EASY READ World history
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EASY READ A timeline of world history. (2025). In Q-files Encyclopedia, History, EASY READ World history. Retrieved from
https://www.q-files.com/history/easy-read-world-history/easy-read-a-timeline-of-world-history
"EASY READ A timeline of world history." History, EASY READ World history, Q-files Encyclopedia, 5 Dec. 2025.
https://www.q-files.com/history/easy-read-world-history/easy-read-a-timeline-of-world-history.
Accessed 2 Nov. 2026.
EASY READ A timeline of world history 2025. History, EASY READ World history. Retrieved 2 November 2026, from
https://www.q-files.com/history/easy-read-world-history/easy-read-a-timeline-of-world-history
History, EASY READ World history, s.v. "EASY READ A timeline of world history," accessed November 2, 2026.
https://www.q-files.com/history/easy-read-world-history/easy-read-a-timeline-of-world-history
A timeline of world history
476 The overthrow of Roman emperor Romulus Augustulus marks the end of the Roman Empire in the west and the beginning of the Middle Ages.
486 The Kingdom of the Franks is founded by Clovis in Western Europe.
527 Justinian begins rule over Byzantine Empire (the Eastern Roman Empire).
c.570 Birth of the Prophet Mohammed.
618 The Tang dynasty begins its rule in China.
632 Death of the Prophet Mohammed.
642 Arab armies defeat Sassanian Empire in the Middle East.
661 The Umayyad dynasty takes power in the Islamic world.
711 Muslim armies conquer part of Spain.
732 Muslim armies are defeated at the Battle of Poitiers in France.
750 The Abbasid dynasty takes power in the Islamic world.
768 Frankish leader, Charlemagne, begins his reign.
793Vikings begin their raiding voyages in Europe.
800 Charlemagne is crowned emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.
c.800 Rise of Kingdom of Ghana in West Africa.
802 The Khmer Kingdom is founded in Cambodia.
862 Novgorod is founded by the Vikings.
876 Vikings settle in northern England and East Anglia.
960 The Song dynasty begins its rule in China.
c.982 The Viking Erik the Red explores the coast of Greenland.
1002 A Viking settlement is established in Newfoundland, North America.
1054 Great Schism splits the Roman Catholic church from the Eastern Orthodox Church.
1066 Battle of Hastings: William the Conqueror conquers England.
1099 Knights of the First Crusade capture Jerusalem.
1113–50 Angkor Wat, a temple complex in Cambodia, is built.
1187 Muslim leader Saladin defeats Crusaders and recaptures Jerusalem.
c.1200 The Inca capital of Cusco is founded in Peru.
1206 Founding of Sultanate of Delhi in India.
1211 The Mongols invade China under the command of Genghis Khan.
1237 Russia becomes part of the Mongol Empire.
1271 The Mongol (Yuan) dynasty begins its rule in China.
1274 Mongol fleet is defeated by Japan.
1279 Kublai Khan completes conquest of China.
1294 Death of Mongol leader Kublai Khan.
1325 The Aztecs found their capital city of Tenochtitlán in Mexico.
1337–1453 The Hundred Years’ War fought between England and France.
1348 Black Death arrives in Europe, killing millions of people.
1368 The Ming dynasty begins its rule in China.
1380 Russian armies defeat the Mongols at the Battle of Kulikovo.
1402 Mongol leader Tamerlane defeats the Ottomans at the Battle of Ankara.
1405–33 Zheng He, the Chinese explorer, makes seven voyages.
1424–56 Prince Henry of Portugal (Henry the Navigator) sends expeditions to explore the African coastline.
1429 Siege of Orleans: Joan of Arc defeats the English and wins back the French city.
1438 The Inca Empire becomes established in Peru, South America.
1453 Constantinople falls to Ottoman armies. End of the Byzantine Empire.
1480 Mongol power in Russia finally comes to an end.
1487–88 Portuguese explorer Bartholomeu Dias sails around the Cape of Good Hope.
1492 Christopher Columbus sails across the Atlantic Ocean and explores the Caribbean islands.
1494 Spain and Portugal sign the Treaty of Tordesillas, dividing any new land discoveries between them.
1498 Vasco da Gama reaches India.
1500 The Spanish explorer Pedro Alvares Cabral discovers Brazil.
1501 The Safavid dynasty begins its rule in Persia.
1511 Portugal takes control of the Spice Islands (Maluku) in Indonesia.
1517 Martin Luther nails the “Ninety-five Theses” to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, marking the beginning of the Reformation.
1519 Charles I of Spain becomes emperor Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire.
1519–22 Ferdinand Magellan’s fleet circumnavigates the world.
1521 Aztec Empire is defeated by Spanish under the conquistador Hernan Cortés.
1520 Suleiman I begins rule over the Ottoman Empire.
1526 The Mughal Empire is founded in India by the Afghan ruler Babur, following his victory over the Sultanate of Delhi at the Battle of Panipat.
1532 Francisco Pizarro begins the conquest of the Inca Empire in South America.
1533 Ivan IV (“Ivan the Terrible”) begins his reign in Russia.
1556 Akbar the Great begins his reign over the Mughal Empire.
1571 Christian fleet defeats Ottoman fleet at the Battle of Lepanto.
1572 Murder of thousands of French Huguenots (Protestants) in the St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre.
1580 Spain defeats Portugal at the Battle of Alcantara, uniting the two countries.
1588 Rule of Shah Abbas over Safavid Persia begins.
1603 The Tokugawa shogunate begins in Japan.
1618–48 Thirty Years’ War is fought in Europe.
1628 The reign of Shah Jahan over the Mughal Empire begins.
1642–51 English Civil War.
1644 The Qing (Manchu) dynasty begins its rule in China.
1658 The reign of Aurangzeb, the last Great Mughal emperor, begins.
1682 The reign of Peter the Great in Russia begins.
1701–13 The War of the Spanish Succession is fought in Europe.
1756–63 The Seven Years’ War is fought between Britain and Prussia on one side and France, Russia, Austria and Sweden on the other. In America (and India), the French and Indian War is fought between France and Britain (1754–63).
1762 The reign of Catherine the Great in Russia begins.
1768 British explorer James Cook makes first his voyage to the Pacific Ocean.
1776 Declaration of Independence: the United States of America is founded.
1789 The storming of the Bastille prison in Paris marks the start of the French Revolution.
1793 King Louis XIV is executed in France.
1799 Napoleon seizes power in France.
1803–15 Napoleonic Wars end in defeat for Napoleon at Waterloo.
1834 Slavery is abolished in the British Empire.
1839–42, 1856–60 Opium Wars between Britain and China.
1848 The Year of Revolutions in Europe.
1857–58 The Indian Mutiny takes place against British rule.
1861–65 American Civil War is fought between Union and Confederate forces.
1868 Meiji Restoration in Japan.
1869 Opening of the Suez Canal.
1870–71 Franco-Prussian War.
1871 Wilhelm I was proclaimed emperor of a united Germany.
1884 Conference in Berlin held by European nations to divide up Africa between them.
1899–1902 The Second Boer War is fought in southern Africa between Britain and the South African Republic.
1903 First powered flight made by Wright brothers in the USA.
1904–05 Russo-Japanese War, in which Russia is defeated by Japan.
1911 Chinese Revolution; Sun Yixian becomes first president of the republic.
1914–18 World War I.
1917 Russian Revolution brings Communists to power under their leader, Lenin.
1922 The Irish Free State is established.
1922 Founding of the Soviet Union (USSR).
1922 Fascist leader Benito Mussolini seizes power in Italy.
1929 Wall Street Crash plunges world into the Great Depression.
1933 Adolf Hitler is elected German Chancellor.
1936–39 Spanish Civil War ends in victory for Fascist leader General Franco.
1939–45 World War II.
1945 Atomic bombs are dropped by Allies on Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
1945 United Nations is set up by former Allies.
1947 India becomes independent. Partition leads to formation of Muslim state of Pakistan.
1948 Mahatma Gandhi is assassinated in India.
1949 Communists come to power in China under the leadership of Mao Zedong.
1950–53 Korean War.
1957 European Economic Community is established at Treaty of Rome.
1957 Ghana becomes the first black African colony to gain independence.
1961 Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human in space.
1961 Wall built to divide East and West Berlin in Germany.
1962 Cuban missile crisis brings world to brink of nuclear war.
1963 Assassination of US president, John F. Kennedy.
1964–75 Vietnam War.
1966–76 Cultural Revolution in China.
1967 Six Day War in Middle East.
1968 Assassination of US civil rights campaigner, Martin Luther King.
1969 US astronaut Neil Armstrong becomes the first man to walk on the Moon.
1979 Establishment of Islamic Republic in Iran under Ayatollah Khomeini.
1980–88 War between Iran and Iraq.
1986 Disastrous accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power station in USSR.
1989 Chinese soldiers open fire on students in Tiananmen Square, Beijing.
1989–90 Collapse of Communism in eastern Europe.
1990–91 Iraq invades Kuwait, leading to the outbreak of the Gulf War.
1991 End of apartheid in South Africa.
1991 Break-up of Yugoslavia, leading to war between Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia.
1994 Nelson Mandela becomes president of South Africa.
1998 The Good Friday Peace agreement is signed in Northern Ireland.
1999 NATO allies defeat Serbia during Kosovo crisis.
2001 9/11 Terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, USA.
2001 War in Afghanistan: NATO forces drive the Taliban from power.
2003 Beginning of the war in Iraq and the downfall of Saddam Hussein.
2004 Indian Ocean tsunami claims more than 200,000 lives.
2008 Global financial crisis hits economies worldwide.
2010 Demonstrations break out in Tunisia, marking the beginning of the Arab Spring.
2011 Civil war breaks out in Syria.
2014 Ukraine crisis: Crimea is annexed by Russia and civil war breaks out in eastern Ukraine.
2014 Forces of ISIS (Islamic State) start to seize territory in Iraq and later Syria.
2015 Civil war breaks out in Yemen.
2016 UK votes to leave the European Union.
2016 Donald Trump wins the US presidential election.
2017 More than 600,000 Rohingya refugees flee Myanmar.
2020 Covid-19 pandemic breaks out.
2021 American troops withdraw from Afghanistan. Taliban forces capture Kabul without resistance.
2022 (February) Russian President Vladimir Putin gives the order for a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. Millions of Ukrainians flee the country.
2023 (April) Sudanese civil war breaks out.
2023 (October) Hamas-led militants make a surprise attack on Israel. In response, Israel launches devastating attacks on Gaza, killing many thousands of Palestinians.
Consultant: Philip Parker
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