From A Storehouse of Knowledge

This is a time-line of important historical events.

Contents 1 40th century BC (approx.) 2 24th century BC (approx.) 3 23rd century BC (approx.) 4 21st century BC 5 20th century BC (approx.) 6 19th century BC (approx.) 7 13th century BC (approx.) 8 11th century BC 9 8th century BC 10 6th century BC 11 5th century BC 12 4th century BC 13 3rd century BC 14 1st century BC 15 1st century AD 16 2nd century 17 4th century 18 5th century 19 6th century 20 7th century 21 8th century 22 10th century 23 11th century 24 12th century 25 13th century 26 14th century 27 15th century 28 16th century 29 17th century 30 18th century 31 19th century 32 20th century 33 21st century

40th century BC (approx.)

• Approx. 4000 BC. The creation of the universe and everything in it, as detailed in the Book of Genesis.

24th century BC (approx.)

• Approx. 2350 BC The world that then existed is destroyed by flood.

23rd century BC (approx.)

• Approx. 2240 BC. God confuses men's languages, causing the beginning of multiple languages.

21st century BC

• 2070 BC. Xia Dynasty in China established from a descendant of one of Noah's sons.

20th century BC (approx.)

• Approx. 1996 BC. The birth of Abraham, from whom the Hebrews and other Biblical peoples descended.

19th century BC (approx.)

• Approx. 1836 BC. The birth of Jacob, later named Israel, the father of the Hebrews.

13th century BC (approx.)

• The Iron Age begins.

11th century BC

• Reign of King David

8th century BC

• 753 BC. Legendary founding of Rome.

6th century BC

• Approx. 600 BC. Fall of Jerusalem to Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.
• Approx. 563 BC. Birth of Siddharta Gautama, founder of Buddhism.
• Approx. 539 BC. Fall of Babylon to Cyrus of Persia.
• Approx. 538 BC. Beginning of restoration of the Temple of God in Jerusalem.

5th century BC

• 493 BC. Battle of Lake Regillus; Rome establishes dominance over other Latin-speaking peoples in central Italy.
• 492 BC - 479 BC. Persian invasions of Ancient Greece end in defeat for the Persians at the Battle of Marathon (490 BC), the naval Battle of Salamis (480 BC) and the Battle of Plataea (479 BC).

4th century BC

• 333 BC. Alexander the Great conquers the Persian Empire.

3rd century BC

• 264 BC - 241 BC. The First Punic War makes Rome a major power in the western Mediterranean.
• 221 BC. Qin Shi Huang becomes the first emperor of a unified China.
• 218 BC - 201 BC. The Second Punic War leads to the capitulation of Carthage; Rome becomes undisputed master of the western Mediterranean and obtains Carthaginian territories in Spain and Sicily.

1st century BC

• 49 - 44 BC. Julius Caesar is dictator of Rome.
• 31 BC. Octavian and Marcus Agrippa defeat Mark Antony at the Battle of Actium, effectively ending the Roman Republic; Octavian will take the name Augustus and assume a political position later called "Roman Emperor."
• Approx 5 BC. Jesus Christ is born.

1st century AD

• AD 9. The Roman XVIIth, XVIIIth and XIXth Legions are destroyed at the Battle of Teutoburg Forest, ending Roman expansion into Germany.
• Approx. AD 30. Jesus Christ is crucified.
• AD 70. Roman troops under Titus Flavius Vespasianus conquer Jerusalem and destroy the Temple.

2nd century

• Approx 140. Marcion proposes what many scholars believe to be the first attempt at establishing a biblical canon. Most controversially he claims that the god of the Old Testament was not the same as that of the New Testament. Marcion is dismissed as a heretic, and later excommunicated.

4th century

• 313. Roman Emperor Constantine the Great signs the Edict of Milan - legalizing Christianity throughout the Roman Empire.
• 325. First Council of Nicaea, first ecumenical council, denounces the Arian heresy.

5th century

• 434 - 453. Attila rules the Huns, repeatedly warring with both the Eastern and Western Roman Empire.
• 476. Romulus Augustulus, last Roman Emperor in the West, abdicates.

6th century

• 529 - 534. Code of Justinian (Corpus Juris Civilis) compiled.
• 581. Sui Dynasty founded in China.
• 590 - 604. Gregory the Great reigns as Pope of the western Church

7th century

• 630. Muhammad conquers Mecca, beginning the spread of Islam.

8th century

• 711 - 732. The Umayyad Caliphate conquers the Iberian Peninsula and is finally stopped at the Battle of Tours by forces led by Charles Martel.
• 800. Charlemagne is crowned Emperor by the Pope.

10th century

• 962. Otto I becomes the first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.

11th century

• Approx. 1002. Leif Ericson establishes a settlement, possibly in what is modern-day Newfoundland, but subsequent Viking expeditions to the Western Hemisphere fail.
• 1066. Duke William of Normandy conquers England.
• 1095 - 1099. The First Crusade captures Jerusalem from Muslim rule and leads to the creation of the Crusader states.

12th century

• 1187. Saladin, first sultan of Egypt of the Ayyubid dynasty, captures Jerusalem.

13th century

• Approximately 1206. Genghis Khan unites the Mongols.
• 1271. Khublai Khan conquers China and establishes the Yuan Dynasty.

14th century

• 1337. The Hundred Years' War between England and France begins.
• 1348 - 1350. The Black Death devastates much of Europe.
• 1368. Emperor Hongwu establishes the Ming Dynasty in China.

15th century

• 1401. Timur sacks Baghdad.
• Approx. 1450. Johannes Gutenberg produces the first book printed using a movable type printing press. Gutenberg prints a version of the Vulgate - in this form known as the Gutenberg Bible.
• 1452. Leonardo da Vinci, painter, inventor, and one of the greatest universal geniuses of all time, is born.
• 1453. Fall of Constantinople, the last remnant of the Roman Empire.
• 1453. The Hundred Years' War ends; all English possessions on the mainland except Calais have been conquered by France.
• 1491. Ferdinand II of Aragon completes the Reconquista of Spain by expelling the Muslims from Granada.
• 1492 - 1493. Cristopher Columbus explores several islands in the Caribbean Sea, leading to European conquest and colonization of the Western Hemisphere.
• 1494. The Treaty of Tordesillas divides the extra-European world into Spanish and Portuguese spheres of influence and conquest.
• 1498. Vasco da Gama leads the first European naval expedition around Africa to India.

16th century

• 1517. The Protestant Reformation begins with the posting of Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg.
• 1519 - 1522. A Portugese expedition led by Ferdinand Magellan circumnavigates the Earth.
• 1526. Babur conquers Delhi, founding the Mughal Empire.
• 1533. The Inca Empire is conquered by Spanish conquistadors.
• 1545 - 1563. The Council of Trent, the focal point and highest embodiment of the Counter-Reformation meets.
• 1564. Birth of William Shakespeare.
• 1571. The Ottoman navy is crushed at the Battle of Lepanto, ending the Ottoman naval threat in the Mediterranean.
• 1588. The defeat of the Spanish Armada is a first step towards English naval supremacy.

17th century

• 1600 - 1614. Following a century of internal conflict, Tokugawa Ieyasu completes the reunification of Japan and establishes the political primacy of the shogunate.
• 1611. The Authorised, or King James, Version of the Bible is completed.
• 1618 - 1648. The Thirty Years' War between Protestant and Catholic princes of the Holy Roman Empire, supported by various European powers, leads to widespread destruction; war, war-induced famine and diseases including the bubonic plague combine to kill between 15% and 30% of the German population.
• 1642 - 1651. The English Civil War leads to the execution of Charles I, then the ruling king, and the abolition of the monarchy. In 1649 the monarchy is replaced with a commonwealth, which from 1653 is ruled as a protectorate until the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 with Charles II, the son of the previous king, ascending to the throne.
• 1644. The Manchu conquer China, forming the Qing Dynasty.
• 1687. Isaac Newton publishes his laws of motion and lays the foundation of Newtonian mechanics.

18th century

• 1700 - 1721. Great Northern War: Russia under Tsar Peter I supersedes Sweden as the dominant power in the Baltic.
• 1701 - 1714. War of the Spanish Succession: French attempts at establishing a hegemony in Europe are defeated by an alliance including England, the Holy Roman Empire and the Netherlands.
• 1756-1763. Seven Years' War: Britain captures significant parts of the French colonial empire, and Prussia is recognized as a Great Power.
• Approx. 1770. Industrial Revolution begins in Britain
• 1775. Samuel Johnson's first Dictionary of the English Language published.
• 1776. United States Declaration of Independence signed.
• 1788. The British Crown Colony of New South Wales is the first European colony on Australia.
• 1789. United States Constitution ratified.
• 1789–1799. French Revolution: The French parliament declares a republic and executes thousands of political opponents, including king Louis XVI.

19th century

• 1800. First programmable machine invented - the Jaquard Loom.
• 1800. Battery invented by Alessandro Volta.
• 1806. Last Holy Roman Emperor Francis II abdicates after German states form the Confederation of the Rhine, an alliance of Napoleonic puppets.
• 1815. Napoleon is defeated at Waterloo.
• 1830. Joseph Smith publishes the Book of Mormon, based on the translation of golden plates claimed to have been received from an angel.
• 1859. Charles Darwin publishes On the Origin of Species, which becomes the basis of the Theory of Evolution
• 1860 - 1865. The American Civil War leads to the restoration of the Union and the abolition of slavery in the United States.
• 1864. Louis Pasteur completes the first pasteurization test.
• 1867. The British possessions in North America are consolidated into the Dominion of Canada.
• 1867. Joseph Lister publishes an article on "The antiseptic Principle in the Practise of Surgery" in the British Medical Journal.
• 1867. The shogun is overthrown and the emperor once again becomes the centre of power in Japan; thus begins the modernization of the country.
• 1871. At the end of the Franco-Prussian War, Germany is unified.
• 1895. Wilhelm Röntgen discovers x-rays.
• 1896. Ethiopia defeats an Italian invasion, the most significant setback to European imperialism.

20th century

• 1912. Emperor Puyi, the last Emperor of China, abdicates.
• 1913. William Coolidge invents the x-ray tube with ductile tungsten filament.
• 1914 - 1918. World War I.
• 1915. Albert Einstein publishes the general theory of relativity.
• 1922. After World War I, the Russian Revolution and a civil war, the remains of the Russian Empire are consolidated into the Soviet Union.
• 1923. The Ottoman Empire is dissolved.
• 1925 Werner Heisenberg discovers the theory of quantum mechanics.
• 1939 - 1945. World War II.
• 1945, July. First atomic bomb test at Trinity, by the United States.
• 1947. The United Kingdom grants independence to British India, which is divided into India and Pakistan.
• 1949. Mao Zedong proclaims the People's Republic of China.
• 1950 - 1953. Korean War.
• 1954. The first silicon transistor is built.
• 1955. Jonas Salk introduces the first safe polio vaccine.
• Approx. 1955 - 1975. Vietnam War.
• 1969. Neil Armstrong is the first person on the moon.
• 1973. In Roe v. Wade, the United States Supreme Court legalizes abortion in the United States.
• 1974. Introduction of CAT scan in hospitals.
• 1979. The WHO certifies the eradication of smallpox.
• 1991. The Soviet Union is dissolved.

21st century

• 2001, September 11. Terrorist attack on New York World Trade Center and Pentagon.
• 2003, March 20. The Iraq War (also known as the Occupation of Iraq, the Second Gulf War, and Operation Iraqi Freedom) begins.