Chronology
Five thousand years, end to end
187 records shown
- c. 1.8 million BCEArchaeology
The First Stone Tools at Olduvai
Olduvai Gorge
Early humans shape cutting flakes from lava cobbles.
↓ next - c. 40,000 BCEArchaeology
Mungo Man Burial
Lake Mungo
One of the oldest known human burials outside Africa, evidence of Aboriginal ritual life tens of thousands of years ago.
↓ next - c. 30,000 BCEArchaeology
Murujuga Petroglyphs
Murujuga
The Burrup Peninsula holds perhaps a million engravings, among the largest rock art collections on Earth.
↓ next - c. 17,000 BCECultural
The Painting of Lascaux
Lascaux
Ice Age artists cover a cave with some 600 painted animals.
↓ next - c. 6000 BCEArchaeology
Rock Art of Tassili n'Ajjer
Tassili n'Ajjer
Thousands of paintings record a green Sahara of cattle herders, hunters and swimmers before the desert came.
↓ next - c. 4600 BCEArchaeology
Budj Bim Eel Traps
Budj Bim
The Gunditjmara built stone channels to farm eels, one of the oldest aquaculture systems in the world.
↓ next - 3100 BCECivilization
Unification of Upper and Lower Egypt
Giza
Tradition credits King Menes with joining the two lands and founding the first dynasty at Memphis.
↓ next - c. 3000 BCECultural
The Rock Art of Uluru
Uluru
Anangu artists paint the caves of Uluru, part of a living tradition of songlines and law.
↓ next - c. 2600 BCEArchaeology
The Royal Tombs of Ur
Ur
Sumerian rulers are buried with gold, lyres and attendants.
↓ next - 2560 BCEMonument
Construction of the Great Pyramid
Giza
Khufu's tomb at Giza rose to 146 metres and stayed the tallest structure on earth for 3,800 years.
↓ next - c. 2500 BCEMonument
Stonehenge Raised
Stonehenge
Sarsen stones weighing 25 tonnes are set in a ring.
↓ next - c. 2500 BCECivilization
The Great Bath of Mohenjo-daro
Mohenjo-daro
A planned city with drains, granaries and a public bath.
↓ next - c. 2400 BCECivilization
The Deffufa of Kerma
Kerma
The kingdom of Kush raised vast mud-brick temples at Kerma, one of Africa's earliest urban centres.
↓ next - c. 2000 BCEArchaeology
The Fortified Circles of Arkaim
Arkaim
A Bronze Age people of the southern Urals build a ring-shaped fortified settlement, part of the Sintashta culture.
↓ next - c. 1900 BCECultural
The Palaces of Knossos
Knossos
Knossos became a major center of Minoan civilization, with a palace linking ceremonial life, storage and administration on Crete.
↓ next - 1754 BCEPolitical
The Code of Hammurabi
Babylon
282 laws cut into a two-metre basalt stele, published where any literate subject could read them.
↓ next - c. 1600 BCECultural
Akrotiri Buried by the Theran Eruption
Akrotiri
Volcanic ash preserved a Bronze Age town on Santorini, including multistory houses and vivid wall paintings.
↓ next - c. 1264 BCEMonument
Abu Simbel Temples Carved
Abu Simbel
Ramesses II cut two colossal temples into a Nubian cliff, aligned so sunlight reaches the inner sanctuary twice a year.
↓ next - c. 1250 BCECultural
The Lion Gate of Mycenae
Mycenae
A monumental gateway guarded one of the most powerful citadels of Bronze Age Greece.
↓ next - c. 1250 BCEArchaeology
Shang Oracle Bones at Anyang
Anyang
Shang kings carved questions to their ancestors on bones and shells — the earliest Chinese writing.
↓ next - 776 BCECultural
The First Olympic Games
Olympia
A single foot race at the sanctuary of Zeus becomes the Greek world's shared calendar.
↓ next - c. 700 BCECultural
Delphi and the Oracle of Apollo
Delphi
A sanctuary on Mount Parnassus became a meeting place for pilgrims, city-states and questions about the future.
↓ next - 575 BCEMonument
Babylon's Ishtar Gate
Babylon
Nebuchadnezzar II builds a gate of blue glazed brick.
↓ next - 518 BCEMonument
Darius Founds Persepolis
Persepolis
The Achaemenid king begins a terrace palace for Nowruz.
↓ next - 508 BCEPolitical
Athenian Democracy Established
Athens
Cleisthenes reorganises Attica into ten tribes and hands sovereignty to the assembly of citizens.
↓ next - c. 500 BCECultural
Confucius Teaches in Qufu
Qufu
The teacher of Lu gathered disciples whose recorded sayings shaped Chinese ethics for two millennia.
↓ next - 490 BCEMilitary
The Battle of Marathon
Marathon
Athenians and Plataeans defeated a Persian expedition on the coastal plain of Marathon.
↓ next - 480 BCEMilitary
The Battle of Salamis
Salamis Strait
Greek warships fought the Persian fleet in the narrow waters beside Salamis.
↓ next - 480 BCEMilitary
The Stand at Thermopylae
Thermopylae
A Greek coalition defended a narrow pass against Xerxes’ invading army.
↓ next - 432 BCEMonument
The Parthenon Completed
Athens
Fifteen years of work on the Acropolis end with a temple whose columns are deliberately imperfect.
↓ next - 399 BCEPolitical
The Trial of Socrates
Athens
A jury of 501 Athenians condemns a philosopher for impiety; he drinks hemlock rather than flee.
↓ next - c. 340 BCECultural
The Theatre of Epidaurus
Epidaurus
A theatre took shape beside a sanctuary where pilgrims sought healing from Asclepius.
↓ next - 336 BCECultural
The Royal Tombs of Aigai
Aigai — Vergina
Macedonia’s royal burial ground preserves remarkable evidence of court life in the age of Philip II.
↓ next - 315 BCEPolitical
The Foundation of Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki
Cassander founded a new Macedonian city that would become a crossroads of the eastern Mediterranean.
↓ next - c. 300 BCEMonument
Pyramids of Meroë
Meroë
Kushite rulers were buried under more than two hundred steep pyramids near the Nile, in a kingdom famed for iron working.
↓ next - 283 BCEDiscovery
Founding of the Library of Alexandria
Alexandria
The Ptolemies attempt to collect every book in the world in one harbour city.
↓ next - 256 BCEDiscovery
Dujiangyan Irrigation
Dujiangyan
Li Bing split the Min River without a dam, an irrigation system still watering the Chengdu plain.
↓ next - c. 214 BCEMonument
Qin Joins the Great Wall
Badaling
The first emperor linked older border walls into a defence against the northern steppe.
↓ next - 210 BCEArchaeology
The Terracotta Army
Chang'an
China's first emperor is buried with 8,000 clay soldiers.
↓ next - 167 BCECultural
Delos Becomes a Free Port
Delos
A sacred island became an international trading hub after Rome changed its political and commercial status.
↓ next - 146 BCEMilitary
Rome Destroys Corinth
Ancient Corinth
The defeat of the Achaean League brought destruction to a major Greek city.
↓ next - 146 BCEBattle
The Destruction of Carthage
Carthage
Rome ends the Third Punic War by razing its rival.
↓ next - 130 BCEDiscovery
The Silk Road Opens
Chang'an
Han envoys reach Central Asia and stitch together a 6,400 km commercial and cultural corridor.
↓ next - c. 100 BCEArchaeology
The Nazca Lines
Nazca
Desert people scratch giant animals into the plain.
↓ next - 44 BCEPolitical
The Assassination of Julius Caesar
Rome
Sixty senators stab the dictator perpetuo at the Theatre of Pompey on the Ides of March.
↓ next - 30 BCEBattle
Actium and the End of Ptolemaic Egypt
Alexandria
After defeat at Actium, Cleopatra VII dies and Egypt becomes a Roman province.
↓ next - 1st century CEMonument
The Treasury of Petra Carved
Petra
Nabataeans carve a tomb façade into rose-red sandstone.
↓ next - c. 30 CECultural
Crucifixion of Jesus
Jerusalem
A Galilean preacher is executed under Pontius Pilate.
↓ next - 79 CEDiscovery
The Eruption of Vesuvius
Pompeii
Ash buries Pompeii and Herculaneum in a single day.
↓ next - c. 200 CEMonument
The Pyramid of the Sun
Teotihuacan
A 65-metre pyramid rises over the Avenue of the Dead.
↓ next - 203 CEMonument
Leptis Magna Rebuilt
Leptis Magna
Emperor Septimius Severus lavished his home city with a forum, basilica and harbour that made it a jewel of Roman Africa.
↓ next - 330 CEPolitical
The Founding of Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantine dedicates a new Rome on the Bosphorus, at the hinge of Europe and Asia.
↓ next - c. 330 CECivilization
The Stelae of Aksum
Aksum
King Ezana adopts Christianity and raises granite obelisks.
↓ next - 366 CECultural
Mogao Caves of Dunhuang
Dunhuang
Monks began carving Buddhist cave shrines on the Silk Road; they grew into a thousand-year gallery of art.
↓ next - 476 CEPolitical
The Fall of the Western Roman Empire
Rome
Odoacer deposes Romulus Augustulus and sends the imperial regalia east.
↓ next - c. 560Monument
Fortress of Derbent
Derbent
Sasanian Persians built walls across the Caspian pass, guarding one of the oldest cities in Russia.
↓ next - 609Discovery
Grand Canal Completed
Yangzhou
The Sui dynasty linked the Yellow and Yangtze rivers, the longest canal in the world.
↓ next - 644 CECultural
The Kumbh Mela Enters the Record
Prayagraj
The pilgrim Xuanzang describes the great gathering at the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna.
↓ next - 670Monument
Great Mosque of Kairouan
Kairouan
Founded by Uqba ibn Nafi, the mosque became a centre of Islamic learning across North Africa.
↓ next - 785Monument
The Great Mosque of Córdoba
Córdoba
Abd al-Rahman I begins a forest of red-and-white arches.
↓ next - 793Battle
The Viking Raid on Lindisfarne
Lindisfarne
Norse raiders sack a monastery, opening the Viking Age.
↓ next - 803Monument
Leshan Giant Buddha
Leshan
A 71-metre Buddha was carved from a cliff where three rivers meet, meant to calm the waters.
↓ next - c. 825Monument
Borobudur Completed
Borobudur
Sailendra kings build a mountain of stone stupas.
↓ next - c. 830Cultural
The House of Wisdom
Baghdad
Abbasid scholars translate Greek, Persian and Indian science.
↓ next - 859 CECultural
Fatima al-Fihri Founds al-Qarawiyyin
Fez
A merchant's daughter endows a mosque and school that becomes the oldest continuously operating university.
↓ next - 862Political
Rurik Comes to Novgorod
Novgorod
According to the Primary Chronicle, the Varangian Rurik is invited to rule Novgorod, founding the dynasty that would rule Rus' for seven centuries.
↓ next - c. 900Monument
El Castillo of Chichén Itzá
Chichén Itzá
A step pyramid casts a serpent shadow at the equinox.
↓ next - 988Cultural
The Baptism of Rus'
Kyiv
Grand Prince Vladimir of Kyiv adopts Orthodox Christianity from Byzantium, reshaping the culture of the eastern Slavs.
↓ next - c. 1010Cultural
The Tale of Genji
Kyoto
Murasaki Shikibu writes the world's first great novel.
↓ next - 1066Battle
The Battle of Hastings
Hastings
William of Normandy defeats Harold II.
↓ next - c. 1077Cultural
The Bayeux Tapestry Is Completed
Bayeux
A seventy-metre embroidered cloth telling the Norman conquest of England is finished, likely for Bayeux Cathedral.
↓ next - c. 1100Civilization
Kaifeng, Capital of the Song
Kaifeng
With perhaps a million people, paper money and printing, Kaifeng was among the world's great cities.
↓ next - c. 1100Civilization
Monks Mound at Cahokia
Cahokia
Mississippian builders raise a 30-metre earthen mound.
↓ next - c. 1150Monument
Angkor Wat Built
Angkor
Suryavarman II builds the largest religious monument.
↓ next - 1158Monument
The White Stone Churches of Vladimir
Vladimir
Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky builds the Dormition Cathedral of Vladimir, crown of a new northern capital.
↓ next - 1162Cultural
The Carnival of Venice Is First Recorded
Venice
Venetians celebrate a victory over the Patriarch of Aquileia with festivities in St Mark's Square.
↓ next - c. 1200Monument
The Churches of Lalibela
Lalibela
Eleven churches are carved downward into solid rock.
↓ next - 1215Political
Magna Carta Sealed
Runnymede
Barons force King John to accept limits on royal power.
↓ next - c. 1220Archaeology
Kingdom of Mapungubwe
Mapungubwe
An early southern African kingdom traded ivory and gold to the coast; its golden rhinoceros is a national treasure.
↓ next - 1235Political
Karakorum, Capital of the Khans
Karakorum
Ögedei Khan walls the Mongol capital.
↓ next - 1249Cultural
Mystras: From Fortress to Byzantine Capital
Mystras
A fortress above Sparta grew into a major center of late Byzantine government and culture.
↓ next - c. 1250–1500Monument
The Moai of Rapa Nui
Rapa Nui
Islanders carve nearly 1,000 stone figures.
↓ next - 1273Cultural
The Mevlevi Order Is Founded
Konya
After Rumi's death, his followers in Konya formalize the Mevlevi order and its turning prayer, the sema.
↓ next - c. 1300Monument
The Great Enclosure
Great Zimbabwe
Shona builders raise mortarless granite walls.
↓ next - 1324Cultural
Mansa Musa and Timbuktu
Timbuktu
Mali's ruler returns from Mecca and builds Djinguereber.
↓ next - 1331Civilization
Golden Age of Kilwa
Kilwa Kisiwani
Ibn Battuta praised Kilwa as one of the most beautiful cities in the world, a Swahili hub of the Indian Ocean gold trade.
↓ next - 1348Political
Pskov Republic
Pskov
Pskov broke from Novgorod to become a city republic ruled by its veche assembly behind a mighty kremlin.
↓ next - c. 1350Cultural
Monasteries Above the Clouds at Meteora
Meteora
Monastic communities established houses of prayer on the towering rock pillars of Thessaly.
↓ next - 1370Political
Timur's Samarkand
Samarkand
Timur makes Samarkand capital of a vast empire.
↓ next - 1380Battle
The Battle of Kulikovo
Kulikovo Field
Prince Dmitry of Moscow defeats the Golden Horde's army under Mamai on the upper Don.
↓ next - 1405Discovery
Zheng He's Treasure Fleet
Nanjing
Admiral Zheng He led giant junks across the Indian Ocean as far as East Africa.
↓ next - c. 1411Cultural
Andrei Rublev Paints the Trinity
Moscow
The monk Andrei Rublev paints the Trinity icon, the masterpiece of Russian religious art.
↓ next - 1420Monument
The Forbidden City Completed
Beijing
The Yongle Emperor moves the capital to Beijing.
↓ next - 1436Monument
Solovetsky Monastery
Solovetsky Islands
Monks founded a fortress-monastery on White Sea islands; centuries later it became the first Gulag camp.
↓ next - c. 1450Monument
Machu Picchu Built
Machu Picchu
Pachacuti builds a mountain retreat.
↓ next - 1453Battle
The Fall of Constantinople
Constantinople
After a 53-day siege, Ottoman forces breach the Theodosian Walls and the Roman Empire ends.
↓ next - 1455Discovery
Gutenberg Prints the Bible
Wittenberg
Movable metal type turns the reproduction of text from a craft into an industry.
↓ next - c. 1455Cultural
Gutenberg Prints the Bible
Mainz
Johannes Gutenberg completes the first major book printed with movable metal type in Europe.
↓ next - 1492Political
The Fall of Granada
Granada
The Catholic Monarchs take the last Nasrid kingdom.
↓ next - 1497Discovery
Vasco da Gama Sails to India
Lisbon
A Portuguese fleet rounds Africa to reach Calicut.
↓ next - 1503Cultural
Leonardo Begins the Mona Lisa
Florence
A portrait of a Florentine merchant's wife, carried unfinished across the Alps and never delivered.
↓ next - 1512Cultural
The Sistine Chapel Ceiling
Florence
Michelangelo finishes four years of fresco over 500 square metres of Vatican ceiling.
↓ next - 1517Cultural
Luther's Ninety-Five Theses
Wittenberg
An academic objection to indulgences becomes, via the printing press, a continental schism.
↓ next - 1521Battle
The Fall of Tenochtitlan
Tenochtitlan
A siege, an epidemic, and tens of thousands of indigenous allies end the Mexica empire.
↓ next - 1545Discovery
The Silver of Potosí
Potosí
A silver mountain is found in the Andes.
↓ next - 16th centuryCultural
The Benin Bronzes
Benin City
Guild casters record the Oba's court in brass.
↓ next - 1552Battle
The Conquest of Kazan
Kazan
Ivan IV's army storms Kazan, ending the khanate and opening the Volga to Russian expansion.
↓ next - 1561Monument
St Basil's Cathedral Is Built
Moscow
Ivan the Terrible completes a cathedral on Red Square to celebrate the conquest of Kazan.
↓ next - 1582Discovery
Yermak Crosses into Siberia
Tobolsk
The Cossack Yermak defeated the Khanate of Sibir, opening the conquest of Siberia.
↓ next - 1599Cultural
Shakespeare's Globe Opens
London
The Lord Chamberlain's Men open the Globe on Bankside, built from the timbers of their old theatre.
↓ next - 1603Cultural
The Birth of Kabuki
Kyoto
Izumo no Okuni performs a bold new dance-drama on a dry riverbed in Kyoto.
↓ next - 1605Cultural
Don Quixote Is Published
Madrid
Miguel de Cervantes publishes the first part of Don Quixote, often called the first modern novel.
↓ next - 1632Monument
The Taj Mahal
Agra
Shah Jahan begins a tomb for Mumtaz Mahal.
↓ next - 1645Monument
Potala Palace Rebuilt
Lhasa
The Fifth Dalai Lama raised the vast palace above Lhasa, seat of Tibetan rule for three centuries.
↓ next - 1703Political
St Petersburg Founded
St Petersburg
Peter the Great builds a capital on the Neva marshes.
↓ next - 1714Monument
The Church of the Transfiguration at Kizhi
Kizhi
Carpenters on an island in Lake Onega raise a church with twenty-two wooden domes — built, legend says, without a single nail.
↓ next - 1728Discovery
Bering's Kamchatka Expedition
Kamchatka
Vitus Bering sailed from Kamchatka through the strait between Asia and America that bears his name.
↓ next - 1760–1840Discovery
The Industrial Revolution
Manchester
Coal, steam and the factory system reorganise work, cities and population in eighty years.
↓ next - 1764Cultural
The Hermitage Collection
Winter Palace
Catherine the Great bought her first paintings, founding one of the world's greatest museums.
↓ next - 1770Discovery
Cook Lands at Botany Bay
Botany Bay
James Cook's Endeavour anchored at Kamay, a first encounter with the Gweagal people that foreshadowed colonisation.
↓ next - 1772Discovery
Baikal's Ancient Lake
Lake Baikal
Scientific expeditions described the world's deepest and oldest lake, home to unique seals and fish.
↓ next - 1776Political
Declaration of Independence
Philadelphia
Thirteen colonies declare independence from Britain.
↓ next - 1778Cultural
Teatro alla Scala Opens
Milan
Milan's opera house opens with Salieri's Europa riconosciuta, becoming the world's most famous stage for opera.
↓ next - 1788Political
The First Fleet Arrives
Sydney
British convicts land at Sydney Cove.
↓ next - 1789Political
The Storming of the Bastille
Paris
Parisians seize a royal fortress.
↓ next - 1789Political
The French Revolution Begins
Paris
The storming of the Bastille turns a fiscal crisis into the founding event of modern politics.
↓ next - 1793Cultural
The Louvre Opens to the Public
Paris
Revolutionary France opens the royal palace as a museum for all citizens.
↓ next - 1810Cultural
The First Oktoberfest
Munich
Munich celebrates a royal wedding with horse races on the meadow before the city gates.
↓ next - 1812Battle
The Battle of Borodino
Borodino
Napoleon's Grande Armée and Kutuzov's Russians fight the bloodiest single day of the Napoleonic Wars.
↓ next - 1824Cultural
Beethoven's Ninth Symphony Premieres
Vienna
Completely deaf, Beethoven shares the podium for the premiere of his Ninth, ending with the Ode to Joy.
↓ next - 1825Political
Decembrist Revolt
Senate Square
Officers demanded a constitution in St Petersburg; their defeat inspired generations of reformers.
↓ next - 1826Military
The Exodus of Missolonghi
Missolonghi
Besieged defenders and civilians attempted a desperate breakout during the Greek War of Independence.
↓ next - 1827Military
The Battle of Navarino
Navarino Bay — Pylos
British, French and Russian squadrons destroyed much of the Ottoman-Egyptian fleet in Navarino Bay.
↓ next - 1829Political
Nafplio, Capital of the New Greek State
Nafplio
A fortified port became the seat of government as an independent Greek state took shape.
↓ next - 1830Monument
Port Arthur Penal Settlement
Port Arthur
A notorious convict prison in Tasmania, now one of the best-preserved relics of the transportation era.
↓ next - c. 1830Civilization
Stone Town of Zanzibar
Zanzibar
Omani sultans made Zanzibar the capital of a spice and trade empire, leaving carved doors and coral-stone streets.
↓ next - 1839Battle
First Opium War
Guangzhou
Britain went to war to force the opium trade on China, beginning a century of humiliation.
↓ next - 1851Cultural
The Great Exhibition
London
Britain displays industry in the Crystal Palace.
↓ next - 1854Political
Eureka Stockade
Ballarat
Gold miners rebelled against licence fees; though crushed, the revolt became a founding story of Australian democracy.
↓ next - 1861Political
Emancipation of the Serfs
Moscow
Alexander II freed some 23 million serfs, the greatest reform of imperial Russia.
↓ next - 1866Military
The Tragedy of Arkadi Monastery
Arkadi Monastery
A monastery sheltering insurgents and civilians became a symbol of the Cretan revolt against Ottoman rule.
↓ next - c. 1869Cultural
Flamenco's Golden Age Begins
Seville
The café cantante era moves flamenco from private gatherings onto public stages.
↓ next - 1869Cultural
Tolstoy Completes War and Peace
Yasnaya Polyana
At his estate of Yasnaya Polyana, Leo Tolstoy finishes one of the greatest novels ever written.
↓ next - 1869Discovery
Suez Canal Opens
Suez
A 164-kilometre canal joined the Mediterranean and Red Sea, reshaping world trade routes overnight.
↓ next - 1869Discovery
Mendeleev's Periodic Table
St Petersburg
Dmitri Mendeleev arranged the elements by weight and predicted ones not yet discovered.
↓ next - 1877Cultural
Swan Lake Premieres
Moscow
Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake debuts at the Bolshoi — a modest start for the world's most famous ballet.
↓ next - 1879Battle
Battle of Isandlwana
Isandlwana
The Zulu army inflicted a stunning defeat on British forces, the opening of the Anglo-Zulu War.
↓ next - c. 1880Cultural
The Tango Emerges
Buenos Aires
In the port districts of Buenos Aires, immigrant and Afro-Argentine rhythms fuse into the tango.
↓ next - 1883Cultural
The Metropolitan Opera Opens
New York
Shut out of the old Academy of Music, New York's industrialists found their own opera house.
↓ next - 1888Political
The Golden Law
Rio de Janeiro
Brazil becomes the last nation in the Americas to abolish slavery.
↓ next - 1896Cultural
The First Modern Olympic Games
Athens
Athens hosted the first Olympic Games of the modern revival in a restored ancient stadium.
↓ next - 1896Battle
Battle of Adwa
Adwa
Ethiopian forces under Menelik II defeated an Italian army, securing Ethiopia's independence through the scramble for Africa.
↓ next - 1901Political
Federation of Australia
Melbourne
Six colonies united as the Commonwealth of Australia, with the first parliament opening in Melbourne.
↓ next - 1903Discovery
The First Powered Flight
Kitty Hawk
The Wright brothers fly for 12 seconds.
↓ next - 1907Monument
Great Mosque of Djenné
Djenné
The world's largest mud-brick building was rebuilt on medieval foundations and is replastered by the whole town every year.
↓ next - 1908Discovery
The Tunguska Event
Tunguska
A colossal explosion over the Siberian taiga flattens some 80 million trees across 2,000 square kilometres.
↓ next - c. 1910Cultural
Jazz Is Born
New Orleans
Ragtime, blues, brass bands and Caribbean rhythm combine in New Orleans into a new music.
↓ next - 1913Cultural
India's First Feature Film
Mumbai
Dadasaheb Phalke's Raja Harishchandra premieres in Bombay, seeding the world's largest film industry.
↓ next - 1916Cultural
Anzac Legend Returns Home
Canberra
The first Anzac Day marked the Gallipoli landings, creating a national rite of remembrance.
↓ next - 1916Discovery
The Trans-Siberian Railway Is Completed
Vladivostok
The world's longest railway, 9,289 km from Moscow to Vladivostok, is completed with the Amur bridge.
↓ next - 1917Political
October Revolution
Winter Palace
Bolsheviks stormed the Winter Palace and seized power, founding the Soviet state.
↓ next - 1918Political
The Execution of the Romanovs
Yekaterinburg
Tsar Nicholas II and his family are shot by Bolsheviks in the cellar of the Ipatiev House.
↓ next - 1919Political
May Fourth Movement
Tiananmen
Students protested in Beijing, sparking a movement for science, democracy and a new literature.
↓ next - 1920Cultural
The Salzburg Festival Is Founded
Salzburg
Hofmannsthal, Reinhardt and Strauss found a festival in Mozart's city to reunite post-war Europe through art.
↓ next - 1929Cultural
Diego Rivera Paints the National Palace
Mexico City
Rivera begins his mural cycle, turning Mexico's history into public art on the walls of the state.
↓ next - 1930Cultural
The First FIFA World Cup
Montevideo
Uruguay hosts and wins the first World Cup at the newly built Estadio Centenario.
↓ next - 1935Political
The Long March
Yan'an
Communist forces retreated 10,000 kilometres to Yan'an, a journey that made Mao Zedong their leader.
↓ next - 1941Battle
Siege of Leningrad
Leningrad
For 872 days the city endured blockade and famine; the ice 'Road of Life' kept it alive.
↓ next - 1942–43Battle
The Battle of Stalingrad
Stalingrad
Soviet forces encircle and destroy the German Sixth Army in the turning point of the war in Europe.
↓ next - 1945Battle
The Bombing of Hiroshima
Hiroshima
An atomic bomb destroys a Japanese city.
↓ next - 1946Cultural
The First Cannes Film Festival
Cannes
Conceived as an answer to fascist-influenced Venice, the Cannes festival finally opens after the war.
↓ next - 1947Political
Indian Independence
Delhi
India becomes independent at midnight.
↓ next - 1947Cultural
The Edinburgh Fringe Is Born
Edinburgh
Eight uninvited theatre companies perform anyway on the margins of the new Edinburgh Festival.
↓ next - 1957Discovery
Sputnik Launched
Baikonur
The first artificial satellite beeped around the Earth, opening the space age.
↓ next - 1957Political
Ghana's Independence
Accra
Kwame Nkrumah declared Ghana free, the first sub-Saharan colony to win independence and a beacon for the continent.
↓ next - 1961Political
The Berlin Wall Rises
Berlin
East Germany seals off West Berlin overnight.
↓ next - 1961Discovery
Yuri Gagarin Becomes the First Human in Space
Baikonur
Vostok 1 lifts off from Baikonur, carrying Yuri Gagarin once around the Earth in 108 minutes.
↓ next - 1969Cultural
The Woodstock Festival
Bethel
Nearly half a million people gather on a dairy farm for three days of music that define a generation.
↓ next - 1969Discovery
Apollo 11 Lands on the Moon
Cape Canaveral
Eight years after the commitment, two people walk on another world and come back.
↓ next - 1969Discovery
Apollo 11 Launches
Cape Canaveral
A Saturn V carries three astronauts toward the Moon.
↓ next - 1973Cultural
Sydney Opera House Opens
Sydney
Jørn Utzon's shell-roofed opera house opened on Bennelong Point and became a symbol of a nation.
↓ next - 1990Political
Mandela Walks Free
Cape Town
Nelson Mandela is released after 27 years.
↓ next - 1992Political
The Mabo Decision
Mer (Murray Island)
The High Court recognised native title, overturning the doctrine that Australia had been nobody's land.
↓ next - 1992Cultural
Dak'Art Is Founded
Dakar
Senegal's capital launches the continent's most important biennial of contemporary African art.
↓ next - 1997Political
Hong Kong Handover
Hong Kong
Britain returned Hong Kong to China under the promise of 'one country, two systems'.
↓ next - 1997Cultural
Buena Vista Social Club
Havana
Veteran Cuban musicians record an album in Havana that brings son cubano to the world.
↓ next - 1997Cultural
Guggenheim Bilbao Opens
Bilbao
Frank Gehry's titanium museum transforms a declining industrial port — the 'Bilbao effect'.
Range shown: 1800000 BCE — 1997 CE