• Period: 385 to 400

    Roman Republic (EUR) 500 BC - 27 BC

    earliest examples of democracy
  • Period: 390 to 476

    Western Roman Empire (EUR) 31 BC-476 AD

    Falls in 476 AD
  • Period: 395 to 900

    Mayan Empire (AM) 250-900

    hieroglyphs, long count calendar, Chichen Itza
    starting at 400 for ease of view
  • Period: 400 to 1453

    Byzantine Empire (EUR) 330-1453

    Ends with fall of Constantinople
    starting at 400 for ease of view
  • Period: 500 to 1000

    Early Middle Ages (EUR)

    backwards, decentralized, military threat
  • 600

    Spread of Islam begins (ME)

    600s/700s through Arabia
  • 600

    Ch'an or zen Buddhism emerges (EASIA)

    emphasizes simplicity, present-moment awareness, nonduality, nonconceptual understanding, and zazen (“just sitting”) meditation
  • 656

    Sunni-Shiite Split (ME)

    656-661
  • Period: 661 to 750

    Ummayad Caliphate (ME)

    Syrian city of Damascus
    Made Arabic official language
  • 700

    Feudalism emerges (EUR)

    nobility held lands from the Crown in exchange for military service
    vassals were in turn tenants of the nobles
    peasants (villeins or serfs) were obliged to live on their lord's land and give him homage, labor, and a share of the produce, in exchange for military protection
  • Period: 700 to 1500

    Mississippian Civilizations (AM)

    Cahokia built with 30k people
  • Period: 750 to 1258

    Abbasid Caliphate (ME)

    Golden age of classical culture
    House of wisdom: It was a major hub of learning and scholarship, and played a key role in the translation, preservation, and transmission of knowledge from ancient Greek, Roman, Persian, and Indian sources to the Arabic-speaking world Harun al-Rashid
    peak under son:
    Al-Ma'mun The word "algebra" is derived from the Arabic word "al-jabr," which means "reunion of broken parts.
  • 768

    Charlemagne takes power (EUR)

    768-814
    Frankish monarch statebuilder + education
  • 776

    Haroud al Rashid emerges Caliphate (ME)

    famous caliphate
    776-809
  • Period: 794 to 1185

    Heian period (JAP)

    classical period
  • 800

    Medieval climactic optimum (800-1300)

    flourishing agriculture warming
  • Period: 800 to 1500

    Holy Roman Empire (EUR) 800-1806

    founded by Charlemagne and heirs
    Ending at 1500 for ease of view
  • Period: 800 to 1450

    Khmer Empire (SASIA)

    Cambodia was a Hindu-Buddhist empire
  • Period: 800 to 1100

    Vikings (EUR)

    Iceland, Greenland, British Isles, NW France, Sicily, Russia longboats
  • Period: 900 to 1200

    Toltec Empire (AM)

    warrior society central Mexico
  • Period: 900 to 1470

    Chimu culture in Andes (AM)

    passed to Inca
    largest empire in Andes and roads
  • Period: 960 to 1279

    Song Dynasty (EASIA)

    durable and advanced
    gunpowder 800s-900s, printing, paper money, magnetic compass
  • 980

    Avicenna (ME)

    Canon of Medicine - most authoritative medical text
  • Period: 1000 to 1300

    High Middle Ages (EUR)

    cultural + economic revival
  • Period: 1000 to 1492

    Spanish/Portugese Reconquista (EUR)

    Catholics against Muslims and Jews
  • Period: 1000 to 1500

    Swahili city states flourish (AFR)

    East Africa
    Zanzibar port
  • Period: 1000 to 1400

    Great Zimbabwe (AFR)

    royal kingdom with walls, some of which are eleven meters high
  • 1054

    Great Schism (EUR)

    church split into Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy
    Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox
    Roman church in Rome vs Byzantine church based in Constantinople (now called Istanbul)
    Western beliefs: clerics should remain celibate and use bread for communion, pope authority over patriarch - East didn't agree
  • Period: 1095 to 1204

    The Crusades (EUR)

    Convert non Catholics
    4 crusades
    Famous: First Crusade 1095-1291 in North Africa/Middle East
  • 1100

    Timbuktu founded (AFR)

    Mali hub (1200-1600s)
    Sundiata epic: who is revered as a great warrior and a cultural hero, and his story is considered one of the greatest examples of oral literature in Africa
  • Period: 1100 to 1500

    Shogun regimes (JAP)

    Kamakura Ashikaga
    2 regimes daimyo noble warlords, had samurai followed Bushido fought Kublai Khan (Mongol)
  • Period: 1100 to 1300

    Scholasticism emerges (EUR)

    It was a system of learning that sought to reconcile the classical philosophy of Aristotle with the teachings of the Christian church.
    reconcile faith and reason by demonstrating that the teachings of the Church could be supported by reason and logic. They believed that truth could be discovered through logical analysis and debate, and that all knowledge could be organized and systematized.
    St. Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, and William of Ockham
  • 1135

    Maimonides (ME)

    1135-1204
    re-familiarized Muslim Spain/Europe with Aristotle
  • 1200

    Maori settlement NZ

    Polynesian migrations (1000-900 BCE)
  • 1200

    Arab Slave Trade emerges strong (ME)

  • 1200

    Rumi (ME)

    Sufi poet
  • Period: 1200 to 1368

    pax Mongolica (EURASIA)

    semi unification by Genghis Khan C. Asian steppes
    destroyed Song, Abbasid, Kievan Russia state
  • Period: 1200 to 1500

    Aztecs/Mexica (AM)

    Tenochtitlan
    fell to Spanish
  • Period: 1206 to 1500

    Delhi Sultanate (IND) 1206-1526

    introduction to Islam
    centralized India
    ending at 1500 for ease of view
  • 1215

    Magna Carta (EUR)

    rights of nobility against king
    followed by Parliament creation late 1200s
  • 1231

    Holy Inquisition begins (EUR)

    popes decided heresy courts
  • Period: 1250 to 1500

    Mali state (AFR) 1250-1600

    Mande state Islam gold and metals
    Sundiata Keita founded 1235
    ending at 1500 for ease of view
  • 1271

    Kublai Khan (Mongol) takes Song (EASIA)

  • 1271

    Marco Polo visits China (EASIA)

    meets Kubali Khan
  • Period: 1271 to 1368

    Yuan Dynasty (EASIA)

    Kublai Kahn Yuan China rich and powerful - Mongol
  • 1300

    Indian cities and states resist and break from Delhi (IND)

  • Period: 1300 to 1500

    Late Middle Ages (EUR)

    Greater centralization
  • Period: 1300 to 1500

    Renaissance (EUR) 1300-1600s

    approx years
    high renaissance - 1400s and 1500s in Italy
    ending at 1500 for ease of view
  • Period: 1300 to 1500

    Ottoman Empire (ME) 1300-1922

    ending at 1500 for ease of view
  • Period: 1300 to 1500

    Renaissance Humanism (EUR) 1300-1600s

    encouraged a critical and empirical approach to knowledge and an appreciation of individuality, creativity, and freedom
    study of classical texts could provide a model for how to live a good life, and that by understanding the past, people could better understand the present and shape the future
    Renaissance humanists include Petrarch, Erasmus, Thomas More, and Michel de Montaigne.
    Ends in 1500 for ease of view
  • 1312

    Mansa Musa rules (AFR)

    1312-1337
  • Period: 1336 to 1500

    Vijayanagara Empire (IND) 1336-1646

    powerful Karnata empire- Hindu
    ending at 1500 for ease of view
  • Period: 1337 to 1453

    Hundred Years' War (EUR)

    English v French
    Joan of Arc peasant French won
  • 1346

    Black Death hits Europe (EUR)

    in Europe: 1347 to 1351
  • Period: 1368 to 1500

    Ming Dynasty (EASIA) 1368-1644

    triggered by Red Turban revolts fell Yuan
    Zhu Yuanzhang- Hongwu emperor; his son: Yongle emperor
    ending at 1500 for ease of view
  • 1400

    Silk Road flourishes again (ME)

    disrupted 800-1200
  • 1400

    Bhakti movement (IND)

    swept to North- Vishnu and Shiva worship begins
  • 1400

    Little Ice Age (1400-1800)

    global cooling famines and peasant uprisings
  • 1405

    Zheng He explorations (EASIA)

    SE Asia, India, ME, E Afr
    1405-1433
  • 1438

    Hapsburgs emerge (EUR)

  • Period: 1438 to 1500

    Inca Empire (AM) 1438-1532

    took Chimu culture mid 1400s
    expanded into Cusco
    ending at 1500 for ease of view
  • 1450

    Gutenberg movable type printing press (EUR)

    China invented, Europe made cost effective
  • 1453

    Fall of Constantinople (EUR/ME)

    Ottomans took Constantinople 1453 destroyed Byzantine empire
  • Islamic Expansion into Africa begins (AFR)

    1600s and on