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Atlas · the whole corpus

When these happened

284 dated records from 3005 BCE to 1926. Each is drawn as wide as its date is certain — a band is a band because nobody knows the year, not because the drawing is imprecise.

Show the whole span — all 919 dated records →

3000 BCE2500 BCE2000 BCE1500 BCE1000 BCE500 BCE050010001500Austronesian speakers move out of Taiwan — ~3000 BCEThe Bantu expansion begins in the Nigeria–Cameroon borderland — ~3000 BCEProto-Indo-European is spoken — ~3000 BCEThe Great Pyramid is built as mass, not span — c. 2600-2560 BCEThe sarsen circle and trilithons are raised at Stonehenge — c. 2500 BCELapita voyagers enter Remote Oceania — c. 1350–800 BCEThe corbelled tholos at Mycenae sets a record that stands for fourteen centuries — c. 1250 BCETraditional foundation of the Roman Republic — 509 BCEBattle of Marathon — 490 BCEHerostratus burns the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus — -0356Construction of the Via Appia begins — 312 BCERoman builders adopt pozzolanic concrete — 3rd-2nd century BCEAshoka's bilingual Greek-Aramaic inscription at Kandahar — c. 260 BCEThe Punic Wars — 264-146 BCECouncil at Pataliputra and the despatch of Buddhist missions (traditional account) — c. 250 BCEAn earthquake breaks the Colossus of Rhodes at the knee — -0226Tea buried in the Han Yangling mausoleum — c. 141 BCEZhang Qian is sent west by Emperor Wu — 138 BCEZhang Qian returns to Chang'an — 126 BCEAntipater of Sidon writes the earliest surviving list of seven wonders — -0100Han establishes the Protectorate of the Western Regions — 60 BCECaesar crosses the Rubicon — -0049-01-10Assassination of Julius Caesar — -0044-03-15Battle of Actium — -0031-09-02The Augustan settlement: Octavian becomes Augustus — -0027The origin of life — by c. 3.5 Ga; contested claims to c. 4.2 GaThe Sun forms and settles onto the main sequence — ~4.6 billion years agoBuddhism attested in Han China — 1st - 2nd century CEAnthropomorphic Buddha images appear in Gandhara and Mathura — c. 1st century CEThe Pont du Gard carries an aqueduct on three tiers of arches — mid-1st century CEThe Great Oxidation Event — c. 2.43–2.22 GaThe end-Ordovician mass extinction — c. 445.2–443.8 MaThe Cambrian explosion — c. 538.8–515 MaThe first stars form from metal-free gas — ~13.6 billion years agoAbu Simbel cut apart and rebuilt on higher ground — 1964/1968-09-22A circumpolar current becomes possible — c. 34–24 Ma (contested; some evidence points to the late Miocene)The Cretaceous–Palaeogene mass extinction — 66.043 ± 0.043 MaInauguration of the Flavian Amphitheatre — 0080The Colosseum opens: arch and concrete at civic scale — 80 CEHan campaigns against Dayuan for the Ferghana horses — 104-101 BCEThe Pantheon dome spans about 43 m in unreinforced concrete — c. 113-125 CE (traditionally 126 CE)The empire reaches its greatest territorial extent — 0117Construction of Hadrian's Wall begins — 0122The end-Triassic mass extinction — c. 201.4 MaThe Antonine Constitution (Constitutio Antoniniana) — 0212The end-Permian mass extinction — 251.902 ± 0.024 MaArmenia's traditional adoption of Christianity as state religion — 301 CEThe Sogdian Ancient Letters are abandoned west of Dunhuang — ~313 CEThe 'Edict of Milan' — toleration and restitution in the Roman Empire — 313 CEAksum adopts Christianity under King Ezana — c. 330 - 356 CEDedication of Constantinople — 0330-05-11First cave cut at Mogao (traditional date) — 366 CETraditional founding of the first cave at Mogao — 366 CEThe Late Devonian crisis — c. 372 Ma and c. 359 MaAdministrative division of the empire on the death of Theodosius I — 0395The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus is pulled down — 0401Alaric's Goths sack Rome — 0410-08-24The Statue of Zeus at Olympia is lost — 0475Odoacer deposes Romulus Augustulus - the contested 'fall' of the Western Roman Empire — 0476-09-04Dark earths accumulate under long-term settlement — c. 2,500 - 500 years before presentCompilation of the Corpus Iuris Civilis — 529-534 CEJustinian commissions Hagia Sophia from two geometers — 532Hagia Sophia is dedicated — 537-12-27Silkworm cultivation reaches Byzantium — ~550s CEThe first dome of Hagia Sophia collapses — 558-05The steeper dome is dedicated — 562-12-24Tea-for-horse exchange between China and Tibet — 618–1279The Hijra — the Muslim community's migration from Mecca to Medina — 622 CEXuanzang travels to India and back — 629-645 CEXuanzang's overland journey to India and return — 629 - 645 CEAlopen reaches Chang'an — 635 CEAlopen received at the Tang court — 635 CETang conquest of Gaochang and the Anxi Protectorate — 640 CEFall of the Sasanian Empire to the Rashidun Caliphate — 651 CEThe bronze of the Colossus is sold for scrap — 0653Arab conquest of Transoxiana — 705-715 CEZoroastrian migrants reach Gujarat — the Parsi settlement — 716 or 936 CE (disputed)Battle of Talas — 751 CEConstruction of Borobudur under Shailendra patronage — c. 780 - 850 CEThe Nestorian Stele is erected at Chang'an — 781 CEThe Xi'an stele is erected — 781-02-04Ziryāb arrives at the Umayyad court of Córdoba — 822The Dunhuang Diamond Sutra is printed — 868 CEConstruction phases of the Great Mosque at Kilwa Kisiwani — 10th - 13th century CEMogao Cave 17 is sealed — ~1000 CEA guest star appears in Taurus and is recorded in East Asia — 1054 (first sighting commonly given as 4 July; contested)Durham roofs a great nave with ribbed vaults — c. 1093-1133Suger's choir at Saint-Denis is consecrated — 1144Notre-Dame de Paris is begun — 1163Fire destroys most of Chartres Cathedral — 1194-06-10Temujin is proclaimed Chinggis Khan — 1206The high vaults of Chartres close at about 36-37 m — c. 1220Mongol destruction of Merv — 1221Chartres is consecrated — 1260Marco Polo's journey to Asia and back — 1271-1295A European lute is depicted in the Libro de los juegos — c. 1283The earthquake and tsunami of 1303 extinguish the Pharos — 1303Plague strikes the besieging army at Kaffa — 1346Plague reaches the Mediterranean — 1347The ruling house of Malacca adopts Islam — 15th century CEThe seven Ming treasure voyages — 1405–1433Portugal takes Ceuta — 1415-08-21Gil Eanes passes Cape Bojador — 1434Ottoman capture of Constantinople — 1453-05-29Dias rounds the southern tip of Africa — 1488Granada falls and the Andalusi repertoire crosses to the Maghreb — 1492Columbus makes landfall in the Bahamas — 1492-10-12The Treaty of Tordesillas divides the ocean — 1494-06-07Vasco da Gama reaches Calicut — 1498-05-20Cabral sights the coast of Brazil — 1500-04-22Maize appears in Chinese local records — mid-16th centuryThe transatlantic trade in enslaved people operates — c. 1501 – 1866The Casa de Contratación is established at Seville — 1503Albuquerque takes Malacca — 1511-08The Magellan expedition sails from Sanlúcar — 1519-09-20Smallpox reaches Tenochtitlan — 1520 (autumn–winter)Magellan is killed at Mactan — 1521-04-27The Victoria completes the first circumnavigation — 1522-09-06The Treaty of Zaragoza settles the Moluccas by sale — 1529-04-22Orellana descends the river to the Atlantic — 1541-1542Silver ore is registered at the Cerro Rico of Potosí — 1545Urdaneta finds the return route across the Pacific — 1565A documented consignment of potatoes reaches Europe — 1567Mercury amalgamation and the mita transform Potosí — 1570sManila is founded as the eastern terminus — 1571Tea first shipped to Europe by sea — c. 1610Atmospheric CO₂ reaches a minimum recorded in Antarctic ice — c. 1610Hans Sloane records gourd lutes in Jamaica — 1687–1688The transatlantic slave trade reaches its peak volume — 18th centuryDarby smelts iron with coke at Coalbrookdale — 1709The first commercially successful steam engine begins pumping — 1712Parliament bans the use of printed calicoes — 1721The Stono Rebellion — 1739-09-09The South Carolina Negro Act prohibits drums — 1740-05-10Qing trade confined to Canton — 1757Hargreaves devises the spinning jenny — c. 1764The peak of parliamentary enclosure — 1760–1830The Bridgewater Canal opens from Worsley into Manchester — 1761Arkwright patents the water frame — 1769The Gulf Stream is charted to explain slow mail — 1769Watt patents the separate condenser — 1769Cromford Mill begins spinning — 1771Cook crosses the Antarctic Circle — 1773-01-17Boston Tea Party — 1773-12-16Boulton and Watt form their partnership — 1775Crompton completes the spinning mule — 1779The Iron Bridge opens over the Severn — 1781-01-01Jefferson names the banjar and its origin — 1781The rotative engine turns a shaft — 1781–1782Cort patents grooved rolling and puddling — 1783–1784Commutation Act cuts British tea duty — 1784Arkwright's patents are overturned — 1785Cartwright patents the power loom — 1785Jones states the Indo-European hypothesis in Calcutta — 1786-02-02Jenner inoculates James Phipps with cowpox — 1796-05-14The first factory statute is passed and largely ignored — 1802The last Manila galleon sails — 1815New Orleans confines Sunday gatherings to Congo Square — 1817Rask publishes the Germanic consonant correspondences — 1818The handloom weavers are displaced — 1820s–1840sAntarctica is sighted - by whom is disputed — 1820 (contested)Grimm formulates the first sound shift as a system — 1822Robert Bruce shown tea growing in Assam — 1823Gompertz describes the exponential rise of adult mortality — 1825The Stockton and Darlington Railway opens — 1825-09-27The Rainhill trials settle the question of traction — 6–14 October 1829Blackface performers take up the banjo — 1830sThe Liverpool and Manchester Railway opens — 1830-09-15The Factory Act creates an inspectorate — 1833East India Company's China monopoly ends; Tea Committee founded — 1834The Opium Wars — 1839–1860First Assam tea auctioned in London — 1839-01-10Lin Zexu destroys confiscated opium at Humen — 1839-06-03/1839-06-25First tea planted at Darjeeling — 1841Chadwick reports on the sanitary condition of the labouring population — 1842Darwin publishes The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs — 1842Women and young boys are barred from working underground — 1842Treaty of Nanking — 1842-08-29Maury issues the Wind and Current Chart of the North Atlantic — 1847The Ten Hours Act limits the working day for women and young persons — 1847Robert Fortune removes tea plants and tea makers from China — 1848–1851The Great Exhibition — 1 May – October 1851The census records an urban majority — 1851The Brussels maritime conference standardises ocean observation — 1853-08-23Otis demonstrates the elevator safety brake — 1854The Broad Street pump handle is removed — 1854-09-08The Physical Geography of the Sea is published — 1855Bessemer describes the converter to the British Association — 1856-08Mausoleum sculpture is removed to the British Museum — 1857The first Atlantic telegraph cable is completed — 1858-08-05The 1858 cable fails — 1858-09-18Alvan Graham Clark sees Sirius B — 1862-01-31A permanent Atlantic cable lands at Heart's Content — 1866Monier patents iron-reinforced cement — 1867The Ottoman Porte grants Hirsch the Constantinople–Vienna railway concession — 1869-04-17Nagelmackers founds the sleeping-car company at Liège — 1872-10-01HMS Challenger sounds the deep that will bear her name — 1875Richthofen coins the term Seidenstrasse — 1877Edison demonstrates recorded and reproduced sound — 1877Verner explains the exceptions to Grimm's Law — 1877The Neogrammarian doctrine: sound laws admit no exception — 1878Saussure posits consonants no language attests — 1879The first Express d'Orient leaves the Gare de l'Est — 1883-10-04The Paris convention on submarine cables is signed — 1884-03-14The Home Insurance Building is completed in Chicago — 1885The last spike is driven at Craigellachie — 1885-11-07Berliner patents the gramophone — 1887-11-08First through Paris–Constantinople run entirely by rail — 1889-06-01Sirkeci Terminal opens as the European terminus at Constantinople — 1890-11-03Construction of the Trans-Siberian begins — 1891Valerios Stais excavates the Tumulus of the Athenians — 1891The Hennebique system makes reinforced concrete a frame — 1892Nansen observes ice drifting to the right of the wind — 1893–1896The first modern Olympic marathon, Marathon to Athens — 1896-04-10The first Boston Marathon — 1897-04-19Work begins on the Chinese Eastern Railway across Manchuria — 1897-07W. C. Handy hears a guitarist at Tutwiler station — c. 1903Wang Yuanlu opens Mogao Cave 17 — 1900Train ferries begin crossing Lake Baikal — 1900Rails are laid across the frozen surface of Lake Baikal — winter 1903–1904The longest blue whale on record is measured at South Georgia — 1909 or c.1912 (sources disagree)Son travels from Oriente to Havana — c. 1909First trains run on the Circum-Baikal shore line — 1904-09Whaling begins at Grytviken, South Georgia — 1904-11-16Ekman publishes the theory of wind-driven surface transport — 1905The Boğazköy tablet archives are excavated — 1906Etosha proclaimed Game Reserve No. 2 by the German colonial administration — 1907The Dunhuang manuscripts are dispersed — 1907-1908Routine chlorination of a municipal water supply begins in the United States — 1908The 1908 Olympic marathon fixes 26 miles 385 yards — 1908-07-24Walcott locates the Burgess Shale beds — 1909Keel of yard number 401 laid at Harland and Wolff — 1909-03-31The Spiral Tunnels open and the Big Hill is retired — 1909-09-01Hiram Bingham reaches Machu Picchu — 1911Hertzsprung and Russell independently plot luminosity against temperature — 1911-1913Titanic launched at Belfast — 1911-05-31Amundsen reaches the South Pole — 1911-12-14The Griffin plan wins the Canberra competition — 1912The international federation is founded — 1912–1913Scott reaches the South Pole and finds he is second — 1912-01-17Sea trials in Belfast Lough and delivery to White Star — 1912-04-02Maiden voyage departs Southampton — 1912-04-10 12:00Titanic anchors in Cherbourg roadstead — 1912-04-10 18:30Titanic sails from Cherbourg for Queenstown — 1912-04-10 20:10Titanic anchors off Roche's Point, Queenstown — 1912-04-11 11:30Titanic sails for New York — last sight of land — 1912-04-11 13:30Baltic's ice warning handed to Ismay and pocketed — 1912-04-14 13:42Mesaba reports heavy pack ice and bergs directly ahead — 1912-04-14 21:40Californian's ice message cut off — 'keep out, I am busy' — 1912-04-14 22:55Iceberg sighted and struck — 1912-04-14 23:40Andrews establishes the ship cannot float — 1912-04-15 00:05First distress call transmitted — CQD, later SOS — 1912-04-15 00:15First lifeboat lowered; first distress rocket fired — 1912-04-15 00:45Titanic founders — 1912-04-15 02:20Lights fail and the hull breaks in two — 1912-04-15 02:18Last boat launched from the davits — 1912-04-15 02:05Carpathia reaches the boats and begins the rescue — 1912-04-15 04:00Cable ship Mackay-Bennett sails from Halifax to recover the dead — 1912-04-17Carpathia lands the survivors at New York — 1912-04-18 21:30US Senate inquiry opens at the Waldorf-Astoria — 1912-04-19British Wreck Commissioner's inquiry opens in London — 1912-05-02US Senate report submitted — 1912-05-28Mersey report published — 1912-07-30International Ice Patrol established — 1914International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea signed in London — 1914-01-20Hrozný identifies Hittite as an Indo-European language — 1915Einstein presents the field equations of general relativity — 1915-11The Amur Railway completes an all-Russian route to the Pacific — 1916The Great Migration — 1916–1970Schwarzschild solves the field equations for a point mass — 1916"Pelo Telefone" is registered — 1916-11-27The first jazz record is made — 1917-02-26Heber Curtis records a curious straight ray in Messier 87 — 1918The Simplon Orient Express takes the southern route — 1919-04-11The Svalbard Treaty is signed at Paris — 1920-02-09Mamie Smith records "Crazy Blues" — 1920-08-10KDKA broadcasts — 1920-11-02The 1908 distance becomes the world standard — 1921The Union Limited and Union Express begin running to the mail ships — 1923Boston lengthens its course and moves the start to Hopkinton — 1924Victor and Columbia adopt electrical recording — 1925The factory ship Lancing takes a stern slipway south — 1925Payne concludes that stars are mostly hydrogen - and disclaims it — 1925Kruger National Park constituted from the Sabi and Shingwedzi reserves — 1926
284 shown · 919 dated · 6 cannot be placed on an axis · Approximate or contested. Draw a band and do not sharpen its edges.
In order120
  1. ~3000 BCEAustronesian speakers move out of Taiwan

    Sources disagree, or the dating is contested. Stated, not resolved.

  2. ~3000 BCEThe Bantu expansion begins in the Nigeria–Cameroon borderland

    Sources disagree, or the dating is contested. Stated, not resolved.

  3. ~3000 BCEProto-Indo-European is spoken

    Sources disagree, or the dating is contested. Stated, not resolved.

  4. c. 2600-2560 BCEThe Great Pyramid is built as mass, not span

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  5. c. 2500 BCEThe sarsen circle and trilithons are raised at Stonehenge

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  6. c. 1350–800 BCELapita voyagers enter Remote Oceania

    Sources disagree, or the dating is contested. Stated, not resolved.

  7. c. 1250 BCEThe corbelled tholos at Mycenae sets a record that stands for fourteen centuries

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  8. 509 BCETraditional foundation of the Roman Republic

    Sources disagree, or the dating is contested. Stated, not resolved.

  9. 490 BCEBattle of Marathon

    Sources disagree, or the dating is contested. Stated, not resolved.

  10. -0356Herostratus burns the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  11. 312 BCEConstruction of the Via Appia begins

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  12. 3rd-2nd century BCERoman builders adopt pozzolanic concrete

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  13. c. 260 BCEAshoka's bilingual Greek-Aramaic inscription at Kandahar

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  14. 264-146 BCEThe Punic Wars

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  15. c. 250 BCECouncil at Pataliputra and the despatch of Buddhist missions (traditional account)

    Sources disagree, or the dating is contested. Stated, not resolved.

  16. -0226An earthquake breaks the Colossus of Rhodes at the knee

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  17. c. 141 BCETea buried in the Han Yangling mausoleum

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  18. 138 BCEZhang Qian is sent west by Emperor Wu

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  19. 126 BCEZhang Qian returns to Chang'an

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  20. -0100Antipater of Sidon writes the earliest surviving list of seven wonders

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  21. 60 BCEHan establishes the Protectorate of the Western Regions

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  22. -0049-01-10Caesar crosses the Rubicon

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  23. -0044-03-15Assassination of Julius Caesar

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  24. -0031-09-02Battle of Actium

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  25. -0027The Augustan settlement: Octavian becomes Augustus

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  26. by c. 3.5 Ga; contested claims to c. 4.2 GaThe origin of lifesources disagree about the date

    Sources disagree, or the dating is contested. Stated, not resolved.

  27. ~4.6 billion years agoThe Sun forms and settles onto the main sequence

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  28. 1st - 2nd century CEBuddhism attested in Han China

    Sources disagree, or the dating is contested. Stated, not resolved.

  29. c. 1st century CEAnthropomorphic Buddha images appear in Gandhara and Mathura

    Sources disagree, or the dating is contested. Stated, not resolved.

  30. mid-1st century CEThe Pont du Gard carries an aqueduct on three tiers of arches

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  31. c. 2.43–2.22 GaThe Great Oxidation Event

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  32. c. 445.2–443.8 MaThe end-Ordovician mass extinction

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  33. c. 538.8–515 MaThe Cambrian explosion

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  34. ~13.6 billion years agoThe first stars form from metal-free gas

    Sources disagree, or the dating is contested. Stated, not resolved.

  35. 1964/1968-09-22Abu Simbel cut apart and rebuilt on higher ground

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  36. c. 34–24 Ma (contested; some evidence points to the late Miocene)A circumpolar current becomes possiblesources disagree about the date

    Sources disagree, or the dating is contested. Stated, not resolved.

  37. 66.043 ± 0.043 MaThe Cretaceous–Palaeogene mass extinction

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  38. 0080Inauguration of the Flavian Amphitheatre

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  39. 80 CEThe Colosseum opens: arch and concrete at civic scale

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  40. 104-101 BCEHan campaigns against Dayuan for the Ferghana horses

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  41. c. 113-125 CE (traditionally 126 CE)The Pantheon dome spans about 43 m in unreinforced concrete

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  42. 0117The empire reaches its greatest territorial extent

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  43. 0122Construction of Hadrian's Wall begins

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  44. c. 201.4 MaThe end-Triassic mass extinction

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  45. 0212The Antonine Constitution (Constitutio Antoniniana)

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  46. 251.902 ± 0.024 MaThe end-Permian mass extinction

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  47. 301 CEArmenia's traditional adoption of Christianity as state religion

    Sources disagree, or the dating is contested. Stated, not resolved.

  48. ~313 CEThe Sogdian Ancient Letters are abandoned west of Dunhuang

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  49. 313 CEThe 'Edict of Milan' — toleration and restitution in the Roman Empire

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  50. c. 330 - 356 CEAksum adopts Christianity under King Ezana

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  51. 0330-05-11Dedication of Constantinople

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  52. 366 CEFirst cave cut at Mogao (traditional date)

    Sources disagree, or the dating is contested. Stated, not resolved.

  53. 366 CETraditional founding of the first cave at Mogao

    Sources disagree, or the dating is contested. Stated, not resolved.

  54. c. 372 Ma and c. 359 MaThe Late Devonian crisis

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  55. 0395Administrative division of the empire on the death of Theodosius I

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  56. 0401The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus is pulled down

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  57. 0410-08-24Alaric's Goths sack Rome

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  58. 0475The Statue of Zeus at Olympia is lost

    Sources disagree, or the dating is contested. Stated, not resolved.

  59. 0476-09-04Odoacer deposes Romulus Augustulus - the contested 'fall' of the Western Roman Empire

    Sources disagree, or the dating is contested. Stated, not resolved.

  60. c. 2,500 - 500 years before presentDark earths accumulate under long-term settlement

    Sources disagree, or the dating is contested. Stated, not resolved.

  61. 529-534 CECompilation of the Corpus Iuris Civilis

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  62. 532Justinian commissions Hagia Sophia from two geometers

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  63. 537-12-27Hagia Sophia is dedicated

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  64. ~550s CESilkworm cultivation reaches Byzantium

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  65. 558-05The first dome of Hagia Sophia collapses

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  66. 562-12-24The steeper dome is dedicated

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  67. 618–1279Tea-for-horse exchange between China and Tibet

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  68. 622 CEThe Hijra — the Muslim community's migration from Mecca to Medina

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  69. 629-645 CEXuanzang travels to India and back

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  70. 629 - 645 CEXuanzang's overland journey to India and return

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  71. 635 CEAlopen reaches Chang'an

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  72. 635 CEAlopen received at the Tang court

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  73. 640 CETang conquest of Gaochang and the Anxi Protectorate

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  74. 651 CEFall of the Sasanian Empire to the Rashidun Caliphate

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  75. 0653The bronze of the Colossus is sold for scrap

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  76. 705-715 CEArab conquest of Transoxiana

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  77. 716 or 936 CE (disputed)Zoroastrian migrants reach Gujarat — the Parsi settlementsources disagree about the date

    Sources disagree, or the dating is contested. Stated, not resolved.

  78. 751 CEBattle of Talas

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  79. c. 780 - 850 CEConstruction of Borobudur under Shailendra patronage

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  80. 781 CEThe Nestorian Stele is erected at Chang'an

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  81. 781-02-04The Xi'an stele is erected

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  82. 822Ziryāb arrives at the Umayyad court of Córdoba

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  83. 868 CEThe Dunhuang Diamond Sutra is printed

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  84. 10th - 13th century CEConstruction phases of the Great Mosque at Kilwa Kisiwani

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  85. ~1000 CEMogao Cave 17 is sealed

    Sources disagree, or the dating is contested. Stated, not resolved.

  86. 1054 (first sighting commonly given as 4 July; contested)A guest star appears in Taurus and is recorded in East Asiasources disagree about the date

    Sources disagree, or the dating is contested. Stated, not resolved.

  87. c. 1093-1133Durham roofs a great nave with ribbed vaults

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  88. 1144Suger's choir at Saint-Denis is consecrated

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  89. 1163Notre-Dame de Paris is begun

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  90. 1194-06-10Fire destroys most of Chartres Cathedral

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  91. 1206Temujin is proclaimed Chinggis Khan

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  92. c. 1220The high vaults of Chartres close at about 36-37 m

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  93. 1221Mongol destruction of Merv

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  94. 1260Chartres is consecrated

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  95. 1271-1295Marco Polo's journey to Asia and back

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  96. c. 1283A European lute is depicted in the Libro de los juegos

    Sources disagree, or the dating is contested. Stated, not resolved.

  97. 1303The earthquake and tsunami of 1303 extinguish the Pharos

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  98. 1346Plague strikes the besieging army at Kaffa

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  99. 1347Plague reaches the Mediterranean

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  100. 15th century CEThe ruling house of Malacca adopts Islam

    Sources disagree, or the dating is contested. Stated, not resolved.

  101. 1405–1433The seven Ming treasure voyages

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  102. 1415-08-21Portugal takes Ceuta

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  103. 1434Gil Eanes passes Cape Bojador

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  104. 1453-05-29Ottoman capture of Constantinople

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  105. 1488Dias rounds the southern tip of Africa

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  106. 1492Granada falls and the Andalusi repertoire crosses to the Maghreb

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  107. 1492-10-12Columbus makes landfall in the Bahamas

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  108. 1494-06-07The Treaty of Tordesillas divides the ocean

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  109. 1498-05-20Vasco da Gama reaches Calicut

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  110. 1500-04-22Cabral sights the coast of Brazil

    Sources disagree, or the dating is contested. Stated, not resolved.

  111. mid-16th centuryMaize appears in Chinese local records

    Sources disagree, or the dating is contested. Stated, not resolved.

  112. c. 1501 – 1866The transatlantic trade in enslaved people operates

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  113. 1503The Casa de Contratación is established at Seville

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  114. 1511-08Albuquerque takes Malacca

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  115. 1519-09-20The Magellan expedition sails from Sanlúcar

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  116. 1520 (autumn–winter)Smallpox reaches Tenochtitlan

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  117. 1521-04-27Magellan is killed at Mactan

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  118. 1522-09-06The Victoria completes the first circumnavigation

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  119. 1529-04-22The Treaty of Zaragoza settles the Moluccas by sale

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  120. 1541-1542Orellana descends the river to the Atlantic

    It happened, and the record is settled.

120 of 284 shown, in date order — the figure above draws all 284. Continue from 1545 →

Not on the axis6
  • May–June (annual) — This recurs every year, so no single year on the axis is the answer.
  • late January – mid March (annual) — This recurs every year, so no single year on the axis is the answer.
  • May–July (annual) — This recurs every year, so no single year on the axis is the answer.
  • July–October (annual) — This recurs every year, so no single year on the axis is the answer.
  • mid-first millennium CE — No year could be read from this date without guessing at one.
  • early second millennium BCE — No year could be read from this date without guessing at one.