9 eras · 227 topics · 209 with content
From the first stone tools to the present day.
A high-level outline of world history. Pick any topic for a short introduction, the real events that led to it, the legends people tell about it, and the rest of the history.
Stone Age
~3.3 million – ~3300 BCE
Prehistory
PaleolithicOld Stone Age, ~3.3 million – ~10,000 BCE
- Earliest stone tools (Lomekwi, Oldowan) in East Africa (coming soon)
- Homo erectus spreads out of Africa; control of fire (coming soon)
- Homo sapiens emerges in Africa (~300,000 BCE) (coming soon)
- Neanderthals and Denisovans in Eurasia (coming soon)
- Migration of modern humans across Asia, Europe, Australia (~65,000–45,000 BCE) and into the Americas (~20,000–15,000 BCE) (coming soon)
- Cave art and symbolic culture (Chauvet, Lascaux, Sulawesi) (coming soon)
- Ice Age hunter-gatherer societies (coming soon)
MesolithicMiddle Stone Age, ~10,000 – ~8000 BCE, varies by region
NeolithicNew Stone Age, ~10,000 – ~3300 BCE
- Neolithic Revolutionfarming and animal domestication (coming soon)
- Fertile Crescentwheat, barley, sheep, goats (coming soon)
- Chinamillet (Yellow River) and rice (Yangtze) (coming soon)
- Mesoamericamaize, beans, squash (coming soon)
- Early townsJericho, Çatalhöyük (coming soon)
- MegalithsStonehenge, Carnac (coming soon)
- Pottery, weaving, permanent villages (coming soon)
ChalcolithicCopper Age, ~4500 – ~3300 BCE
Bronze Age
~3300 – ~1200 BCE
the first civilizations and the start of recorded history
Mesopotamia
Ancient Egypt
Indus Valley Civilization~3300 – ~1300 BCE
Ancient China
Aegean
Anatolia and the Levant
Elsewhere
Late Bronze Age collapse~1200 – ~1150 BCE
Iron Age
~1200 – ~500 BCE
new powers and ideas
Near East
- Neo-Assyrian Empire5 legends
- Neo-Babylonian EmpireNebuchadnezzar II, Babylonian exile of the Jews5 legends
- Phoeniciansmaritime trade, alphabet spread, Carthage founded5 legends
- Kingdoms of Israel and Judah; formation of the Hebrew Bible5 legends
- Achaemenid Persian Empire (Cyrus the Great, 550 BCE)1 event · 5 legends
Greece
Europe beyond the Mediterranean
Classical Antiquity
~500 BCE – ~500 CE
Persia
Greece and the Hellenistic world
Rome
- Pyrrhic War; Rome against Pyrrhus of Epirus (280 – 275 BCE)4 events · 2 legends
- Roman Republic; Punic Wars vs. Carthage5 events · 5 legends
- The Gracchi; land reform and political violence (133 – 121 BCE)3 events · 2 legends
- Marius and Sulla Civil War (88 - 82 BCE)5 events · 3 legends
- Spartacus; the Third Servile War (73 – 71 BCE)5 events · 2 legends
- Julius Caesar; Augustus and the Roman Empire (27 BCE)5 events · 5 legends
- Pax Romana; Five Good Emperors, Hadrian's Wall (27 BCE – 180 CE)5 events · 5 legends
- Rise of Christianity5 events · 4 legends
- Crisis of the Third Century; Constantine; division into East and West5 events · 4 legends
- Fall of the Western Roman Empire (476 CE)3 events · 2 legends
South Asia
China
Americas
Africa
Medieval / Post-Classical Era
~500 – ~1500 CE
Europe
- Byzantine Empire (Eastern Roman Empire, to 1453)5 events · 5 legends
- Frankish kingdoms and Charlemagne's Carolingian Empire5 events · 5 legends
- Holy Roman Empire6 events · 3 legends
- Vikings (Scandinavia)8 events · 4 legends
- EnglandAnglo-Saxon kingdoms, Norman Conquest (1066), Magna Carta (1215)8 events · 4 legends
- FranceCapetian kings; Hundred Years' War8 events · 4 legends
- IberiaAl-Andalus and the Reconquista8 events · 4 legends
- Kievan Rus' and the Grand Duchy of Moscow8 events · 4 legends
- Poland, Hungary, Bohemia8 events · 4 legends
- Crusades; feudalism; Black Death (1347 – 1351)8 events · 4 legends
- Italian city-states (Venice, Florence, Genoa); early Renaissance8 events · 4 legends
Middle East and North Africa
Asia
- ChinaSui, Tang, Song, Yuan (Mongol), early Ming dynasties8 events · 4 legends
- Mongol Empire (Genghis Khan, from 1206)8 events · 4 legends
- JapanHeian period, Kamakura and Muromachi shogunates, samurai8 events · 3 legends
- KoreaUnified Silla, Goryeo, Joseon (from 1392)7 events · 4 legends
- IndiaRajput kingdoms, Chola Empire, Delhi Sultanate, Vijayanagara8 events · 2 legends
- Southeast AsiaKhmer Empire (Angkor), Srivijaya, Majapahit, Dai Viet8 events · 3 legends
Africa
Americas
Early Modern Era
~1500 – ~1800
Global
Europe
- Renaissance; Protestant Reformation (1517); Wars of Religion8 events · 4 legends
- Spain and Portugalcolonial empires8 events · 3 legends
- England / Great BritainTudors, English Civil War, Glorious Revolution, union with Scotland (1707)8 events · 3 legends
- Franceabsolute monarchy (Louis XIV)8 events · 4 legends
- Dutch RepublicGolden Age and global trade8 events · 4 legends
- Holy Roman EmpireThirty Years' War (1618 – 1648)8 events · 3 legends
- RussiaTsardom, Peter the Great, Catherine the Great8 events · 4 legends
- Prussia and Austria (Habsburgs) rise; Poland-Lithuania partitioned8 events · 3 legends
- French Revolution (1789)8 events · 4 legends
Middle East
Asia
- Chinalate Ming, then Qing dynasty (1644)8 events · 1 legend
- JapanSengoku period, Tokugawa shogunate, isolation (sakoku)8 events · 4 legends
- IndiaMughal Empire; Maratha Empire; British East India Company expands8 events · 4 legends
- KoreaJoseon dynasty8 events · 3 legends
- Southeast AsiaEuropean trading posts and colonies (Dutch East Indies, Spanish Philippines)8 events · 3 legends
Africa
Americas
- Spanish conquest of the Aztecs (1521) and Incas (1532)8 events · 3 legends
- Colonial New Spain, Peru, Brazil8 events · 4 legends
- British, French, and Dutch colonies in North America and the Caribbean8 events · 4 legends
- American Revolution (1775 – 1783); United States founded8 events · 4 legends
- Haitian Revolution begins (1791)6 events · 3 legends
Late Modern Era / 19th Century
~1800 – 1914
Global
Europe
- FranceNapoleonic Wars, restoration, Second Empire, Third Republic8 events · 4 legends
- United KingdomVictorian era; empire at its height8 events · 4 legends
- Germanyunification (1871)8 events · 3 legends
- Italyunification (Risorgimento, 1861)8 events · 3 legends
- Austria-Hungary; Russian Empire (serfdom abolished 1861)8 events · 4 legends
- Revolutions of 18488 events · 2 legends
Middle East
Asia
- ChinaOpium Wars, Taiping Rebellion, Qing decline8 events · 4 legends
- JapanMeiji Restoration (1868); rapid modernization; Russo-Japanese War (1904 – 1905)8 events · 2 legends
- IndiaBritish Raj (from 1858)8 events · 4 legends
- KoreaKorean Empire, then annexed by Japan (1910)8 events · 2 legends
- Southeast AsiaFrench Indochina, British Burma and Malaya; Siam stays independent8 events · 2 legends
Africa
Americas
- Latin American wars of independence (Bolívar, San Martín); Brazil independent (1822)8 events · 3 legends
- United Stateswestward expansion, Civil War (1861 – 1865), industrial rise8 events · 4 legends
- CanadaConfederation (1867)8 events · 1 legend
- MexicoMexican-American War, Reform era, Porfiriato8 events · 4 legends
20th Century
1914 – 2000
Global
- World War I (1914 – 1918)8 events · 3 legends
- Spanish flu pandemic (1918)8 events · 4 legends
- Great Depression (1929)8 events · 4 legends
- World War II (1939 – 1945); the Holocaust; atomic bombs8 events · 4 legends
- United Nations founded (1945)8 events · 3 legends
- Cold War (1947 – 1991); nuclear arms race; Space Race8 events · 3 legends
- Decolonization across Asia and Africa8 events · 3 legends
- Digital revolution; the Internet8 events · 4 legends
Europe
- RussiaRevolution (1917), Soviet Union, collapse (1991)8 events · 4 legends
- GermanyWeimar Republic, Nazi Germany, division, reunification (1990)8 events · 4 legends
- ItalyFascism under Mussolini8 events · 4 legends
- SpainCivil War, Franco dictatorship, democracy8 events · 4 legends
- United Kingdomend of empire8 events · 3 legends
- European integrationEEC, then European Union (1993)8 events · 3 legends
- Fall of the Berlin Wall (1989); Yugoslav Wars8 events · 4 legends
Middle East
Asia
- ChinaRepublic (1912), Civil War, People's Republic (1949), Cultural Revolution, economic reform8 events · 4 legends
- Japanimperial expansion, defeat in WWII, postwar economic miracle8 events · 4 legends
- India and Pakistanindependence and partition (1947); Bangladesh (1971)8 events · 4 legends
- Koreadivision, Korean War (1950 – 1953), South Korea's rise8 events · 4 legends
- Vietnamindependence wars, Vietnam War (to 1975)8 events · 2 legends
- Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysiaindependence8 events · 2 legends
- CambodiaKhmer Rouge8 events · 2 legends
Africa
Americas
- United Statessuperpower; Civil Rights Movement8 events · 4 legends
- Mexican Revolution (1910 – 1920)8 events · 4 legends
- CubaRevolution (1959), Missile Crisis (1962)8 events · 1 legend
- Latin American dictatorships and democratic transitions (Chile, Argentina, Brazil)8 events · 3 legends
- Canadafull independence (1982)8 events · 3 legends
21st Century
2000 – present
Global
- September 11 attacks (2001) and the War on Terror8 events · 4 legends
- Globalization; rise of smartphones and social media8 events · 4 legends
- Global Financial Crisis (2008)8 events · 4 legends
- Climate change becomes a central issue (Paris Agreement, 2015)8 events · 4 legends
- COVID-19 pandemic (2020 – 2023)8 events · 4 legends
- Artificial intelligence boom (2020s)8 events · 4 legends