Chronology
Five thousand years, end to end
38 records shown
- 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 - c. 1411Cultural
Andrei Rublev Paints the Trinity
Moscow
The monk Andrei Rublev paints the Trinity icon, the masterpiece of Russian religious art.
↓ next - 1436Monument
Solovetsky Monastery
Solovetsky Islands
Monks founded a fortress-monastery on White Sea islands; centuries later it became the first Gulag camp.
↓ next - 1453Battle
The Fall of Constantinople
Constantinople
After a 53-day siege, Ottoman forces breach the Theodosian Walls and the Roman Empire ends.
Range shown: 560 CE — 1453 CE