Detailed logarithmic timeline

Main article: Logarithmic timeline

Visual representation of the Logarithmic timeline in the scale of the universe

This timeline shows the whole history of the universe, the Earth, and mankind in one table. Each row is defined in years ago, that is, years before the present date, with the earliest times at the top of the chart. In each table cell on the right, references to events or notable people are given, more or less in chronological order within the cell.

Each row corresponds to a change in log (time before present) (that is, the logarithm of the time before the present) of about 0.1 (using base 10 logarithms). The dividing points are taken from the R′′20 Renard numbers. Thus each row represents about 21% of the time from its beginning until the present.

The table is divided into sections with subtitles. Each of these sections contains about 68% of all the time from the beginning of the section until now.

Past

Visual timelines including ages

The following five timelines show the geologic time scale to scale. The first shows the entire time from the formation of the Earth to the present, but this gives little space for the most recent eon. The second timeline shows an expanded view of the most recent eon. In a similar way, the most recent era is expanded in the third timeline, the most recent period is expanded in the fourth timeline, and the most recent epoch is expanded in the fifth timeline. Horizontal scale is Millions of years (above timelines) / Thousands of years (below timeline)

13,800 million years ago to 5,500 million years ago

Time interval, before the present time. a=annus (year)	Period	Event, invention or historical development
13.8 Ga – 11 Ga		Big Bang occurs when ordinary space and time develop from a primeval state (possibly a false vacuum) described by a quantum theory of gravity or "theory of everything". Infant universe cools as it begins expanding outward. The universe is almost completely smooth, as quantum variations begin to cause slight variations in density. The expansion decelerates. Recombination; electrons combine with nuclei to form atoms, mostly hydrogen and helium, ordinary matter particles decouple from radiation. First stars. Formation of HD 140283, the "Methuselah star", seemingly more than 14 Ga ago. Formation of the star SMSS J031300.36−670839.3. Reionization begins, with certain wavelengths of light absorption by neutral hydrogen making Gunn–Peterson troughs. The resulting ionized gas (mainly free electrons) in the intergalactic medium causes some light scattering, but with much lower opacity than before recombination due to cosmic expansion and gas clumping into galaxies. Formation of galaxies. HD1 galaxy forms. Earliest quasars. The exoplanet PSR B1620-26 b forms. It is a gas giant, the oldest observed exoplanet in the Universe, orbiting a pulsar and a white dwarf. Visual limit of Hubble Deep Field. Since (known) universe still small in size, galaxy interactions become common as larger and larger galaxies form out of galaxy merger process. Due to many being Population III stars (some Population II stars at this time); they are much bigger and hotter, and their lifespans are fairly short. Unlike later generations of stars, these stars are metal-free. SN 1000+0216, oldest observed supernova, occurs. Terzan 5 forms as a small dwarf galaxy on a collision course towards the Milky Way. The dwarf galaxy carrying the Methuselah Star is consumed by the Milky Way. Formation of the star clusters NGC 6522 and Omega Centauri.
11 Ga – 9 Ga		Formation of the Gliese 581 planetary system, BX442 (oldest grand design spiral galaxy observed), globular cluster NGC 2808, red giant star Mu Cephei, and the Andromeda Galaxy. Barnard's Star (nearby red dwarf star) may have formed.
9 Ga – 7 Ga		Formation of the earliest Population I stars and planetary nebulae, followed by rocky terrestrial planets, moons, asteroids and icy comets. Formation of the exoplanets 55 Cancri B, Kepler 11 c and 51 Pegasi b. A galaxy collides with the Milky Way, giving rise to the so-called Gaia Sausage population of stars. Formation of Gliese 876 and its planets.
7 Ga – 5.5 Ga		Formation of the exoplanets Kepler 452b and GJ 1214 b and the stars Alpha Centauri and Tau Ceti.

5,500 million years ago to 1,800 million years ago

Time interval, before the present time. a=annus (year)	Period	Event, invention or historical development
5.5–4.5 Ga	Precambrian Supereon Hadean eon Pre-Noachian era (Mars) Pre-Tolstojan period (Mercury) Pre-Nectarian period (Moon)	The dark-energy dominated era starts after the matter-dominated era. Formation of the open star cluster Messier 67. A primal supernova possibly triggers the formation and evolution of the Solar System. Due to accretion, many smaller planets form in orbits around the proto-Sun, some with conflicting orbits, causing the Early Heavy Bombardment to begin. Many Galilean moons may have formed at this time, including Europa and Titan. The Earth-Moon system is formed after a giant impact by the hypothetical planetoid Theia A major collision with a Pluto-sized planetoid causes the Martian dichotomy, forming Mars' North Polar Basin. The Sun enters main sequence: solar wind sweeps Earth Moon system clear of debris (mainly dust and gas).
4.5–3.5 Ga	Hadean eon beginning of Archaean eon Eoarchean era Basin Groups era. Nectarian era Imbrian period	Formation of Kepler 438 b. Huge meteorite impact makes South Pole Aitken Basin on Moon, then huge mountain chain on lunar south limb forms. After moon forms, oldest lunar crust, formed of lunar anorthosite, differentiates from lower magmas. Earliest Earth crust probably made similarly out of similar material. Earth's crust cools enough to let oceans form. Oldest known mineral, found in the Jack Hills, Australia. Detrital zircons show presence of solid crust and liquid water. Resonance at Jupiter and Saturn's orbits moves Neptune into the Kuiper belt, causing disruption among asteroids and comets there, so the Late Heavy Bombardment batters the inner Solar System (possibly). Origin of life on Earth. Earliest known life forms: unusually high amounts of light isotopes of carbon, a common sign of life, found in mineral deposits aged 4.25 Ga located in the Jack Hills of Western Australia. Herschel Crater is formed on Mimas, a moon of Saturn. A meteorite impact on Mars makes Hellas Planitia, the largest unambiguous structure on planet. Acasta Gneiss of Northwest Territories, Canada, oldest known rock. Anseris Mons, lonely massif in Mars southern highlands, at the northeast edge of Hellas Planitia uplifted in the wake of a meteorite impact. Nectaris Basin forms from a large impact event causing ejecta from Nectaris to form the upper part of a densely cratered lunar highlands. Tolstoj (crater) forms on Mercury. Caloris Basin is formed on Mercury, leading to the formation of the "Weird Terrain" on the opposite side, and volcanic activity across Mercury. Rembrandt (crater) forms on Mercury. Evidence for hydrothermal vent microbes. Biogenic graphite in metasedimentary rocks aged 3.7 Ga discovered in Western Greenland. Weathering of land affects ocean chemistry. Alba Mons forms on Mars, largest volcano by area. Possible formation of Vaalbara supercontinent; oldest cratons on Earth (like the Canadian Shield, East European Craton and Kaapval craton) begin growing due to crustal disturbances along continents coalescing into Vaalbara – Pilbara Craton stabilizes. Makhonjwa Mountains uplifts on east edge of Kaapval craton, as these are the first mountains in Africa. Narryer Gneiss Terrane stabilizes: gneisses are "bedrock" for the formation of Yilgarn Craton in Australia – noted for survival of the Jack Hills where the oldest mineral, a zircon, was found. Lifetime of Last universal common ancestor, Bacteria and Archaea split. Varieties of Eubacteria begin to radiate out globally.
3.5–2.8 Ga	Archaean eon Paleoarchean era Mesoarchean era Amazonian period (Mars) Eratosthenian period	Microbial mat fossils and signs of life on land. in Western Australia. Stromatolites. In the "Amazonian period" on Mars the atmosphere thins to its present density when groundwater at its upper crust (megaregolith) begins to freeze, forming a thick cryosphere above a deeper liquid water zone. Impact cratering becomes the main geological force on the Moon. Onverwacht series form, containing some of the oldest microfossils which are mostly spheroidal, carbonaceous and algae-like. Formation of the continent Ur, covering between 12 and 16% of current continental crust. Formation of the Limpopo Belt. Gneiss and greenstone belts in the Baltic Shield laid down in the Kola Peninsula, Karelia, and northeast Finland. Formation of Kenorland, based upon Baltic shield core. Breakup of the continents Vaalbara and Ur as the latter becomes part of the supercontinent Kenorland. Possible Cyanobacteria (photosynthesis). Photosynthesizing cyanobacteria appear, using water as reducing agent, thereby making oxygen as waste. Oxygen initially oxidizes dissolved iron in the oceans, creating iron ore – over time, oxygen concentration in the air rises, acting as a poison for many bacteria. As the Moon is still very close to Earth and causes tides 1,000 feet (305 m) high, Earth is continually wracked by hurricane-force winds – these extreme mixing influences are thought to stimulate evolutionary processes. Microbial mats successfully form the first reef-building communities on Earth in shallow warm tidal pool zones. Stabilization of cratons. Sterane biomarkers possibly indicate the first eukaryotes. Possible largest crater on earth near Maniitsoq, Greenland.
2.8–2.2 Ga	Neoarchean era End of Archaean eon Beginning of Proterozoic eon Paleoproterozoic era Siderian period Rhyacian period	Saturation of oxygen in ocean sediments reached as oxygen begins to dramatically appear in Earth's atmosphere. Without oxygen sink, Earth's atmosphere becomes highly oxygenic. Lomagundi-Jatuli event (Great Oxygenation Event) led by cyanobacteria's oxygenic photosynthesis – various forms of Archaea and anoxic bacteria become extinct in the first major extinction event on Earth. Beginning of Huronian glaciation. Grypania fossils. Bushveld Igneous Complex. Transvaal Basin begins to form. Continents form. Last great tectonic period in Martian geologic history: Valles Marineris, largest canyon complex in the Solar System, probably a rift fault.
2.2–1.8 Ga	Paleoproterozoic era Orosirian period	End of Huronian glaciation. First unambiguous Cyanobacteria fossils, in Belcher Islands. First known eukaryotic acritarchs (probably). Earliest known eukaryote fossils. First known multicellular organisms collectively known as "Gabonionta" (Francevillian Group Fossil); Wopmay orogen along west border of the Canadian Shield. Bolide over 10 km in size creates Vredefort impact structure. Milky Way perturbed by collision. Lesser supercontinent Atlantica forms. Oklo natural nuclear reactor of Gabon made by uranium precipitant bacteria. Formation of Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in the Solar System. Oxygen levels briefly plummet (possibly). 10-km diameter bolide creates Sudbury Basin. Bacteriophages emerge around the time of the divergence of the prokaryotic and eukaryotic lineages. Columbia supercontinent.

1,800 million years ago to 550 million years ago

Time interval, before the present time. a=annus (year)	Period	Event, invention or historical development
1.8–1.4 Ga	Statherian period, end of Paleoproterozoic beginning of Mesoproterozoic era, Calymmian period	Supercontinent Columbia forms, one of whose fragments being Nena. Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy captured into orbit around Milky Way. Possibly multicellular red algae (eukaryotic). Erosion of granite introduces copper, zinc, and molybdenum into surface waters. Supercontinent Columbia splits apart: linked to continental rifting along west margin of Laurentia, east India, south Baltica, southeast Siberia, northwest South Africa and North China Block, formation of Ghats Province in India. First structurally complex eukaryotes (Horodyskia, colonial formamiferian).
1.4–1.1 Ga	Mesoproterozoic era Ectasian period, beginning of Stenian period	Major increase in Stromatolite diversity as common cyanobacteria colonies and reefs dominating tidal zones of oceans and seas. Eukaryotes found in lakes. Supercontinent of Rodinia formed, consisting of North American, East European, Amazonian, West African, East Antarctica, Australia and China blocks, largest global system yet made – surrounded by superocean Mirovia
1.1 Ga – 900 Ma	End of Stenian period, end of Mesoproterozoic era beginning of Neoproterozoic era and Tonian period. Beginning of Copernican period on the Moon	First dinoflagellates; photosynthetic, several develop mixotrophic ways of ingesting prey. Thus, they are the first predators, forcing acritarchs to develop defensive strategies. Formation of the Gamburtsev Mountain Range and the Vostok Subglacial Highlands, both in Antarctica. The Keweenawan Rift buckles in south central part of the North American plate, leaving behind large layers of rock that are exposed in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska, making a rift valley where Lake Superior develops. On the Moon, the emergence of impact craters possessing bright ray systems with optical characteristics of a relatively young regolith. Coming together of Rodinia supercontinent. Mercury changes into a desolate cold planet influenced by space erosion and solar wind extremes. Titan begins evolving recognizable surface features including rivers, lakes and deltas. Fossils of organisms with two kinds of cells (cellular differentiation). First radiation of dinoflagellates and acritarchs – increase in defensive systems indicate acritarchs are responding to carnivorous habits of dinoflagellates – decline in stromatolite reef populations begins. Rodinia starts to split. First Vaucheria algae. Trace fossils of colonial Horodyskia.
900–700 Ma	Tonian period, beginning of Cryogenian period	Traces of sponge-like animals. Rift develops on Rodinia between continental masses of Australia, east Antarctica, Indian subcontinent, Congo and Kalahari on one side and Laurentia, Baltica, Amazonia, West African and Rio de la Plata cratons on other – formation of Adamastor Ocean. Terrestrial fungi. First Protozoa appear. As creatures like Paramecium, Amoeba and Melanocyrillium appear, first animal-like cells become distinctive from plants – rise of herbivores in the food chain. Breakup of Rodinia, Sturtian glaciation begins, one of at least three episodes of Snowball Earth – great ice sheets cover most of planet stunting evolution of animal and plant life – survival based on small pockets of heat under ice. Volcanism on Venus practically stops.
700–550 Ma	Cryogenian period, Ediacaran period	Worm trail impressions – putative "burrows" under stromatolite mounds of uneven width and tapering, making biological origin difficult to defend – structures imply simple eating behaviours. Rifting of Rodinia comes to an end: formation of new superocean Panthalassa as the previous Mirovia ocean bed closes. Demosponges appear. Pannotia supercontinent forms, bordered by Iapetus and Panthalassa oceans, then breaks up into Laurentia, Gondwana, Angaraland and Baltica. Accumulation of atmospheric oxygen allows for formation of the ozone layer: prior to this, land-based life would have required other chemicals to attenuate ultraviolet radiation enough to allow colonization of land. Marinoan glaciation. First non-microscopic life (Ediacaran biota). Rangeomorphs. End of Marinoan Glaciation: last major "snowball Earth" event as future ice ages will feature less overall ice coverage of planet. First Ediacaran type fossils. First evolution of Charnia, a frond-like organism. Worm burrows and bilaterally symmetrical animals exist. Earliest arthropods and fungi.  – Dickinsonia, a slow moving disc like creature, first appears – finding of fat molecules in tissues make this animal the first confirmed true metazoan animal. Mollusk Kimberella appears. Shuram excursion of δ13C, possibly connected to the rise of the first Cambrian-like animals such as the arthropod-like Yilingia. First possible comb jellies, corals, and anemones. Ayers Rock begins forming.

550 million years ago to 180 million years ago

Time interval, before the present time. a=annus (year)	Period	Event, invention or historical development
550–450 Ma	End of Ediacaran. Beginning of Phanerozoic Eon (lasting till now) and Paleozoic Era. Cambrian period (541–485 Ma) – Ordovician (485–443 Ma)	Small shelly fauna appear. Cambrian explosion. Fish-like Myllokunmingia, Haikouichthys, and Pikaia. First conodonts. First graptolites. Trilobites. Radiodonts, including the earliest known large predators. All modern mineralized phyla present. Bivalves. Arthropods dominant until arrival of chambered nautili. Stifling hot "Dead Interval". End-Botomian mass extinction. Paradoxides trilobites appear, largest members of Cambrian trilobites. Earliest crustaceans. First great apex predator Anomalocaris dominates. Mountain building at the northern parts of Ireland and Britain, Scandinavian Mountains, Svalbard, east Greenland and north central Europe. Earliest brittle stars. Jawless Thelodont fish. Appalachian Mountains form. First fossils of plants on land. Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event. First eurypterids or "sea scorpions". Collision of asteroids gives rise to L chondrite group of meteoroids and several craters ca. 470 Ma ago (Ordovician meteor event). First crinoids. Andean-Saharan glaciation. First starfish, jawed fish or Gnathostomata, horseshoe crabs sea urchins, placoderms, cartilaginous fish (such as sharks) and bony fish. Plants and arthropods colonize land.
450–350 Ma	Silurian (443–419 Ma) – Devonian (416–359 Ma)	Ordovician-Silurian extinction events. Great Glen Fault begins shaping Scottish Highlands. Earliest appearance of Cooksonia, the oldest known plant to have stems with vascular tissue and thus the transitional form between primitive nonvascular bryophytes and vascular plants. First creature to breathe air. First ray-finned fish and land scorpions. Prototaxites, tree-like organism, probably a fungus or lichen. First clear evidence of land animals (millipedes or scorpions). First wood. Cephalaspis, an iconic member of Osteostraci, appears, the most advanced of jawless fish. Its boney armor serves as a shield against Placoderms and as a way to live in calcium-poor fresh water. First toothed fish and nautiloids. First of many modern groups, including tetrapods. Jaekelopterus, giant "sea scorpion". First amphibians, the Labyrinthodontia, the group that now includes reptiles and mammals. Archaeopteris (fern-like trees), Tiktaalik (lungfish) walks on land. Ichthyostega. Cladoselache, an early shark, first appears. First seeds., coelacanths. Kellwasser event (late Devonian extinction). Vascular plants begin to make earliest stable soils on land. First crabs and ferns. Large predatory lobe finned fish Hyneria. Hangenberg event with atmospheric oxygen falling to 13%. Few arthropods left on land. Beginning of Karoo Ice Age. Romer's gap in the tetrapod record.
350–280 Ma	Carboniferous (359–299 Ma), beginning of Permian period (299–252 Ma)	First large sharks, ratfish and hagfish. Karoo Ice Age. Formation of Pangaea supercontinent. Oxygen levels rise and animals colonize the land a second time. Agaricocrinus americanus, a representative of the Crinoids, appears as part of successful radiation of echinoderms. First amniotes. Millipedes up to 2.6 metres in length. First winged insects and reptiliomorphs such as Solenodonsaurus and Eogyrinus. Synapsids and then pelycosaurs (forerunners of mammals). First beetles. Reptiles. Hylonomus makes its first appearance as one of the oldest reptiles. Diplocaulus appears in swampy regions having an unusual boomerang-like skull. First diapsids; Meganeura, the giant dragonfly dominates the skies. Carboniferous Rainforest Collapse. Last great period of mountain building in Europe and North America because of the final suturing of Pangaea – Ural mountains are uplifted. Oldest known octopus. Dimetrodons. Prionosuchus, a large carnivorous amphibian. Sirius, brightest star in Earth's sky, forms.
280–220 Ma	Permian period, end of Paleozoic era beginning of Mesozoic era, Triassic period (252–201 Ma)	Cycads, seed ferns. First therapsids. Oxygen in atmosphere peaks, around 30%. Gorgonopsians and other therapsids (forerunners of mammals) displace pelycosaurs as dominant land animals. First gorgonopsia, apex predators of the Late Permian. End-Capitanian extinction event. Cynodonts (forerunners of mammals). First warm-blooded animals. Siberian Traps eruption and Permian-Triassic extinction event. Dinosaur tracks. 40 °C sea temperatures during Smithian-Spathian extinction. Turtles. Archosaurs: dominance of Suchians (forerunners of crocodilians). First pterosaurs, ichthyosaurs. Cynodonts and rhynchosaurs diversify. First dinosaurs and teleosti. First crocodilians and flies.. Gymnosperms dominant. Dicroidium flora common on land. Manicouagan impact structure formed. First lizards.
220–180 Ma	Triassic, Jurassic (201–145 Ma)	First redwoods. Long necked sauropods and Coelophysis, one of the earliest theropods. Plateosaurus in central and northern Europe, Greenland and North America. Earliest elasmosauridae. Central Atlantic magmatic province eruptions, apparently cause global warming and the Triassic–Jurassic extinction event – extinction of conodonts and many other animals. Oxygen in atmosphere hits low of about 12%. First squamata. Pliosaurs appear, along with many groups of sea invertebrates. Breakup of Pangaea into Gondwana at south and Laurasia at north. Mammals. Gymnosperms (especially conifers, Bennettitales, and cycads) and ferns common. Sauropods, carnosaurs, stegosaurs. Toarcian turnover (extinction). Gondwana breaks up.

180 million years ago to 55 million years ago

Time interval, before the present time. a=annus (year)	Period	Event, invention or historical development
180–140 Ma	Jurassic	First stegosaurs. First salamanders and newts. Cynodonts go extinct. First rays and Glycymerididae bivalves. The first gliding mammal, volaticotherium, appears. First ceratopsians. Possible true polar wander moves east Asia southward by 25°, leading to aridification. Indian subcontinent splits from East Gondwana. First triconodonts. Stegosaurs and theropods diversify. First pine trees. Juramaia sinensis, the first known eutherian mammal. First birds (Archaeopteryx). Dinosaurs are dominant terrestrial animal. The Small Magellanic Cloud passes through the Large Magellanic Cloud. First mantises. First orb weaver spiders.
140–110 Ma	Early Cretaceous (145 – 100 Ma), Aptian and Albian ages	Laurasia and Gondwana continue to separate as the Atlantic Ocean forms. First anglerfish. Flowering plants. First Enantiornithes or "backward birds". Sinodelphys szalayi, the first known marsupial, appears in China. First ankylosauridae. Ontong Java eruption. Earliest known snakes. Early-Aptian anoxic event. Seas cool by 5 °C during 2 million years. Earliest known monotremes. Eomaia, similar to placental mammals. First hesperornithes.
110–90 Ma	Late Cretaceous: Cenomanian, Turonian, Coniacian, and Santonian ages	Spinosaurus. A supervolcano in eastern Australia sends particles to the west coast. Bees. Mammals diversify into many forms. The earliest modern species of palm trees appear. Cenomanian-Turonian boundary event (oceans anoxic for half a million years), extinction of ichthyosaurs. Ticks.
90–70 Ma	Campanian and Maastrichtian ages of the Cretaceous	First hadrosauridae. Dominance of angiosperm rosids. Australia splits from Antarctica. First ants. Rocky Mountains begin forming. First velociraptors. Multituberculates diversify. Zealandia breaks away from Australia. Mosasaurs are dominant marine predator. Polaris forms.
70–55 Ma	End of Mesozoic era start of the Cenozoic era and the Paleogene period, Paleocene epoch (66–56 Ma)	Evidence for grasses in dinosaur dung (coprolites). Tyrannosaurus rex. Earliest species of Triceratops. Quetzalcoatlus, one of the largest flying animals, appears. Crocodiles. Madagascar breaks away from India. Bolide creates Chicxulub Crater. Deccan Traps. Possible Shiva crater. Cretaceous-Paleogene Extinction Event, non-avian dinosaurs die out. First creodonts. First penguins. Evolution of the first primates and miacids. Flightless birds diversify. Mammals dominate. Titanoboa, largest known snake. Eritherium, the earliest known proboscid. Lemurs. Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum. Gastornis. Many modern bird groups appear. Earliest whale ancestors. Earliest rodents, lagomorphs, armadillos, sirenians, proboscideans, perissodactyls, artiodactyls and mako sharks. Angiosperms diversify.

55 million years ago to 18 million years ago

Time interval, before the present time. a=annus (year)	Period	Event, invention or historical development
55–45 Ma	Early Eocene	First creodonts. Earliest equid, Eohippus or Hyracotherium. First perching birds. First bats. The Andes begin to rise. Divergence of the ancestors of cats and dogs. Primates diversify. Brontotheres, tapirs and rhinos appear. India crashes into Asia, giving rise to the Himalayas. First cetaceans, (whales) and simians. Azolla event reduces carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Camels arise in North America.
45–35 Ma	Eocene	Catarrhini. Earliest canines. Lepidoptera insects become recognizable. The Gastornis goes extinct. Basilosaurus. Primates cross the Atlantic to South America and become the ancestors of New World monkeys. First Nimravids. Earliest elephant-like animal, the Moeritherium. Grasses common. 100 km Popigai impact structure in Siberia. The Grasslands appear. Glyptodonts, ground sloths, peccaries, eagles and hawks appear. 2-mile (3.2 km) diameter bolide creates 90 km Chesapeake Bay impact crater.
35–28 Ma	Beginning of Oligocene epoch (34 – 23 Ma)	The Tasmanian Seaway and the Drake Passage open, creating the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Earliest thylacinid marsupials. Brontotheres go extinct. Pigs. South America splits from Antarctica. Baleen whales appear. Gould Belt of stars created. Alps begin to rise. Earliest indricotheria, "hornless rhinoceros" about 6 meters high. Paraceratherium. First pelicans. Eruption of La Garita Caldera in Colorado, one of the largest in Earth's history.
28–22 Ma	Oligocene, Chattian age	First deer. Proailurus cats. Pelagornis sandersi, largest known flying bird with wingspan of 6 or 7 meters. First hyenas. Puijila darwini, early pinniped. Daeodon shoshonensis ("terminator pig"). Nimravids, "false sabre-toothed cats", die out in America.
22–18 Ma	Beginning of Neogene period, Miocene epoch (23 to 5 Ma), Aquitanian age	Dawn bear which is ancestor of bears. Giraffes and giant anteaters. Sharp decrease in water exchange between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea due to partial closure of Mesopotamian Seaway. Cooling and drying of the climate in North America. Pseudaelurus felid comes to America.

18 million years ago to 5.5 million years ago

Time interval, before the present time. a=annus (year)	Period	Event, invention or historical development
18–14 Ma	Miocene, Burdigalian age, Langhian age	Hominidae split from gibbons. Hippopotamus. First mastodons, bovids and kangaroos. Australian megafauna diversify. Antarctica now mostly ice-covered. Africa and Arabia crash into Eurasia, end of the Tethys Sea. Columbia River basalts. First deinotheres, similar to elephants but with tusks on their lower jaw. Nördlinger Ries impact crater. Mid-Miocene Climatic Optimum, Middle Miocene disruption.
14–11 Ma	Miocene, Serravallian age	Last of Adapiformes. Final closure of Mesopotamian Seaway. Anoiapithecus, one of the earliest hominids, in Spain.
11–9 Ma	Miocene, Tortonian age	Olympic Mountains reach present height. Insects diversify. First large horses. Camels cross from North America to Asia. Rudapithecus, a great ape that was probably bipedal.
9–7 Ma	Miocene, Tortonian age	Earliest Gigantopithecus, ape almost 10 feet (3.0 m) tall. C4 grasses become common. Betelgeuse forms. Crocodiles cross Atlantic to America.
7–5.5 Ma	Miocene, Messinian age	Red pandas diversify. Graecopithecus ("Greek ape"), possibly ancestor of hominins. "Toumaï", of species Sahelanthropus tchadensis, shows several human traits. Earliest Thylacosmilus, sabre-toothed marsupial of South America. Australopithecines diversify. Orrorin tugenensis, possible hominin. Apparent hominin footprints near Trachilos, on Crete. Mediterranean Sea dries up (Messinian Event). Human-chimp split. Appearance of genus Ardipithecus.

5.5 million years ago to 1.8 million years ago

Time interval, before the present time. a=annus (year)	Period	Event, invention or historical development
5.5–4.5 Ma	Pliocene, Zanclean	Zanclean Deluge. Ardipithecus ramidus, Australopithecus anamensis. The Colorado Plateau reaches its present height, and the course of Colorado River is now close to present one. Divergence of polar bears and brown bears. Possible date of 52 km Karakul crater in Tajikistan. Mammoths appear.
4.5–3.5 Ma	Pliocene, Zanclean	Earliest Australopithecus afarensis, bipedal great ape. First zebras. Hominin fossil footprints in Laetoli, Tanzania.
3.5–2.8 Ma	Pliocene, Piacenzian	Evidence of use of stone tools by A. afarensis. Carbon dioxide levels like today for long period, giving Mid-Pliocene Warm Period temperatures about 3 °C higher than in pre-industrial 19th century, and sea level 20 meters higher. Human line loses fur (possibly). Possible time of Isthmus of Panama connecting South and Central America. Great American Interchange. Cats, condors, raccoons and camelids move south; armadillos, hummingbirds, and opossums move north. Lucy, member of the species Australopithecus afarensis. First Megatherium americanum giant sloth.
2.8–2.2 Ma	Beginning of Quaternary period, Pleistocene epoch, and Gelasian age, Lower Paleolithic	Homo habilis appears. Pliocene-Pleistocene boundary extinction of marine megafauna, including megalodon shark, possibly caused by a nearby supernova or supernovas of the Scorpius–Centaurus association, which deposited 60Fe on Earth. Paranthropus. Oldowan tools used near Gona, Ethiopia. Possible tool use at Sivalik Hills, India. Start of ice age, aka Quaternary glaciation. Impact of Eltanin asteroid (1 to 4 km in diameter) in the Pacific. Stone artifacts in Longgupo (Dragon Bone Slope) in China. (see also Wushan Man) Amazon River takes present shape.
2.2 –1.8 Ma	Gelasian	Island Park Caldera in Wyoming and Idaho. Basin of Congo River acquires present shape. Homo erectus appears. Dmanisi Man (Homo erectus georgicus) at the Dmanisi site, Georgia and in Xiaochangliang, China. Human-like Australopithecus sediba. Homo ergaster in Africa. First signs of the Acheulian culture in Kenya. Last known terror birds.

1.8 million years ago to 550,000 years ago

Time interval, before the present time. a=annus (year)	Period	Event, invention or historical development
1.8–1.4 Ma	Beginning of Calabrian age	Australopithecines go extinct. Out of Africa I migration by Homo erectus. First true hand axes. Homo erectus found in Europe.
1.4–1.1 Ma	Calabrian age	The Henry's Fork Caldera in Idaho erupts. Homo antecessor. Paranthropus dies out.
1.1 Ma – 900 ka	Calabrian age	Stone artifacts on Flores, Indonesia, made by hominins. This required crossing seas at least 19 km wide. Possible evidence of cooking with fire. 14 km Zhamanshin Crater formed in Kazakhstan. Hominin footprints and tools in England.
900–700 ka	End of Calabrian age, beginning of Chibanian age (Middle Pleistocene)	Species of early humans found in Yun County, Hubei, sharing features of Homo erectus and Homo sapiens. Australasian strewnfield. Evidence of use of fire and olives, acorns, and other plant based foods, at Daughters of Jacob Bridge, Palestine. Brunhes–Matuyama reversal. Hominins present in Luzon, Philippines, possible ancestors of the Flores man. Homo floresiensis-like creatures on Flores, Indonesia.
700–550 ka	Günz glaciation	Yellowstone Caldera supervolcano spreads ash over North America. Homo antecessor in Spain. Homo heidelbergensis. Cut marks on human bones indicate cannibalism.

550,000 years ago to 180,000 years ago

Time interval, before the present time. a=annus (year)	Period	Event, invention or historical development
550–450 ka	Günz-Mindel interglacial Mindel glaciation	Stone points possibly for spears used by Homo heidelbergensis in South Africa. First brown bears. Etching on a shell in Trinil in East Java, done by Homo erectus. Wooden construction by hominins, in Zambia. Homo heidelbergensis in Germany, France, and Greece. Oldest known spear, Clacton-on-Sea.
450–350 ka	Mindel glaciation, Mindel-Riss interglacial	Venus of Tan-Tan (300 to 500 ka ago) and Venus of B'rekhat Ram (231 to 800 ka BC). Earliest appearance of proto-Neanderthal traits. Sima de los Huesos hominins in Spain, related to Neanderthals. First known homicide victim was dropped into cave. Weald–Artois Anticline breached by a massive glacial lake outburst flood, creating a valley under present-day Strait of Dover. Hominin footprints in Italy (Ciampate del Diavolo).
350–280 ka	Beginning of the Middle Paleolithic	Oldest known Middle Stone Age tools. Long-distance transport of obsidian. Earliest known Homo sapiens, at Jebel Ighud, Morocco. Schöningen Spears in an area soon covered by ice. Evidence for use of fire to pretreat stone for making blades, in the Qesem cave in Palestine. Stone tools in Ḥaʼil Province of Arabia. Geminga supernova.
280–220 ka		Jinniushan woman near Korea, with traits between Homo erectus and Homo sapiens. Dali Man in China, with some features of Homo sapiens. Homo naledi skeletons in the Rising Star cave system, South Africa – evidence of deliberate entombing of the dead, use of fire, and etchings on cave walls. Estimated time of Y-chromosomal Adam. Earliest appearance of Homo neanderthalensis based on evidence of Saccopastore skulls. Homo sapiens Omo remains in Ethiopia. Bedding made of ash and grass. Strait of Dover formed. Britain (possibly) becomes an island for the first time. Apparent date of stone tools at Hueyatlaco site in Mexico.
220–180 ka	Illinoian Stage (Riss glaciation)	Homo sapiens in Greece. Homo sapiens at Misliya cave in Palestine.

180,000 years ago to 55,000 years ago

Time interval, before the present time. a=annus (year)	Period	Event, invention or historical development
180–140 ka	Illinoian Stage (Riss glaciation)	Underground circular piles of stalagmites built by Neanderthals. Use of ochre, fine stone blades and seafood at Pinnacle Point, South Africa. Clear evidence of roasting of plant-based food (rhizomes of Hypoxis). Herto Man in Ethiopia. Denisovans in Tibet. Start of Mousterian culture. Peopling of Africa: Khoisan split, age of mtDNA haplogroup L0. Estimated time of Mitochondrial Eve.
140–110 ka	Beginning of Late Pleistocene, Eemian interglacial	Oldest evidence of seafaring, based on human artifacts in Crete. Appearance of full-blown Neanderthal traits. Stone tools on Crete (40 km from nearest neighboring land). Signs of early humans in California. Sangoan culture. Neanderthals make ornaments from eagle claws. Temperatures generally higher during Eemian interglacial than during Holocene. Sea levels 5 to 10 meters above current level. Evidence of humans in southwest Victoria, Australia. Late Eemian Aridity Pulse. Tools, including a point probably made from a sperm whale tooth, used in Morocco for working leather and fur. Tools used at Talepu site in Sulawesi. Shell jewelry in Spain, apparently made by Neanderthals. Jawbone with modern human chin in Guangxi Province.
110–90 ka		Last evidence of Homo erectus. Shells with holes, probably used as beads, at Es Skhul cave on Mount Carmel. Abbassia Pluvial. Denisovan "art" (parallel lines). Humans with modern teeth in China (Fuyan Cave, between 80 and 120 ka ago). Paint made at Blombos Cave. Khoisanid backmigration from Southern Africa to East Africa. First structures: sandstone blocks set in semicircle with oval foundation, built in Egypt near Wadi Halfa near Egypt–Sudan border. Meter-high Flores Man on island of Flores, Indonesia. Human burial at Jebel al-Qafzeh in Palestine.
90–70 ka	Beginning of Würm glaciation	Homo sapiens by lake in what is now the Nafūd desert of Arabia. Shell beads in Taforalt Caves, Morocco. Recent African origin: Southern Dispersal of sub-Saharan Africans and non-Africans. Use of insecticidal Cape laurel on beds at Sibudu Cave in South Africa. Tools made in Kota Tampan, Malaysia, probably by Homo sapiens. Abstract designs engraved on ochre and pressure flaking, at Blombos Cave in South Africa. Use of glue at Sibudu Cave. Arrowhead-like projectile points and possibly poisoned arrows in southern Africa.
70–55 ka	c. 68,000–53,000 BCE	Supervolcano Toba in Indonesia erupts, covering south Asia with ash and starting an ice age lasting approximately 1,000 years. Evidence of Aboriginal Australians Culture. Cave art in Spain, by either Neanderthals or Homo sapiens. Humans in Northern Territory, Australia. Neanderthal admixture to Eurasians. Homo luzonensis in the Philippines. Sewing needle like implement used in Sibudu Cave, South Africa. Engraved ostrich eggs in Diepkloof Rock Shelter. Circular structure of posts near Poitiers, built by Neanderthals. Neanderthals reenter Britain.

55,000 years ago to 18,000 years ago

Time interval, before the present time. a=annus (year)	Approx. period (BCE)	Event, invention or historical development
55–45 ka	53,000–43,000 BCE	Skeleton of a Neanderthal in Iraq who lived 10 to 15 years after losing his forearm. Remains of string in France. Arrowheads used by Homo sapiens at Grotte Mandrin. Sewing needle in Denisovan Cave. Mousterian Pluvial in North Africa. The Sahara desert is wet and fertile. The Late Stone Age starts in Africa. Australia starts to become largely desert, maybe due to man. Oldest known depiction of animals (warty pigs, in Sulawesi). Early European modern humans. Châtelperronian cultures in France.
45–35 ka	43,000–33,000 BCe Upper Paleolithic	Mungo Man in Australia. Homo sapiens in Bacho Kiro cave in Bulgaria. Oldest painted story in Sulawesi. Cro-Magnon people in France, Britain, and Italy. Neanderthal Divje Babe flute – prehistoric music. Mining of hematite at Ngwenya Mine in Swaziland. Deep-sea fishing of tuna. Brief geomagnetic Laschamp Excursion. 50-meter diameter asteroid creates 1.2-km Meteor Crater in Arizona. Humans in Tianyuan Cave, China. Denisova hominin lives in the Altai Mountains. Aterian tool making Tools made from animal bone, hematite, and other stones. Foot bones seem to indicate wearing of shoes. Ash from giant Campanian Ignimbrite eruption separates Middle Paleolithic from Upper Paleolithic cultures. Neanderthals disappear. Start of Aurignacian culture. Paleolithic flutes and Venus of Hohler Fels, Dyed flax fibers in Georgia.
35–28 ka	33,000– 26,000 BCE	Exchange of ostrich eggshell beads over hundreds of kilometers. Oldest known skull of dog (Siberia), having wolf-like teeth. Oats made into flour. Human presence in Japan. Lion man of the Hohlenstein Stadel ivory sculpture. Chauvet Cave paintings. Successful surgical amputation (Borneo). Last Glacial Maximum (peak at 24490 BC). Stone mortar and pestle used to grind fern and cattail tubers. Boomerang made from a mammoth tusk in Poland. Avian figurine in ivory and stone phallus of Hohler Fels. Earliest known ritual cremation, Mungo Lady, at Lake Mungo, Australia. Paintings in 500 Bhimbetka rock shelters in India. Venus of Dolní Věstonice (oldest known ceramic). Earliest ovens. New Guinea is populated by colonists from Asia or Australia. Impression of rope on fired clay. End of Aurignacian culture, beginning of Gravettian.
28–22 ka	26,000–20,000 BCE	Earliest known twisted rope. Harpoons and saws. Imprint of woven cloth on clay (Czech Republic). Venus of Lespugue (ivory sculpture). First known spear thrower or atlatl. Humans present in Mexico. Oruanui eruption in New Zealand. Use of natural fiber for baby carriers, clothes, bags, baskets, and nets. Venus of Brassempouy (carving of face). Enclosures made of mammoth bones at Dolní Věstonice archaeological site in Moravia. Lapedo child having mixture of Neanderthal and H. sapiens features at Abrigo do Lagar Velho, Portugal. Evidence suggests humans living in Alaska and Yukon, North America.
22–18 ka	20,000–16,000 BCE	End of Gravettian culture, start of Solutrean. Ishango Bone, thought by some to be a tally stick. 1.9-km Tenoumer crater in Mauritania. Human footprints in New Mexico (White Sands National Park). Apparent stone tools in use in Brazil (Toca da Tira Peia). Kebaran culture in the Levant: start of Epipalaeolithic in the Levant. Khoisanid migrate to Central Africa. Remains of mud huts in Ohalo, by the Sea of Galilee. Pottery sherds in Xianren Cave. Reported date of artifacts found on Cactus Hill in Virginia.

18,000 years ago to 5,500 years ago

Time interval, before the present time. a=annus (year)	Period	Event, invention or historical development
18–14 ka	16,000–12,000 BCE	Proto-Afroasiatic language possibly spoken at this time. Vanishing of Solutrean. Start of Magdalenian culture. Clay figurines of animals. Lascaux cave paintings and 7mm diameter rope. Wisent (European bison) sculpted in clay inside the Le Tuc d'Audoubert cave on the French Pyrenees. Minatogawa Man on Okinawa. Stone tools at the Buttermilk Creek Complex in Texas. Earliest supposed date for domestication of pig. Earliest known burial of dog alongside humans. Evidence of massacre at Cemetery 117, prehistoric warfare. Older Dryas cold spell. Most recent glaciation gradually ends. Sea level rises 30 meters in a few hundred years (Meltwater pulse 1A). Start of African humid period. Start of Natufian culture in the Levant. Flatbread (in Jordan).
14–11 ka	12,000–9000 BCE End of Pleistocene epoch, beginning of Holocene	Clovis culture in the Americas. Tooth drilling and dental filling in Italy. Earliest date given for domestication of sheep. Possible outburst of water from Lake Agassiz brings about the Younger Dryas cold spell. Grain harvesting along the Nile, grain grinding culture makes the first stone sickle Australian aborigine-type people in Brazil (Serra da Capivara National Park). Meltwater pulse 1B causes 7.5 meter rise in sea level. Quaternary extinction event of large animals. Many ice age megafauna go extinct – Giant ground sloth, woolly rhinoceros, Irish elk, cave bear, giant short faced bears, cave lion, and the last of sabre-toothed cats. Mammoths go extinct in Eurasia and North America, but persist on Wrangel Island. Natufian Shaman burial and earliest known banquet. Vela Supernova only 800 light-years away. Spartel flooded (possible site of Atlantis). Arrow-shaft straighteners used by Natufian culture in the Levant. Eruptions at Virunga Mountains blocked Lake Kivu outflow into Lake Edward and the Nile, diverting water to Lake Tanganyika, Earliest date given for domestication of goat. Göbekli Tepe (temple-like site of megalithic monuments and art). Lime. Earliest known mummified body, the Spirit Cave mummy in Nevada. Neolithic Revolution (agriculture begins, domestication of animals). Earliest layers of Jericho. Urfa Man, earliest naturalistic life-sized sculpture of a human, in Upper Mesopotamia. Domestication and agriculture allow humans to live in one place – civilization.
11–9 ka	9000–7000 BCE Transition from Mesolithic to Neolithic. Beginning of Pre-Pottery Neolithic B in Mideast, 9th millennium BCE, 8th millennium BCE	Copper pendant in Iraq. Toothpicks and birch-bark chewing gum. Giant ground sloths (Megatherium) goes extinct. Equidae go extinct in North America. Humans in present-day southwestern United States begin Archaic–Early Basketmaker Era, leading to art styles for pottery and basketmaking still used in the region. Early Pueblo architecture (Chaco Culture National Historical Park). City of Byblos appears to be settled during PPNB. Neolithic remains of several buildings at the site. Sea rises about 20 m in the 9th millennium BCE. Start of inex series of solar eclipses every 29 years, unbroken till present. Cannabis achenes at archeological site in the Oki Islands, probably indicating use by human. Bas relief of dancing at Nevalı Çori. Earliest supposed date for domestication of cattle. First known monumental building (stone tower 8 meters high), in Jericho. Possible lunar time reckoner at Warren Field in Aberdeenshire. Migration of people to the Nile, creating a more centralized society and civilized farming economy. In north Mesopotamia, barley and wheat farming begin; they are first used for beer, gruel, and soup, and eventually for bread. In agriculture at this time, the planting stick is used rather than the plow.\ Post-glacial sea level rise decelerates, slowing submersion of landmasses taking place over previous 10,000 years. Possible identical ancestors point: time of latest subgroup of human population comprising all those that are ancestors of all present-day humans, while all other people of the time have no present-day descendants. Dog sleds used in the Arctic. Earliest given date for domestication of the cat. First human settlement at Amman; ʿAin Ghazal Neolithic settlement. Oldest cloth yet found (Çayönü). Alcoholic beverage (in China). Mead. Small stone circle at Atlit Yam, Palestine. Farming of animals and cereal in the eastern Sahara. In the Nabta Playa west of the Nile, deep year-round water wells are dug and large, organized settlements are built to planned arrangements.
9–7 ka	7000–5000 BCE End of Pre-Pottery Neolithic B. Ubaid period. 7th millennium BCE, 6th millennium BCE	Emergence of the Jiahu culture in China. First large scale fish fermentation in south Sweden. Settlement of Mehrgarh, one of the oldest sites with evidence of farming in South Asia. Trepanation. Possible settlement of Tell Ramad (near Damascus). Lake Agassiz largely empties into the Hudson Bay. Finse event, or "8.2-kiloyear event" (Bond event #5), a 200-year cold spell, starting around 6250 BC, perhaps caused by final collapse of the Laurentide Ice Sheet, causing drier conditions in East Africa and Mesopotamia. Storegga tsunami. Doggerland flooded, cutting off Britain. Meltwater pulse 1C causes 6.5 meter rise in sea level. Mount Etna causes tsunami, possibly ending Atlit Yam settlement (Palestine). Possible evidence of beer brewing at Göbekli Tepe. Lead smelting, pottery and finger rings at Çatalhöyük. Rock painting of collecting wild honey (Spain). Opium. Wine and beer. Cheesemaking (Poland). Sea rises 15 to 20 m in the 6th millennium BCE. Holocene thermal maximum brings temperatures slightly warmer than in the recent past. Older Peron "transgression" (high sea level). Sahara region not desert (Neolithic Subpluvial). Domestication of the horse. Pottery revolutionized by the potter's wheel. Evidence of homes in Ḥalab (Aleppo). Vinča culture in southeastern Europe. First known smelting of copper (Serbia). Stone roofed subterranean chambers and other subterranean complexes at Nabta Playa with buried sacrificed cattle. First ritual landscapes, mustatils in Arabia. Alleged archaeoastronomy stone megalith in Nabta Playa.
7–5.5 ka	5000–4000 BCE Chalcolithic. 5th millennium BCE, beginning of 4th millennium BCE	First wrought gold known, in Varna necropolis. Maize cultivation in Central America. First fermented alcohol in Egypt. Earliest copper-tin bronze. Plough introduced to Europe. Mesoamerica enters formative era. Megaliths spread through Europe. Last mastodons. Arsenical bronze. Copper Age. Cooper Needles are invented by Egyptians. Continuation of Holocene thermal maximum. Akahoya eruption in Japan creates Kikai Caldera and ends the first homogeneous Jomon culture. When the Jomon culture recovers, it shows regional differences. domestication of water buffaloes in China. Settlements with thousands of houses in the Tripolye culture (Moldova and Ukraine). The first ziggurat is built in Uruk, dedicated to the god Anu. The Maykop culture of Caucasus is a candidate for the origin of bronze production and thus the Bronze Age. Piora Oscillation brings cool, moist climate to Europe but drier conditions in the Sahara. Sahara desert reforms, ending Neolithic Subpluvial (Bond event #4). Early Bronze Age begins . Żebbuġ, Malta. Potter's wheel is invented in mesopotamia. Susa is a center of pottery making. Funnelbeaker culture. First given dates for domestication of the horse and domestication of the chicken. Post Track and Sweet Track roadways. Mġarr phase transitional period in Malta, pottery having mainly curved lines. Large city at Tell Brak in Syria, with four mass graves seeming to indicate a period of violence. Syria begins production of linen fabrics. Silver mining. Neolithic Chinese settlements. They made silk and pottery (chiefly Yangshao culture and Longshan culture), wore hemp clothing and domesticated pigs and dogs. Gerzeh culture in Egypt — underground tombs, burial of furniture and amulets. Invention of wheel. In Colombia, first rupestrian art, at Chiribiquete National Park. Evidence of maize domestication appear in the Tehuacán Valley matorral, Mexico. Construction of the first temple within the Mnajdra solar temple complex in Malta, having furniture such as stone benches and tables, that set it apart from other European megalith constructions. Ta' Ħaġrat Temples and Kordin Temples in Malta. Large city of Hamoukar, destroyed in war, maybe by Uruk.

5,500 years ago to 1,800 years ago

Time interval, before the present time. a=annus (year)	Period	Event, invention or historical development
5.5–4.5 ka	c. 3500–2500 BCE End of 4th millennium BCE, beginning of 3rd millennium BCE. Beginning of Bronze Age.	Mound building starts in North America. Egyptian numeral system invented. Ötzi the Iceman. City of Liangzhu in China. Norte Chico civilization, first known civilization in the Americas. Cycladic culture on the Aegean islands of Greece. Yamna culture, made by Proto-Indo-Europeans. Sail developed on the Nile delta. Senet is invented, being this the oldest board game which we know its rules. A version of the Mayan calendar aka. the Mesoamerican Long Count, uses the epoch of August 11 or 13, 3114 BC. The Mayan Long Count calendar is first used c. 236 BC. First chairs. (Egypt) Early Dynastic Period of Egypt according to the Palermo stone. Papyrus invented in Egypt. Neolithic homes at Skara Brae on Orkney Islands, Scotland.Oldest currently living nonclonal organism germinates at the Grove of Ancients. Unification of Upper and Lower Egypt by Menes as he rules whole country from Memphis. Foundation of Aniba (Nubia) and of Troy. Phonetic writing starts in Sumer (Cuneiform), Egypt (Egyptian hieroglyphs), and Elam, triggering start of recorded history. Bronzeworking starts in Sumer marking the start of the age of Bronze. The Egyptian pantheon originates by this time. Invention of the toilet and sewerage (Indus civilization and Skara Brae). Oldest Petroglyphs in Australia and America. Tin and Gold used in Mesopotamia. Flood deposit at Shuruppak, connected with Utnapishtim and Flood stories. The first kingdom of Mari in Syria is founded. Early form of proto-currency as silver or gold in Sumer. Wire. Early Dynastic Period of Mesopotamia and second dynasty in Egypt. 365-day calendar year created in Egypt, with fixed lunar months of 30 days and 5 epagomenal days. Beginning of large-scale production of religious statues in Sumer. Extinction of the Balearic cave goat. Oldest currently living nonclonal organism (the "Methuselah" tree) germinates in California. Possible asteroid or comet impact between Africa and Antarctica, based on chevrons and analysis of flood stories, causing Burckle crater & Fenambosy Chevron. Soap-like substance made in Babylon. Wars of the second dynasty of Egypt. Tea invented in China. Bell Beaker culture. Cucuteni-Trypillian culture in Romania, Moldova and southwest Ukraine. Founding of Tyre, according to Herodotus. Elamite kingdom appears. First pyramids are built: Pyramid of Djoser, Meidum pyramid, Bent Pyramid, Red Pyramid . Beginning of Old Kingdom of Egypt (3th dynasty). Unified Indus Valley civilisation, foundation of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa. Old Assyrian Kingdom formed. Instructions of Shuruppak, wisdom literature, among oldest know literature. Oldest Statues of known persons (e.g. Djedefre). Foundation of the city of Ur in Mesopotamia and its first ruler A'annepada. Reign of Mesilim, king of Kish. The 4th Dynasty of Egypt with important pharaos such as Khufu and Khafre. Pyramid of Khafre and Great Sphinx of Giza, monument of either Khafre or Khufu with lion's body. Circle added to Stonehenge. Camel domesticated in Bactria and Arabia. Austronesians from Formosa colonize Luzon in northern Philippines. Ebla tablets stored in the city of Ebla, Syria; thought to be the earliest library. 5th dynasty of Egypt. Incised panel "frying pans" in the Cyclades. Armenian patriarch Hayk defeats Babylonian king Bel (legend). Traditional date for legendary creation of Armenia by Hayk.
4.5–3.5 ka	c. 2500–1500 BCE	World's last existing mammoth population on Wrangel Island goes extinct. Golden age of Ur. Hekla 4 eruption. Destruction of Mari. Production of honey in Egypt. 2350 BC Middle East Anomaly (apparent Impact event) happens. End of the Early Dynastic period in Mesopotamia. 6th dynasty of Egypt. Dangun founds Gojoseon, the first Korean kingdom; this is presented as history rather than myth in Korea. Sargon of Akkad conquers Sumer, Mari and Ebla. Courier services in Egypt. Akkadian Empire. Unetice culture emerges in Czech Republic. Independence of Ebla. and of Mari. Akkad (city), now the largest city in world, surpasses Memphis, Egypt. Akkad (city) conquers Mari and Elam. The dromedary camel is domesticated. Nomad invasions of Akkad. Comet Hale-Bopp visits the inner solar system and would not return until AD 1997. Akkad sacked by Gutians. Elam and Mari gain independence. Austronesian peoples reach the Batanes Islands in the Philippines as part of the Austronesian Expansion. The Sintashta-Petrovka-Arkaim culture emerges in the southern Urals from the Catacomb culture, likely locus of Proto-Indo-Iranian. Argaric culture in Spain. Possible date for the death of Pepi II Neferkare, longest reigning monarch of history, having spent 94 years on the throne. 22nd century BC drought (associated with Bond event #3), probably causing the fall of the Old Kingdom of Egypt (7th dynasty) and the Akkadian Empire – taken as the start of the Meghalayan age, the last of the three stages of the Holocene. 8th dynasty and 9th dynasty. Fall of Akkad. Gilgamesh epic. Second Dynasty of lagash. Solar eclipse on May 9, 2138, BC and lunar eclipse on May 24, 2138, BC may be double eclipse taking place 23 years after the crowning of Shulgi as king of Babylon. Uruk-Gutian war. Sumer campaigns of Ur-Nammu. Law code of Ur-Nammu. Possible time of Great Flood (China) and Yu the Great. Possible date for beginning of Xia dynasty. Start of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt and the 11th dynasty. Fall of Ur. Chariot emerges on Eurasian steppe, permitting the defeat of Indus Valley civilizations. Plato describes the sinking of Atlantis likely inspired by a real island that sank due to a natural disaster. Seima-Turbino culture in northern Eurasia. First Minoan palaces on Crete. Glass. Avellino eruption of Vesuvius. Bahr Yussef canal. Close alignment of naked-eye planets in span of 4.3 degrees, apparently observed by the Chinese and regarded as heralding the start of the Xia dynasty. Copper bar defines Sumerian cubit. Amorite conquest of Ur. Cacao is domesticated by Mokaya culture in Guatemala. Fall of last Sumerian dynasty. Farming starts in Kentucky, Eastern Agricultural Complex Currently undeciphered Minoan script Linear A and Cypro-Minoan script on Crete and Cyprus. Plimpton 322 tablet relating to Pythagorean triples. Hyksos start to settle in Nile Delta. Babylon, capital of Babylonia now largest city of world, taking lead from Thebes, Egypt. Yarim Lim I king of Yamhad (Ḥalab). Zimri-Lim enlarges and embellishes the royal palace of Mari. Mari sacked by Hammurabi. Code of Hammurabi. Vedic period starts in Indian subcontinent. The Phaistos Disc is manufactured showing an unknown glyph-based language. Calculation of square root of 2 in Babylon. Hurrian conquests. Palace complex in Knossos, Crete. End of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt. Start of 2nd intermediate period. Rhind Mathematical Papyrus, implying an approximation of pi (as 256/81 or $3{\tfrac {13}{81}}$). Last mammoths. Beginning of Poverty Point earthworks (Louisiana). Tree rings show global cooling for several years, possibly caused by volcanism, e.g. the Minoan eruption (Thera), the Avellino eruption of Mount Vesuvius or eruption of Mount Aniakchak in Alaska. Earliest attestation of an Indo-European language appears in Hittite cuneiform. Egyptian domination over Canaan and Syria. Ugarit golden age. Shang dynasty. Hollow glassware. Cannabis found in Turkomen shrine. Hittite king Mursili I devastates Babylon. Beginning of Kassite dynasty. Nubian Kingdom of Kerma sacks Egypt. Egypt conquers Nubia. Surgical and medical papyri in Egypt. Hittites. Possible time of impact forming the Kaali craters in Estonia, possibly referred to in myth. Bantu migrate across central, east and southern Africa. Beginning of composition of the Rigveda. Wall completed around Ao by Shang dynasty.
3.5–2.8 ka	c. 1500–800 BCE Beginning of Iron Age.	Thutmose III earns fame as military leader: Battle of Megiddo (15th century BC), Egyptian conquest of Syria. Mycenaean Greece has the oldest deciphered writing in Europe. Hittite New Kingdom. Elamite Empire is formed. The first Northwest Semitic language, Ugaritic, is attested during the so-called Ugarit golden age. Olmec civilization. Middle Assyrian Empire begins. Hittite empire conquers the whole Anatolian peninsula. Akhenaten pharaoh in Egypt, monotheistic cult to the god Athon. Short reign of Tutankhaten Thebes considered capital of Egypt. Assyrian-Kassite war. Bhagavad Gita is composed. Ramesses II rules Egypt. Battle of Kadesh between Egyptians and Hittites. Egyptian-Hittite peace treaty. Assyria conquers the Hurrians. Tollense valley war. Cimmerians appear. Babylonian-Assyrian War of 1235 BC. Phrygia formed. Merneptah Stele claims Egyptian desolation and pacification of Canaan, and mentions Israel, but Egypt loses power there. Oracle bone script, which has the oldest written records in Old Chinese. Formation of the Sea People. Diamonds used for making holes in beads of hard rock. Late Bronze Age collapse causes the collapse of all empires. King Shutruk-Nakhunte of Elam invades Babylonia. Trojan war. Hittite language disappears from records due to the collapse of the empire. Pyongyang founded. Presumed Dorian migrations in Greece. Collapse of the New Kingdom in Egypt. Phoenician alphabet spreads around Mediterranean. Start of Zhou dynasty. Hekla 3 eruption. David and Solomon. First Temple is built in Jerusalem. Tamil Brahmi script invented. Start of the 18th dynasty in Egypt.. Shatapatha Brahmana. Neo-Assyrian Empire is formed. Assyrian king Ashurnasirpal II conquers Syria and his son Shalmaneser III launches campaigns in all directions, conquers Babylon and Damascus. First mention of Arabs and of Chaldeans. Eliyahu (Elijah) and Elisha`. Jehu king of Israel. Olmec Pyramids and Olmec Heads are built. Queens Athaliah and Shammuramat (Semiramis). Zarathustra (Zoroaster), Homer, Carthage founded. Median kingdom formed. Urartu (Ararat) becomes one of the most powerful kingdoms of Near East.
2.8–2.2 ka	c. 800–200 BCE	200-year "Homeric" grand solar minimum, coincident with climatic changes. First olympiad. Jonah. Solar eclipse of 763 BC recorded by the Assyrians – "Revolt in the city of Aššur." Spring and Autumn period in China. Hesiod. Rome founded. Kushite conquest of Egypt forming the "Kushitic dynasty". King Uzziah makes weapon like ballista or trebuchet . Assyria conquers Babylon and 9 years later conquers the Kingdom of Israel (Samaria). Isaiah. Greek alphabet and Demotic scripts invented. Library of Ashurbanipal. Destruction of Babylon. Assyria conquers Egypt. Egypt gains Independence in 652 BC. Fall of Nineveh. Medes conquer Elam. Battle of Carchemish and end of Neo-Assyrian Empire. Beginning of Haryanka dynasty in the Magadha Empire in India. First Lydian coins. Printing paper is invented in China. Solon's reforms. Temple of Zeus, Olympia is created. Jeremiah. Nabû-kudurri-uṣur II (Nebuchadnezzar the Great) conquers Kingdom of Judah. Babylonian captivity. Ezekiel. Siege of Tyre (586-573 BC). Persian Revolt. First Tamil Kingdom. Kūruš II (Cyrus the Great). Persia conquest of Lydia, Babylon, Egypt, and Gandhara. Dārayavaʰuš I (Darius the Great). Kǒng Fūzǐ (Confucius). High THC cannabis used in Xinjiang. Gautama Buddha, Pythagoras. Rudimentary Athenian democracy. Greco-Persian Wars, Battle of Marathon. Khshayārsha I (Xerxes the Great). Twelve tables of Roman law. Mo Tzu (Micius). Theory of the 4 humors. Peloponnesian War. Kao Gong Ji, first known technical encyclopedia. Egypt gains independence from the Persian Empire. Etruscan civilization. Socrates. Hippocrates. Zeno of Citium. Plato. Helike sinks beneath the waves. Aristotle. Alexander the Great. Seleucid and Ptolemaic Kingdoms. Euclid. A rebellion inside the Nanda empire concludes with the formation of the Mauryan empire. Seleucid-Mauryan war. Gallic invasion of the Balkans. Library of Alexandria. Ashoka the Great. Maya script only known full writing system grown in Americas emerges. Colossus of Rhodes is built and the Lighthouse of Alexandria. First Punic War ends with razing of Carthage. Oldest deciphered written records in South Asia (Middle Indo-Aryan). Kalinga war. Edicts of Ashoka. Teotihuacan is founded. Greco-Bactrian kingdom. Archimedes. Eratosthenes calculates the diameter of the planet Earth. Qin dynasty unites China. Beginning of Roman Warm Period. Second Punic war. Han dynasty. Galatian War. Shunga Empire in Pataliputra. Indo-Greek Kingdom. Antikythera mechanism orrery.
2.2–1.8 ka	c. 200 BCE – 224 CE	Antiochus Epiphanes and the Maccabean Revolt. Parthia gains independence from Alexander the Great's empire. Silk road is established by this time. Roman conquest of Macedon. Third Punic War. Mithridates the Great massacres approximately 100,000 Romans, sparking Mithridatic Wars. China begins mass production of paper and silk. Sulla. Cicero. Pompey. Julius Caesar. First and Second Triumvirates. Tigranes. Armenia conquers Syria later to be taken by the Seleucid Empire. Start of Kanva dynasty in India. Gaul conquest. Egypt is absorbed by the recently formed Roman Empire , Yeshua (Jesus). First Census in China. Xin dynasty on the power but is quickly overthrown by Han dynasty. Paul of Tarsus. 0 is invented in Mesoamerican calculus. Roman conquest of Britain. The steam engine is invented by Egyptians. Boudican revolt. great expansion of codex and literacy throughout the Roman Empire. The Nerva-Antonine dynasty rules the Roman Empire. Formation of Funan civilitation. First Jewish–Roman War and destruction of Jerusalem. China documents over 1080 stars. Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in Pompeii. Kushans conquer Mathura. Trajan's Dacian Wars. Spread of Buddhism. Lions go extinct in west Europe. Invention of seismometer. 115 Antioch earthquake. Second Jewish–Roman War. Hadrian's Wall and Antonine Wall. Kanishka the Great and the Kushan Empire. Roman-Parthian wars . Antonine Plague. Almagest is written. Standing Buda completed. Expansion of Christianity, Gnosticism and Mithraism. Yellow Turban Rebellion. Han dynasty collapses. Sassanid dynasty rebellion against Parthian empire. Reign of Roman emperor Caracalla. Constitutio Antoniniana grants citizenship to all free Roman men. Han dynasty ends with the Three Kingdoms being formed in China.

1,800 years ago to 550 years ago

Time interval, before the present time. a=annus (year)	Period	Event, invention or historical development
1.8–1.4 ka	224–624	Ardashir I of the Sassanid dynasty conquers the Parthian empire in the Battle of Hormozdgan. Zhuge Liang dies of illness during the Battle of Wuzhang Plains. Crisis of the Third Century in Roman Empire due to Emperor Severus Alexander being assassinated. Kingdom of Hatra dissolved after Fall of Hatra to Persia. Manichaeism Plague of Cyprian. Jin dynasty. Diocletian. Constantine. Axumite Empire adopts Christianity, conquers Meroë and the Kingdom of Kush. 365 Crete earthquake. Roman Empire splits. Tiwanaku. Classic Maya civilization. Byzantine Empire, East frontier of Western Roman Empire collapses as waves of Suebi, Alans and Vandals cross the frozen Rhine and enter Gaul. Attila the Hun, Constantine III leads many Roman military units from Britain to Gaul and occupies Arles (Arelate). generally seen as Rome's withdrawal from Great Britain. Rome ransacked by Visigoths under King Alaric I. Suebi form first independent Christian kingdom of western Europe in Gallaecia. Augustine of Hippo begins to write The City of God. Jin dynasty ended by Liu Yu of Song. Northern and Southern dynasties in China. First Council of Ephesus, 3rd ecumenical council upholds title Theotokos or "mother of God", for Mary. Battle of Nedao. Germanic tribes destroy the main Hunnic army and do away with Hunnic domination . Vandals sack Rome. Chichen Itza founded in Mexico. Saint Patrick, King Arthur (debatable). Teotihuacán Empire . Dengizich, last Khan rules Hunnic Empire. Riothamus, King of Britons, helps the Romans against the Visigoths. Roman Empire falls due to deposition of Romulus Augustulus by Odoacer. Chan Buddhists found the Shaolin Monastery on Mount Song in Henan, China. Clovis I now King of Western Franks upon the death of Childeric I. King Clovis I defeats and subjugates the Kingdom of Thuringia in Germany. King Kaleb of Axum conquers Jewish Himyarite Kingdom for persecuting Christians. Anno Domini system is first implemented. Nika riots. Climate changes of 535-536. Plague of Justinian. Beginning of Late Antique Little Ice Age. Tang dynasty. Sasanids temporarily conquer Egypt. Muhammad emigrates to Medina. Birth of Islam
1.4–1.1 ka	624–924	Muslims capture Ctesiphon, the largest city in world and also the regions of Syria and Mesopotamia. Alexandria falls to the Muslims. Khazar khaganate. Beginning of Turkic expansion. Paper money in china. Sassanian Empire collapses. Greek fire invented. Siege of Constantinople (674-678) China adopts Buddhism. Venice is founded. Taihō Code. Muslim invasion of Carthage and invasion of Hispania. Siege of Constantinople (717–718). Battle of Poitiers. Tang Census. Paper is introduced to the Arabs. Donation of Pepin. Arab invasion in China. 774–775 carbon-14 spike.Tang voyages to the south-east Asian islands. Charlemagne. Chinese invent gunpowder. Leshan Buddha completed, rests in mid of the silk road to guide travelers. Byzantine-Bulgarian wars. Abbasid caliphate collapse. Treaty of Verdun. Gujarat conquers Bengal. Buddhism is banned in China. Al-Kindi. Bulgaria adopts Christianity. The Saffarids conquer Persia. The Samanids gain independence from Persia. Slavic rebellion originates the Kievan Rus'. The kingdom of Hungary is formed . Vikings. Beowulf composed.Saeculum obscurum, or "Rule of the Harlots" period of the papacy. Collapse of the Tang dynasty. Mantyasih inscription is carved. Fatimid caliphate conquer Aghlabids. Cholas unite Tamil Nadu. Samanids conquer central Asia.
1100–900 y	924–1124	Buyids conquer Baghdad. China invents fire arrows. Seljuqs adopt Islam. Holy Roman Empire conquers Rome. Byzantine Empire conquers Aleppo. Cairo is founded. Otto the Great. Ghaznavids rebellion. Harald Bluetooth unites much of Scandinavia. Bjarni Herjólfsson sights North America. Leifr Eiriksson goes to Vinland. Medieval Warm Period. Song dynasty. Ibn Sina. Peace and Truce of God movement. Kievan Rus adopts Christianity. Romanesque art is manufactured throughout Europe. Ghaznavid conquest of the Ganges region. Byzantine Empire conquers Bulgaria. Cholas arrive to the Sumatran island. Canon medicine by avicenna. Byzantine Empire conquers Armenia. Reform of Pope Gregory VII. East-West Schism. Seljuk Empire take Baghdad. Height of Kievan Rus' and Fatimid Caliphate, decline of Byzantine Empire. Norman Conquest. Battle of Manzikert. Siege of Toledo. Almoravid invasion of Spain. University of Bologne founded. First magnetic compass are built. First Crusade.
900–700 y	1124–1324	First standing navy in China. Khitans migrate to central Asia. Gothic art movement spread throughout Europe. Second Crusade. Almohads invasion of Spain. Ghurid rebellion. Doctrine of Purgatory. Liuhe Pagoda is completed. Saladins overthrows Fatimid caliphate. Height of Khmer Empire. Third Crusade which concluds on Richard III of England defeating the Fatimids. First Guild stablished. Bombard invented in China. Liber Abaci is completed. Sack of Constantinople. Genghis Khan unifies Mongolia. Magna Carta. Venice-Mongol trade pact. Codex Gigas. Francis of Assisi. Mongol conquest of khwarazm, China and Persia. Mount Rinjani on Lombok erupts, causing global cooling and failed harvests. Siege of Baghdad (1258) by the Mongols. Mamluks defeat Mongol army of Hulagu Khan (under Kitbuqa) in the Battle of Ain Jalut — first known use of hand cannon. The Mongol Empire fractures: the Golden Horde is formed. Thomas Aquinas. Cannon. Dante Alighieri. Yuan dynasty. Marco Polo. Beginning of Ottoman Empire. Islam arrives to Indonesia. Petrarch. Eyeglasses invented. Pope Clement V disbanded the order of the Knights Templars. Great Famine of 1315–1317 and beginning of the crisis of the Late Middle Ages. Chola dynasty
700–550 y	1324–1474	Tenochtitlan founded. Delhi conquers Tamil Nadu . Beginning of Hundred Years' War. Collapse lf Ilkhanate. Black Death marks the beginning of the Second plague pandemic. Division of Chagatai Khanate. Red Turban Rebellions. Nagarakretagama written. Chaucer. Beginning of Ming dynasty. Timurid Empire is formed. First Pound lock in Europe. Papal Schism of the Catholic Church. Hwacha multiple rocket launcher. Zheng He. Timurid Empire invades of Anatolia. Ming treasure voyages. Forbidden City. Beginning of the Renaissance. Battle of Grunwald. Battle of Agincourt. Portuguese conquest of Ceuta. Collapse of the Golden Horde. Voynich manuscript. Joan of Arc. 1452/1453 mystery eruption. Inca empire. Machu Picchu. Public Bank. Fall of Constantinople. Gutenberg. Beginning of Wars of the Roses. Moskovia asserts independence. Fall of Novgorod.

550 years ago to 180 years ago

Time interval, before the present time.	Period	Event, invention or historical development
550–450 y	1474–1574	French-Breton War. Fall of Granada and the expulsion of Spanish Muslims. Columbus rediscovers the New World. Muscovite–Lithuanian Wars (1492 to 1537). Vasco da Gama reaches India by sea. Columbian Exchange. Sikhism is founded. Beginning of the Safavid dynasty. Islam dominates all Indonesia. First mobile clocks. The Renaissance movement begins in Europe Da Vinci, Michelangelo. Goa established. Aragon and Castille unify. Luther and the Reformation. Ottoman conquest of Egypt. Sack of Rome (1527). Siege of Vienna. Spanish conquest of Aztecs and Incans. Beginning of the Franco-Ottoman alliance and Siege of Nice. The Council of Trento is hold with the objective of preparing the Counter-Reformation. Barroque movement spread throughout Europe and stood as a symbol of wealth among Church and Nobility. Complex number theory is invented. Tycho Brahe Copernicus, Scientific Revolution.The Russo-Swedish War (1554–1557) 1556 Shaanxi earthquake. Macau established. French Wars of Religion. Rebellion of the Alpujarras (1568-1571). Eighty Years' War. Union of Lublin. First of about 11 Russo-Turkish Wars (1568 to 1878). Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Battle of Lepanto.
450–350 y	1574–1674	Iberian Union. Gregorian Calendar introduced. Spanish Armada. Songhay Empire collapses. Microscope and . Thermometer invented. Rise of the Moghul Empire. Russian Time of Troubles and Russian famine of 1601–1603, probably connected to eruption of Huaynaputina. The General Crisis. Gunpowder plot invented. Russian Siberian conquest. Beginning of Little Ice Age (ca. 1550 to 1850). Beginning of Northern Wars (1554 to 1721). St. Bartholomew's Day massacre and the French Wars of Religion, ending with the Edict of Nantes. William Shakespeare. Dutch East India Company is founded (being the oldest public megacorporation). Japan begins issolation from international influence. King James Bible. Dutch explorers make the first sight and contact of Australia. Jamestown settlement. Moons of Jupiter first observed. Thirty Years' War. Manchu Conquest. Start of the Qing dynasty, the last Chinese monarchy period.. Land mines are inventec in China. René Descartes. Galileo. English Civil War. Manchu conquest of China. Russia reaches the Pacific Ocean. Descartes. Fermat. Pascal. First of four Anglo-Dutch Wars from 1652 to 1784. Taj Mahal. Louis XIV. Manchu conquer China.Mughal invades Bijapur. Great Plague of London. Great Fire of London. Reflecting telescope. Robert Boyle, Christiaan Huygens, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, Robert Hooke, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, and Isaac Newton. Franco-Dutch War.
350–280 y	1674–1744	Maratha Empire. Battle of Vienna and Great Turkish War. Invention of modern calculus. Louis XIV revokes the Edict of Nantes and begins persecuting Protestants. Glorious Revolution of 1688. Nine Years' War. Austria annexes Hungary. Seven ill years in Scotland, failure of the Darién scheme. Prussia is formed. War of the Spanish Succession. Great Northern War. Kingdoms of England and Scotland unite to form the Kingdom of Great Britain. Battle of Poltava in Ukraine – beginning of decline of Swedish power. South Sea Bubble. Mughal Empire collapses. Missionaires banned in China. Defoe, Swift, Bach, Steam engine invented. first copyright laws. First Carnatic War. A spell of very cold weather in Europe causes the Irish Famine (1740–1741). Prussia conquers Silesia.
280–220 y	1744–1804	Second Carnatic war. Lightning rod invented. Voltaire. David Hume. Immanuel Kant. Age of Enlightenment. Lisbon destroyed by earthquake, tsunami, and fire. Seven Years' War. Rousseau. American Revolution. Watt engine marks the start of the Industrial revolution. Dismantlement of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.First Anglo-Maratha War. treaty of Paris (1783). Eruption of Laki. First manned flying machine: a Hot air balloon. Mozart. French Revolution, Haitian Revolution. Slavery banned in Canada and in France. First vaccine: Smallpox. Quasi-War between US and France. Romanticism and Nationalism movements rise through Europe by the 1800s. Rossetta Stone found. Goya. Barbary Wars between US and Barbary states. First locomotive. Ludwig van Beethoven. Napoleon I of France is crowned French Councelor. Carl Friedrich Gauss. United Kingdom is formed.
220–180 y	1804–1844	Napoleonic wars extend the First French Empire from Madrid to Moscow.. Second Anglo-Maratha War. Louisiana Purchase. New Madrid earthquakes. Independence of American States from Spain. University of Berlin founded. War of 1812. Eruption of Mount Tambora. Battle of Waterloo. Simón Bolívar. José de San Martín. Year Without a Summer. Third Anglo-Maratha war. Russo-Turkish War (1828–1829). Wars between the British Empire and the Asante Empire. Photography. July Revolution. Electric motor. French conquest of Algeria.. Babbage. Telegraph. Victorian period. First Opium War. Hong Kong established as a British colony.

180 years ago to 55 years ago

Time interval, before the present time.	Period	Event, invention or historical development
180–140 y	1844–1884	Undeciphered Rongorongo script on Easter Island may mark latest independent invention of writing. Spread of anaesthesia use (Diethyl ether). Neptune discovered. Mexican–American War. Oil refinery. Revolutions of 1848. Taiping Civil War kills over 20 million. Crimean War. John Snow (physician). Start of Third Plague Pandemic. Second Opium War. Charles Darwin. Solar storm of 1859. American Civil War. President Abraham Lincoln assassinated. Paraguayan War. First International. Austro-Prussian War. Famine of 1866–1868 in Finland and Sweden. Joseph Lister. Karl Marx. Meiji Restoration. First Vatican Council. Franco-Prussian War. Scramble for Africa. German Empire formed. Paris Commune is stablished and dissolved. Panic of 1873 also called the Long Depression. Great Famine of 1876–1878 in India and China. Bone wars. Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878). Alexander Graham Bell, Telephone. War of the Pacific. First Boer War. Krakatoa eruption.
140–110 y	1884–1914	Invention of automobile. Tower Bridge. Eiffel Tower. Louis Pasteur. Gramophone invented. 1887 Yellow River flood. Mark Twain. Second International. Franco-Russian Alliance. 1896 Summer Olympics. Henry George. Electron discovered. Spanish–American War. First Zeppelin. Boxer Rebellion. Second Boer War. Philippine–American War. Wright brothers. Russo-Japanese War. Herero atrocities by Germans in German South West Africa. Albert Einstein's papers on special relativity and quantization of light (photons). 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Panic of 1907 in US. Bakelite (phenol formaldehyde resin). Tunguska event. First Model T. Sigmund Freud, Cubism, Spanish Invasion of the Rif. 1911 Revolution. Republic of China, RMS Titanic. Novarupta volcano, biggest eruption of 20th century. Assembly line. Atomic nucleus discovered.
110–90 y	1914–1934	Panama Canal opens. World War I. Russian Revolution of 1917 (March and October). Third International Poland wins the Polish–Ukrainian War and the Polish–Soviet War. Irish War of Independence. Russian famine of 1921. Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922). 1921 Tulsa race massacre. Rif war 1923 Tokyo earthquake, fires, and massacre of Koreans. Chinese famine of 1928–1930 kills millions. Crash of 1929. Joseph Stalin. Pluto and neutrons discovered. The Chrysler Building and the Empire state building are crowned as the tallest buildings marking the age of skyscrapers. 1931 Yellow River flood. Soviet famine of 1932–1933 kills around 8 million. Great Depression.
90–70 y	1934–1954	Adolf Hitler. Franklin Roosevelt, New Deal. Sulfa drugs. Kurt Gödel. Mahatma Gandhi. Second Sino-Japanese War, Spanish Civil War. 1938 Yellow River flood. LSD discovered. Polyethylene, rise of polymers, plastic. Winter War. World War II. Ballistic missiles, radar, jet aircraft. Penicillin. Chinese famine of 1942–43. Bengal famine of 1943. Nuclear weapons, Bretton Woods system. The Railway Series. United Nations. Start of the Cold War. Soviet famine of 1946–47. Creation of Pakistan and Republic of India. ENIAC, Supersonic flight. Formation of Israel. 1948 Arab–Israeli War. NATO, Mao Zedong. Korean War. Egyptian revolution of 1952. Structure of DNA found.
70–55 y	1954–1969	Nuclear power. McCarthyism, Elvis Presley. Noam Chomsky. Suez War. Start of Vietnam War. Sputnik. ARPA. Approximately 20 million to 30 million die during the Great Chinese Famine. Cuban Revolution., invention of laser. Great Chilean Earthquake, most powerful recorded earthquake. Berlin Wall. Cuban Missile Crisis, Second Vatican Council The Beatles. Martin Luther King "I have a dream". John F. Kennedy. American Civil Rights Movement. Indonesian mass killings of 1965–1966. Decolonisation. Space Race. Cultural Revolution. Six-Day War. ARPANET. 2001 (film). Vietnam War. Counterculture. Stonewall riots.

55 years ago to 18 years ago

Time interval, before the present time.	Period	Event, invention or historical development
55–45 y	1969–1979	Greenpeace. Sino-Soviet border conflict. First Moon landing. Woodstock. Unix. Bhola cyclone kills 500,000. Bangladesh Liberation War. 1972 massacre of Burundian Hutus. Yom Kippur War. Lucy (Australopithecus) is found. Turkish invasion of Cyprus. Richard Nixon resigns. Banqiao Dam and 61 other dams break in China. Microcomputers. 1977 Angolan coup d'état attempt and subsequent killings. Khmer Rouge. Tangshan earthquake. Downfall of Gang of Four. Jimmy Carter elected.
45–35 y	1979–1989	Three Mile Island. Margaret Thatcher comes to power. Usenet. Artificial insulin invented. 1979 South Korean coup d'état, Gwangju Uprising. Eruption of Mount St. Helens. Pac-Man. CNN. End of colonialism in Africa. First Space Shuttle flight. MTV. AIDS discovered. First IBM PC. Beginning of presidency of Ronald Reagan. Falklands War. Black July pogrom against Tamils in Sri Lanka. 1.2 million die in 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia. Macintosh. Bhopal disaster. Soviet–Afghan War. Discovery of ozone hole. Challenger disaster. Chernobyl. First 80386. Iran–Contra affair. Mad cow disease, perestroika, Black Monday, 1988 Burmese uprising. End of Iran–Iraq War,
35–28 y	1989–1996	George H. W. Bush presidency. March 1989 geomagnetic storm cuts power in Quebec. Tiananmen protests. Communists lose power in Poland, fall of Berlin Wall. US invades Panama. Launch of Hubble Space Telescope. First Gulf War. AOL. Eruption of Mount Pinatubo. 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, End of USSR. Black Wednesday attack on British pound. Halloween massacre (Angola). Beginning of Clinton presidency. First Pentium. Bosnian War. End of apartheid. 1994 Los Angeles earthquake. Rwandan Massacre. Channel Tunnel opens. Israeli-Jordanian Peace Treaty. Rising use of the Internet and the World Wide Web. Start of World Trade Organization. Kobe earthquake. Windows 95, Java programming language.
28–22 y	1996–2002	First cloned mammal: Dolly the sheep. Rwanda invades Zaire — First Congo War. Tony Blair becomes PM of the UK. North Korean famine. Asian financial crisis. Eritrean–Ethiopian War. Good Friday Agreement. Discovery of the acceleration of the universe. Beginning of Second Congo War. International Space Station begins operating. Kosovo War. 1999 Izmit, Turkey earthquake. Beginning of Second Chechen War. Vladimir Putin becomes president of Russia. End of the Indonesian occupation of East Timor. Y2K scare. Human genome sequenced. Start of al-Aqsa Intifada (Second Intifada). Introduction of Wikipedia. George W. Bush is inaugurated as president of the United States. 2001 Gujarat earthquake. Mac OS X. Windows XP. September 11 attacks. US invasion of Afghanistan.
22–18 y	2002–2006	The Euro enters circulation. Columbia disaster. The Darfur conflict begins. 2003 Iraq War. European heat wave of 2003. Bam earthquake. Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity land on Mars. Yassir Arafat dies. 2004 Madrid train bombings. 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. Assassination of Rafic Hariri and Cedar Revolution. John Paul II dies. 7 July 2005 London bombings. Gaza pullout by Israel, Great Flood of New Orleans (Hurricane Katrina), Kashmir earthquake.

18 years ago to present

Time interval, before the present time.	Period	Event, invention or historical development
18–14 years	2006–2010	2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict, 2006 North Korean nuclear test. Nicolas Sarkozy becomes president of France. Battle of Gaza (2007). iPhone. Gordon Brown becomes PM of UK. World population becomes more than 50% urban. Cyclone Sidr, Cyclone Nargis. 2008 Sichuan earthquake. 2008 Russo-Georgian War. Financial crisis of 2007–2008. 2008 Mumbai attacks. Android (operating system). 2008-2009 Israel-Gaza conflict. Barack Obama president of US. Introduction of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. Northwest Passage opens for first time in recorded history. 2009 swine flu pandemic.
14–11 years	2010–2013	2010 Haiti earthquake. 2010 Chile earthquake. iPad. Smolensk air disaster kills Polish president and 95 others. 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull. Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Large Hadron Collider begins operating. 2010 European sovereign debt crisis. 2010 United Kingdom general election brings David Cameron to power. 2010 Gaza flotilla clash. 2010 Northern Hemisphere summer heat waves. 2010 Pakistan floods. WikiLeaks publishes US diplomatic cables. 2010–11 Queensland floods. Arab Spring. 2010–2011 Tunisian revolution. Egyptian Revolution of 2011. February 2011 Christchurch earthquake. Fukushima nuclear accident. Beginning of Syrian Civil War. Killing of Osama bin Laden. Last Space Shuttle flight. 2011 England riots. 2011 Libyan civil war ends rule of Mu`ammar al-Qaddhafi, 2011 Thailand floods. Largest strike-slip earthquake ever recorded. François Hollande becomes president of France. Discovery of the Higgs boson. Curiosity rover lands on Mars. 2012 Summer Olympics. Hurricane Sandy. Gangnam Style becomes the most-viewed YouTube video. November 2012 Gaza conflict. Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. 2012 phenomenon.
11–9 years	2013–2015	France intervenes in the Northern Mali conflict. Chelyabinsk meteor. Hugo Chavez dies. Benedict XVI resigns, Jorge Mario Bergoglio becomes Pope Francis. Cyprus bailout. 2013 protests in Turkey. 2013 Egyptian coup d'état and August 2013 Rabaa massacre. 2013 NSA surveillance scandal. Ghouta chemical attack. Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda), one of the most powerful on record. Central African Republic conflict (2013–2014), beginning of South Sudanese Civil War. Nelson Mandela dies. Early 2014 North American cold wave. Belgium legalises euthanasia. 2014 Ukrainian revolution and Russian annexation of Crimea. Chibok kidnapping. Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant launches 2014 Northern Iraq offensive and announces caliphate. 2014 FIFA World Cup. Felipe VI becomes new king of Spain. 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict. West African Ebola virus epidemic, Rosetta mission lands on Comet 67P. 2014 Scottish independence referendum. Malala Yousafzai wins the Nobel Peace Prize. 2014 Peshawar school massacre. United States–Cuban thaw.
9–7 years	2015–2017	January 2015 Paris attacks. Assassination of Boris Nemtsov. Dawn spacecraft lands on Ceres. 2015 military intervention in Yemen, April 2015 Nepal earthquake, 2015 Rohingya refugee crisis. US Supreme Court allows same-sex marriage. Greek bailout referendum, Iran nuclear deal, Turkey-PKK conflict restarts, New Horizons flies by Pluto, Beginning of European refugee crisis. Russian intervention in Syria. Knife Intifada. November 2015 Paris attacks. Mauricio Macri President in Argentina, opposition wins 2015 Venezuelan parliamentary election. 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference. Saudi Arabia executes Nimr al-Nimr. Sanctions on Iran are lifted. January 2016 North Korean nuclear test and satellite launch. LIGO announces discovery of gravitational waves. Zika fever outbreak, ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter launched. 2016 Brussels bombings. Panama Papers. 2016 Ecuador earthquake. 2016 Fort McMurray Wildfire. Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff. Britain votes to leave the EU. Panama Canal widened. Atatürk Airport attack. July 2016 Baghdad bombings. 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers. 2016 Nice truck attack. Turkish coup d'état attempt. July 2016 Kabul bombing. 2016 Summer Olympics. 2016 Louisiana floods. August 2016 Central Italy earthquake. Hurricane Matthew. Colombian peace agreement referendum. October 2016 Central Italy earthquakes. Paris climate agreement becomes law. Donald Trump elected. Fidel Castro dies. 2016 Italian constitutional referendum. Impeachment of Park Geun-hye. Berlin Christmas market truck attack. Syrian Army and Russia win the battle over Ḥalab (Aleppo).
7–0 years	2017–2024	January 2017 Central Italy earthquakes. WikiLeaks publishes Vault 7. 2017 Shayrat missile strike. 2017 Turkish constitutional referendum. WannaCry ransomware attack. Emmanuel Macron president of France. Manchester Arena bombing. May 2017 Kabul attack. United States withdrawal from the Paris Agreement. 2017 Qatar diplomatic crisis. 2017 United Kingdom general election. North Korea tests ICBMs. Mawsil recaptured from IS. Despacito becomes the most-viewed YouTube video. Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville. 2017 Barcelona attacks. Hurricanes Harvey and Irma hit the Caribbean and the US. Northern Rakhine State clashes. 2017 South Asian floods. Cassini–Huygens plunges into Saturn. 2017 Central Mexico earthquake. Hurricane Maria devastates Dominica and Puerto Rico. 2017 Las Vegas shooting. 2017 Catalan independence referendum. October 2017 Northern California wildfires. October 2017 Mogadishu bombings. Iraqi government forces take Kirkuk Lebanese PM Sa`ad Hariri resigns in Saudi Arabia. Robert Mugabe resigns. U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as Israeli capital. Violence in Democratic Republic of the Congo. December 2017 California wildfires. 2018 Southern California mudflows. Hawaii missile panic. Turkish invasion of Afrin. 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea. Jacob Zuma resigns. Poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal. 2018 Venezuelan presidential election widely condemned. Kim Jong-un meets Moon Jae-in. 2018 Kilauea eruption. US withdraws from Iran deal. 2018 Italian election brings to power a coalition of the Five Star Movement and the Lega Nord. Socialist Pedro Sánchez becomes PM of Spain. Peace between Ethiopia and Eritrea. Kim meets Donald Trump. Trump tariffs. Tham Luang cave rescue. 2018 Mexican general election brings López Obrador to presidency. France wins 2018 World Cup. Venezuelan refugee crisis. National Museum of Brazil fire. Hurricane Florence. 2018 Sulawesi earthquake and tsunami. Brett Kavanaugh confirmed as US Supreme Court justice. Murder of Jamal Khashoggi. Hurricane Michael. Yellow vests movement in France. Hurricane Leslie hits Iberia. 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism. Bolsonaro elected president of Brazil. Fire destroys Paradise, California. Gilets jaunes riots in Paris. 2018 Sunda Strait tsunami (Anak Krakatau). Longest US government shutdown. Chang'e 4 lands on far side of the Moon. Félix Tshisekedi controversially declared president of the DRC. Protests in Sudan and Zimbabwe. Juan Guaidó recognized by many countries as interim president of Venezuela. Cyclone Idai, possibly the worst weather-related natural disaster in history in the southern hemisphere. Christchurch mosque shootings. Boeing 737 MAX groundings. Beginning of 2019–20 Hong Kong protests. Abdelaziz Bouteflika resigns. 2019 Western Libya offensive. First photography of a black hole. Omar al-Bashir removed from power. Notre-Dame de Paris fire. Redacted Mueller Report released. 2019 Sri Lanka Easter bombings. Naruhito accedes to the throne of Japan. Escalating tension between US and Iran. Beginning of 2019–20 locust infestation around horn of Africa. Boris Johnson becomes prime minister of UK. 2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires. Hurricane Dorian devastates areas of the Bahamas. 2019 Papua protests. Attacks on two Saudi oil facilities. 2019 Egyptian protests. 2019 Indonesian protests and riots. Impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump opens. September 2019 climate strikes. Riots in Iraq. 2019 Ecuadorian protests. 2019 Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria. Typhoon Hagibis makes landfall in Japan, the biggest storm to hit the region in decades. 2019 Catalan protests. 2019–20 Lebanese protests and 2019 Chilean protests. Death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Alberto Fernández wins presidential election in Argentina. 2019 California wildfires. 2019 Bolivian protests and resignation of Evo Morales. Protests in the Czech Republic. Beginning of 2019–2020 Iranian protests. 2019 Georgian protests. Chaos in Haiti. 2019 Maltese protests. 2019 United Kingdom general election won by Tories. Protests in India over citizenship act. Congress votes for the impeachment of Donald Trump. 2019–2021 Persian Gulf crisis, killing of Qasem Soleimani, downing of UIA 752 near Tehran. COVID-19 pandemic. Police arrest 15 pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong. Super Cyclonic Storm Amphan, costliest cyclone in Indian Ocean. China proposes amending the Hong Kong Basic Law. George Floyd protests. Hong Kong national security law imposed. 2020 deployment of federal forces in the United States. 2020 Beirut explosions. 2020–21 Belarusian protests. Israel-United Arab Emirates accord. 2020 Thai protests. 2020 Malian coup. Poisoning of Alexei Navalny. 2020 Western United States wildfire season worst in many years. Hurricane Laura. Hurricane Sally. Signing of the "Abraham Accords". 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. "End SARS" protests in Nigeria. 2020 Aegean Sea earthquake. Super Typhoon Goni hits Catanduanes Island in the Philippines with wind speeds up to 315 km/h, a record for a landfalling tropical cyclone. Joe Biden wins 2020 United States presidential election. Start of Tigray War in Ethiopia. Hurricane Iota ends the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season with a record 28 storms. Assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. Arecibo collapses. Kent variant of the COVID-19 virus. EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement. 2021 storming of the United States Capitol. Inauguration of Joe Biden. Alexei Navalny releases video about Putin's Palace, returns to Russia and is imprisoned. 2021 Myanmar coup d'état. and 2021 Myanmar protests. Mario Draghi becomes PM of Italy. Perseverance rover lands on Mars. 2021 Bata explosions in Equatorial Guinea. Number of displaced persons from Islamist insurgency in Mozambique exceeds half a million. 2021 Suez Canal blockage. Ingenuity helicopter is deployed from Perseverance rover. 2021 eruption of La Soufrière on Saint Vincent (Antilles). Natanz uranium enrichment facility sabotaged. Russian troops deploy around Ukraine. Tiangong space station begins construction. Chadian president Idriss Déby killed. Derek Chauvin convicted for the murder of George Floyd. 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis. Ryanair forced landing in Belarus. 2021 Mount Nyiragongo eruption. Naftali Bennett replaces Binyamin Netanyahu as PM of Israel. Ebrahim Raisi wins 2021 Iranian presidential election. Surfside condominium building collapse. Tigray Defense Forces retake Mekelle. 2021 Western North America heat wave sets records. U.S. abandons Bagram Air Base and Taliban take over much of Afghanistan. Increasing ransomware attacks. Spate of kidnapping in Nigeria. Assassination of Jovenel Moïse, president of Haiti. Delta variant of the coronavirus spreads worldwide. 2021 Cuban protests. 2021 South African unrest. 2021 European floods. China blamed for the 2021 Microsoft Exchange Server data breach. 2021 Henan floods. 2021 Tunisian political crisis. Pedro Castillo becomes President of Peru. 2021 Haiti earthquake. Fall of Kabul (2021). Hurricane Ida, flooding in New York. 2021 Sudanese coup d'état. COP26 climate conference. 2021 Belarus–European Union border crisis. November 2021 riots in the Netherlands. Omicron variant. Olaf Scholz becomes chancellor of Germany. Largest tornado outbreak on record in December. Typhoon Rai. Launch of James Webb Space Telescope. 2022 Kazakh protests. 2022 Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha'apai eruption and tsunami. Canada convoy protests. January 2022 Burkina Faso coup d'état. We Don't Talk About Bruno becomes a global hit. Cryptocurrency crash. 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Gabriel Boric becomes president of Chile. 2022 Sri Lankan protests. 2022 monkeypox outbreak. Bongbong Marcos is elected president of the Philippines. 2022 Buffalo shooting. Hassan Sheikh Mohamud is elected president of Somalia. Anthony Albanese elected prime minister of Australia. Robb Elementary School shooting. Mona Lisa gets attacked by a climate change activist. Tulsa hospital shooting. June 2022 Afghanistan earthquake. Roe v. Wade is overturned. NATO summit in Madrid; Finland and Sweden consider entering the organization. Yair Lapid replaces Naftali Bennett as prime minister of Israel. 2022 Karakalpak protests. Highland Park parade shooting. Assassination of Shinzo Abe. Killing of Ayman al-Zawahiri. Nancy Pelosi Taiwan visit. 2022 European and Mediterranean wildfires. 2022 Israel-Islamic Jihad conflict. FBI search of Mar-a-Lago. 2022 Cetinje shooting. Stabbing of Salman Rushdie. 2022 China heat wave, most severe recorded anywhere. 2022 Pakistan floods. Liz Truss becomes prime minister of the UK. Death of Elizabeth II. Hurricane Fiona, most intense to hit Canada. Hurricane Ian, deadliest in Florida since 1935. 2022 Nord Stream pipeline sabotage. Annexation of southeastern Ukraine by the Russian Federation. September 2022 Burkina Faso coup d'état. 2022 Nigeria floods. Mahsa Amini protests in Iran. Rishi Sunak becomes prime minister of the UK. Attack on Paul Pelosi. Elon Musk purchases Twitter. 2022 COVID-19 protests in China. Launch of Artemis 1. 2022 Chesapeake shooting. National Ignition Facility achieves scientific breakeven. Dina Boluarte becomes president of Peru. Argentina wins 2022 World Cup. Pope Benedict XVI dies. Croatia adopts the euro. Start of relaxations on China's zero COVID-19 policy measures. 2023 invasion of the Brazilian Congress. Signed the tigray peace agreement. 2023 Israeli anti-Judicial reform protests. 2023 French pension reform strikes. 2023 Chinese balloon incident. 2023 Peshawar mosque bombing. Cyclone Freddy. 2023 Ohio train derailment. 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquake. 2023 Nigerian general election. Windsor framework. train crash in Thessaly. 2023 Canadian wildfires. 2023 People's Republic of China presidential election. Collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. ChatGPT is developed. Nashville school shooting. 2023 Saint Petersburg bombing. Finland becomes member of NATO. 2023 Al-Aqsa clashes. 2023 Sudan conflict. Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) is launched. SpaceX Starship explodes. 2023 banking crisis. COVID-19 is no longer considered a threat by the World Health Organization. The coronation of Charles III and Camilla. Syria is readmitted into the Arab League. May 2023 Greek legislative election. 2023 Odisha train collision. 2023 Central Canada wildfires. 2023 United States East Coast wildfire smoke. Scientists report the creation of the first synthetic Human embryonic development. Titan submersible implosion. 2023 Canary Islands migrant boat disaster. June 2023 Greek legislative election. Wagner Group rebellion with the Russian military. July 2023 Jenin incursion. Iran joins the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. SAG-AFTRA announces it will begin 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup. 2023 Greece wildfires. Barbieheimer movement. 2023 Cambodian general election. 2023 Spanish general elections. 2023 Nigerien coup d'état and posterior crisis. 2023 Khar bombing. 2023 Hawaii wildfires. 2023 Tenerife wildfire. American–Japanese–Korean trilateral pact. Expected establishment of the East African Confederation. India's Chandrayaan-3 becomes the first spacecraft to land near the south pole of the Moon. Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin is reportedly killed on a plane crash. Launch of Aditya-L1. XRISM and SLIM were launched. 2023 Israel–Hamas war. Launch of Psyche. 2023 Nigerien crisis The world's first whole eye transplant. Climate summit in Dubai, a consensus is reached for countries to "transition away" from fossil fuels. 2023 Prague shootings. Queen Margrethe of Denmark II abdicates. Launch of XPoSat. Nagorno-Karabakh is dissolved. 2024 Kerman bombings. 2024 conflict in Ecuador. SLIM mission. February 2024 United States airstrikes in Iraq and Syria. IM-1 mission. Alexey Navalny dies in a Russian prison. Sweden officially joins NATO. Crocus City Hall attack against concertgoers. The UN Security Council calls for a "immediate ceasefire" in Gaza. A container ship collides with the Francis Scott Key Bridge, resulting in the bridge collapsing. 2024 Hualien earthquake. Chang'e 6. Attempted assassination of Robert Fico. Starliner Crewed Flight Test. Ariane 6 launched. . Julian Assange (creator of WikiLeaks) free from prison. 2024 Bolivian coup attempt. 2024 United Kingdom general election. Attempted assassination of Donald Trump. 2024 CrowdStrike incident. Europa Clipper is launched. Present

Future

A logarithmic timeline can also be devised for events which should occur in the future, although of course all events (except for astronomical events) projected after the first few years are highly speculative.

Time interval	Event
1–10 years (2024–2034)	Planned launch of the SMILE spacecraft. Planned launches of Biomass, Boeing Starliner-1, FIRE and Luna 26. Proposed launch of the CNSA's Shensuo. Planned launch of the IMAP. Planned launches of the Solar Cruiser, SWFO-L1, and the Lunar Trailblazer. Planned launch of NASA's SPHEREx probe. Expo 2025 in Osaka, Japan. 2025 Polish presidential election. Planned launch of Luna 27. Planned launch of Artemis 2. Planned launch of Spektr-UV. Proposed launch of the Trident spacecraft, assuming no delays. Next Israeli legislative election, if not sooner. Planned launches of ALTIUS, FLEX, LUPEX, and Tianwen-2. Proposed launches of ISOCHRON and the Moon Diver. ITER expected to be completed. Kazakhstan gradually transitions to the Latin alphabet. 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. 2026 FIFA World Cup in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. 250th anniversary of the United States Declaration of Independence. Proposed launches of the Artemis 3 and MUSE missions, assuming no delays. Planned launches of Chang'e 7, FORUM, NEO Surveyor, and PLATO. Proposed launches of Icebreaker Life and Laplace-P. Scheduled launch of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, if not sooner. Planned launch of NASA's Dragonfly. Asteroid (137108) 1999 AN10 passes within 388,960 km (0.0026 AU) of Earth. Planned launch of Artemis 4. Planned launch of Roscosmos' Luna 28. Anticipated release of the autopsy report for Elvis Presley and the FBI archived records of Martin Luther King Jr. USS Enterprise (CVN-80) to be commissioned. Expected first light of the Thirty Meter Telescope and the Extremely Large Telescope. Independence of Bougainville. Planned launch of Artemis 4. 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Asteroid (35396) 1997 XF11 passes 930,000 km (0.0062 AU) from the Earth. Romania expected to adopt the euro. Scheduled establishment of the African Monetary Union. Planned launches of LiteBIRD, Rosalind Franklin rover. Proposed launch of the Io Volcano Observer. Planned launch of NASA's DAVINCI. Proposed launch of Tianwen-4. Planned launch of Venera-D. The digital time capsule "A Message from Earth" reaches Gliese 581 c. Planned launches of ARIEL and the Comet Interceptor. Expected first light of the Giant Magellan Telescope. Planned launch of Artemis 5. Planned launch of Artemis 6. Expected completion of Masdar City. Planned launch of Spektr-M. Suggested launch of OCEANUS. Planned launch of Artemis 7. Planned deorbit of the International Space Station. Planned launch of VERITAS. 2032 Summer Olympics in Brisbane, Australia. Planned launch of Artemis 8. Proposed launch of the THESEUS space telescope. Planned launch of Artemis 9. Proposed launch of Neptune Odyssey.
10–100 years (2034–2124)	Proposed launch of the Artemis 10 and ODINUS missions. Near-Earth object 2002 AY1 makes a close approach to Earth. ITER expected to achieve full fusion. Planned launches of the Athena telescope and Artemis 11. Expected completion of the International Lunar Research Station. Proposed launch of Interstellar Probe, assuming no delays. Planned launch of the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). Year 2038 problem. Proposed launch of Zephyr rover. The five naked-eye planets cluster within 7° of longitude, September 12, 2040. The Antarctic treaty is scheduled to come under review. A Nickelodeon time capsule, sealed in April 1992, is expected to be opened. The "one country, two systems" agreements for Hong Kong and Macau expire. The Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty is scheduled to come up for review. Scheduled completion of the Belt and Road Initiative. The Three-North Shelter Forest Program is expected to be completed. The B-52 Bomber is set to be retired from service. Cosmic Call 1 reaches 15 Sagittae. The Teen Age Message reaches HD 76151, 37 Geminorum, HD 126053, and HD 193664. Halley's comet is expected to be visible for the first time since the perihelion was last reached in 1986. The Singapore-Malaysia Water Agreement expires. Venus occults Jupiter. Mercury occults Neptune. One of four time capsules at the Helium Centennial Time Columns Monument is scheduled to be opened. On January 1, 2073, assuming no further extensions to the term of copyrights, all media published before 1978 is set to fall into the public domain in the United States; works published after 1977 will generally fall into the public domain after 70 years post mortem auctoris. For computer software using unsigned 16-bit binary day counts and an epoch of 1 January 1900, the counts will overflow after 65,536 (216) days. Insect Magicicada broods X (17-year) and XIX (13-year) will emerge simultaneously for the first time since 1868. The 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund is set to expire. Mercury transits Jupiter. The difference between the Julian calendar and the Gregorian calendar reaches 14 days. The jacket Jackie Kennedy wore on the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated cannot be displayed in public until 2103. Year 2106 problem. Scheduled release of 100 Years. The first book from the Future Library project is planned to be published.
100–1,000 years (2124–3024)	All Bitcoins are expected to be mined. The asteroid 101955 Bennu has a 1-in-2,700 chance of impacting Earth. Pluto will be closer to the Sun than Neptune. Year 6000 on the Hebrew calendar. Return of the Great Comet of 1861. The 639-year-long performance of As Slow as Possible (begun in 2001) is scheduled to finish. 1950 DA has a 1 in 2,600 (0.039%) chance of colliding with the Earth. The last time capsule out of four at the Helium Centennial Time Columns Monument is scheduled to be opened. The Longplayer composition is set to finish.
1,000–10 ka (3024–12,024)	Completion of the Time Pyramid in Wemding, Germany. Gamma Cephei replaces Polaris as the North Star. The Westinghouse Time Capsules from the years 1939 and 1964 are scheduled to be opened. The last Expo '70 Time Capsule from the year 1970, buried under a monument near Osaka Castle, Japan is scheduled to be opened. Opening of the Crypt of Civilization.
10–100 ka (12,024–102,024)	Antares likely goes supernova. Vega becomes the northern pole star. North celestial pole moves far from present North Star, causing summer and winter to occur on opposite sides of Earth's orbit and summer and winter constellations to switch. The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone returns to normal levels of radiation. The Arecibo message reaches its destination. Ross 248 passes within 3.024 light-years of Earth, becoming the closest star to the Sun. Expected descent of the KEO time capsule, assuming it is launched. The length of the day increases by one SI second. Presently used Computus will give Paschal Full Moon at new moon. Alpha Centauri passes the Sun and continues toward Lynx. Present constellations become unrecognizable. The Hebrew calendar is out of sync with the seasons.
100 ka – 1 Ma	The Gregorian Calendar is out of sync with the seasons. Kamaʻehuakanaloa (formerly Lōʻihi) becomes a new volcanic island. WR 104 likely explodes, if not sooner. Badlands National Park erodes completely. Several supervolcanoes erupt. The Strait of Gibraltar closes. The Mediterranean Sea dries up.
1–10 Ma	Technetium-99 produced today ceases to be a danger. Betelgeuse goes supernova, if not sooner. Meteor Crater wears away. Gliese 710 passes through the Oort Cloud. A day on Earth is one minute longer than it is today. Without maintenance, Mount Rushmore erodes into unrecognizability. The LAGEOS satellites' orbits decay. Several kilometre-size asteroids or comets are on a collision course with Earth. The Afar Depression and the East African Rift become a new sea, splitting Africa.
10–100 Ma	Phobos collides with Mars, if not sooner. The Mediterranean Basin closes. The island of Hawaii submerges. Iodine-129 and Neptunium-237 in nuclear waste decay away.
100 Ma – 1 gigaannus	A day on Earth is one hour longer than it is today. Different continents from today due to splitting and coalescence. Possible new supercontinent. The Sun completes several orbits around the Milky Way.
1–10 Ga	The atmosphere becomes a "moist greenhouse", resulting in a runaway evaporation of the oceans, causing plate tectonics to stop completely, if not already stopped sooner. Eukaryotic life dies out on Earth due to carbon dioxide starvation. The Moon is moved too far away from Earth to stabilize its axial tilt. The Earth's oceans evaporate. All unicellular life goes extinct. Triton falls through Neptune's Roche limit. Andromeda–Milky Way collision. The Sun exhausts its hydrogen supply and becomes a red giant. The Sun achieves its maximum radius 256 times its present-day value.
10–100 Ga	The Sun becomes a white dwarf. Presently existing uranium and rhenium-187 decay away.
100 Ga – 1 teraannus	The white dwarf Sun fades away. The Local Group coalesces. Presently existing thorium decays away.
1–10 Ta	Galaxies outside Local Supercluster no longer visible (if dark energy prevails). Proxima Centauri ceases to be a main-sequence star.
10–100 Ta	Star formation ends. The Degenerate Era starts.
100 Ta – 1 petaannus	Nuclear fusion ceases (if not sooner). The Sun becomes a black dwarf.
1–10 Pa	Planets fall or are flung away from their stars.
10–100 Pa
100 Pa – 1 exaannus	Vanadium-50 decays.
1–10 Ea	Tungsten-180, Europium-151, Molybdenum-100, Neodymium-150, and Tellurium-130 decay.
10–100 Ea	Zirconium-96, Bismuth (209), Calcium-48, and Cadmium-116 decay.
100 Ea – 1 zettaannus	Selenium-82 decays.
1–10 Za	Barium-130, Germanium-78, Xenon-136, and Krypton-78 decay.
10–100 Za	Xenon-124 decays.
100 Za – 1 yottaannus
1–10 Ya	Tellurium-128 decays.
10–100 Ya
100 Ya – 1 ronnaannus
1–10 Ra
10–100 Ra
100 Ra – 1 quettaannus
1–10 Qa	Only solitary objects remain in the universe by this point.
10–100 Qa

See also

• Geologic time scale#Table of geologic time
• List of timelines
• Logarithmic timeline
• Orders of magnitude (time)
• Technological singularity
• Timeline of the evolutionary history of life
• Chronology of the universe
• World history
• Timeline of the far future
• Future of an expanding universe

External links

• Interview with Heinz von Foerster Archived 2014-05-27 at the Wayback Machine
• Detailed logarithmic timeline of the Universe