Modern Era
Panthay Rebellion (1856-1873): Du Wenxiu's Sultanate in Yunnan
The Panthay Rebellion of 1856-1873 was a revolt led by Hui Muslims in Yunnan, where Du Wenxiu ruled a state from Dali until the Qing crushed it in 1872-1873.
An encyclopedia of world history
The story of our planet and its people, event by event
Clear, carefully checked articles on the moments that shaped our planet, from the asteroid that ended the age of dinosaurs to the fall of the Berlin Wall.
3280 articles · 6 eras · 7 regions
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Contemporary
Stanislav Petrov (1983): The False Alarm That Averted Nuclear War
On 26 September 1983 Soviet officer Stanislav Petrov judged a satellite warning of US missile launches to be a false alarm. What happened and why it matters.
Modern Era
Battle of Iwo Jima (1945): The Marines and Mount Suribachi
The Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945 pitted US Marines against dug-in Japanese defenders on a tiny volcanic island. Causes, fighting, the flag photo and the cost.
Ancient World
Linear B (c. 1450 BC): The Script That Revealed Mycenaean Greek
Linear B was the palace script of Mycenaean Greece, c. 1450–1200 BC. How Michael Ventris deciphered it in 1952 and what its clay tablets reveal of palace life.
Prehistory
Dolmen of Menga: Antequera's Giant Megalithic Tomb in Spain
The Dolmen of Menga in Antequera, Andalusia, built c. 3750–3650 BC, is one of Europe's largest megalithic chambers, aligned on La Peña de los Enamorados.
Early Modern
First Battle of Panipat (1526): Babur Founds Mughal Rule
Decisive victory for Babur; Ibrahim Lodi was killed, the Lodi sultanate fell and Babur took Delhi and Agra.
Contemporary
1960 Valdivia Earthquake: The Strongest Earthquake Ever Recorded
An estimated 1,000-6,000 deaths in Chile, about 2 million people left homeless, and a tsunami that killed people in Hawaii, Japan and the Philippines.
Modern Era
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848): Mexico Cedes the Southwest
Mexico ceded about 525,000 square miles, including California and New Mexico, and accepted the Rio Grande border with Texas.
Prehistory
Glossopteris: The Fossil Plant That Helped Reveal Gondwana
Glossopteris fossils on all the southern continents became one of the strongest early arguments that they had once formed a single landmass.
Early Modern
Founding of the Khalsa (1699): Guru Gobind Singh and the Sikhs
The Khalsa was established as the order of initiated Sikhs, giving the community a distinct identity, discipline and military organisation.
Contemporary
1964 Alaska Earthquake: The Great Good Friday Quake and Tsunami
About 130 deaths, most of them caused by tsunamis; the earthquake became a key case in confirming plate tectonics and improving tsunami warnings.
Prehistory
Kenyanthropus platyops: The Flat-Faced Man of Lake Turkana
The cranium KNM-WT 40000 was named as a new genus and species in 2001, suggesting several hominin lineages lived alongside Lucy's species, though its status is still debated.
Prehistory
Skara Brae: Orkney's Remarkably Preserved Neolithic Village
The best-preserved Neolithic village in northern Europe, part of the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site since 1999.
Prehistory
Tower of Jericho: The Neolithic Walls of an Ancient Town
Neolithic Jericho built a massive stone tower and wall, among the earliest known monumental structures, and later produced plastered human skulls.
Middle Ages
Mount Athos: The Monastic Republic Founded in 963
Athos became the leading centre of Orthodox monasticism, a self-governing community of 20 monasteries that survives today.
Early Modern
Manila Galleon Trade (1565-1815): Ships Linking Asia and America
For 250 years the galleons carried American silver to Asia and Asian goods to the Americas and Europe, creating the first regular trans-Pacific trade route.
Ancient World
Ionian Revolt (499-493 BC): The Spark of the Persian Wars
Persian victory; the revolt was crushed after the naval Battle of Lade and the sack of Miletus in 494 BC, and Darius turned against Athens and Eretria.
Middle Ages
Battle of Yehuling (1211): Genghis Khan Crushes the Jin Army
Decisive Mongol victory; the Jin field army was destroyed and northern China lay open to Mongol raids and conquest.
Ancient World
Daric: The Gold Coin of the Achaemenid Persian Empire
The daric became the standard gold coin of the Persian Empire and a famous tool of Persian diplomacy in the Greek world for nearly two centuries.
Middle Ages
Palatine Chapel of Aachen (c. 796-805): Charlemagne's Church
Charlemagne's palace church became his burial place, the coronation church of German kings for six centuries and Germany's first UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Early Modern
Founding of Luanda (1576): Portugal's Slave Port in Angola
Portugal gained a permanent base in West Central Africa, which became the capital of colonial Angola and a leading port of the Atlantic slave trade.
Early Modern
Battle of Naseby (1645): The New Model Army Breaks the King
Decisive Parliamentarian victory; the king's main army was destroyed and the Royalist cause never recovered.
Ancient World
La Venta: The Olmec Ceremonial Centre of Tabasco
La Venta became the leading Olmec centre after San Lorenzo and left monuments that define Olmec art; it declined around 400 BC.
Contemporary
2008 Sichuan Earthquake: The Wenchuan Disaster in Western China
About 69,000 people were killed, around 18,000 went missing and nearly 5 million were left homeless; China launched a vast three-year reconstruction programme.
Early Modern
Imjin War (1592–1598): Japan's Invasions of Korea
Japan withdrew after Hideyoshi's death without gaining territory, leaving Korea devastated and Ming China financially weakened.
Middle Ages
Cacaxtla Murals: Battle Scenes in Epiclassic Mexico
The murals revealed close artistic links between central Mexico and the Maya world in the centuries after Teotihuacan's fall.
Middle Ages
Muhammad bin Tughluq Moves the Capital to Daulatabad (1327)
Large parts of Delhi's Muslim elite were moved to Daulatabad, but the sultan later allowed them to return; the move spread Delhi's culture into the Deccan.
Prehistory
Homo floresiensis: The 'Hobbit' Humans of Flores, Indonesia
The discovery revealed a small-bodied, small-brained human species that survived on an isolated island until about 50,000 years ago, reshaping views of human evolution in Asia.
Middle Ages
Fall of Trebizond (1461): The Last Byzantine Successor State
Trebizond surrendered to the Ottomans, ending the last Byzantine Greek empire; Emperor David and most of his family were executed in 1463.
On the timeline
See all →- PrehistoryBefore c. 3000 BC · all 303 articles →
- c. 4.54 bn years ago
Formation of the Earth: How Our Planet Was Born
A layered rocky planet with an iron core, a silicate mantle and an early crust emerged, opening the Hadean Eon.
- c. 4.5 bn years ago
Formation of the Moon: The Giant Impact With Theia
Debris from a collision between the proto-Earth and a planet-sized body gathered in orbit to form the Moon, which has accompanied Earth ever since.
- c. 4.0-3.5 bn years ago
Origin of Life on Earth: How and When Life First Began
Simple single-celled microbes appeared, the ancestors of all living things; how non-living chemistry became life is still unresolved.
- c. 2.4 billion years ago
Great Oxidation Event: How Oxygen First Filled Earth's Air
Free oxygen became a lasting part of Earth's atmosphere, transforming the chemistry of rocks, oceans and life.
- Ancient Worldc. 3000 BC – AD 500 · all 650 articles →
- c. 2600-1900 BC
Indus Valley Civilisation: Bronze Age Cities of South Asia
The largest urban culture of the Bronze Age world flourished for some seven centuries, then gradually broke up into smaller regional village cultures after about 1900 BC.
- c. 3200 BC
Uruk: The World's First Great City in Ancient Mesopotamia
Uruk grew into the largest settlement of its time, where monumental temples, mass administration and writing first appeared together, setting the model for Mesopotamian cities.
- c. 3300 BC
Invention of Cuneiform: How Sumer Created the First Writing
Bookkeeping signs on clay developed into cuneiform, a script used for about 3,000 years to write more than a dozen languages of the ancient Near East.
- c. 3100 BC
Narmer and the Unification of Egypt (c. 3100 BC)
Upper and Lower Egypt were ruled as a single kingdom, and Narmer is usually counted as the first king of the First Dynasty.
- Middle Agesc. 500 – 1500 · all 652 articles →
- 507
Clovis I and the Battle of Vouillé (507): Rise of the Franks
Frankish victory; Alaric II was killed, the Visigoths lost most of Gaul, and Clovis became the dominant ruler between the Pyrenees and the Rhine.
- 527–548
Empress Theodora: From Actress to Ruler of the Byzantine Empire
A former actress became Justinian's crowned empress and political partner, shaping court politics, laws on women and church policy until her death in 548.
- 527–565
Justinian I: The Byzantine Emperor Who Tried to Restore Rome
Justinian recovered North Africa, Italy and part of Spain, codified Roman law and built Hagia Sophia, but left an exhausted, plague-stricken empire.
- c. 529
Monte Cassino and the Rule of St Benedict (c. 529)
Benedict's monastery survived repeated destruction, and his Rule became the standard guide for monks and nuns across Western Europe.
- Early Modernc. 1500 – 1800 · all 603 articles →
- 3 August 1492 – 15 March 1493
Columbus's First Voyage (1492): Crossing the Atlantic
Columbus reached the Caribbean and returned to Spain, opening lasting contact between Europe and the Americas.
- From 1492
Columbian Exchange: Crops, Animals and Diseases after 1492
Plants, animals, microbes and people were redistributed across the globe, transforming diets, economies and populations on every inhabited continent.
- 1493–1496
Columbus's Second Voyage (1493–1496): La Isabela and Colonisation
Spain founded its first planned town in the Americas at La Isabela, imposed tribute on the Taíno of Hispaniola and began permanent colonisation.
- 7 June 1494
Treaty of Tordesillas (1494): Spain and Portugal Divide the World
Castile and Portugal agreed a dividing meridian 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands, giving Portugal Africa, the route to Asia and later Brazil, and Castile most of the Americas.
- Modern Erac. 1800 – 1945 · all 602 articles →
- 1803
Louisiana Purchase (1803): How the United States Doubled in Size
France sold its claim to Louisiana to the United States for about 15 million dollars, roughly doubling the area of the young republic.
- 1804
Napoleonic Code (1804): The Civil Law That Reshaped Europe
France gained a single civil code of 2,281 articles, which became a model for civil law across Europe, Latin America and beyond.
- 1804–1806
Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804-1806): Crossing a Continent
The Corps of Discovery reached the Pacific and returned, mapping the Missouri and Columbia routes and recording hundreds of plants, animals and Native communities.
- 21 October 1805
Battle of Trafalgar (1805): Nelson's Victory and Death at Sea
Decisive British victory; the Franco-Spanish fleet lost 22 ships and Britain secured naval supremacy for a century.
- Contemporary1945 – present · all 470 articles →
- 1945–1946
ENIAC (1945): The First General-Purpose Electronic Computer
ENIAC proved that large-scale electronic computation was practical and launched the American computer industry.
- 1946
Iron Curtain Speech (1946): Churchill at Fulton, Missouri
Churchill's warning of an iron curtain across Europe was widely criticised at first but became the defining image of the Cold War division of the continent.
- 1946-1949
Chinese Civil War 1946-1949: Mao's Communists Defeat Chiang
Communist victory on the mainland; the People's Republic of China was proclaimed and the Nationalist government withdrew to Taiwan.
- 1947
Partition of India 1947: Mass Migration, Violence and Two Nations
British India was divided into India and Pakistan; an estimated 10 to 20 million people were displaced and hundreds of thousands to perhaps 2 million were killed.