Contents to include: The Bronze Age: From the Rift Valley to the Siege of Troy, 6000-1200 BC Prehistoric Preamble: 1. Human origins; East African Rift Valley; migrations outward into Eurasia; emergence of Neanderthals (up to 400,000 ya) and Homo Sapiens (300,000 ya; in Europe by c. 200,000 ya). The Paleolithic from c. 50,000 ya. Migration of Australia''s first peoples from southeast Asia, c. 50,000 ya; migration into Americas overland via Beringia c. 25,000 ya.
Hunter-gatherer lifestyle. Cave/rock paintings. From c. 7000 BC, agriculture in ''Fertile Crescent'' and along the Indus. Catal Huyuk. 2. 6500 BC. Rise of Indus Valley Civilization, with Bronze technology - pre-Vedic beginnings of Hinduism 3.
5500 BC Sumer - and Mesopotamian civilizations more widely. (Cuneiform script in use by 3500 BC.) 4. 4300 BC Predynastic Egypt 5. 3200 BC Hieroglyphs in Egypt 6. 2675 BC Old Kingdom. Pyramids. 7.
2500 BC Minoan Greece. Cult of the bull. (But labyrinth modern myth-making .) 8. 2300 BC Gun-Yu Flood, China 9. 2200 BC Ironmaking in Anatolia 10. 2130 BC Egypt, First Intermediate period 11. 1980 BC Egypt, Middle Kingdom 12.
c. 1894 BC- (till c. 1595) First Babylonian Empire 13. 1630 BC Second Intermediate 14. 1530 BC Egypt, New Kingdom. Valley of the Kings 15. 1500 Aryan nomads invade India from the north 16. 1500 BC Mycenaean Greece 17.
1500 BC- (till AD) Nok Culture in interior of Nigeria; using iron from 9C 18. 1300 BC Colonists from southeast Asia settle Melanesia, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa Classical Era: From the Pharaohs to the Fall of Rome, 1200 BC to 500 AD 19. 1185 BC Siege of Troy / Trojan War 20. 1047- (till 930) Kingdom of Israel traditionally founded; amalgamation of Israel and Judah under Saul, David, Solomon 21. 1046 BC Start of Zhou dynasty in China; invoked so-called ''Mandate of Heaven'' to legimitize their rule 22. 800 BC Traditional date for foundation of Carthage by Phoenicians 23. 800 BC- Greek colonies; age of Homer 24. 800 BC- Etruscan civilization central Italy.
Great necropolis-builders. 25. 800 BC- Emergence of Paracas culture in Peru 26. 776 BC Olympic Games in Greece 27. 700 BC- Zhou Empire reaches its height in China 28. 760 BC- Kingdom of Kush, Nubia 29. 700 BC- Mayan civilization beginning to come together in southern Mexico/Guatemala 30. 667 BC Reputed founding of Byzantium by Greeks from Megara.
Later Constantinople and finally Istanbul 31. 664 BC Late-Period Egypt 32. 605 BC Nebuchadnezzar II becomes King of Babylon. Second Babylonian Empire 33. 587 BC Nebuchadnezzar II sacks Solomon''s Temple in Jerusalem 34. 556 BC Birth of Buddha 35. 551 BC Sun Tzu writes his Art of War 36. 551 BC Birth of Kong Fuzi, or Confucius, Chinese philosopher and moral leader 37.
559 BC Reign of Cyrus II, the Great, begins in Persia. Foundation of Achaemenid Empire. Conquers Babylon (and orders rebuilding of Temple in Jerusalem). 38. 522 BC Darius I, the Great becomes Persian Emperor 39. 510 BC Roman Republic founded 40. 500 BC Cleisthenes'' reforms - Athenian democracy 41. 500 BC (till 100 AD) Emergence of Adena Culture in North American Midwest.
42. 5C BC- La Tène Culture (and Celts a bit more generally) 43. 492 BC Persian Invasion of Greece. Marathon 490. 44. 449- Golden Age of Pericles. 45. 460 BC Birth of Hippocrates the "Father of Medicine" 46.
399 BC Death of Socrates. The Socratic Succession: Plato, S''s student; Aristotle, attended P''s Academy, founded c. 367. Idealism vs Empiricism. 47. 359 BC Philip II seizes power in Macedon 48. 336 BC- Alexander''s conquests 49. 323- Ptolemaic Egypt 50.
322 BC- (till 184 BC) Maurya Empire in India; from conversion of Asoka (269 BC) Buddhist. 51. c. 287 BC Birth of Archimedes: Greek mathematician, p 52. 264 BC First Punic War, Hannibal 53. 246 BC Shihuangdi of Qin Dynasty becomes first Chinese emperor; buried with Terracotta Army. 54. 150 BC- (till c.
960 AD) Aksum Kingdom in Ethiopia 55. 100 BC- (till c. 700 AD) City of Teotihuacan founded in central Mexico. 56. 100 BC- (till 800 AD) Nazca civilization emerging on Peruvian coastal plain. 57. 49 BC Julius Caesar, war in Gaul 58. 44 BC Assassination of Caesar; 59.
27 BC Caesar''s protégé Octavian reigns as Augustus, first Roman Emperor 60. 1C BC-1C AD Fayyum Portraits AD Anno Domini, Year of the Lord, rise of Christianity 61. 79 Eruption of Vesuvius; destruction of Pompeii. 62. 129-216 AD Galen. Early (and surprisingly late - not really displaced till 19C) medicine. Humours, etc. 63.
250- Maya civilization at its height 64. Mayan Codices (Dresden, Madrid . etc] 65. 250- (till 710) Yamato Kingdom, Japan 66. 312 Vision of Constantine on eve of Battle of Milvian Bridge 67. 324 Byzantium, now ''Constantinople'', capital of Rome''s Eastern Empire 68. 383-410 Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain 476 Visigoths sack Rome; Western Roman Empire falls 69. 500 Hawaii and Easter Island settled Medieval Period: From the Rise of Islam to the Fall of Constantinople, 501- 1450 70.
541 The Justinian Plague 570 Mohammad born. 71. 618- (till 907) Tang Dynasty in China 72. 632- After Muhammad''s death, followers conquer Syria, Jerusalem, Egypt, Persia, & N. Africa fall to Muslim armies many decades later. Shia/Sunni split. 73. c.
628 Indian mathematician Brahmagupta adds concept of zero to early Hindu (for historic reasons known as ''Arabic'' in West) numbering systems. 74. 661- (till 750) Umayyad Caliphate, based in Damascus. 75. 8C (or thereabouts) The Islamic Aesthetic - representation frowned upon, so emphasis on calligraphy and craft. 76. 7-8C Korea''s Silla Kingdom at its height, unified by King Munmu 77. 711 Umayyad Invasion of Spain.
78. c. 720 King Pelagius'' victory over Muslim force at Covadonga, Spain, start of a long campaign of Reconquista 79. 732 Charles Martel''s Frankish/Aquitanian force turns out Muslim invaders at Poitiers/Tours. 80. 750- (till 1258) Abbasid Caliphate, based in Baghdad 768- (till 814) Charlemagne King of the Franks 81. 778- (till 850) Borobudur Buddhist temple built in Java 793 Vikings begin raiding Ireland, England, France. Settle Iceland and Greenland and establish foothold in N.
America. 82. c. 800 Book of Kells (and/or Lindisfarne Gospels, c. 720). Monastic culture. 83. 800 Pope Leo III resurrects title of Roman Emperor for Charlemagne.
Despite some territories in northern Italy, more an honorary title 84. 843 Treaty of Verdun 85. 866- (till 1868) Fujiwara clan ruling Japan as powers behind imperial throne. 86. 10C Chimú Culture flourishing on coastal plain of Peru 904 Gunpowder is used as a weapon for the first time in the siege of Wuchang, China. 87. 907-1107 Song Dynasty. Seen as a sort of golden age for Chinese landscape art.
1. 909- (till 1171) Fatimids (former slave-soldiers) form Caliphate, with capital in Cairo 2. 918 Wang Kon, King of Koguryo, picks up pieces of crumbling Silla, and conquers other territories, establishing Koryo Kingdom in Korea 3. 976- Byzantine Empire attains its height in reign of Basil II 4. 10C Island-hopping colonization of Polynesia completed 5. 11C Building of Great Zimbabwe begins around now 6. 1001 Vikings settle on N. American coast 7.
1054 Great Schism. Eastern Orthodox Church breaks off from Rome 8. 1066 Normans conquer England 9. 1071 Seljuk Turks win at Manzikert, opening way to west 1095- (till 1099) First Crusade, called by Pope Urban II 10. 1104 Manchurian nomads, the Jurchen (later to be known as the Manchu), start mounting raids into Korea. 11. 12C- Gothic architecture (and associated crafts/arts [woodcarving, stained glass .).
Cathedrals (Chartres, Cologne, Sainte-Chapelle, etc). 12. 1146 Second Crusade 100.1150 Suryavarman II dies, having brought Khmer Kingdom to its greatest height with construction of Angkor Wat temple complex. Leaves dangerous power- vacuum behind him. 101.1165 Birth of Temujin or Genghis Khan. 102.
1171 England''s Henry II begins conquest and colonization of Ireland. 103.1174 Saladin takes Syria back from the crusaders. Makes himself Sultan, founding Ayyubid Dynasty. 104.1180-5 Genpei War in China between Taira and Minamoto clans. Minamoto no Yoritomo wins and appoints himself Shogun, 1192. 105.
1187 Saladin defeats Crusaders at Hattin 106.1189 Richard I, Lionheart, succeeds HII as King of England. Will spend most of his reign away on crusade 107.1189 York Massacre. 150 Jews commit suicide while being besieged in tower by angry mob. 108.1200 Emergence of Hausa states along Niger Valley 1206 Genghis Khan leads the Mongol armies. 30 to 60 million people are killed in their campaigns building the largest known land empire.
1215 England''s King John puts his stamp on the Magna Carta binding himself to obey the country''s laws such as Habeas Corpus 109.1259 Kublai Khan takes power in China 1275 Marco Polo starts on his alleged trip to China. He returns in 1295 to Venice. 110.1273 Death of Rumi greatest Persian poet 111.1300- (till 1519) Aztecs extending their rule through Valley of Mexico. 112.1320 Mansa Musa captures Timbuktu from Tuareg and makes it capital of Mali Empire, which reaches its greatest extent around now.
113.1320 Dante''s ''Divine Comedy'' 114.1320- (till 1350) Ancestors of the Maori (Polynesian settlers, perhaps from Marquesas) arrive in New Zealand 1337 The Hundred Years War between England and France starts when the king of France invades Gascony, which is held by the English King Edward III 1346-48 The Bubonic plague starts in China and moves westward aided by the ease of travel in the Mongol empire. 115.1368 Chu Yüan-chang becomes first Ming Emperor of China 1405 The Great Ming Voyages 1431 Joan of Arc burned at the stake. 116.1453 The Byzantine empire finally falls as Constantinople falls to the forces of Muhammad From the Renaissance to the Enlightenment, 1450-1750 117.1450s Gutenberg Bible (and printing revolution).
118.1469 Lorenzo de'' Medici Lord of Florence (Renaissance - Duomo, Raphael, etc). 119.1488 Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias the first European to sail around the southern tip of Africa and into.