Ms. Koltov's Social Studies Classes - World History I Timeline

World History I BIG Timeline of IMPORTANT Events Connecting the WORLD

Key:
Africa
East Asia
South Asia
Middle East
Eastern Europe
Western Europe
Americas

Example of an IMPORTANT Event Connecting the WORLD (Cultural Diffusion!!):

Date	Event	Significance
3000 BCE	River Valley Civilizations emerge	Development of early civilizations
2000 BCE	Abrahamic covenant	Start of Judaism (and the basis for other monotheistic religions of Christianity and Islam)
206 BCE-220 CE	Han Dynasty	The Silk Road began to be heavily traveled during this time. This led to a flourishing network of trade between Rome and China (and countless places in between) and extensive cultural diffusion that would last for centuries to come.
30	Jesus’s death	Christianity spreads; today it is the world’s largest religion
130	Start of Jewish Diaspora	Jews were expelled from the Holy Land; today all Jews living outside Israel are considered to be living in the Diaspora
622	Muhammad’s hijra	Start of Islam; today it is the 2nd largest religion in the world
632	Muhammad died	Dispute over succession led to Sunni-Shiite split
Mid 600s	Arab armies spread Islam to North Africa	Replaced Christianity and created a predominantly Muslim North Africa and Middle East
750-1258	Start of Abbasid Dynasty	Islam’s golden age; Baghdad, and later Cairo, were important cultural centers
618-907	Tang Dynasty	Rebirth of Han culture; a golden age in China; Buddhism spread into China during this time
960-1279	Start of Song Dynasty	Golden age; footbinding begins; shipbuilding begins, paving the way for Zheng He’s voyages in the 1400s
12-1300s	Mongol invasions	Largest contiguous land empire in history; created stability in Eurasiaà trade & cultural diffusion (and the Black Death also spread)
1324-25	Mansa Musa’s hajj	Caused gold market to crash; direct global attention toward West Africa
1433	China closes doors to outside world	Zheng he dies; China imposes a policy of isolation from the Western world
1453	Conquest of Constantinople	Strategic city; Muslims had been trying to conquer it for centuries; end of Byzantine Empire
1501-1722	Safavid Empire	Solidified a Shiite Muslim Empire; the basis for the modern Shiite country of Iran
1556-1605	Akbar’s reign	Centralized power in India during the rule of the Muslim Mughal Empire