Chronology
Five thousand years, end to end
30 records shown
- 1405Discovery
Zheng He's Treasure Fleet
Nanjing
Admiral Zheng He led giant junks across the Indian Ocean as far as East Africa.
↓ next - 1420Monument
The Forbidden City Completed
Beijing
The Yongle Emperor moves the capital to Beijing.
↓ next - c. 1450Monument
Machu Picchu Built
Machu Picchu
Pachacuti builds a mountain retreat.
↓ 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 - 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.
Range shown: 1405 CE — 1788 CE