History of English Timeline

By mariyamad
  • Period: 410 to 436

    Roman withdraw from Britain

    Old English
  • Period: 450 to 1150

    The English was spoken in England. It was based more on German than the English we speak at present.

    Old English
  • Period: 500 to 600

    Germanic peoples, speaking West Germanic dialects settle most of Britain

    Old English
  • Period: 800 to 1100

    Beowulf was written

    Old English
  • Period: 800 to 1150

    Because the people who ruled England spoke first Danish and later French. English became less like German

    Old English
  • Period: 1066 to 1075

    Norman Invasion

    Old English
  • 1384

    John Wycliffe publishes his English translation of "The Bible"

    Middle English
  • 1400

    Chaucer's Canterbury Tales

    Middle English
  • 1440

    Invention of the printing press

    Middle English
  • 1450

    The great vowel shift begins

    Middle English
  • 1492

    Discovery of North America

    Middle English
  • Period: 1492 to 1493

    Medieval phase book

    Middle English

  • Shakespeare made use of a wider vocabulary than ever before

    Modern English

  • Shakespeare's first folio

    Modern English
  • Period: to

    English was spoken in India as well as in Africa and Asia. It became the language for government and education in India

    Modern English

  • Discovery of American Revolution

    Modern English

  • Some British people were taken to Australia. English began to be spoken in both countries

    Modern English

  • The English language was settled. Two big changes: Samuel Johnson wrote his dictionary. Noah Webster wrote The American Dictionary of the English Language. The latter gave a separate identity to American English Spelling.

    Modern English