsen first reaches the South Pole.
New Delhi becomes the capital of British India.
Ernest Rutherford identifies the atomic nucleus
1912:
Republic of China established and ends the Chinese Empire.
The African National Congress is founded.
Morocco becomes a protectorate of France.
Sinking of the RMS Titanic.
Balkan Wars begin.
Woodrow Wilson is elected 28th President of the United States.
Arizona becomes the last state to be admitted to the continental Union.
1913:
Neils Bohr formulates the first cohesive model of the atomic nucleus, and in the process paves the way to quantum mechanics.
Balkan Wars end.
George I of Greece is assassinated.
1914:
Beginning of World War I.
Panama Canal opens.
Benedict XV becomes Pope.
1915:
The Lusitania is sunk.
The United States occupation of Haiti begins.
1916:
Easter Rising.
The implementation of daylight savings time.
Warlord Era begins in China.
David Lloyd George becomes the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
The Gallipoli Campaign fails.
Battle of the Somme.
Grigory Rasputin is assassinated by H.H. Prince Felix Youssoupov
1917:
Russian Revolution; beginning of Russian Civil War.
USA join the Allies for the last 17 months of World War I.
Independence of Poland recognised.
The first Pulitzer Prizes are awarded.
1918:
End of World War I;
Spanish flu pandemic.
Murder of Tsar Nicholas II and his family.
Poland, Ukraine and Belarus are among a number of states to declare independence from Russia.
Finnish Civil War.
Mehmed VI becomes last Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
The Kingdom of Iceland and The State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs are established. The British occupy Palestine.
1919:
Treaty of Versailles.
Victory for Estonia in the Estonian War of Independence.
League of Nations founded in Paris.
Polish-Soviet War begins.
The Italian National Fascist Party is established by Benito Mussolini.
Comintern established.
Egyptian Revolution of 1919.
Turkish War of Independence begins.
The International Labor Organisation is established. Ernest Rutherford discovers the proton.
First experimental evidence for the General theory of relativity obtained.
1920s
1920:
Mexican Revolution ends.
Greece restores its monarchy after a referendum.
1921:
Irish Free State is established, while the Province of Northern Ireland is created within The United Kingdom.
Adolf Hitler becomes Führer of the Nazi Party.
Russia invades Georgia.
End of Russian Civil War and Polish-Soviet War.
Coup brings the Pahlavi dynasty to power in Iran.
1922:
The Italian reconquest of Libya begins.
The union of Costa Rica, Guatemala,
Honduras and El Salvador is dissolved.
Egypt gains independence.
March on Rome brings Benito Mussolini to power in Italy.
Howard Carter discovers Tutankhamen's tomb.
The Irish Civil War begins.
Ottoman Empire is abolished.
Gabriel Narutowicz, President of Poland is assassinated.
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) is formed.
Pius XI becomes Pope.
James Joyce publishes Ulysses.
1923:
Time Magazine is first published.
Irish Civil War ends.
A military coup ousts and kills Bulgarian Prime Minister Aleksandar Stamboliyski.
The Great Kantō earthquake kills at least 105000 people in Japan.
Ankara replaces Istanbul as the capital of Turkey, while
Kemal Atatürk becomes the first President of the newly established Republic of Turkey. The Walt Disney Company is founded.
1924:
Death of Vladimir Lenin.
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation founded under J. Edgar Hoover.
The August Uprising in Georgia against Soviet rule.
George Gershwin composes Rhapsody In Blue.
1925:
Benito Mussolini gains dictatorial powers in Italy.
Mein Kampf is published.
First televisual image created by John Logie Baird.
Locarno Treaties are signed.
1926:
Hirohito becomes Emperor of Japan. Coups in Greece, Poland and Portugal install new dictatorships.
1927:
The Jazz Singer, the first "talkie", is released.
Joseph Stalin becomes leader of the Soviet Union.
World population reaches 2 billion.
Australian Parliament convenes in Canberra for the first time.
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland officially becomes the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Saudi Arabia gains independence.
The BBC is granted a Royal Charter in the United Kingdom.
1928:
Discovery of penicillin by Alexander Fleming.
Warlord Era ends in China.
Malta becomes a British Dominion.
King Zog I is crowned in Albania. The Kellogg-Briand Pact is signed in Paris.
Haile Selassie becomes king of Abyssinia.
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is established.
1929:
Wall Street crash of 1929 and the beginning of the Great Depression.
First people sent to the gulag in the Soviet Union.
Pope Pius XI signs the Lateran Treaty with Italian leader Benito Mussolini. Vatican City is recognised as a sovereign state.
The first Academy Awards are presented.
1930s
1930:
Discovery of Pluto by Clyde Tombaugh.
Salt March by Mohandas Gandhi and the official start of civil disobedience in British India.
Military coups replace governments in Peru and Brazil.
1931:
Floods in China kill up to 2.5 million people.
Independence of South Africa.
Construction of the Empire State Building. "The Star-Spangled Banner" is adopted as the United States's national anthem.
The Second Spanish Republic is declared.
The Chinese Soviet Republic is proclaimed by Mao Zedong. Statute of Westminster creates the British Commonwealth of Nations.
Japan invades Manchuria, China and occupies it until the end of World War II.
1932:
Franklin D. Roosevelt becomes President of the United States.
Eamon de Valera becomes leader of the government of the Irish Free State.
Military coup in Chile.
BBC World Service starts broadcasting.
The Neutron is discovered.
1933:
Adolf Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany.
New Deal begins in America.
Japan and Germany announce they are going to leave the League of Nations.
1934:
Dictatorships begin in Brazil and Bolivia.
Mao Zedong begins the Long March.
United States occupation of Haiti ends.
United States grants more autonomy to the Philippines.
Adolf Hitler becomes Fuhrer of Germany.
1935:
Second Italo-Abyssinian War concludes with the exile of Haile Selassie and the conquest of Abyssinia by Benito Mussolini.
Persia becomes Iran.
William Lyon Mackenzie King is elected Prime Minister of Canada.
1936:
Beginning of the Spanish Civil War.
Great Purge begins under Stalin. Edward VIII becomes King of the British Commonwealth and Emperor of India, before abdicating and handing the throne to his brother, George VI.
Hoover Dam is completed.
Arab Revolt in Palestine against the British begins to oppose Jewish immigration.
Italy annexes Ethiopia.
1937:
Japanese invasion of China, and the beginning of World War II in the Far East.
Rape of Nanking.
Neville Chamberlain becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
The Irish Republican Army attempts to assassinate King George VI of the United Kingdom.
Deaths of George Gershwin and Maurice Ravel.
1938:
Munich agreement hands Czechoslovakia to Nazi Germany.
Great Purge ends after nearly 700,000 executions.
Kristallnacht in Germany,
Time Magazine declares Adolf Hitler as Man of the Year.
1939:
End of Spanish Civil War; Francisco Franco becomes dictator of Spain.
Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact between Germany and the Soviet Union.
Nazi invasion of Poland triggers the beginning of World War II in Europe.
Palestinian revolt against the British ends.
Pius XII becomes Pope.
1940s
1940: Nazis invade France, the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway. Katyn massacre in Poland. Winter War between Soviet Union and Finland. Winston Churchill becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Battle of Britain as the British Empire fights alone against the Axis Powers. The Blitz begins.
1941:
Beginning of the Holocaust.
Bombing of Pearl Harbor, which leads to the USA joining World War II.
Hitler commences the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union
1942:
Battle of Midway.
Battle of the Coral Sea.
First and second Battles of El Alamein.
Battle of Stalingrad.
Guadalcanal Campaign begins.
Internment of Japanese-American citizens in the US begins.
Manhattan Project begins.
1943:
Battle of Stalingrad ends with surrender of the German Army.
Warsaw Ghetto uprising.
Green Revolution begins.
1944:
D-Day landings.
Baltic states are annexed by the Soviet Union.
First operational electronic computer, Colossus, comes online
1945:
Bombing of Dresden. Battle of Berlin.
End of World War II and the Holocaust.
Deaths of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.
Creation of the atomic bomb, and the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Potsdam Conference divides Europe into Western and Soviet blocs.
United Nations founded.
Chinese Civil War begins.
Deaths of Anne Frank and Béla Bartók.
1946:
Independence of Jordan.
Nuremberg trials end. First Indochina War begins.
First images taken of the Earth from space.
Fender Musical Corporation founded in Scottsdale Arizona.
1947:
Independence of India and Pakistan.
Breaking of the sound barrier.
Creation of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.
Hungary become a communist country.
1948:
Arab-Israeli War;
Berlin Airlift;
Marshall Plan;
founding of the OECD and the World Health Organization;
assassination of Mohandas Gandhi;
the independence of Burma;
beginning of apartheid in South Africa.
1949:
Partition of Germany and Kashmir;
creation of NATO;
end of the Chinese Civil War and establishment of the People's Republic of China; Independence of Indonesia.
1950s
1950:
Beginning of the Korean War
1951:
Colombo Plan comes into effect.
1951:
First Rock n Roll record – Rocket 88
1952:
Detonation of the hydrogen bomb and the
first scheduled flight by commercial jet.
Development of the first effective polio vaccine by Jonas Salk;
Mau Mau Uprising begins in Kenya.
Queen Elizabeth II becomes Monarch of the Commonwealth realms.
1953:
Independence of Cambodia.
Discovery of DNA.
First ascent of Mount Everest, the deposing of Mohammed Mossadeq in Iran and the end of the Korean War.
Death of Joseph Stalin.
Elvis Presley first recording session.
1954:
Supreme Court of the United States decides Brown v. Board of Education, ordering an end to racial segregation in public schools;
Soviet Union generates first electricity by nuclear power;
First Indochina War ends;
Algerian War begins.
1955:
Signing of the Warsaw Pact.
First Sudanese Civil War begins.
Antimatter first produced.
U2 stealth aircraft first flight
1956:
Independence of Sudan and Tunisia and full independence of Pakistan.
The Hungarian uprising;
the Suez crisis.
1957:
Launch of Sputnik 1 and the beginning of the Space Age;
independence of Ghana;
Treaty of Rome, which would eventually lead to the European Union;
first prescription of the combined oral contraceptive pill.
1957:
Malaysia independence.
1957:
Chuck Berry & hits “School days” & “Rock and Roll music”
1958:
Great Leap Forward begins in China.
founding of NASA,
the U.S. Federal Aviation Authority and Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) (and the creation of the CND's symbol, the peace sign);
invention of the optical disc and the cassette tape
1959:
Cuban Revolution;
independence of Cyprus and Singapore;
admission of Alaska and Hawaii into the United States;
Dalai Lama exiled from Tibet;
first documented AIDS cases;
beginning of the Vietnam War;
First images of the far side of the Moon.
By this time, the gulag has been effectively disbanded, after over a million recorded deaths.
1960s
1960:
Year of Africa.
Independence of Somalia,
Togo and the Belgian Congo (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo).
Congo Crisis. Mau Mau Uprising ends;
first (and to date only) manned descent to the deepest point on Earth, the Mariana Trench; construction of the first laser;
world population reaches 3 billion.
FLQ seizes hostages, causing Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau of Canada to issue the War Measures Act
1961:
Great Leap Forward ends in China after the deaths of roughly 20 million people.
Building of the Berlin Wall;
first human spaceflight
1962:
Soul music The Shirreles & The Marvellettes
1962:
Cuban missile crisis,
the independence of Algeria (with the end of the Algerian War) and
The Beatles' first record.
1963:
Independence of Kenya;
Martin Luther King delivers his "I have a Dream" speech;
assassination of John F. Kennedy;
launch of the first geostationary satellite.
The Beatles album Please Please Me.
1963
Creation of Federation State of Malaysia.
Malaysia – Indonesia Confrontation
1964:
Independence of Malta, Malawi and Tanzania;
Civil Rights Act of 1964 abolishes segregation in the USA.
Colombian armed conflict begins.
First close-up images of Mars.
The Beatles hits song and the beginning of their “British Invasion”
1965:
Deaths of Winston Churchill and Malcolm X.
Anti-Communist purge in Indonesia kills up to 500,000 people.
Vietnam war
1966: Pet Sound from The Beach Boys
1966:
China's Cultural Revolution begins.
Independence of Lesotho, Botswana and Barbados
1967: Jimi Hendrix’s album Are You Experience
1967:
Summer of Love;
Six Day War
1968: Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin & Black Sabbath begin to form their band
1968:
Deep Purple’s Shades Of Deep Purple
1968:
Assassination of Martin Luther King, the Prague Spring and the May 1968 protests in France.
The Troubles begin in Northern Ireland
1969:
Led Zeppelin album
1969:
Moon landings;
Woodstock festival;
creation of ARPANET, the earliest incarnation of the Internet.
Woodstock Music & Art Festival
1969
Easy Rider Filmed
1970s
1970:
Ratification of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Containerisation adopted globally, massively boosting global trade.
Maiden flight of the Boeing 747.
Bhola Cyclone kills 500,000 people in East Pakistan.
Deaths of Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin
1970:
In Rock by Deep Purple
1971:
Bangladesh Liberation War ends in independence of Bangladesh.
Invention of the microchip. Idi Amin comes to power in Uganda
1972:
Northern Ireland's Bloody Sunday;
First Sudanese Civil War ends.
Martial law declared in the Philippines by President Ferdinand E. Marcos.
1973:
Beginning of the Watergate scandal.
The Supreme Court of the United States decides Roe v. Wade.
Death of Pablo Picasso.
First close-up images of Jupiter
1973:
Led Zeppelin’s Dyer Maker album
1974:
Turkish occupation of Cyprus.
Carnation Revolution in Portugal begins transition to democracy.
First close-up images of Mercury. Discovery of "Lucy" (Australopithecus afarensis)at Hadar in the Awash Valley of Ethiopia's Afar Depression by Donald Johanson in Olduvai Gorge.
World population reaches 4 billion.
1975:
End of the Vietnam War;
deaths of Francisco Franco and Dmitri Shostakovich.
Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia begins.
1976:
Song In The Key Of Life album Stevie Wonder
1976:
First outbreak of the Ebola virus.
Death of Mao Zedong. End of Cultural Revolution
1977:
Elvis Presley Dead
1977:
Disco fever begin
1977:
Introduction of the first mass-produced personal computers;
launch of the Voyager spacecraft, currently the most distant man-made objects in the universe.
Queen Alia of Jordan is killed in helicopter crash.
1978:
Van Halen first album
1978:
Invention of artificial insulin;
discovery of Pluto's moon Charon;
independence of Tuvalu;
birth of the first test-tube baby.
Afghan Civil War begins.
Deng Xiaoping commences Economic reform in the People's Republic of China.
Spanish transition to democracy is completed.
1979:
The Ramones video clip – Over The Edge
1979:
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan;
Iranian Revolution and Iran hostage crisis;
Shah Reza Pahlavi forced into exile.
Arrival of Pope John Paul II in Poland, eventually sparking the Solidarity movement. First space station, Skylab, is launched.
First close-up images of Saturn.
Margaret Thatcher becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
Implementation of China's One child policy.
Idi Amin exiled from Uganda.
Smallpox eradicated.
Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia ends; 1.4 million people known to have been murdered in The Killing Fields.
Nicaraguan Revolution.
1980s
New wave of British heavy metal band.
New wave of Punk
New wave of music
1980:
Independence of Zimbabwe and Vanuatu.
Ronald Reagan is elected President of the United States.
Beginning of the Iran-Iraq War,
Salvadorian Civil War and Contra War
1980:
John Lennon shot dead
1981:
Independence of Palau.
First orbital flight of the Space Shuttle.
1982:
First Israeli invasion of Lebanon.
Falklands War between Untited Kingdom & Argentina
1982:
Micheal Jackson’s Thriller album
1983:
End of 1982 Lebanon War.
GPS becomes available for civilian use.
Independence of Brunei.
End of dictatorship in Argentina.
Second Sudanese Civil War begins.
Assassination of Benigno S. Aquino, Jr., former senator of the Philippines.
1984:
Beginning of the 1984–1985 famine in Ethiopia.
Yngwie Malmsteen album – ‘Rising Force’
Van Halen – ‘Jump’
1985:
Live Aid. We Are The World song
1985:
Mikhail Gorbachev becomes Premier of the Soviet Union.
First use of DNA fingerprinting.
End of dictatorship in Brazil.
Iron Maiden ‘Life After Death’ live album.
1986:
Challenger and Chernobyl disasters.
Launch of the space station Mir. First close up images of the planet Uranus.
End of dictatorship & presidency of Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines.
Corazon Aquino succeed to presidency.
Iran-Contra becomes public.
Malaysian “Battle Of The Bands” album released.
1987:
Stock market crash of 1987.
First Intifada begins.
World population reaches 5 billion.
Heavy Metal songs hits top ten.
1998:
Whitney Houston hits song
1988:
Perestroika begins.
End of the Iran-Iraq War.
End of dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet in Chile.
Pan Am Flight 103 falls over Lockerbie, Scotland.
Myanmar Armed Forces launch a military coup.
Construction of the Channel Tunnel begins.
1989:
Fall of the Berlin Wall; 1989 revolution and collapse of Communism in Europe. Tiannanmen Square Massacre in China.
End of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
End of dictatorship in Paraguay and first direct Presidential election in Brazil since 1960. Death of Emperor Hirohito.
Fatwa issued against Salman Rushdie.
Exxon Valdez oil spill. First close up pictures of Neptune.
First Liberian Civil War begins.
1990s
Alternative & Indie band rising.
1990:
Sir Tim Berners-Lee invents the World Wide Web.
Reunification of Germany.
Launch of the Hubble Space Telescope. Gulf War begins.
Contra War ends.
Myanmar Armed Forces place Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest.
1991:
Gulf War ends.
Dissolution of the Soviet Union and independence of 15 former Soviet republics.
Boris Yeltsin becomes the first democratically elected leader of Russia.
Ten-Day War in Slovenia begins the Yugoslav Wars.
Beginning of the Somali, Sierra Leonian and Algerian Civil Wars.
Final end of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia
1991:
Smell Like Teen Spirit released
1992:
Maastricht Treaty creates the European Union.
Bill Clinton is elected President of the United States.
End of dictatorship in Albania and South Korea.
End of Salvadorian Civil War
1992:
Seattle USA homegrown to grunge band of Nirvana & Pearl Jam
1993:
Velvet divorce between Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Independence of Eritrea.
Oslo accords end First Intifada between Israel and Palestine.
1994:
End of apartheid in South Africa and election of Nelson Mandela.
Establishment of NAFTA. First Chechen War begins.
Rwandan genocide occurs.
Opening of the Channel Tunnel.
1995:
Establishment of the World Trade Organization.
Srebrenica massacre;
NATO bombing raids in Bosnia;
Dayton Accords signed.
Assassination of Yitzak Rabin.
North Korean famine begins.
1995:
Jagged Little Pill album by Alanis Morissette
1996:
First Congo War begins.
First Chechen War ends.
First Liberian Civil War ends.
End of dictatorship in Taiwan.
Dolly the sheep becomes first successful cloned mammal.
1996:
“A Malaysian Tribute To Led Zeppelin” album
1997:
Tony Blair becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
Transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong from UK to China.
Lottery Uprising in Albania.
Diana, Princess of Wales is killed in a car accident in Paris.
1998:
Osama Bin Laden publishes a fatwa against the West.
Kenya and Tanzania bombings.
Second Congo War begins.
Good Friday Agreement brings an end to The Troubles in Northern Ireland.
North Korean famine kills an estimated 2.5 million people by this point.
1999:
Euro is introduced. Kosovo War ends the Yugoslav Wars.
Hugo Chavez becomes President of Venezuela.
Second Chechen War and Second Liberian Civil War begin.
Crisis in East Timor leads to 1400 deaths.
World population reaches 6 billion.
2000s
2000:
End of Israeli occupation of Lebanon.
Second Intifada begins.
George W. Bush is elected President of the United States.
Vincente Fox becomes the first opposition President of Mexico.
Vladimir Putin becomes President of Russia.
British Army launch Operation Palliser which effectively ends the Sierra Leone Civil War.
International Space Station begins operations.
2001:
9/11 attacks destroy the World Trade Center in New York.
Afghan War begins. Wikipedia founded. President Joseph Estrada of the Philippines impeached.
2002:
Guantanamo Bay detention camp is established.
2002
Bali bombings.
Algerian Civil War ends.
Rose Revolution in Georgia.
Independence of East Timor.
2003:
2003 Invasion of Iraq begins.
War in Darfur begins.
The Human Genome Project is completed. Second Congo War ends with more than 5 million dead.
Second Liberian Civil War ends.
Space Shuttle Columbia is destroyed on re-entry.
2004:
Madrid train bombings.
Boxing Day Tsunami occurs in Indian Ocean.
Orange Revolution in Ukraine
2005:
Second Intifada ends.
Second Sudanese Civil War ends.
7/7 attacks on London Underground.
Tulip Revolution in Kyrgyzstan.
Hurricane Katrina kills nearly 2000 people in the Gulf of Mexico.
80,000 are killed in an earthquake in Kashmir.
The Kyoto Protocol comes into effect. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad becomes President of Iran
2006:
Independence of Montenegro.
Second invasion of Lebanon. Mumbai bombings.
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf becomes President of Liberia, and thus Africa's first elected female head of state.
2007:
Anti-government protests in Myanmar crushed by ruling junta.
Spike in food prices and subprime mortgage crisis help trigger the Great Recession.
2008:
End of Monarchy in Nepal.
Barack Obama is elected President of the United States.
Cyclone Nargis kills 133,000 in Myanmar.
Gaza War begins. 2008 South Ossetia war.
Kosovo declares independence, to mixed reaction.
2009:
Gaza War ends; Gaza blockade continues.
Election protests begin in Iran.
Second Chechen War ends.
Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the world's tallest skyscraper, is completed.
Great Recession officially ends.
2010s
2010:
A 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Haiti kills 230,000.
Flooding in Pakistan kills nearly 2,000 and leaves roughly a million homeless.
Greece defaults on its debts, triggering the European sovereign debt crisis and Ireland's bankruptcy.
The largest oil spill in US history occurs in the Gulf of Mexico.
Tensions rise between North and South Korea, culimating in the shelling of the island of Yeonpyeong.
The website Wikileaks releases thousands of classified US documents.
2011
January
January 1
Start of the Hungarian presidency of the Council of the European Union.
Estonia joins the Eurozone.
Lithuania receives chairmanship of Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
Tallinn and Turku are designated as European capitals of culture by the European Union.
January 9 – Southern Sudan holds a referendum on independence.
January 11 – Flooding and mudslides in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro kill more than 800.
January 14 – 2010–2011 Middle East and North Africa protests: The Tunisian government falls after a month of increasingly violent protests; President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali flees to Saudi Arabia after 23 years in power.
January 24 – At least 36 people are killed and more than 100 others wounded in a bombing at Domodedovo International Airport in Moscow, Russia.
February
February 11 – 2010–2011 Middle East and North Africa protests: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak resigns after widespread protests calling for his resignation, leaving control of Egypt in the hands of the military until a general election can be held.
February 22 - March 14 – The uncertainty of continued Libyan oil output causes crude oil prices to rise 20% over a two week period following the 2010–2011 Middle East and North Africa protests.
March
March 11 – A 9.1-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami hit the east of Japan, killing over 14,000 and leaving another 11,000 missing. Tsunami warnings are issued in 50 countries and territories. Emergencies are declared at four nuclear power plants affected by the quake.
March 17 – The United Nations Security Council votes 10-0 to create a no-fly zone over Libya in response to allegations of government aggression against civilians.
March 19 – In light of continuing attacks on Libyan rebels by Muammar Gaddafi forces, military intervention authorized under UNSCR 1973 begins as French fighter jets make reconnaissance flights over Libya.
April
April 29 – An estimated 2 billion people watch the wedding of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Catherine Middleton.
May
May 1 – President of the United States Barack Obama declares in a media statement that Osama bin Laden, the founder and leader of the militant Islamist group Al-Qaeda, was killed during an American military operation in Pakistan and that his body is in United States military custody
Predicted and scheduled events
July
July 1 – Start of the Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
July 9 – The Republic of South Sudan is scheduled to secede from Sudan.
Date unknown
California will open the world's largest solar power plant
Blue Waters, a petascale supercomputer being designed and built as a joint effort between the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and IBM is expected to be completed in this year.
A new definition of the kilogram, based on universal constants, is likely to be announced at the 24th General Conference on Weights and Measures.
List of future events (structured by topic)
Artificial intelligence and robotics
Robots capable of manual labour tasks--
2015–2020 – every South Korean household will have a robot and many European, The Ministry of Information and Communication (South Korea), 2007
2018 – robots will routinely carry out surgery, South Korea government 2007
2022 – intelligent robots that sense their environment, make decisions, and learn are used in 30% of households and organizations – TechCast
2030 – robots capable of performing at human level at most manual jobs Marshall Brain
2034 – robots (home automation systems) performing most household tasks, Helen Greiner, Chairman of iRobot, 2004
Military robots
2015 – one third of US fighting strength will be composed of robots – US Department of Defense, 2006
2035 – first completely autonomous robot soldiers in operation – US Department of Defense, 2006
Developments related to robotics from the Japan NISTEP 2030 report:
2013–2014 – agricultural robots (AgRobots).
2013–2017 – robots that care for the elderly
2017 – medical robots performing low-invasive surgery
2017–2019 – household robots with full use.
2019–2021 – Nanorobots
2021–2022 – Transhumanism
Artificial intelligence
2019 – $1,000 computer will match the processing power of the human brain – Ray Kurzweil
2020 – Artificial Intelligence reaches human levels – Arthur C. Clarke
2045 – The Singularity (creation of the first ultraintelligent machine) occurs – Ray Kurzweil
2050 – computer costing a few hundred pounds will have the capacity of the human mind – Hans Moravec
2055 – $1,000 computer will match the processing power of all human brains on Earth – Ray Kurzweil
Biology and medicine
Visual prosthetics
2011 – digital devices with implantable parts (Joseph Reger, Fujitsu-Siemens Technology Director, 2007,)
Use of animal organs for transplantation (xenotransplantation)
2010 – practical use of such animal donors in surgery (same source)
Regenerative medicine
Widespread use for most tissues and organs – 2020 (Federal Initiative for Regenerative Medicine)
2014–2024 – (International Association of Biomedical Gerontology, 2004) – comprehensive functional rejuvenation of middle-aged mice
Cloning of dinosaurs
2023 – Arthur C. Clarke
Reverse engineering of human brain
2025 – Ray Kurzweil, 2005
Communications
All communications are IP-based
2014 – Paul Mockapetris, inventor of the DNS system, 2004
Computing
10 petaFLOPS supercomputer (the amount required to simulate the human brain according to Kurzweil)
2010 – NEC, Tokyo Institute of Technology
2012 – Riken
1 zettaFLOPS supercomputer
2032 – University of Notre Dame
User interface
2013 – voice control replace keyboard/mouse interface for 30% of routine tasks – TechCast
Culture and leisure
Entertainment channels
2010 – 30% by value of U.S. music, movies, games, and other entertainment is sold online – TechCast
Virtual reality
2025 – full immersion virtual reality using direct input to the brain becomes available – Arthur C. Clarke
2030 – virtual reality allows any type of interaction with anyone, regardless of physical proximity – Ray Kurzweil
Sport
2050 – a team of fully autonomous humanoid robots can win against the human world soccer champion team – RoboCup, 1997
Demographics
World population exceeds 7 billion
2013 – U.S. Census Bureau
2013 – United Nations
World population exceeds 8 billion
2026 – U.S. Census Bureau
2028 – United Nations
World population exceeds 9 billion
2043 – U.S. Census Bureau
2054 – United Nations
World population exceeds 10 billion
2183 – United Nations
Other demographic milestones
2020 – world average life expectancy of new-born child exceeds 70 years – World Resources Institute[25]
2030 – number of people aged 65 or older exceeds 1 billion – Ray Hammond
2030 – new-born child in developed country has life expectancy of 130 years – Ray Hammond
2045 – world average life expectancy of new-born child exceeds 75 years – World Resources Institute
Energy
Peak oil – global oil production peaks
2010 – Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas
2011 – Colin Campbell, Oil Depletion Analysis Centre
2013 – French government report
Other energy milestones
2020 – U.S. carbon emission market exceeds $1 trillion – New Carbon Finance
2023 – alternatives to carbon-based fuels provide 30% of all energy used worldwide – TechCast
Environment
Arctic shrinkage – arctic ice-free in summer
2013 – Professor Wieslaw Maslowski, U. S. Naval Postgraduate School
2040 – National Center for Atmospheric Research
Arctic shrinkage – arctic ice-free all year
2020 – Ted Scambos, National Snow and Ice Center
Other environmental milestones
2098 – coral cover on Great Barrier Reef drops below 10% – Dr Eric Wolanski, James Cook University
Nanotechnology
Nanomachines in commercial use
2019 – nanotechnology is used in 30% of commercial products – TechCast
2020 – nanomachines in soldier armor controlled by on-board computer can change the properties of fabric from flexible to bullet-proof, treat wounds and filter out chemical and biological weapons, nanomuscle fibers can provide an exoskeleton. US Army, estimates from The Vision 2020 Future Warrior project, 2004
Universal replicator is developed
2040 – Arthur C. Clarke
Politics and economics
International Politics
2012-onward - The United States of America lose the superpower status - Peter Dale Scott and Emmanuel Todd - After the Empire: The Breakdown of the American Order
2012-onward - The United States of America come defeated in the New Great Game thus marking a New New World Order - Idriss Aberkane
World economic growth
2015 - Brazil becomes the world's fifth largest economy, surpassing France, UK and Italy - Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
2025 – one billion dollar-millionaires worldwide – James Canton, The Extreme Future
2027 – China's GDP exceeds that of United States – Goldman Sachs, Price Waterhouse
Coopers
2032 – India's GDP exceeds that of Japan – National Intelligence Council
Transportation
Hybrid vehicles
2013 – hybrid powered cars make up 30% of the new car market – TechCast
Self-driving cars
2030 – all cars travelling on major roads under control of satellite and roadside control systems – Ray Hammond
Space
Asteroid mining
2024 – Peter Diamandis, founder of Ansari X Prize, 2004
Human landing on Mars
2020 – MIT's Aeronautics and Astronautics department, 2005
2021 – Arthur C. Clarke
2025 – a permanent Mars colony, 4Frontiers, 2005
2030 – TechCast
Near light speed travel
2095 – Arthur C. Clarke
Return to the Moon
2015 – Russian plans – Energia Corporation (2006)
2020 – NASA plans first return to the Moon and moon colony no later than 2020 (2006)
2024 – Chinese plans (2006)
Space elevator
2020 – Bradley C. Edwards (head of Institute for Scientific Research), 2004
Space tourism and private spaceflight
2011 – space flights become available to the public – Arthur C. Clarke
2013 – "space cruiser” takes a group of tourists outside of the Earth’s atmosphere –
TechCast
2024 – "many thousands of people being able to afford" visiting orbital hotels,
Burt Rutan, 2004
Unmanned mission returns samples from Mars
2020 – NASA
Top 12 areas for innovation through 2025
This list is part of research and consulting firm Social Technologies technology foresight project, published as an press release in 2007.
Personalized medicine
creation of an individual’s genome map for a retail price of less than $1,000
correlation of specific genes and proteins with specific cancers, Alzheimer’s, heart disease, and diabetes, which will allow both ** physicians and patients to anticipate, plan for, and mitigate, if not cure, DNA-based health challenges development of pharmaceuticals that treat gene-based diseases, replacing surgeries and chemotherapy
Distributed energy
advanced electric storage devices and batteries at all scales
new power systems with source-switching flexibility
Pervasive computing
very simple and inexpensive computing devices with integrated wireless telephone and Internet capabilities (the worldwide $100 computer)
the Semantic Web, enabled by Web data that automatically self-organizes based on its content, allowing search tools or software agents to identify the actual relevance of Web pages—not just find keywords on them
intelligent interfaces, in some cases enabled by virtual reality
Nanomaterials
the function of nanomaterials will move from “passive” to “active” with the integration of nanoscale valves, switches, pumps, motors, and other components.
Biomarkers for health
individualized, private, and self-administered diagnostics for multiple physical parameters such as blood sugar, urine, C-reactive proteins, HDL, and LDL, as well as home diagnostic kits that detect early signs of diabetes, heart disease, and types of cancers.
personalized exercise equipment and regimens that deliver customized benefits (for weight control, blood pressure, blood sugar, etc.)
advanced CAT scans, MRIs, and brain scans to identify disorders earlier and more accurately at less cost
Biofuels
high-energy (as measured in British thermal units, or Btu) blends of gasoline and diesel with biofuels (beyond the ethanol blends known today)
biomass production of a methanol that can be used as a fuel for fuel cells
new discoveries in plant genetics and biotechnologies specifically for energy content
Advanced manufacturing
advanced computer-aided design and control
multiple variable and inexpensive sensors linked with computers
expert systems and advanced pattern-recognition software for very tight quality control
Universal water
ultra-fine filters (probably from nanotechnology)
new energy sources for desalination and purification, including hybrid systems that combine conventional and alternative power—especially solar power
smart water-use technologies for agriculture and industry
Carbon management
effective “measure, monitor, and verify” systems
affordable and effective carbon capture and storage technologies and systems for coal-burning power plants
low to zero emission controls for transportation
Engineered agriculture
identification of specific genomes for desired growing and use qualities
crop-produced pharmaceuticals and chemical feedstocks
crops designed specifically for energy content and conversion
Security and tracking
completely autonomous security-camera systems with algorithms able to correctly interpret and identify all manner of human behavior
multiple integrated sensors (including remote sensing)
radio frequency (RF) tags for people and valuables
Advanced transportation
organized and coordinated personal transportation through wireless computer networks, information systems, and Internet access
onboard sensors and computers for smart vehicles
Less than 1 million years from now
600 years — Time until, according to current established boundaries for the constellations, the Earth's axial precession will move the Sun's spring equinox position from Pisces to Aquarius, triggering what astrologers call the "Age of Aquarius".
1,000 years — time until the Earth's axial precession makes Gamma Cephei the North Star.
3,200 years — time until the Earth's axial precession makes Iota Cephei the North Star.
5,200 years — Time until the Gregorian calendar will be one day out of step with the Sun's position.
9,700 years — time until Barnard's Star passes within 3.8 light years from the Solar System, becoming the Sun's closest star.
13,000 years — time until the Earth's axial precession makes Vega the North Star.
50,000 years — according to the work of Burger and Loutre, time at which the current interglacial will end, sending the Earth back into an ice age, assuming limited effects of anthropogenic global warming.
100,000 years — time by which proper motion will render the constellations unrecognisable.
500,000 years — time by which Earth will likely be impacted by a meteorite of roughly 1 km in diameter.
1 million to one billion (106-109) years from now
1.4 million years — Time until Gliese 710 passes within 1.1 light years of the Sun, potentially disturbing the Solar System's Oort cloud and increasing the likelihood of a comet impact in the inner Solar System.
10 million years — time by which the widening East African Rift valley will have been flooded by the Red Sea, causing a new ocean basin to divide the continent of Africa.
40 million years — estimated time until Mars's moon Phobos will collide with its surface.
50 million years — by this time, Australia will have crossed the equator and collided with Southeast Asia. Also, the Californian coast will begin to be subducted into the Aleutian Trench, and Africa will have collided with Eurasia, closing the Mediterranean Basin.
100 million years — by this time, the Earth would likely have been impacted by a meteorite comparable in size to that which triggered the K-T extinction 65 million years ago.
250 million years — time until all the continents on Earth are fused into a new supercontinent.
1 billion to 1 trillion (109-1012) years from now
1 billion years — point at which the Sun's increasing luminosity will render life on Earth's surface impossible.
3.5 billion years — Time until surface conditions on Earth are comparable to those on Venus today.
3.6 billion years — estimated time until Neptune's moon Triton will fall through the planet's Roche limit, potentially disintegrating into a new planetary ring system.
5.4 billion years — time before the Sun becomes a red giant.
7 billion years — time until the potential collision between the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies.
20 billion years — time until the end of the universe in the Big Rip scenario.Experimental evidence currently suggests that this will not occur.
50 billion years — time until the Earth and the Moon become tidelocked, with each showing only one face to the other, assuming both survive the Sun's expansion.
400 billion years — time by which all the Solar System's actinide elements will have decayed to less than 1% their current value, leaving bismuth as the heaviest traceable element.
1 trillion to 1 decillion (1012-1033) years from now
1012 (1 trillion) years — low estimate for the time until star formation ends in galaxies as galaxies are depleted of the gas clouds they need to form stars., §IID.
2×1012 (2 trillion) years — time until all galaxies outside the Local Supercluster are no longer detectable in any way, assuming that dark energy continues to make the Universe expand at an accelerating rate.
1013 (10 trillion) to 2×1013 (20 trillion) years — lifetime of the longest-lived stars, low-mass red dwarfs. §IIA.
1014 (100 trillion) years — high estimate for the time until star formation ends in galaxies.[27], §IID. Once star formation ends and the least massive red dwarfs exhaust their fuel, the only stellar-mass objects remaining will be stellar remnants (white dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes.) Brown dwarfs will also remain. §IIE.
1015 (1 quadrillion) years — estimated time until planets are detached from their orbits. Whenever two objects pass close to each other, the orbits of their planets can be disrupted and the planets can be ejected from orbit around their parent objects. Planets with closer orbits take longer to be ejected in this manner on average because a passing object must make a closer pass to the planet's primary to eject the planet., §IIIF, Table I.
1019 to 1020 years — the estimated time until brown dwarfs and stellar remnants are ejected from galaxies. When two objects pass close enough to each other, they exchange orbital energy with lower-mass objects tending to gain energy. The lower-mass objects can gain enough energy in this manner through repeated encounters to be ejected from the galaxy. This process will cause the galaxy to eject the majority of its brown dwarfs and stellar remnants., §IIIA, pp. 85–87
1020 years — estimated time until the Earth's orbit around the Sun decays via emission of gravitational radiation,[30] if the Earth is neither first engulfed by the red giant Sun a few billion years from now nor ejected from its orbit by a stellar encounter before then.
1032 years — the smallest possible value for the proton half-life consistent with experiment.
1 decillion to 1 millinillion (1033-103003) years from now
3×1034 years—the estimated time for all nucleons in the observable universe to decay, if the proton half-life takes its smallest possible value.
1036 years—the mean half-life of a proton according to some theories.
1041 years—the largest possible value for the proton half-life, assuming that the Big Bang was inflationary and that the same process that makes protons decay made baryons predominate over anti-baryons in the early Universe., §IVA.
3×1043 years—the estimated time for all nucleons in the observable universe to decay, if the proton half-life takes the largest possible value, 1041 years, consistent with the conditions given above.
1065 years—estimated time for rigid objects like rocks to rearrange their atoms and molecules via quantum tunnelling, assuming that the proton does not decay. On this timescale all matter is liquid.
2×1066 years—the estimated time until a black hole with the mass of the Sun decays by the Hawking process.
1.7×10106 years—the estimated time until a supermassive black hole with a mass of 20 trillion solar masses decays by the Hawking process.
101500 years—the estimated time until all matter decays to 56Fe (if the proton does not decay). See isotopes of iron.
Beyond 1 millinillion (103003) years from now
years—low estimate for the time until all matter collapses into black holes, assuming no proton decay.[30]
years—estimated time for a Boltzmann brain to appear in the vacuum via a spontaneous entropy decrease.
years—high estimate for the time until all matter collapses into neutron stars or black holes, again assuming no proton decay.
years— high estimate for the time for the universe to collapse into a sink, or terminal vaccuum.
years—scale of an estimated Poincaré recurrence time for the quantum state of a hypothetical box containing an isolated black hole of stellar mass. This time assumes a statistical model subject to Poincaré recurrence. A much simplified way of thinking about this time is that in a model where our universe's history repeats itself arbitrarily many times due to properties of statistical mechanics, this is the time scale when it will first be somewhat similar (for a reasonable choice of "similar") to its current state again.
years—scale of an estimated Poincaré recurrence time for the quantum state of a hypothetical box containing a black hole with the mass within the presently visible region of our universe. This time assumes a statistical model subject to Poincaré recurrence. A much simplified way of thinking about this time is that in a model where our universe's history repeats itself arbitrarily many times due to properties of statistical mechanics, this is the time scale when it will first be somewhat similar (for a reasonable choice of "similar") to its current state again.
• years—scale of an estimated Poincaré recurrence time for the quantum state of a hypothetical box containing a black hole with the estimated mass of the entire universe, observable or not, assuming a certain inflationary model with an inflaton whose mass is
