Who Was When

World timeline

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China

Erlitou cultureShang dynastyWestern ZhouSpring and Autumn periodWarring States periodQin dynastyHan dynastyThree KingdomsSui dynastyTang dynastySong dynastyYuan dynastyMing dynastyQing dynasty

South America

Caral–Supe civilizationValdivia cultureChavín cultureParacas cultureMoche cultureNazca cultureTiwanakuWari EmpireMuiscaChimú cultureInca Empire

Mesoamerica

Maya civilizationOlmec civilizationZapotec civilizationMixtec civilizationTeotihuacanToltec civilizationAztec Empire

Europe

Neolithic BritainMinoan civilizationMycenaean GreeceAncient GreeceEtruscan civilizationCeltic Iron AgeAncient RomeCarolingian EmpireVikingsHoly Roman Empire

Africa

Ancient Egypt
4000 BCE3000 BCE2000 BCE1000 BCE1 CE1000 CEErlitou grows into a planned city with a walled palace precinct at its centreBuilders lay out a grid of wide roads through the settlement, the earliest known planned road network in ChinaFoundries at Erlitou cast China's earliest known bronze ritual vessels using ceramic piece-mouldsLater texts credit the legendary Xia dynasty founders Yu and Qi with ruling from this region, though no writing found at Erlitou confirms itErlitou's palace centre is abandoned as political power shifts to new walled cities at Yanshi and ZhengzhouTang overthrows the Xia and founds the Shang dynastyKing Pan Geng moves the capital to Yin, near today's AnyangReign of Wu Ding, the best-recorded Shang kingDiviners carve questions and answers on oracle bones, the earliest large body of Chinese writingHorse-drawn chariots appear in China, buried with their horses at AnyangZhou armies defeat the last Shang king, Di Xin, at MuyeZhou armies under King Wu defeat the last Shang king at the Battle of Muye, founding the Zhou dynastyZhou rulers justify their conquest with the doctrine of the Mandate of Heaven: a king's right to rule depends on just conduct, not birth aloneZhou kings grant land to dozens of relatives and allies as hereditary lords, planting the regional states of later centuriesThe Gonghe Regency begins after King Li is driven into exile: the first year in Chinese history with a securely dated, unbroken yearly recordQuanrong raiders, allied with a rival marquis, kill King You and sack the capital HaojingThe Zhou court moves its capital east to Luoyi, near modern Luoyang, beginning the Eastern Zhou periodThe Zhou court, driven from Haojing, resettles at Luoyi and never again commands its lords directlyDuke Huan of Qi is recognised as the first hegemon, leading alliances of states in the Zhou king's nameConfucius teaches a philosophy of ritual, duty and benevolent rule that later dynasties adopt as state orthodoxyThe southern states of Wu and Yue fight a generation-long war, ending with Yue's conquest of WuCast-iron tools and ox-drawn ploughs spread across the Yellow and Yangzi valleys, lifting farm outputThe great state of Jin fractures into Han, Zhao and Wei, a split the Zhou king formally recognises in 403 BCEThe Zhou king formally recognises the three-way partition of Jin into Han, Zhao and WeiShang Yang's legalist reforms in Qin reward farming and fighting with rank, and break the power of the old aristocracyMencius, Zhuangzi, Han Feizi and other philosophers debate human nature, government and war in rival schools of thoughtQin crushes the army of Zhao at the Battle of Changping and, by later accounts, buries the surrendered soldiers aliveEngineers complete the Dujiangyan irrigation system in Sichuan, still watering farmland today without a damQin conquers the state of Qi, the last of its rivals, and unifies the Warring States under a single emperorKing Zheng of Qin conquers the last rival state and takes the new title First EmperorThe new empire standardises its script, coinage, weights, measures and cart-axle width across every former rival stateGeneral Meng Tian links older frontier walls into a single defence line against the Xiongnu to the northWorkers cast and fire an underground army of thousands of individually detailed terracotta soldiers to guard the First Emperor's tombOn the chancellor Li Si's advice, the court orders the burning of rival philosophical texts and later buries scholars aliveConscripted labourers led by Chen Sheng revolt against Qin's harsh corvée laws, triggering the rebellions that end the dynastyLiu Bang, a former village official, defeats Xiang Yu and proclaims himself the first Han emperorThe envoy Zhang Qian returns from Central Asia with reports that open the overland routes later called the Silk RoadThe regent Wang Mang deposes the Han and declares his own Xin dynasty, an interregnum ended by rebellion after fifteen yearsLiu Xiu, a Han descendant, restores the dynasty as Emperor Guangwu and moves the capital east to LuoyangThe court official Cai Lun is credited with refining a papermaking process using bark, hemp and ragsThe Yellow Turban Rebellion, led by a millenarian Daoist sect, shatters central authority and empowers regional warlordsThe warlord Cao Pi forces the last Han emperor, Xian, to abdicate and founds the state of WeiCao Cao's fleet is burned at the Battle of Red Cliffs, blocking his conquest of the south and setting up the three-way splitThe last Han emperor cedes the throne to Cao Pi, who founds Wei in the northLiu Bei proclaims Shu-Han in Sichuan, styling himself the legitimate heir to the HanShu-Han chancellor Zhuge Liang leads repeated, ultimately unsuccessful campaigns north against WeiWei armies conquer Shu-Han, ending the first of the three kingdomsWei general Sima Yan forces the Wei emperor to abdicate and proclaims the Jin dynastyJin forces conquer Wu, the last of the three kingdoms, reuniting ChinaGeneral Yang Jian deposes the Northern Zhou child emperor and founds the Sui as Emperor WenSui armies conquer the southern Chen state, reuniting China for the first time in nearly 370 yearsEmperor Wen begins selecting officials through written examination rather than birth, a system later dynasties would keep for 1,300 yearsEmperor Yang orders the digging and linking of canals that become the Grand Canal, joining the Yellow River and Yangtze basinsThree huge, failed invasions of Goguryeo in Korea drain the treasury and cost hundreds of thousands of conscripted livesEmperor Yang is assassinated by his own officers at Jiangdu as rebellions spread; the Sui dynasty endsLi Yuan founds the Tang dynasty from the ruins of Sui ruleEmperor Taizong's reign begins, later remembered as a model of good government that later rulers tried to imitateWu Zetian deposes her own son and declares herself emperor, becoming the only woman to reign in her own name in Chinese historyGeneral An Lushan's rebellion tears through the empire's heartland, permanently weakening central ruleA woodblock-printed scroll of the Diamond Sutra is produced, the earliest complete, dated printed book known to surviveHuang Chao's rebel armies sack Guangzhou and the capital Chang'an, breaking what remained of central authorityWarlord Zhu Wen deposes the last Tang emperor, ending the dynasty and opening a half-century of divisionGeneral Zhao Kuangyin is proclaimed emperor by his own troops and founds the Song dynastyThe Song government takes over issuing jiaozi, the world's first government-backed paper currencyCraftsman Bi Sheng invents movable type printing, casting individual characters in fired clayJurchen Jin forces sack the capital Kaifeng and capture two Song emperors, ending Northern Song ruleA surviving prince re-establishes the Song court at Hangzhou, beginning the Southern SongThe fortress city of Xiangyang falls to Mongol forces after a five-year siege, breaking the Song's southern defence lineThe last Song loyalists are defeated at the naval Battle of Yamen; a minister carries the child emperor into the sea rather than surrenderKublai Khan is elected Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, adopting Chinese-style institutions of governmentKublai formally proclaims his realm the Yuan dynasty, the first foreign dynasty to rule all of ChinaYuan forces destroy the last Song loyalist fleet, completing the Mongol conquest of all ChinaThe Yuan makes paper notes backed by silver reserves the empire's sole legal currency, a system Marco Polo later described in wonderTwo huge seaborne invasions of Japan are wrecked by typhoons the Japanese would later call kamikaze, or divine windFamine, flooding and runaway inflation of paper money spark the Red Turban Rebellion against Yuan ruleRebel leader Zhu Yuanzhang captures the Yuan capital Dadu; the Mongol court flees north and Yuan rule of China endsRebel leader Zhu Yuanzhang captures the Yuan capital and founds the Ming as the Hongwu EmperorThe Yongle Emperor moves the capital to Beijing and builds the Forbidden City as the new imperial palaceAdmiral Zheng He leads seven treasure-fleet voyages across the Indian Ocean, reaching as far as the coast of East AfricaMing engineers rebuild the northern frontier wall in brick and stone, creating most of the Great Wall that survives todayMing armies intervene to defend Joseon Korea against two Japanese invasions under Toyotomi HideyoshiRebel leader Li Zicheng captures Beijing; the last Ming emperor hangs himself rather than be takenQing forces take the last Southern Ming claimant from the king of Burma and execute him at Kunming, ending organised Ming resistanceHong Taiji renames his Manchu state "Qing" and declares himself emperor at MukdenA Ming general opens the gates to Manchu forces; they take Beijing and enthrone the Shunzhi Emperor over ChinaQing forces conquer Taiwan from Ming loyalist descendants, completing the conquest of Ming resistanceThe Kangxi Emperor's six-decade reign brings Taiwan, Outer Mongolia and Tibet under Qing controlDefeat in the First Opium War forces the Qing to cede Hong Kong and open treaty ports to BritainThe Taiping Rebellion, led by a man claiming to be Christ's younger brother, becomes one of the deadliest conflicts in historyThe Wuchang Uprising sparks the Xinhai Revolution; six-year-old Puyi abdicates, ending over two thousand years of imperial ruleÁspero, a fishing settlement on the coast near Supe, is among the first Norte Chico sites to be occupiedThe inland city of Caral is built, with six stepped pyramid platforms around a sunken circular plazaCaral trades cotton grown inland for dried fish from the coast, tying farmers and fishers into one economyA knotted cord found at Caral is among the oldest known examples of a khipu-like recording deviceCaral is abandoned as the Norte Chico settlements decline, likely under drought and earthquake stressFirst Valdivia villages rise on the Santa Elena coast, houses set in ovals around a plazaValdivia potters make some of the oldest fired ceramics known in the AmericasValdivia farmers grow maize, beans, squash and cotton alongside fishingValdivia communities trade with groups in the Amazon and the Andean highlandsValdivia settlement patterns end as the coast shifts into the Machalilla cultureConstruction begins on the "Old Temple" at Chavín de Huántar, with underground galleries and drainage canalsPriests carve the Lanzón, a great stone idol placed at the crossing of the temple's inner galleriesThe "New Temple" expansion adds a sunken circular plaza and larger galleries at Chavín de HuántarChavín-influenced metalworkers develop early gold soldering and repoussé techniquesBuilding stops at Chavín de Huántar and its religious influence fades as regional styles take overCommunities on the Paracas peninsula begin the shaft-tomb burials known as the Paracas CavernasParacas farmers build irrigation canals to work the desert valleys around IcaWari Kayan becomes a necropolis of hundreds of mummy bundles wrapped in embroidered clothParacas surgeons perform cranial trepanation, cutting openings in the skull that some patients survivedParacas textile traditions give way to the Topará style and the emerging Nazca cultureEarly Moche polities emerge on Peru's north coast, following the earlier Salinar and Cupisnique traditionsBuilders raise the Huaca del Sol on the Moche river, the largest adobe-brick structure in ancient PeruMoche engineers expand river-fed irrigation canals to farm the coastal desert valleysMoche lords stage ritual combat between warriors, ending in the sacrifice of the defeatedSevere El Niño flooding and drought strike the Moche valleys, straining Southern Moche citiesMoche cities are abandoned or reorganised as new coastal powers, including the later Chimú, take shapeThe Proto-Nazca phase begins on the Rio Grande de Nazca drainage, developing out of Paracas traditionsCahuachi rises as a ceremonial centre of earthwork mounds and plazas, without permanent large-scale residenceThe Nazca scrape hundreds of lines and animal figures into the desert plain, purpose still debatedNazca engineers dig puquios, spiral underground aqueducts that still supply water in dry seasonsNazca society declines after El Niño flooding, worsened by the clearing of huarango trees for farmlandTiwanaku is founded near the southern shore of Lake TiticacaTiwanaku grows into a city of raised platforms, sunken courts and monolithic gatewaysTiwanaku farmers build raised earthen fields around Lake Titicaca to protect crops from frostStoneworkers carve the Gateway of the Sun, a single block of andesite with a rayed deity in reliefTiwanaku collapses amid a prolonged drought, and its urban core is abandonedThe city of Wari grows near modern Ayacucho as the centre of an expanding highland stateWari forces take the Carahuarazo valley, abandoning some villages to build the administrative centre of JincamoccoWari administrators introduce terrace agriculture, shifting valley staples toward maizeWari builders raise Pikillaqta, a walled grid-planned administrative centre near CuzcoWari's administrative network breaks down and its centres are abandonedFarming chiefdoms take shape on the Bogotá altiplano, led by the zipa, zaque and iraca lordsMuisca communities mine and trade salt from Zipaquirá, a valuable resource across the northern AndesAt Lake Guatavita, a new zipa is anointed in gold dust and offerings are cast into the water, the origin of the El Dorado legendThe zipa of Bacatá and the zaque of Hunza fight for supremacy over the Muisca confederationGonzalo Jiménez de Quesada leads Spanish forces into Muisca territory, beginning the conquest of the New Kingdom of GranadaChimor's founding legend holds that Taycanamo arrived by raft at the Moche valley from the seaChan Chan grows into a vast adobe capital of walled compounds on the coast near TrujilloChimor expands north and south along 1,000 kilometres of coastline, absorbing the Sicán realmChimú traders bring Spondylus shell from warm Ecuadorian waters for offerings and metalworkThe Inca emperor Topa Inca Yupanqui defeats Minchançaman and absorbs Chimor into the growing Inca stateMachu Picchu is built and occupied as a royal estatePachacuti defeats the Chanka and becomes Sapa Inca, beginning the empire's expansionThe Qhapaq Ñan road network grows to link the empire over some 30,000 kmTopa Inca Yupanqui becomes Sapa Inca and pushes the empire into Chile and EcuadorEmperor Huayna Capac dies, probably of an introduced epidemic disease, without naming a clear heirCivil war between the brothers Huáscar and AtahualpaSpanish forces under Francisco Pizarro capture Atahualpa at CajamarcaAtahualpa is executed and Spanish forces enter CuscoSpanish troops take Vilcabamba and execute Túpac Amaru, the last Inca rulerThe first Maya cities develop in the Petén Basin as farming villages grow into ceremonial centresHieroglyphic writing is in use across the Maya region, the most fully developed script in the pre-Columbian AmericasThe Classic period begins as divine kings raise sculpted stone monuments dated by the Long Count calendarWarriors linked to Teotihuacan intervene at Tikal, installing a new royal dynastyTikal and Calakmul fight for supremacy over the central lowlands for over a centurySouthern lowland cities fall into civil war and are abandoned within a few generationsChichén Itzá rises as the dominant power in the northern Yucatán during the Postclassic periodSpanish forces take Nojpetén, the last independent Maya city, ending centuries of resistanceSan Lorenzo becomes the first major Olmec centre in the Veracruz lowlandsOlmec sculptors carve colossal basalt heads, some over two metres tall, hauled from distant quarriesSan Lorenzo's monuments are defaced and buried, and the centre of Olmec power shifts awayLa Venta rises as the new leading Olmec centre, with a great earthen pyramid at its heartOlmec communities play an early form of the Mesoamerican ballgame using rubber ballsLa Venta is abandoned and Olmec-style monuments cease, as Gulf Coast population falls sharplySan José Mogote is the largest settlement of the Oaxaca valley before Monte Albán is builtMonte Albán is founded on a defensible mountaintop overlooking all three arms of the Oaxaca valleyZapotec carvers at Monte Albán use one of Mesoamerica's earliest hieroglyphic scripts and calendarsCarved "Danzantes" slabs at Monte Albán, showing captives, mark early military conquestMonte Albán is largely abandoned as its political power fragments among smaller Oaxaca city-statesZapotec city-states in the Oaxaca valley come under Spanish control following the fall of TenochtitlanMixtec-speaking communities settle the Mixteca Alta, Baja and Costa regions of OaxacaMixtec scribes paint dynastic histories in folding deerskin screenfold books, later called codicesLord Eight Deer Jaguar Claw conquers the rival kingdom of Red and White BundleMixtec goldsmiths produce filigree jewellery so fine the Aztecs later imported their craftsmenSpanish forces complete the conquest of the Mixtec kingdoms following the fall of TenochtitlanTeotihuacan begins as a religious centre on the Mexican plateauBuilders raise the Pyramid of the Sun, among the largest structures in the pre-Columbian AmericasMulti-family apartment compounds house most of the city's population along the Avenue of the DeadTeotihuacan-linked warriors intervene in the Maya city of Tikal, reshaping its ruling dynastyTeotihuacan's temples along the Avenue of the Dead are sacked and systematically burnedSettlers linked to Teotihuacan's decline build early towns in the Tula regionTula grows into the Toltec capital, reaching prominence under rulers later remembered as Topiltzin QuetzalcóatlToltec sculptors carve the great basalt Atlantean warrior columns atop Tula's main pyramidArchitecture and imagery at Tula and at the Maya city of Chichén Itzá closely echo one anotherTula is burned and abandoned amid internal conflict and pressure from northern migrantsThe Mexica found Tenochtitlan on a marshy island in Lake Texcoco, seeing an eagle on a cactus as a signTenochtitlan, Texcoco and Tlacopan form the Triple Alliance, defeating the dominant Tepanec city of AzcapotzalcoThe Templo Mayor is rededicated at Tenochtitlan with a mass dedication ceremonyUnder Moctezuma II, the empire reaches its greatest extent just before Spanish forces arriveHernán Cortés, allied with rival city-states, captures Tenochtitlan after a prolonged siegeFarming, livestock and pottery reach Britain from continental EuropeCommunities build Britain's first large monuments, causewayed enclosures of banks and ditchesThe first Stonehenge is built: a circular ditch and bank enclosing an inner ring of Welsh bluestonesThe massive sarsen stones and trilithons are raised at StonehengeBluestones are moved roughly 200 km from the Preseli Hills in Wales to Salisbury PlainThe "Amesbury Archer" is buried near Stonehenge with some of Britain's earliest metal and gold objectsBell Beaker migrants from continental Europe bring metalworking, replacing most of the existing Neolithic populationThe first palace complexes are built at Knossos, Phaistos and MaliaPalace scribes develop Linear A, Europe's first known script, still undecipheredKnossos is rebuilt on a grander scale after earthquake damage, beginning Crete's most prosperous periodThe volcano on Thera (Santorini) erupts, one of the largest eruptions of the last 10,000 years, burying the Minoan-influenced town of AkrotiriKnossos comes under Mycenaean Greek control, and Linear B, an early form of Greek, appears in the palace archivesKnossos, the last major Minoan palace, is destroyed by fire and not rebuiltRulers at Mycenae are buried in shaft graves with gold death masks and bronze weaponsFortified palace citadels are built at Mycenae, Pylos, Tiryns and ThebesPalace scribes write Linear B, the earliest known form of the Greek language, mostly for tracking stores and taxesThe Lion Gate, the main entrance to Mycenae, is built with a relief of two lions flanking a columnNearly all Mycenaean palaces are destroyed by fire within a few decades, part of the wider Late Bronze Age collapseThe palace at Pylos burns; its archive room's clay tablets survive only because the fire baked them hardThe first Olympic Games are held at Olympia, traditionally used to mark the start of recorded Greek historyCleisthenes' reforms in Athens create the world's first known democracy, with citizens voting directly on lawsAthens defeats a Persian invasion force at MarathonAthens builds the Parthenon on the Acropolis under the statesman PericlesAthens and Sparta fight the Peloponnesian War, which ends with Athens's defeatAlexander the Great conquers the Persian Empire, spreading Greek language and culture from Egypt to IndiaRome destroys Corinth and dissolves the last Greek confederacy, ending mainland Greek political independenceVillanovan Iron Age communities in Tuscany begin cremating their dead in distinctive biconical urnsTwelve major Etruscan cities, including Veii, Tarquinia and Cerveteri, emerge as wealthy, walled centresEtruscans adapt the Greek alphabet, then pass a version of it on to RomeEtruscan kings, including Tarquinius Priscus and Tarquinius Superbus, rule Rome before its founding as a republicRome captures Veii after a long siege, its first major conquest of an Etruscan cityAfter the Social War, Etruscan cities are granted Roman citizenship, ending their formal political independenceThe Etruscan language falls out of everyday use, surviving only in religious ritual by the early Roman EmpireCommunities around Hallstatt in Austria grow rich from salt mining; their cemetery of over a thousand graves gives the early Iron Age its nameThe distinctive curving, plant-like La Tène art style appears on weapons, jewellery and mirrors across Celtic EuropeCeltic warriors under Brennus defeat a Roman army and sack the city of Rome itselfCeltic warbands raid deep into Greece and attack the sanctuary at DelphiJulius Caesar conquers Gaul over eight years of campaigning, ending Celtic independence thereQueen Boudica leads the Iceni and allied Britons in a revolt that burns Londinium before Rome crushes itEmperor Claudius launches the Roman conquest of Britain, ending Celtic Iron Age independence in the southLegend: Romulus founds Rome on the Palatine HillRomans expel their last king, Tarquin the Proud, and elect two consuls a year: the Republic beginsRome's first written laws, the Twelve Tables, are set up in the Forum for anyone to readA Gallic war band routs the Roman army at the Allia and sacks the cityFirst Punic War: Rome builds its first war fleet and after 23 years drives Carthage out of SicilyHannibal, who has marched his army and elephants over the Alps, annihilates a larger Roman army at CannaeScipio defeats Hannibal at Zama; Carthage surrenders its fleet and its empireRome razes Carthage after a three-year siege; the same year its army sacks CorinthCaesar besieges Vercingetorix at Alesia and completes the conquest of GaulCaesar leads a legion across the Rubicon into Italy, starting a civil warSenators stab Julius Caesar to death at a meeting in the Theatre of Pompey, on the Ides of MarchOctavian's fleet defeats Antony and Cleopatra at Actium; Egypt becomes Roman the next yearThe Senate grants Octavian the name Augustus; historians count him as the first emperorArminius's Germanic alliance destroys three legions in the Teutoburg Forest; Rome gives up on Germany beyond the RhineTitus's legions storm Jerusalem and destroy the Second TempleVesuvius erupts and buries Pompeii and Herculaneum under ash and rockTitus opens the Colosseum with a hundred days of gamesTrajan's army takes the Parthian capital Ctesiphon; at his death in 117 the empire is at its largestHadrian orders a wall across northern Britain, 117 km from sea to seaCaracalla grants Roman citizenship to nearly every free inhabitant of the empireConstantine defeats Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge and begins to favour ChristianityConstantine dedicates Constantinople, a 'New Rome' on the Bosporus, as the empire's eastern capitalTheodosius I dies at Milan; his sons Arcadius and Honorius rule East and West, and the split becomes permanentAlaric's Goths sack Rome, the first enemy to hold the city in 800 yearsThe general Odoacer deposes the boy emperor Romulus Augustulus at Ravenna; the West has no more emperorsJustinian dedicates Hagia Sophia, built in under six years beneath a dome 31 m acrossArab armies crush the Byzantines at the Yarmouk; Syria, then Egypt, are lost for goodSeljuk Turks capture the emperor Romanos IV at Manzikert; Anatolia, the empire's heartland, is opened to Turkish settlementCrusaders and Venetians storm and loot Constantinople and carve the empire into Latin statesOttoman cannon breach the walls of Constantinople; the last emperor, Constantine XI, dies in the fightingFrankish and Aquitanian forces under Charles Martel, Charlemagne's grandfather, defeat an Umayyad army from al-Andalus between Poitiers and ToursPepin the Short deposes the last Merovingian king and is crowned king of the Franks with papal backingCharlemagne becomes sole king of the Franks after the death of his brother CarlomanCharlemagne wages three decades of war to conquer and forcibly convert the pagan SaxonsCharlemagne besieges Pavia, the Lombard capital, and on its fall takes the title King of the LombardsBasques ambush the rearguard of Charlemagne's army in the Pyrenees on its way back from Spain; among the dead is Roland, later the hero of the Song of RolandMonastic scriptoria copy classical Latin texts in the new, more legible Carolingian minuscule script, preserving many works otherwise lostAt an assembly in the palace at Ingelheim, Charlemagne deposes his cousin Tassilo III, the last independent duke of Bavaria, and takes Bavaria into the Frankish kingdomPope Leo III crowns Charlemagne Roman Emperor in St Peter's Basilica on Christmas DayCharlemagne dies and is buried in his palace chapel at Aachen; his son Louis the Pious inherits the whole empireCharlemagne's three grandsons divide the empire at the Treaty of Verdun, creating the outlines of future France and GermanyAt Meerssen, Louis the German and Charles the Bald split Lotharingia, the northern part of the middle kingdom, between East and West FranciaA Viking fleet besieges Paris for almost a year; Count Odo holds the walls, but Charles the Fat pays the raiders off and lets them sail on to BurgundyCharles the Fat, the last ruler of a briefly reunited empire, is deposed, and the Carolingian lands split permanentlyNorse raiders attack the monastery at Lindisfarne, the first recorded Viking raid on BritainNorse settlers establish a longphort, a ship fortress, that grows into the town of DublinThe Great Heathen Army invades England, conquering three of its four kingdoms before Alfred the Great halts itRus traders and warriors, of Scandinavian origin, establish princely rule over Slavic towns along the river routes to ByzantiumNorse voyagers led by Leif Erikson reach North America and briefly settle at L'Anse aux Meadows, NewfoundlandCnut the Great rules England, Denmark and Norway together as a single North Sea empireEngland defeats a Norwegian invasion at Stamford Bridge, then falls to the Normans at Hastings weeks later, conventionally closing the Viking AgeOtto I's German army defeats a Hungarian force besieging Augsburg, ending the great Magyar raids on western EuropePope John XII crowns Otto I emperor in Rome, beginning the line of emperors historians usually call the Holy Roman EmpireEmperor Henry IV and the papacy fight over who has the right to appoint bishops, including Henry's barefoot penance at CanossaThe Lombard League's city armies, led by Milan, defeat Emperor Frederick Barbarossa near LegnanoMeeting in Frankfurt, the electors choose Rudolf of Habsburg as King of the Romans, ending the Great Interregnum, two decades of weak and rival kings, and starting his family's riseEmperor Charles IV issues the Golden Bull, fixing the rules for electing future emperors among seven prince-electorsThe Council of Constance condemns the Czech reformer Jan Hus as a heretic and he is burned at the stake, setting Bohemia on the road to the Hussite WarsMartin Luther refuses to recant before the imperial Diet of Worms, splitting the empire's religious unityThe Peace of Augsburg lets each prince of the empire choose Lutheranism or Catholicism as the faith of his own landsThe Thirty Years' War, fought largely on imperial soil over religion and power, kills an estimated fifth of the German populationThe Peace of Westphalia confirms the near-total independence of the empire's constituent princes, leaving the emperor mostly ceremonialImperial and Polish troops under King John III Sobieski break the two-month Ottoman siege of Vienna in a battle on the KahlenbergNapoleon crushes the Russian and Austrian armies at Austerlitz, and Austria signs the Peace of Pressburg within the monthEmperor Francis II abdicates the imperial throne under pressure from Napoleon, formally dissolving the Holy Roman EmpireNarmer, shown on his palette wearing the crowns of both lands, rules a united Upper and Lower EgyptDjoser builds the Step Pyramid at Saqqara, Egypt's first large stone building and its first pyramidKhufu's Great Pyramid rises at Giza, the largest building the world has yet seenAfter Pepi II's long reign the central state breaks down and provincial governors rule for themselves: the First Intermediate PeriodMentuhotep II of Thebes defeats Herakleopolis and reunites Egypt: the Middle Kingdom beginsAmenemhat I founds a new capital, Itjtawy, near Lisht; his dynasty revives pyramid building and starts the temple of Amun at KarnakHyksos kings from the Levant rule the Delta from Avaris while Thebes holds the south: the Second Intermediate PeriodAhmose of Thebes takes Avaris and drives out the Hyksos, reuniting Egypt: the New Kingdom beginsHatshepsut, regent for the boy Thutmose III, is crowned king in her own right and builds her terraced temple at Deir el-BahariThutmose III crushes a Canaanite coalition at Megiddo and carries Egypt's empire to the Euphrates and to Napata; his annals cover the walls of KarnakAkhenaten abandons Thebes for a new city, Akhetaten (Amarna), and its one god, the sun disc AtenThe boy king Tutankhamun restores the old gods; his untouched tomb, opened in 1922, makes him the most famous pharaoh of allRamesses II reigns for 66 years, building on a scale never matched: Pi-Ramesses, the Ramesseum, and the rock temples of Abu SimbelRamesses II fights the Hittites to a draw at Kadesh on the Orontes; the peace treaty that follows is the earliest to surviveRamesses III defeats the Sea Peoples on the Delta shore; the battle is carved across his temple at Medinet HabuRamesses XI dies; Smendes rules from Tanis while the High Priests of Amun rule Thebes: Egypt splits into the Third Intermediate PeriodPiye, king of Kush, marches north from Napata and takes Memphis; Nubian pharaohs rule Egypt as the 25th DynastyAssyrian armies drive the Kushite pharaohs out of Egypt and sack ThebesPsamtik I of Sais shakes off Assyria and reunites Egypt with Greek and Carian mercenaries: the Saite revivalCambyses II of Persia defeats Psamtik III at Pelusium; Egypt becomes a Persian provinceArtaxerxes III reconquers Egypt; Nectanebo II, the last native pharaoh, flees southAlexander the Great takes Egypt from the Persians and marks out Alexandria on the coastPtolemy, Alexander's general, takes the title of king: his Greek dynasty rules Egypt from Alexandria for 275 yearsPriests at Memphis issue a decree for the young Ptolemy V in hieroglyphs, Demotic and Greek: the Rosetta StoneOctavian's fleet defeats Antony and Cleopatra off ActiumCleopatra VII dies in Alexandria and Octavian makes Egypt a Roman province: the last pharaoh's kingdom ends

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