The 100 Most Important Events in Human History
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The 100 Most Important Events in Human History For those who don’t have time to wade through the entire Timeline of Human History, I have created a list of the 100 most important events in human history by collecting and combining several lists of 10, 25, 50 or 100 “most important events” or “events that changed the world” from the Internet and combining them into one meta-list, which is presented below in chronological order. As with many such lists, the results are unlikely to win universal approval. For example, I find the list biased toward Western (in particular American) civilization and overly focused on war, religion and dead white men. There is also a bit of “comparing apples to oranges” because some of the important events happened in an instant and others occurred over many years or decades. Despite these caveats, I think it is safe to say that all the events listed here are important to understanding human history. 1. The Agricultural Revolution: Humans Domesticate Plants and Animals: c. 11,000-4,000 BCE — c. 20,000 BCE: Earliest evidence of humans exerting some control over wild grain (Israel) — c. 11,000 BCE: Planned cultivation and trait selection of rye (Syria); evidence of domestication of lentils, vetch, pistachios and almonds (Greece) — c. 9,500 BCE: By this time, eight key crops (emmer wheat, einkorn wheat, barley, peas, lentils, bitter vetch, chickpeas and flax) have been domesticated in the Levant (Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Cyprus, Turkey) — c. 9,100 BCE: Oldest known agricultural settlement, at Klimonas (Cyprus) — c. 9,000 BCE: Domestication of sheep in several locations in central and southwest Asia — c. 8,000 BCE: Farming is fully established along the Nile River by this time (Egypt); rice and millet are domesticated in China; domestication of goats (Iran); domestication of pigs (Near East; China; Germany); domestication of maize and squash (Mexico) — c. 7,000 BCE: Agriculture is well-established in Mesopotamia (Iraq); first evidence of agriculture in the Indus Valley (Pakistan, India); domestication of cattle in North Africa, India and Mesopotamia — c. 6,000 BCE: First evidence of agriculture on the Iberian Peninsula (Spain, Portugal); domestication of chickens (India; Southeast Asia); domestication of ePaperPDF.com llamas (Peru) — c. 5,500 BCE: Oldest known field systems, including stone walls (Ireland) — c. 5,500 BCE: Farmers in Sumeria have developed large-scale intensive cultivation of land, mono-cropping, organized irrigation and a specialized agricultural labor force (Iraq) — c. 5,000 BCE: Domestication of rice and sorghum in Africa’s Sahel region (Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Algeria, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Sudan, South Sudan, Eritrea, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Ethiopia) — c. 4,000 BCE: Domestication of the horse (Ukraine; Kazakhstan) — c. 3,000 BCE: Earliest known use of the ox-drawn ard plow (Egypt) 2. The First Cities Emerge in Mesopotamia: c. 4000-3000 BCE (Iraq) — c. 5400 BCE: According to legend, the Sumerians create their first settlement in Mesopotamia at Eridu — c. 4500 BCE: The Sumerian settlement of Uruk becomes the first city in Mesopotamia — c. 2900 BCE: Uruk is the largest city in the world — c. 2075 BCE: The Sumerian city of Lagash is the largest city in the world — c. 2030 BCE: The Sumerian city of Ur is the largest city in the world 3. The First Wheeled Vehicles Appear in Mesopotamia, Eastern Europe and the Caucasus: c. 3500 BCE (Iraq, Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania) ePaperPDF.com The remains of the oldest existing wheel and axle, dating to 3000 BCE, were found in the Lubjlana marshes in Slovenia. 4. The First Writing Systems Appear in Mesopotamia (Cuneiform), Egypt (Hieroglyphics) and the Indus Valley (Indus Script): c. 3200 BCE 5. The Ancient Egyptians Build the Great Pyramid of Giza for Pharaoh Khufu: c. 2560 BCE (Egypt) ePaperPDF.com The Great Pyramid at Giza, Egypt was built as the tomb of Fourth Dynasty Egyptian Pharaoh Khufu. 6. The Origin and Development of Modern Alphabets: c. 1850-800 BCE (Egypt, Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Greece) — c. 1850 BCE (or 1550 BCE): First evidence of the Proto-Sinaitic/Proto- Canaanite script, which gives rise to the Phoenician alphabet — c. 1050 BCE: Development of the all-consonant Phoenician alphabet, which gives rise to the Semitic, Hebraic and Arabic scripts — c. 800 BCE: The Greeks adapt the Phoenician alphabet by converting some of the letters to vowels; the Greek alphabet gives rise to the Roman and Cryllic alphabets ePaperPDF.com The Phoenician alphabet and the alphabets derived from it. 7. Babylonian King Hammurabi Issues the Code of Hammurabi, One of the Earliest Legal Codes: c. 1754 BCE (Iraq) ePaperPDF.com ePaperPDF.com The Code of Hammurabi is engraved on an eight-foot tall diorite stele, with a portrait of the king receiving the laws from Shamash, the sun god. It is now in the Louvre Museum in Paris. 8. As Knowledge of Iron Metallurgy Spreads, the Bronze Age Ends and the Iron Age Begins: c. 1200-500 BCE — c. 3000-2700 BCE: First evidence of smelting iron ore to make wrought iron (Iraq, Syria) — c. 1800-1200 BCE: Evidence of smelting iron ore to make wrought iron in India — c. 1500-1200 BCE: The Hittites are working iron in bellows-aided furnaces (“bloomeries”) (Turkey) — c. 1200 BCE: The Iron Age begins in the Ancient Near East (Iraq, Turkey, Iran, Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine) and India — c. 800 BCE: The Iron Age begins in Central and Western Europe — c. 500 BCE: The Iron Age begins in Northern Europe and China 9. The Rise of Ancient Greek Civilization: c. 800-336 BCE (Greece) — c. 800 BCE: The Greek Dark Ages end and the Archaic Period begins; the first Greek city-states emerge — 776 BCE: Traditional date of first Olympic Games athletic competitions — c. 595-575 BCE: Solon institutes wide-ranging constitutional reforms in Athens — 490 BCE: The Greeks stop the first Persian invasion at the Battle of Marathon — 480-479 BCE: Greek city-states (led by Athens and Sparta) repel the second Persian invasion at Salamis and Plataea; Classical Period begins — 461-429 BCE: Pericles leads Athens during a golden age of arts and culture –—– 458 BCE: The Oresteia, a trilogy of tragic plays by Aeschylus, is performed in Athens —— 440 BCE: Herodotus writes The Histories, an account of the Greco-Persian wars —— 432 BCE: Completion of the Parthenon on the Acropolis in Athens —— 429 BCE: Oedipus Rex, a tragic play by Sophocles, is performed in Athens — 404 BCE: Sparta defeats Athens, ending the Peloponnesian War — 400 BCE: First articulation of the Hippocratic Oath for physicians ePaperPDF.com — 386 BCE: Plato opens the Academy in Athens — 336 BCE: Aristotle opens the Lyceum in Athens 10. The Rise and Fall of Ancient Roman Civilization: c. 753 BCE – 476 CE (Italy) — 753 BCE: Legendary date of founding of Rome — 509 BCE: Legendary date of founding of the Roman Republic — 202 BCE: Rome under Scipio Africanus defeats Carthage under Hannibal at the Battle of Zama to end the Second Punic War (Tunisia) — 146 BCE: Roman armies destroy the city of Carthage at the end of the Third Punic War (Tunisia) — 49 BCE: Julius Caesar and his army cross the Rubicon, starting Roman Civil War — 44 BCE: Julius Caesar is assassinated in the Senate by Brutus, Cassius and others — 31 BCE: Octavian defeats Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium, ending the Roman civil wars (Greece) — 27 BCE: The Senate makes Octavian (later called Augustus) Imperator, effectively ceding power to him and marking the beginning of the Roman Empire — 27 BCE-180 CE: Pax Romana, a period of relative peace in the Roman Empire — 9 CE: In the Battle of Teutoberg Forest, Germanic forces led by Arminius ambush and destroy three Roman legions led by Publius Quinctilius Varus (Germany) — 312 CE: Constantine defeats rival Maxentius at the Battle of Milvian Bridge to become co-emperor — 313 CE: Co-emperors Constantine and Licinius issue the Edict of Milan, which makes Christianity legal in the Roman Empire — 390 CE: Theodosius the Great issues the Edict of Thessalonica, which makes Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire — 395 CE: Death of Theodosius; from this point, the Roman Empire is permanently divided between Eastern and Western portions — 410 CE: Sack of Rome by the Visigoths under Alaric — 476 CE: Flavius Odoacer leads a revolt that deposes Emperor Romulus Augustulus, marking the end of the Western Roman Empire ePaperPDF.com A map of the Roman Empire at its greatest extent, under Emperor Trajan. 11. The Life of the Buddha and Birth of Buddhism: c. 563-400 BCE (India) 12. The Life of Confucius and Birth of Confucianism: 551-479 BCE (China) 13. Alexander the Great Creates an Immense Empire: 336-323 BCE (Greece) — 338 BCE: The Macedonians, led by King Philip II and his son Alexander, take Athens in the Battle of Chaeronea, giving Macedon power over all the Greek city-states — 336 BCE: Upon the death of Philip II, Alexander becomes king of Macedon (Greece) — 333 BCE: Alexander wins the Battle of Issus over Darius III of Persia (Turkey) — 332 BCE: Alexander conquers Syria and Egypt — 331 BCE: Alexander becomes ruler of the Persian Empire after defeating the Persians at the Battle of Gaugamela (Iraqi Kurdistan) — 327 BCE: Alexander invades the Indian subcontinent (Pakistan) — 323 BCE: Alexander dies at Babylon (Iraq) ePaperPDF.com Alexander the Great’s Empire at its peak. 14. Unification of China under Emperor Qin Shi Huang, Who Begins Building The Great Wall: 221-206 BCE 45. The Birth of the Modern Calendar: 45 BCE (Italy) — 45 BCE: Reforms made to the Roman calendar under Julius Caesar create the Julian Calendar, with 365 days in a year divided into 12 months and a leap year every four years (Italy) — 1582: Due to inaccuracies resulting from the Julian Calendar, Pope Gregory XIII issues the Gregorian Calendar, which reduces the number of leap years (Italy) 16.