Brief Global Chronology 🌌
Form the big-bang to nowdaysThis chronology aims at representing the most relevant events that allowed humanity to understand where we come from, what is our current understanding of the Universe, its impact on ourselves, to better apprehend our future.
Even if we try to be as much objective and relevant as possible, note that all chronologies are subjective in the way that they are focusing on a particular view, topic and kind of information shared.
In order to apprehend this chronology in the best conditions and most transparent way, note that:
>> The year 0 of this calendar is the year 2000 of the Gregorian calendar. This was chosen to be more relevant to our current lifetime.
>> Our focus is on the main events that are responsible for making Earth and life on it possible in a first place, then that permitted our ancestors to appear, globally significant civilisations to get built, main spiritual movements appear and scientifical discoveries permitting us to be here right now.
>> All wars and game power between people and countries won’t appear here because considered as already well documented and would make this chronology way too long. Also, it would force us to choose the position of a country rather than another and select which war is important or not. We do not consider wars as globally useful for humankind flourishment.
Don’t forget to make your own research to complete what you will learn here. Enjoy!
Beginning of the Universe 🌌
| - 13 700 000 000 years | Big Bang |
|---|---|
| - 13 700 000 000 years + 1/100 sec. | First protons, neutrons & electrons |
| - 13 700 000 000 years + 1 seconde | First appearance of deuterium nuclei (heavy hydrogen) |
| - 13 700 000 000 years + 1/4 hour | Appearance of helium nuclei |
| - 13 699 700 000 | Appearances of helium and hydrogen atoms |
| - 13 699 000 000 | Formation of cold clouds of cosmic gas |
| - 13 600 000 000 | Formation of the first galaxies |
| - 13 100 000 000 | Oldest black hole known & observed (1342+0928) |
| - 10 000 000 000 | Formation of stars and planets |
| - 4 570 000 000 | Formation of the Earth, molten lava ball then cooling |
| - 4 500 000 000 | Collision of Mars-sized debris with Earth / Formation of the Moon |
| - 4 100 000 000 | First chain of nucleotides |
| - 4 000 000 000 | Most ancient rocks, steam condensation |
| - 3 800 000 000 | First little deep oceans, composed of a carbon base |
Beginning of Life 🌱 on Earth 🌎
| - 3 500 000 000 | First bacterian cell, appearance of DNA & Last Universal Common Ancestor (LUCA) known |
|---|---|
| - 3 400 000 000 | Appearance of photosynthesis of oxygen |
| - 2 800 000 000 | Tectonic plates / Continental drift |
| - 2 700 000 000 to - 1 600 000 000 | Appearance of Eucaryote |
| - 2 500 000 000 | Complete development of bacteria |
| - 2 400 000 000 | 1st mass extinction (Great Oxidation) |
| - 2 200 000 000 | Appearance of nucleus cells |
| - 2 000 000 000 | Increased oxygen level in the atmosphere |
| - 1 800 000 000 | Cells begin to use oxygen as a source of energy |
| - 1 500 000 000 | Bacteria fuse to form composite organisms (Proterozoic) |
| - 1 300 000 000 | The oxygen level in the atmosphere reaches its current level (21%) |
| - 1 000 000 000 | Begin of sexual reproduction |
| - 800 000 000 | Mitochondria and Chloroplasts |
| - 700 000 000 | First animals (Moluccas without shells) |
| - 600 000 000 | Appearance of shells and skeletons |
| - 541 000 000 to - 485 000 000 | Appearance of eye (association of photosensitive and pigmented cells) |
| - 500 000 000 | Early plants (Palaeozoic) / Appearance of brain structure in worms |
| - 445 000 000 | 2nd mass extinction (Ordovician) |
| - 400 000 000 | First terrestrial animals (insects, amphibians ...) |
| - 385 000 000 | 3rd mass extinction (Devonian) |
| - 370 000 000 | Appearance of seeds (seed ferns) |
| - 300 000 000 | Beginning of the reign of the dinosaurs |
| - 252 000 000 | 4th mass extinction (Permian) |
| - 250 000 000 | Appearance of paleo-mammal brain |
| - 200 000 000 | 5th mass extinction (Triassic-Jurassic) / Early flying reptiles, first mammals (Mesozoic) |
| - 160 000 000 | Separation of the plates of the single continent (Pangea) / Beginning of the continental drift |
| - 100 000 000 | Early primates & flowering plants (Jurassic) |
| - 70 000 000 | The Earth is covered with vast forests, and still populated by monstrous reptiles |
| - 65 000 000 | 6th mass extinction (Cretaceous) / end of the dinosaurs' reign |
| - 60 000 000 | Explosion of biodiversity (Cambrian) |
Beginning of Humankind 👣
| - 4 000 000 | Reign of Australopithecus (Australopithecus afarensis) |
|---|---|
| - 3 200 000 | Lucy |
| - 3 000 000 | Ape men start using tools |
| - 2 500 000 | Diversification into several Australopithecus species |
| - 2 000 000 | Appearance of 1st hominids: Homo habilis |
| - 1 600 000 | Homo Ergaster |
| - 1 400 000 | Disappearance of Australopithecus |
| - 1 000 000 | Installation of Homo Erectus in Asia and Europe |
| - 750 000 | First human use of fire |
| - 250 000 | Archaic form of Homo-Sapiens / Disappearance of Homo-Erectus |
| - 200 000 | Appearance of modern Homo-Sapiens |
| -150 000 to -100 000 | First domestication (wolf in dog) |
| - 125 000 | Reign of Neanderthal Men |
| - 65 000 | Installation of Homo-Sapiens in Oceania |
| - 35 000 | Early Palaeolithic writings & cave paintings (Altamira Cave, Spain) / Disappearance of Neanderthals |
| - 25 000 | Installation of Homo-Sapiens in America |
| - 17 000 | Lascaux cave parietal wall paintings |
| - 12 000 (- 10 000 BC) | First traces of villages |
| - 10 000 (- 8 000 BC) | Settlement & the emergence of agriculture |
| - 7 000 (- 5 000 BC) | Invention of the wheel / First villages on the Yellow River Valley, birth of Ancient China |
| - 5 600 (- 3 600 BC) | Birth of architecture in Malta |
| - 5 300 (- 3 300 BC) | Appearance of Sumerian writing |
| - 5 200 (- 3 200 BC) | First Egyptian dynasties |
| - 5 000 (- 3 000 BC) | First form of complex mathematics / Beginning of Hinduism / Top of the Sumerian Civilization in Mesopotamia |
| - 4 800 (- 2 800 BC) | Pyramids of Cheops |
| - 4 500 (- 4 500 BC) | Oldest mention of the city of Babylon |
| - 3 800 (- 1 800 BC) | Beginning of Judaism |
| - 3 400 (- 1 400 BC) | Birth of Tutankhamun |
| - 3 200 (- 1 200 BC) | Invention of the Alphabet |
| - 2 800 (- 800 BC) | Emergence of Classical Greece |
| - 2 753 (- 753 BC) | Foundation of the city of Rome |
| - 2 700 to - 2 500 (- 700 to - 500 BC) | Decline of Ancient Egypt |
| - 2 660 (- 660 BC) | Birth of the prophet Zoroaster / Beginning of Japan |
| - 2 605 (- 605 BC) | Advent of Nebuchadnezzar / Radiance of Babylon / Beginning of Taoïsm |
| - 2 600 (- 600 BC) | Beginning of Mayan Empire |
| - 2 500 (- 500 BC) | Beginning of Buddhism |
| - 2 350 (- 350 BC) | Birth of Alexander the Great |
| - 2 247 (- 247 BC) | Birth of the Chinese Empire / Beginning of the reign of the 1st Chinese Emperor |
| - 2 217 (- 217 BC) | Hannibal |
| - 2 100 (- 100 BC) | Birth of Julius Caesar |
| - 2 018 (- 100 BC) | Most ancient written trace of watermills (by Romans) |
| - 2 000 (0 BC) | Beginning of Christianity / Birth of Jesus |
| - 1 900 to - 1 500 (100 to 400 BC) | Beginning of Hindu–Arabic numeral system |
| - 1 524 (476 AC) | Fall of the Occidental Roman Empire / Early Middle Ages |
| - 1 400 (600 AC) | Beginning of Islam |
| - 1 100 (900 AC) | Decline of Mayan Empire (except in the northern lowlands of Latin America) |
| - 1 000 (1 000 AC) | Viking colony in North America |
| - 675 (1 325 AC) | Foundation of Tenochtitlan by the Aztecs |
| - 562 (1 438 AC) | Incan Empire formed in Peru |
Beginning of Global Sciences ⚗️ & Improved Knowledge Sharing 📚
| - 550 (1 450 AC) | Gutenberg printing |
|---|---|
| -518 (1 492 AC) | European rediscovery of America by Christopher Columbus / Early Renaissance |
| - 496 (1 504 AC) | Leonardo da Vinci paints Mona-Lisa (La Gioconda) |
| - 481 to - 478 (1 519 to 1 522 AC) | First world tour by Magellan / Beginning of Sciences |
| - 457 (1 543 AC) | Copernicus postulates a heliocentric universe |
| - 413 (1 587 AC) | Monte's Planisphere, Earth's largest early map |
| - 391 (1 609 AC) | Galileo makes first astronomical observations with a telescope |
| -336 (1 664 AC) | Newton's theory of universal gravitation |
| - 322 (1 678 AC) | Halley makes first global stars catalog |
| - 240 (1 760 AC) | Industrial Revolution begins in England |
| - 231 (1 769 AC) | Watt patents first practical steam engine |
| - 200 (1 800 AC) | Herschel discovers infrareds |
| - 199 (1 801 AC) | Ritter discovers ultraviolets |
| - 179 (1 821 AC) | Michael Faraday invents electric motor |
| - 163 (1 837 AC) | Slavery abolished in British Empire |
| - 161 (1 839 AC) | Birth of photography |
| - 151 (1 849 AC) | Charles Darwin publishes Theory of Evolution in his book The Origin of Species |
| - 134 (1 866 AC) | August Mouchot invents the first solar steam engine |
| - 131 (1 869 AC) | Dmitry Mendeleev inventes the periodic table |
| - 128 (1 872 AC) | Louis Pasteur makes the first vaccine on a human |
| - 121 (1 879 AC) | Invention of the light bulb |
| - 114 (1 886 AC) | Bell Alexander Graham patents the telephone |
| - 111 (1 889 AC) | Thomas Edison invents electric light |
| - 107 (1 893 AC) | Voting rights for women in New Zealand (1st worldwide) |
| - 106 (1 894 AC) | Nikola Tesla invents of the alternating current |
| - 105 (1 895 AC) | Wilhelm Roentgen discovers X-rays |
| - 97 (1 903 AC) | Wright brothers fly first motorized airplane |
| - 96 (1 904 AC) | First geothermal power plant by Prince Piero Ginori |
| - 95 (1 905 AC) | Albert Einstein announces the theory of Relativity |
| - 90 (1 910 AC) | Birth of public radio broadcasting credited to Lee de Forest |
| - 89 (1 911 AC) | Ernest Rutherford discovers structure of atom |
Beginning of Global Cooperation and Information Era 🌐
| - 55 (1 945 AC) | Master of nuclear fission / Birth of the United Nations (UN) / First electronic computer |
|---|---|
| - 52 (1 947 AC) | Universal Declaration of Human Rights |
| - 50 (1 950 AC) | Invention of the first oral contraceptive pill |
| - 47 (1 953 AC) | Watson, Crick & Franklin discover DNA's structure |
| - 43 (1 957 AC) | Russia launches first satellite, Sputnik I / Publication of the « Synthesis of Elements in Stars » paper by B²FH |
| -31 (1 969 AC) | Armstrong & Aldrin walk on the Moon / Internet (ARPA) goes online |
| - 26 (1 974 AC) | Stephen Hawking publishes The theory of radiations (Hawking Radiation) |
| - 25 (1 975 AC) | Invention of the micro-processor |
| - 24 (1 976 AC) | Release of VHS recording cassette |
| - 23 (1 977 AC) | NASA launches Voyager 1 |
| - 22 (1 978 AC) | Louise Brown is the first baby born from an In Vitro fertilization |
| - 20 (1 980 AC) | First first gigabyte hard drive by IBM (same size than a fridge) |
| - 18 (1 982 AC) | Release of the first Compact Disc (CD) by a co-developped by Philipps & Sony (for music and audiobook) |
| - 10 (1 990 AC) | Public announcement of the World Wide Web |
| -3 (1 997 AC) | Release of the first digital versatile disc (DVD) by Sony |
| 0 (2 000 AC) | Beginning of the 21st Century of the Gregorian Calendar |
| 1 (2 001 AC) | The map of the human genome is complete |
| 7 (2 007 AC) | First smartphone (iPhone by Apple) |
| 12 (2 012 AC) | Voyager 1 becomes the 1st spacecraft to cross the Heliopause and enter the Interstellar medium / Higgs boson discovery in CERN |
| 15 (2 015 AC) | First gravitational wave detected |
| 19 (2 019 AC) | First picture of a black hole / Declaration of the 7th mass extinction (Anthropocene) |
Any edit to suggest?
Interested by seeing an other perspective of the Universe history?
Here is a 10 mins video representing what we know of the universe in a timelaspe where each second represent 23 million years.
Spoiler : humans appear in the last second.
So now, what will be next?
Well, it’s up to YOU!
Use those knowledge wisely and never underestimate the power of
CURIOSITY, PASSION, and PERSEVERANCE