Circa 2070 BC
Start of Xia dynasty period
Circa 1600 BC
Start of Shang Dynasty
Circa 1050 BC
Zhou conquest of Shang
771 BC
Western Zhou capital destroyed
480 BC
Battle of Thermopylae
475 BC
Start of Warring States Period
Between 431 BC and 404 BC
Peloponnesian War
221 BC
Qin Dynasty Established
202 BC
Han Dynasty Established
Between 9 and 23
Wang Mang interregnum
220
End of Han Dynasty; Cao Wei established
266
Jin Dynasty established; end of Cao Wei
280
Eastern Wu conquered by Jin
304
Start of Sixteen Kingdoms period
316
Jin capital of Chang'an captured
318
Eastern Jin established at Nanjing
439
Northern Wei reunifies northern China
581
Sui Dynasty established
589
Sui Dynasty reunifies China
Between 602 and 628
Byzantine-Sasanian War of 602-628
618
Tang Dynasty established
622
Muhammad flees to Medina
632
Death of Muhammad; Abu Bakr chosen as Caliph
656
Assassination of Uthman
Between 656 and 661
First Fitna
661
Assassination of Ali; Umayyad Caliphate established
Between 711 and 719
Umayyad conquest of Iberia
Between 740 and 743
Berber Revolt
Between 747 and 750
Abbasid Revolution
750
Abbasid Caliphate established
Between 755 and 763
An Lushan Rebellion
756
Emirate of Córdoba established
Between 756 and 788
Reign of Abd al-Rahman in Córdoba
762
Baghdad founded by al-Mansur
778
Battle of Roncevaux Pass
Between 786 and 809
Reign of Harun al-Rashid
793
Monastery on Lindisfarne sacked by Viking raiders
800
Pope Leo III crowns Charlemagne Holy Roman Emperor
Between 811 and 833
Reign of al-Ma'mun; House of Wisdom founded
Between 833 and 842
Reign of al-Mu'tasim
Between 861 and 870
"Anarchy at Samarra": Turkish guards play Caliphal whack-a-mole
Between 869 and 883
Zanj Rebellion
916
Khitan Liao dynasty established in Manchuria
960
Song Dynasty established
Circa 1000
Leif Erikson lands in Newfoundland
1038
Western Xia (Tanguts) established
1066
Norman conquest of England
1095
Pope Urban II proclaims the First Crusade
1099
Sack of Jerusalem by the First Crusade
1115
Jurchen Jin dynasty established
1124
Qara Khitai/Western Liao state founded
1127
Jurchens capture Kaifeng
1194
Last Seljuk sultan defeated by Khwarazmian Empire
1204
Sack of Constantinople by the Fourth Crusade
1206
Kurultai of 1206: Temujin acclaimed as Genghis Khan
Between 1209 and 1229
Albigensian Crusade
1211
Mongols first invade Jin dynasty
1215
Mongols sack Jin capital of Zhongdu/Yanjing (modern Beijing)
1215
King John of England signs the Magna Carta
1219
Mongols invade Khwarazmian Empire
1227
Death of Genghis Khan
1229
Ögedai proclaimed Great Khan at kurultai
Between 1236 and 1241
Mongol campaigns in Europe/Russia
1246
Güyük elected as Great Khan
1258
Mongol sack of Baghdad
Between 1260 and 1264
Toluid Civil War
1271
Yuan Dynasty established
1279
Mongols conquer Southern Song
Circa 1280
More Mongol invasions
Between 1309 and 1376
Avignon Papacy
Between 1337 and 1453
Hundred Years' War
1347
Black Death first arrives in Europe
1368
End of Yuan dynasty; Ming dynasty established
Between 1378 and 1417
Western Schism (antipopes!)
Between 1405 and 1433
Voyages of Zheng He
Between 1414 and 1418
Council of Constance
1431
Joan of Arc burned at the stake in Rouen
1453
Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II takes Constantinople
1492
Christopher Columbus lands in Hispaniola
1492
Death of Lorenzo de Medici
1492
Emirate of Granada surrenders to Ferdinand and Isabella
1494
Treaty of Tordesillas
1494
Charles VIII of France invades Italy
1498
Vasco da Gama lands in India
1517
Martin Luther posts his Ninety-Five Theses
1517
Ottoman annexation of Mamluk Egypt
1519
Hernán Cortés lands in Mexico, marches to Tenochtitlan
1521
Siege and destruction of Tenochtitlan by Hernán Cortés
1532
Francisco Pizarro lands in Peru; Battle of Cajamarca
1533
Sapa Inca Atahualpa executed by Francisco Pizarro
1582
Honnō-ji Incident; death of Oda Nobunaga
1588
Spanish Armada attempts to invade England
1598
Death of Toyotomi Hideyoshi
Between 1618 and 1648
Thirty Years' War
1644
End of Ming dynasty; Qing dynasty established
