Timeline
YEAR
EVENT
100000 bce
15000 bce
10000–4000 bce
5000–3000 bce
first modern Homo sapiens (South Africa)
migrations across the Bering Strait to the Americas
growth of cities in Mesopotamia
cultures using agriculture emerge in Egypt; city-states arise among the
Sumerians
traditional start of the Jewish calendar
oldest surviving free-standing monuments erected at Ggantija, Gozo
(Malta)
roots of Hinduism, which became a dominant religion in South Asia
traditional date of the foundation of the Shang dynasty in China
Moses born in Egypt and leads an exodus of Israelites
Siddhartha Gautama—the Buddha—establishes Buddhism in Nepal and
India
birth date of Confucius (551–479 bce)
Battle of Thermopylae between Persians and Greeks
birth of Socrates, who propounded an early version of “cosmopolitan
citizenship”
construction of the Great Wall of China starts, forming a symbolic
boundary
rise and fall of the Roman empire (fall in 610 ce in the east)
approximate date of birth of Jesus Christ; the start of Christianity
Prophet Muhammad (570–632) born in Mecca; the foundation of Islam
Abu Bakr (ca. 573–634) becomes first Caliph and leader of the Islamic
Ummah, a global community for Muslims
Crusades: warfare between Christians and Muslims in the Middle East
Ghengis Khan (d. 1227) founds first Mongol empire, which became the
largest continuous empire in history
rise and fall of the Incan empire, the largest pre-Columbian society in Latin
America (Peru)
Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406) writes the Muqaddimah (1377), a pioneering
theory of social conflict between nomadic and settled peoples
3760 bce
3600–3200 bce
2000 bce
1766 bce
1393–1273 bce
563–480 bce
551 bce
480 bce
469 bce
259–210 bce
27 bce–476 ce
4–6 bce
570 ce
632
1095–1291
1206
c13th–1572
1332–1406
2
TIMELINE
YEAR
1452
1478
mid-c15th
1492
1494
1498
c15th–c20th
c16th–c19th
1519–21
1524–1648
1602
1607
1648
1760s–1840s
1762
1776–83
1788
1789
1791
1794
1807
1815
1819–30
1823
1833
EVENT
Pope Nicholas V (1397–1455) issues a papal bull making it permissible for
Christians to enslave pagans
Spanish Inquisition established by monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon
(1452–1516) and Isabella I of Castile (1451–1504)
Ming dynasty ceases global exploration and turns China inward
Christopher Columbus (1451–1506) “discovers” the “New World”
King John II of Portugal (1455–95) starts the African slave trade to Europe,
which was extended to the Americas in 1502
Vasco da Gama (d. 1524) establishes a Portuguese presence in India
era of the rise and fall of western colonialism
expansion and eventual abolition of the Atlantic slave trade
collapse of the Aztec empire at the hands of Hernan Cortes (1485–1547),
the Spanish conquistador, aided by a smallpox epidemic against which
there was no local resistance
European wars of religion (between Catholics and Protestants)
foundation of the Dutch East India Company; beginning of European
commercial penetration of South and Southeast Asia
British establish first settlement in North America at Jamestown, Virginia
Peace of Westphalia institutionalizes the concept of state sovereignty in
Europe
period of the first industrial revolution
publication of Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s (1712–78) The Social Contract
American War of Independence and the birth of the idea of US
self-government
British establish a colony at Botany Bay, Australia
outbreak of the French Revolution and the doctrine of popular sovereignty
Toussaint Louverture (1743–1803) leads the first successful slave revolt in
the French colony of Santo Domingo; he became the governor of Haiti in
1801 and the first black head of state but in 1802 he was ousted, arrested,
and deported to France, where he died in captivity in 1803
France abolishes slavery in all its possessions (though in 1802 Napoleon
reintroduced slavery in French colonies that grew sugar)
abolition of the slave trade throughout the British empire, though
implementation took some years
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821) defeated at the Battle of Waterloo
Simón Bolívar (1783–1830) works to establish Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia,
Peru, and Colombia as independent states separate from the Spanish
empire
declaration of the “Monroe Doctrine,” which claimed that the Americas
would be a sphere of influence of the United States alone
British Slavery Abolition Act ends slavery throughout the British empire
TIMELINE
YEAR
1848
1856
1849
1857
1861–65
1865
1881
1885–1908
1888
1890–1965
1910
1911
1914–18
1915
1915
1917
1918–20
3
EVENT
Karl Marx (1818–83) and Friedrich Engels (1820–95) publish The
Communist Manifesto
Arthur de Gobineau (1816–82) writes An Essay on the Inequality of the
Human Races, a work adapted by many subsequent racial theorists and
condemned by many critics, such as Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–59)
birth of Mohammad Abduh (d. 1905), an Egyptian jurist and key figure in
Islamic modernism
events variously described as the Indian Mutiny or the first Indian War of
Independence in the territories of the East India Company, leading to the
end of the company and the absorption of the population of British India
as part of the British empire
American Civil War; President Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) issues the
Emancipation Proclamation (1863), ending slavery in areas controlled by
the Northern army
slavery throughout the United States abolished by the Thirteenth
Amendment
birth of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (d. 1938), founder of the republic of Turkey
following the collapse of the Ottoman empire
King Leopold II of Belgium’s (1835–1909) exploitation of the Congo leads
to some ten million deaths (the first genocidal massacres of the twentieth
century)
Berlin Conference divides Africa into European colonial territories
racial segregation laws (Jim Crow) reestablished in the Southern (former
Confederate) US states to restore racial segregation after the end of
Reconstruction (1865–77)
W. E. B. Du Bois (1868–1963) becomes Director of Publicity and Research
at the office of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People in New York and editor of The Crisis, which developed a large
circulation in the African American population
overthrow of the Manchu dynasty led by Sun Yat-sen (1866–1925),
a Chinese revolutionary and founder of the republic of China
World War I (estimated seventeen million deaths and twenty million
wounded)
deportation and genocide of 1.5 million Armenians during the collapse of
Ottoman empire
Robert Ezra Park (1864–1944) started teaching sociology at the University
of Chicago, leading to an early sustained program of research into race
relations
Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924) leads the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia
W. I. Thomas (1863–1947) and Florian Znaniecki (1882–1958) publish The
Polish Peasant in Europe and North America
4
TIMELINE
YEAR
1919
1919
1929
1933
1934–39
1938
1939–45
1945
1945
1947
1948
1948
1949
1954
1957
1957
1959
1961
EVENT
Treaty of Versailles concluded between Britain, France, and the United
States following victory over Germany and Turkey in World War I, to
establish self-determination in Europe following the German and
Ottoman defeats
W. E. B. Du Bois organizes the first Pan-African Congress in Paris, followed
by the second in 1921 (London), the third in 1923 (Lisbon), and the
fourth in 1927 (New York)
collapse of the US stock market and the start of the Great Depression
Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) and the Nazi party achieve electoral victory in
Germany, paving the way toward World War II (1939–45) and the
Holocaust
purges by Joseph Stalin (1878–1953) enforce russification of the Soviet
Union and the ruthless suppression of political opponents
Nanjing (Nanking) Massacre: mass murder and rape by Japanese troops of
some three hundred thousand Chinese civilians and soldiers during the
second Sino–Japanese War
World War II (estimated between fifty million and eighty million deaths)
atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (130,000 deaths); Japan
surrenders
fifth Pan-African Congress organized in Manchester, UK, by George
Padmore (1903–59, Trinidad), Kwame Nkrumah (1909–72, Gold Coast,
later Ghana), Jomo Kenyatta (1891–1978, Kenya), and Peter Abrahams
(1919–85, South Africa), making a unanimous demand for independent
African rule
Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) leads India to independence (1947), which
is followed by the secession of Pakistan under Muhammad Ali Jinnah
(1876–1948) and then Gandhi’s assassination (1948)
David Ben-Gurion (1886–1973), a Polish-born Zionist, becomes the first
prime minister of Israel
the United Nations adopts the Universal Declaration on Human Rights
foundation of the People’s Republic of China with Mao Zedong
(1893–1976) as chairman of the Chinese Communist Party
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, heard in the US Supreme
Court and declares racial discrimination in school provision is illegal
Kwame Nkrumah becomes prime minister (later president) of Ghana,
leading to widespread decolonization on the African continent
six Western European states combine to form a common market and start
the process of building the European Union
slavery abolished in Tibet by China after the Dalai Lama flees
publication of The Wretched of the Earth, a classic text on postcolonialism,
by Frantz Fanon (1925–61)
TIMELINE
YEAR
1962
1963
1964
1965
1966
1967
1968
1971
1975–78
1978
1978
1979
1985
1989
1993
1994
1994
1995
1995
5
EVENT
Cesar Chavez (1927–93) cofounds the US National Farmworkers
Association with Dolores Herta (1930–); the start of strikes to improve
the pay of largely Latino farm workers
March on Washington, “I have a Dream” speech by Martin Luther King,
and the death of W. E. B. Du Bois (1868–1963) in Ghana, to which he
had emigrated in 1961
passage of the US Civil Rights Act, a landmark piece of civil rights
legislation, followed by the Voting Rights Act (1965), passed by President
Lyndon Johnson (1908–73) to prohibit racial discrimination in voting
rights
assassination of the black Muslim leader Malcolm X (1925–65) in New
York City
Hendrik Verwoerd (b. 1901), the theorist of apartheid and prime minister
of South Africa, is assassinated in Cape Town
Thurgood Marshall (1908–93) becomes the first black US Supreme Court
justice
Martin Luther King (1929–68), civil rights leader, is assassinated in
Memphis, Tennessee
Bangladesh is established as East Pakistan (with the help of India), breaking
away from West Pakistan
murder of 1.5 million Cambodians (25 percent of total population) by the
Khmer Rouge led by Pol Pot (1925–98)
first volume of the journal Ethnic and Racial Studies is published in Britain
China’s market reforms started under Deng Xiaoping (1904–97), which
would result in unprecedented economic growth
Iranian revolution removes the shah and establishes an Islamic republic
under Ayatollah Khomeini (1902–89)
Schengen Agreement dismantles the borders between five major European
states
fall of the Berlin Wall and the start of the collapse of the Soviet Union
Oslo Accord on the Middle East peace process signed between Israel and
the Palestine Liberation Organization
Nelson Mandela (1918–2013) becomes the first president of a nonracial
South Africa
mass slaughter of between eight hundred thousand and one million Tutsi
and moderate Hutu peoples in the Rwandan genocide
Nations and Nationalism, a major journal on the field, started by the
Association for the Study of Ethnicity and Nationalism at the London
School of Economics
Srebrenica massacre (eight thousand deaths); the worst mass killings in
Europe since World War II
6
TIMELINE
YEAR
1998
2008–16
2010
2014
2015
EVENT
Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court
Barack Obama (1961–) elected—and subsequently reelected (2012)—as the
first African American president of the United States
self-immolation of a Tunisian street vendor, Mohamed Bouazizi (b. 1984),
sparks mass antigovernment demonstrations in North Africa and the
Middle East; the start of the Arab Spring
reelection of Benjamin Netanyahu (1949–) as Israeli prime minister signals
the end of the prospect of Israeli–Palestinian agreement in the Middle
East
massacre in June of nine black church members in Charleston, South
Carolina, by a twenty-one-year-old white man, demonstrating how far
the United States still has to go to achieve a genuinely “postracial” society