AP World History : Timeline Project (8000 BCE ~ 500 BCE)

Evolution of Homo Sapiens

200,000 BCE

Homo sapiens replaced homo erectus as a more dominant species due to their incredible intelligence. Throughout the years, homo sapiens proved their creativity and capability by their numerous feats. A defining feature of homo sapiens was their ability to adapt to various environments and make it their own.

The End of the Paleolithic Era

10,000 BCE

The end of the longest Stone Age, characterised to be the a period in which humans gained the most experience. During this era, humans hunted down meat and gathered plant life to sustain themselves. Humans also greatly developed sophisticated purposeful thought, that questioned their existence and the value of human life.

Beginning of the Neolithic Era (Neolithic Revolution)

10,000 BCE

During the Neolithic Revolution, humans made drastic changes in their lifestyle by making great advancements in agriculture and setting up societies in villages and towns. Different ways to organize society and different labor divisions such as pottery, metallurgy, and textiles were developed soon after. With the innovation of writing, people began to educate others on different crafts or topics such as astronomy and mathematics.

Early Agriculture Developments of Pastoralism

9000 BCE

Earliest evidence of agriculture is from southwest Asia, where humans grew crops and domesticated various livestock. Around this time, Africans also had resided in the Sahara Desert and domesticated livestock while cultivating sorghum, a type of plant mainly used for grain.

Jericho and the Emergence of Villages and Towns

8000 BCE

With the population growing rapidly, humans needed to develop a way of social organization to keep order. For this reason, humans stopped their constant migration and made permanent settlements (villages), one of the earliest ones being Jericho, who's wealth attracted many; even resulting in a wall being built around the city. Jericho was north of the Dead Sea, with two thousand residents that developed agriculture and even traded various objects.

Catal Huyuk and Specialized Labor

7250 BCE

Following the emergence of villages and towns was the division of labor for people who were specialized in a line of work. A settlement known as Catal Huyuk provided evidence of specialized labor, as objects such as pots, baskets, textiles, tools, etc were excavated from the site. Specialized labor was mainly in three departments of pottery, metallurgy, and textile production.

Development of Bronze Metallurgy

4000 BCE

Metallurgy, being one of the main craft industries in specialized labor, had great importance and thus a lot of experimentation was done with it. The results of the experiments was bronze -- an alloy made from copper and tin. Bronze went in to many tools, weapons, armor, and etc used in agriculture and the military.

Domestication of Horses

4000 BCE

Through extensive observation, Indo-Europeans domesticated horses both as a food source and (mainly) as a form of transportation. The riding of horses combined with the current technology led to horses being combined with carts, wagons, and chariots. This had uses in both transportation and military affairs.

Early Use of Ships

3500 BCE

Early transportation on water was made possible by Sumerians with early sailing ships. Ships were mainly used for trade between other regions, and various materials came from various places.

Early Use of the Wheel

3500 BCE

The wheel, along with ships, was an innovation by Sumerians to help basic transportation. Original wheels were made out of solid wood, and were used mainly to get materials around easier.

Early Harappan Society

3300 BCE

Early Harappan society revolved around two major cities -- Harappa and Mohenjo-daro. While a lot of Harappan society remains a mystery, it is known that a lot of Harappa's wealth was accredited to their thriving agriculture and extensive trade. Because of this, Harappans also developed a contrasting social system that very clearly separated the rich from the poor.

Emergence of Sumerian City-States (~2350 BC)

3200 BCE

City-states and its government authorities played a big role in the public affairs of Mesopotamia, as they maintained order and kept the people working. The city-states often worked on community projects such as palaces and temples. One of the community projects had been defensive walls, as the city-states had been targets of many because of their wealth.

Construction of Ziggurats

3200 BCE

Ziggurats had been another community projects that the city-states had often conducted. Ziggurats were massive structures with the shape of a step pyramid. Inside the ziggurats were temples and altars that honoured various deities.

Beginning of the Archaic Period of Egypt

3100 BCE

Following the unification of Egypt was the Archaic Period, which, along with the Old Kingdom, is characterised to be eras where the pharaohs held the most authority. Pharaohs were said to be gods in human form, and were treated as such. Pharaohs were also compared to the likes of Horus (the god of the skies) and Amon (the god of the sun), and believed that the pharaoh's jobs were similar to that of the sun and skies.

Early Settlements of the Phoenicians

3000 BCE

Also known as Canaanites, Phoenicians had been Semitics that had great impacts on trade, language, and other industries. Phoenicians had established many city-states to control their power, unlike many other societies that had established a monarchy.

Development of Cuneiform Writing

2900 BCE

To keep records and to communicate ideas, the Sumerians created a writing language consisting of many symbols that was pretty effective. People wrote on small blocks of clay with reeds to write. Cuneiform writing would last many a millennium later until the appearance of more useful forms of writing.

Beginning of the Old Kingdom of Egypt and the Construction of Pyramids

2660 BCE

Following the end of the Archaic Period was the Old Kingdom, which, along with the Archaic Period, was characterised to be eras where the pharaohs held the most authority. Constructed during the Old Kingdom were the pyramids that still stand today used as tombs for royalty. They are also a testament to the pharaohs' power in monopolising resources and control over labor.

Beginning of the Kingdom of Kush

2500 BCE

The Kingdom of Kush was set up at a time in which many Egyptian societies created tension between themselves in order to gain power. Established by Nubian leaders, the Kingdom of Kush became a powerful force to be reckoned with in the upper areas of the Nile and southern Egypt.

Early Andean Culture

2500 BCE

Peoples of the Andean society had developed independently, for the most part, but had been influenced by Mesoamerican societies in agriculture. The cult of Chavin had a huge impact on Andean culture, and Andean society later produced religious monuments and established many regional states.

Begin of Sargon of Akkad's Conquest

2334 BCE

Sargon began as as minister to the king of Kish, a city in Mesopotamia. After recruiting an army, however, that all changed after he rebelled against the king and took over. Sargon went on to conquer more city-states, and gained power over multiple trade routes and taxes, and used the finances to make Akkad (a city near Kish and Babylon) an extremely powerful and wealthy city.

Beginning of the Xia Dynasty

2070 BCE

The Xia Dynasty, while not much is known at this point, is still accredited as the first dynasty and one of the first examples of social organisation in traditional Chinese history. The Xia Dynasty's main concern was maintaining control over the state, which was done with multiple cities and weapons. The Xia Dynasty later faded away into obscurity for the Shang Dynasty.

Development of War Chariots

2000 BCE

The Hittites had the idea of attaching a recent invention, the spoked wheel (a wheel with multiple rods suspending from the centre), to chariots of horses that would create a more stable and fast ride than it would have been with the earliest of wheels. War chariots had a great impact on military affairs, and gave whichever society had them a very crucial edge in battles.

Begin of Hammurabi's Reign

1792 BCE

Hammurabi had been a conquerer of Babylon, who improved on many rules and techniques that had previously existed, such as Sargon's. From this came Hammurabi's Laws, a code that expected much from those who followed it and punished those who did not. The main idea was an eye for an eye, but in the favor of higher ranks, meaning that the punishment would be more severe if you were a commoner and vice versa.

Beginning of the Shang Dynasty

1766 BCE

The Shang Dynasty slowly replaced the Xia Dynasty as the central power of China with its technological advancements and superior weaponry. The capitals of the Shang Dynasty was chosen around its importance in social, economic, and cultural societies. The Shang Dynasty was arguably the most powerful between the known dynasties with smart choices and tactics in rule.

Early Use of Alphabetic Writing

1500 BCE

Several groups of people (Syrian, Phoenician, etc) had wanted to improve upon cuneiform writing for a long time. Phoenicians had the idea of creating an alphabetic system with few letters and a multitude of words that could be created with those words. As a result of this simplified system, more people could read and write, and many cultures adapted to and improved upon alphabetic writing.

Early Aryan Settlements

1500 BCE

Aryans had been Vedic Indic nomads that, like many other groups of people (most notably the Dravidians), had settled much in north India. Aryans can be noted for their extensive history of religion and social organisation.

Development of Monotheism (Aten)

1353 BCE

Before the appearance of Aten, there had been a polytheistic belief of Amon (god of fertility and creation) and Re (god of the sun), stylised as Amon-Re. The opposing belief to this was of course the belief that Aten, another god of the sun, was the one and only god. This belief was established by the Pharaoh Akhenaten, who ruled as a pharaoh for nearly 20 years.

Development of Iron Metallurgy

1300 BCE

The Hittites had come across an innovation in which iron was heated up, then moulded into a shape to create various weapons and tools. In truth, the Mesopotamians had been the ones that developed this, but Hittites had taken it and had improved it into a more adaptable practice.

Olmec Civilisation in Mesoamerica

1200 BCE

The Olmecs had been a group of people that resided in Mesoamerica. Olmec sites were planted with many temples, pyramids, etc for the rulers, most notably being the colossal human heads that were sculpted from basalt rock. While Olmec society influenced many a society with their trade of jade and obsidian, it is still unknown as to why the sites were destroyed later on, but it is speculated that the Olmecs destroyed it themselves for an unknown reason.

Beginning of the Zhou Dynasty

1046 BCE

As was the case with the Xia Dynasty, accounts say that the last king of the Shang Dynasty was corrupt and foolish, which gave way for the Zhou Dynasty to take over. An important difference from the other dynasties was the Mandate of Heaven, a system that had said that the rulers were chosen by a higher being (higher than humans), and that were a corrupt leader to rule, the Mandate of Heaven would prevent it.

Use of the Varna System

1000 BCE

The varna was a system used by the Aryans as a form of social organisation of classes in a society, mainly divided into four categories. Spiritual work was an important part of Aryan society, so priests, or brahmins, were at the top. Warriors that protected the people (kshatriyas) were next, with vaishyas (workers in business) and shudras (normal peasants) at the bottom.

Development of Monotheism (Yahweh)

800 BCE

While early Hebrews, like the Mesopotamians, embraced the thought of polytheism (multiple gods), Moses believed in the one (and only) true god, Yahweh. Yahweh was a god that expected high ethical values from his followers, as seen in the Ten Commandments, which were rules Moses introduced as the benchmark for worshipping Yahweh. All of Yahweh's principles and laws were written in a book known as the Torah.

Early Teachings of Spirituality

800 BCE

Spiritualism was a complete redirection from traditional Aryan religious thought, and had been the result of a search for a way to get in contact with the gods. Spiritualism detailed that every living being was connected through the bonds of the Brahman, a soul everyone is a part of. While the teachings of Spiritualism branched off into many different parts, the main goal was to join Brahman by escaping the cycle of rebirth through self-mortification and meditation (moksha).

Reign of Nebuchadnezzar of the New Babylonian Empire (~550 BC)

600 BCE

Also called the Chaldean empire, the New Babylonian Empire was a period of time in which Babylon had took control over Mesopotamia. King Nebuchadnezzar surrounded the city with many walls and put in many temples inside them with his wealth and resources. However, as other societies had gone far in advancing their weaponry and tactics in control, their rule was short lived at 50 years.

Period of the Warring States

403 BCE

During the last centuries of the Zhou Dynasty occurred a breakout of fights between states to gain control. It was a race between the states to expand their territory and to strengthen their military. The Period of the Warring States eventually ended when the Qin Dynasty was established in 221 BC.

Early Mayan Villages in Mesoamerica

300 BCE

The Mayans had been another group of people in Mesoamerica that were one of the earliest heirs to the Olmecs. The Mayans' culture was extremely diverse, with various systems of society, religion, writing, and various rituals with different purposes. The Mayans had believed that, their staple food being maize, the gods had created humans out of maize and water.