Prehistory
(?15 billion BC-AD 400)
- Creation (?15 billion-2.5 million BC)
- Universe
- 15 billion BC: the Universe came into being when a tightly compressed ball, of unnatural, thus supernatural, origin, containing all matter, exploded in a "big bang"; the result was the creation of infinite clusters of galaxies containing thousands of individual galaxies, inturn containing billions of stars, many of which form solar systems containing planets and moons.
- 11.5 billion BC: the Milky Way Galaxy formed when the gravitational fluctuation of a nebula (a cloud of dust and gas) drew together and created enough pressure and heat to create nuclear fusion, at the Galaxy's center, in which nuclei combined to form more massive nuclei with the release of great energy.
- 4.6 billion BC: the Sun was formed when the gravitation of a nebula drew together creating nuclear fusion producing great energies; surrounding the Sun, matter drew together without nuclear fusion and when their surfaces cooled, the Earth and its moon were formed.
- Life
- 3.5 billion BC: life first formed on Earth as single-celled prokaryotes ("before nuclei") when atmospheric molecules combined with Earth's internal energy, found in hot springs; some prokaryotes, called cyanobacterium (algae), eventually developed chlorophyll and were able to convert sunlight into energy.
- 1.4 billion BC: because cyanobacterium gave off oxygen, the atmosphere greatly changed and the increase of energy allowed for the development of multi-cellular eukaryotes ("good nuclei"); eukaryotes developed into the kingdoms Animalia, Plantae, Protoctista, and Fungi.
- 600 million BC: animals, which had previously consisted of only soft tissues, first began to develop hard tissues for offensive and defensive purposes; the phylum Chordata ("cord tribe") developed a notochord ("back-string"), a spinal column.
- 370 million BC: as animals began to migrate to land, on which plants had already flourished for 80 million years, the first terrestrial vertebrates began to develop from fish; these amphibians ("double life") lived in water during their early lives and migrated to land in later life.
- 220 million BC: the class Mammalia ("of the breast") evolved, developing the ability to produce milk and grow hair; these first rodent-like mammals were small enough to survive this period of dinosaurs.
- Primates
- 70 million BC: the order Primates ("first") evolved, developing opposable thumbs, versatile limbs, and relatively large brains; these small, arboreal squirrel-like primates were able to survive the unknown catastrophe which killed most of the large terrestrial life, including dinosaurs.
- 30 million BC: the superfamily Hominoidea ("manlike") evolved, lacking tails and developing the ability to sit upright and to manipulate objects.
- 7 million BC: the families Hominidae ("man") and Pongidae (great apes) split apart within the Hominoids; these first hominids, such as the Sahelanthropus tchadensis ("Sahel man of Chad") and Orrorin tugenensis ("original man of Tugen"), were about the same size as the chimpanzee, a pongid, but had a larger brain and the ability to walk bipedal.
- 5 million BC: the genus Australopithecus ("southern ape") evolved in eastern Africa, developing larger brains, larger bodies, and a greater ability to walk bipedal; these man-like apes had the ability to manipulate objects such as naturally sharp stones or bones, which were immediately discarded after used.
- Paleolithic Age (?2.5 million-13000 BC)
- Early Man
- 2.5 million BC: Homo rudolfensis ("man of Rudolf") evolved as the first human in eastern Africa, developing a flatter human face while also retaining a robust skeleton and jaw.
- 2 million BC: Homo habilis ("skillful man") evolved in east Africa, developing the use of fire and of flaking stones on one side as general all-purpose tools; this allowed them to eat in food-scarce areas as they migrated.
- 1.8 million BC: Homo ergaster ("working man") evolved in east Africa and migrated into Asia for the first time.
- 1.6 million BC: Homo erectus ("upright man") evolved in Asia and migrated into Europe and back into Africa.
- 500000 BC: Homo heidelbergensis ("man of Heidelberg") first sharpened stones on both sides, such as hand-axes, and made tools for specific purposes; this allowed them to hunt large animals for the first time.
- 200000 BC: Homo sapiens ("wise man") and Homo neanderthalensis ("man of Neander") split apart from Homo heidelbergensis in Africa and Europe respectively; these humans first developed the use of wooden handles and the practice of symbolic rituals such as burying the dead.
- Stone Cultures
- 40000 BC: the first Homo Sapiens entered Europe through the eastern Balkans and establish the Aurignacian cultures; they were the first people to make blade tools.
- 35000 BC: Neanderthals mysteriously died out, possibly from absorbtion by Homo sapiens; this left Homo sapiens as the last surviving hominid, the modern man, who dividided into three physical races: Caucasoids (Europe, North Africa, Middle East, India) with white to tan skin, blue to brown eyes, convex noses, and straight to wavy hair; Mongoloids (Asia, America) with yellow to red skin, brown eyes with epicanthic folds, concave noses, and straight hair; Negroids (Africa) with brown to black skin, brown eyes, broad noses, and curly hair.
- 30000 BC: the Gravettian cultures first made blade tools with blunt edges and small points; they wore fitted clothing, painted on cave walls (such as in in the Pyrenees Mountains), and made figurines (such as the Venus of Willendorf) from stone, bone, and ivory.
- 20000 BC: the Solutrean cultures first made microlithic, spear-throwers, and long blades; they practiced archery, made shell jewelry, and painted or carved many representations of animals (such as the paintings in Lascaux, France).
- Society
- banned in small nomadic groups of about thirty people, usually following animal herds (such as woolly mammoths) and living in caves, huts, tents, or branch lean-tos.
- hunted, fished, gathered, and scavenged for food.
- communicated through speech, practiced herbal medicine, painted on cave walls, sculpted figurines, believed in gods and the supernatural, and buried the dead with gifts of food and ornaments.
- used population checks to limit the size of groups: natural checks - miscarriages and accidental deaths; legal checks - inventions; cultural checks - infanticide, neutering, sacrifices, and seasonal rounds (such as the Baktiari tribe in Turkey which would not help the elderly cross rivers when moving camp).
- Mesolithic Age (?13000-8000 BC)
- Microliths and Fishing
- 13000 BC: the last ice age ended bringing warm, wet weather and lush vegetation; as forests grew, large game disappeared and fishing became the major source of food.
- the Sauveterrian cultures of eastern Europe made geometric flint microliths, such as small points and blades.
- the Maglemosan cultures of northwestern Europe made curved fishhooks, wooden canoes, and skin-covered boats for fishing.
- the Ertebolle cultures of Scandinavia deep-sea fished and hunted small game.
- the Tardenoisian cultures of southeastern Europe fished the Aegean and made trapezoidal microliths.
- Society
- banned in small nomadic groups of about fifty people, usually along rivers for marine food sources (such as shellfish) and living in caves, rock shelters, or wood huts.
- communally fished, gathered, hunted, and scavenged for food.
- domesticated and kept dogs as companions (such as Star Carr), practiced early methods of dance and music, and cremated their dead.
- believed in gods, good spirits, and evil spirits which controlled the forces of nature.
- Neolithic Age (?8000-3500 BC)
- Farming and Pottery
- 8000 BC: agricultural villages began to develop in the Middle East along with domesticated plants (wheat and barley) and animals (sheep, goats, pigs, and cattle).
- 6000 BC: the Bell-Beaker cultures of central and western Europe made bell-shaped pottery decorated with impressed designs made by toothed stamps; they practiced archery, primitive farming, and used copper tools.
- 5500 BC: the Battle-Ax cultures of northern and eastern Europe made round-based pottery decorated with impressed designs made by cockle shells; they practiced horsemanship and used the battle-ax.
- 5000 BC: the Bandkeramik cultures of the Balkans and central Europe made round-based pottery decorated with engraved curvy lines; they lived in wooden long-houses with their livestock, practiced horsemanship, and used the battle-ax.
- 4000 BC: incoming farmers from the Bandkeramik cultures brought farming to the Bell-Beaker and Battle-ax cultures, which merged and spread throughout all Europe.
- Trade
- although most societies were self-sufficient, due to the lack of certain materials (such as grinding stones, amber, flint, gold, copper, and tin) trade economies grew.
- flint was mined using antler picks and bone shovels in Poland, Denmark, the Netherlands, England, Belgium, France, Portugal, and Sicily.
- there were ax factories in Britain and Denmark which distributed flint products through trade, especially in Sweden.
- luxurious and decorative items (such as amber from Jutland, yellow flint from France, obsidian from Melos, and shells from the Mediterranean) were also traded.
- Society
- formed farming villages numbering in the hundreds or thousands led by chieftains or councils of elders who made decisions and settled property disputes, usually in the foothills surrounding river valleys and living in pit houses or mud brick houses on stone foundations.
- domesticated crops (such as wheat, barley, and oats) and animals (cattle, sheep, and goats) for food which they cooked in various types of pottery and harvested with hoes, plows, baskets, and sleds.
- celebrated special occasions, wore shell or metal jewelry, cremated their dead, and built megaliths (such as those in Carnac, France) as memorials to the dead or to notable events.
- believed in gods or spirits which controlled the forces of nature, and who would reward with good harvest and punish with drought or floods.
- Indo-Europeans (?3500 BC-AD 400)
- Bronze Tools
- 3500 BC: the Vinca cultures of the Balkans first used gold, silver, lead, and bronze (an alloy of copper and tin) to make luxurious items such as decorative ornaments, bronze was used only sparsely due to the rarity of tin.
- 3000 BC: the Unetice/Tumulus cultures of central and eastern Europe used copper and tin deposits in present day Czech Republic, Germany, and northern Italy to make bronze; they lived in villages of long houses and buried their dead under tumuli (mortuary mounds) with gifts of weapons and jewelry.
- 2500 BC: the Kurgan culture (Proto-Indo-Europeans) of the southwestern Ural mountains were forced to migrate into Europe due to soil exhaustion; they lived in separate tribes led by a chieftain, worshipped gods which controlled forces of nature, used metals, hunted, herded, and farmed for food.
- 2000 BC: trade with tin deposits in Cornwall, England allowed for the wider use of bronze; as the need to secure supplies greatened so did international trade as well as social class identities (those with bronze strengthened their power over those without bronze).
- Balts and Slavs
- 2500 BC: the Balto-Slavs migrated to the swamps and forests along the eastern Baltic Sea and northeastern Europe; they used iron in weapons and tools, domesticated horses, and used wooden plows with iron shares.
- 1000 BC: the Baltic cultures, in Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, became distinct from the Slavic cultures, in Poland, Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine, because of natural barriers.
- 500 BC: the Slavs expanded into present day Hungary.
- 200 BC: the Balts began trading amber with Romans for silver and copper; they built farming villages around strong fortified mounds for clan chieftains.
- 150: the Slavs expanded in all directions, absorbing many Germans, Celts, Finns, and most of the eastern Balts, isolating them on the Baltic Sea; the Slavs and Balts generally retained their culture and language from here until the second millenium.
- Germans
- 2300 BC: the Germans migrated to present day Poland and Germany; they lived in rectangular homes, made bronze objects, used horse-drawn chariots, buried their dead in tumuli (such as in Upsala and Seddin).
- 600 BC: the Germans expanded into southern Scandinavia.
- 400 BC: the Germans expanded into present day Austria and the Netherlands.
- 101 BC: the Cimbri, Teutons, and Helvetii, German tribes, invaded Gaul and Italy, but were exterminated by the Roman general Gaius Marius.
- 51 BC: Julius Caesar wrote Commentaries in which he describes land as being divided annually between the German pagi (clans), each of which would have a warchief.
- 9 BC-AD 9: Romans attacked the Germans east of the Rhine River, but were defeated by the Cherusci chief Arminius.
- 98: Cornelius Tacitus wrote Germania in which he describes land as being divided annually between individual Germans, at this time the German pagi were divided into many clans: the Angles, Heruli, Saxons, Suiones, and Sitones in the North; the Hermunduri, Marcomanni, Quadi, Bastarnae, Franks, and the Alemanni in the South; the Suebi, Burgundians, Goths, Gepidae, Vandals, Semnones, and Lombards in the East; the Chauci, Cherusci, Chatti, and Frisii in the West.
- 150: the Macromanni and Quadi attacked Roman cities on the border of the empire, but were defeated by Marcus Aurelius.
- 180: Marcus Aurelius defeated the Marcomanni, who fled to Bavaria.
- 200: the Goths migrated to the present day Ukraine, the Gepidae to Romania, and the Vandals to Hungary.
- 253: the Franks expanded along the Rhine River.
- 260: the Burgundians moved into southern Germany.
- 267: the Goths captured and destroyed Athens.
- 350: the Saxons attacked Roman cities in northwest Germany.
- 358: Roman armies attacked the Franks; the Salian Franks were conquered and the Ripuarian Franks remained independent.
- 360: the Goths were united under king Ermanaric, establishing a kingdom from the Baltic to the Black Sea.
- 370: the Huns, a Turkish tribe, attacked the Goths; the Ostrogoths ("east Goths") were conquered and the Visigoths ("west Goths") fled to the Roman empire, attributing to the eventual decline and fall of the Roman Empire.
- Thracians
- 2200 BC: the Thracians migrated to the gold-rich forests of the northeastern Balkans; they lived in simple, open villages fragmented throughout the mountains.
- 700 BC: the Greeks founded several colonies on the Thracian coasts, such as Byzantium, Bosporus, and Propontis.
- 500 BC: the Thracians established their own kingdom, Thrace, after gaining independence from Persia.
- 360 BC: Macedonia conquered Thrace.
- 197 BC: Thrace became part of Pergamum.
- 46 BC: Thrace became a province in the Roman Empire.
- Celts
- 1800 BC: the Celts migrated to present day southern Germany and Austria; they lived in tribes, each led by a chieftain and divided into a class of druids (priests), eques (warriors), and plebs (commoners).
- 1300 BC: the Celts developed the Urnfield culture which spread throughout Europe; they cremated the dead in urns and put them in urnfield cemeteries as well as used bronze swords, shields, and pottery.
- 1200 BC: Celts settling in France and western Germany became known as Gauls.
- 800 BC: Celts settling in Britain became known as Britanni.
- 750 BC: the Gauls developed the Hallstatt culture which performed elaborate funeral rites involving both cremation and burial (such as the 2000 grave necropolis in Hallstatt, Austria) as well as developed ironwork in weapons and tools.
- 500 BC: Celts settling in Spain mixing with Iberians, becoming the Celtiberians.
- 450 BC: the Gauls developed the La Tene culture in central Europe when they came in contact with the Greeks and Etruscans which used iron weapons, tools, and jewelry, used ox-drawn plows and wheeled vehicles, and used an abstract geometric style of art depicting many birds and animals.
- 390 BC: the Gauls conquered and plundered Rome, eventually reaching Sicily.
- 279 BC: Celts conquered Delphi, but were quickly defeated and chased by the Aetolians into Anatolia, where they became known as the Galatians.
- 230 BC: the Galatians were defeated by Pergamum.
- 225 BC: Rome defeated the Gauls in Italy at Telamon.
- 192 BC: Rome defeated the Cisalpine Gauls of northern Italy.
- 113 BC: the Germanic Cimbri and Teutons conquering the Celts of southern Germany.
- 58 BC: Julius Caesar conquered Gaul, which became a province of the Roman empire.
- Illyrians
- 1300 BC: the Illyrians migrated to the copper and silver rich lands of the northwestern Balkans; they lived in tribes, each governed by a chieftain chosen by a council of elders.
- 700 BC: Greek colonies were established on the coasts of Illyria.
- 300 BC: Macedonia conquered parts of southeastern Illyria.
- 250 BC: Agron, an Illyrian chieftain from Scodra, united the Illyrians into a kingdom.
- 231 BC: King Agron allied with Macedonia and conquered the Greek colonies in Illyria and the Aetolians; he was succeeded by his widow, Teuta, who attacked Sicily and Rome.
- 228 BC: Rome sent their navy to Illyria and defeated Teuta.
- 219 BC: Macedonia allied with the Illyrians, but were defeated by Rome which began the conquest of the entire Balkans.
- 168 BC: the last Illyrian chieftain, Genthius, was defeated by the Romans and Illyricum became a Roman province, eventually being split into the provinces of Dalmatia and Pannonia.
- Scythians and Sarmatians
- 800 BC: the Scythians migrated to the northern Black Sea; they lived in tent-covered wagons, practiced horsemanship, archery, and buried their dead nobility with gifts of gold and bronze.
- 628 BC: the Scythians attacked Media; they were defeated and forced to retreat.
- 600 BC: the Sarmatians, a tribe related to the Scythians, migrated to the northeastern Black Sea.
- 512 BC: the Scythians were attacked by Persia, but defeated them using a scorched-earth policy.
- 339 BC: Ateas, a Scythian chieftain, was killed while fighting Philip II of Macedonia.
- 325 BC: the Scythians defeated Macedonia and made peace with them.
- 250 BC: the Sarmatians conquered the last Scythian chieftain Palakus, expanding westward and breaking into the Alans, Roxolani, and Lazyges tribes.
- 200: the Goths, a German tribe, pushed the Sarmatians east to Georgia.
