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3600 BCE
Cuneiform
Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Near East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is named for the characteristic wedge-shaped impressions which form its signs. Cuneiform was originally developed to write the Sumerian language of southern Mesopotamia. -
Period: 3600 BCE to 3000 BCE
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3000 BCE
The Wheel
The wheel was invented to be used in pottery making, but the Mesopotamians soon developed it further into a means of transportation in the form of the chariot around 2400 BC. The invention of the wheel cannot be understated, and in ancient times, it revolutionized trade, ceramics, irrigation, and warfare. -
3000 BCE
circa
Kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt unite. Successive dynasties witness flourishing trade, prosperity and the development of great cultural traditions. Writing, including hieroglyphics, is used as an instrument of state -
3000 BCE
The Caral civilization
The Caral culture developed in America -
Period: 3000 BCE to 1800 BCE
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1800 BCE
The fall of Cral civilization
In the end, after various and devastating famines that put an end to this brilliant civilization -
Period: 1800 BCE to 1200 BCE
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1200 BCE
Great ceremonial centre
San Lorenzo becomes the great ceremonial centre of the Olmec civilization. -
Period: 1200 BCE to 1046 BCE
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1046 BCE
The Mandate of Heaven
Among the earliest rulers of China, the Zhou established the idea of the Mandate of Heaven, in which a just ruler must maintain harmony between heaven and Earth. -
Period: 1046 BCE to 900 BCE
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900 BCE
The Chavin civilization
The Chavin civilization flourishes in ancient Peru. -
Period: 900 BCE to 750 BCE
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750 BCE
Chavin de Huantar
The Old Temple is constructed at Chavin de Huantar. -
Period: 750 BCE to 699 BCE
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Period: 699 BCE to 400 BCE
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669 BCE
The taking of Egypt
Assyrians from Mesopotamia conquer and rule Egypt. -
400 BCE
The end of Olmec civilization
La Venta is destroyed, monuments are defaced and the Olmec civilization ends. -
Period: 400 BCE to 221 BCE
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221 BCE
The First Emperor
A Qin emperor, whose tomb is guarded today by the Terracotta Army near Xi’an, created China’s first centralized, unified state. -
Period: 221 BCE to 900
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900
Toltec civilization
The Toltec civilization flourishes in Mesoamerica -
Period: 900 to 935
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935
The birth of Ce Acatl Topiltzin
Ce Acatl Topiltzin the legendary leader of the Toltecs was born. -
Period: 935 to 1428
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1428
Great City of Tenochtitlán
During the reign of the Aztec ruler Itzcóatl, an alliance is formed between Tenochtitlán and the neighboring states of Texcoco and Tlacopan. This alliance allows the Aztec to become the dominant power in central Mexico. -
Period: 1428 to 1486
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1486
Human sacrifice to the Aztec war god, Huitzilopochtli
Ahuitzotl becomes the Aztec ruler in 1486. The following year Ahuitzotl’s new temple at Tenochtitlán is dedicated to the gods in a ceremony that lasts four days and with as many as 20,000 prisoners of war sacrificed at the altar. As the captives are marched up to the altar, priests and Aztec nobles, including Ahuitzotl, cut open their chests and tear out their hearts.
