20-Foot-Long Bible Timeline

  This twenty-foot Bible time line compares Bible and world history side by side and has more than 2,000 key events and people from Adam and Eve to modern-day.

If you click the link below, you will find a free sample of the 2-foot section covering the time of the patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph.

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Fascinating facts about Bible and World History:

The first Olympic games were about the time of Jonah and Amos. Confusius and Buddha lived at the same time as Daniel. Cleopatra was queen of Egypt thirty years before Jesus was born.

This is the best side-by-side Bible time line. If you compare it to other time line books you will find that it covers more time (Creation to modern day), it includes more church history events and people than any time line book. It has photos and illustrations. It has a large type size than any other time line book. It is also the longest time line on the market. See comparison chart HERE.

Ordering information at the bottom of this page.

Here are some of the events on the time line.

Click on these dates to see what is in that century BC

2100 2000 1900 1800 1700 1600 1500 1400 1300 1200 1100 1000 900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100

In The Beginning      The Printed Time Line has each date and time span.

God creates the world
Garden of Eden
Adam and Eve
The Fall
Cain kills Abel
Tower of Babel
Noah's Ark, the Flood, God's Promise

Generations:
Adam
Seth
Enos
Kenan (Cainan)
Mahalaleel
Jared
Enoch
Methuseleh
Lamech
Noah
Shem
Arphaxad
Salah
Eber
Peleg
Reu
Serug
Nahor
Terah

Century  2100 BC     The Printed Time Line has each date and time span.

Earliest form of writing (cuneiform)

Old Kingdom Pyramids built

Abraham born to Terah.

Sarai is born.

and Sarai married; unable to have children.

Noah dies at the age of 950, the last of the patriarchs said to have lived over 900 years.

First ziggurats built by Ur

Century  2000 BC     The Printed Time Line has each date and time span.

Abram and Sarai migrate into Canaan.

Abram and Sarai migrate to Egypt to avoid a famine.

Sarai’s Egyptian maid Hagar gives birth to Abram’s first son, Ishmael.

God confirms his covenant with Abram, changes his name to Abraham (“father of a multitude”).

Sodom and Gomorrah destroyed.

Isaac is born.

Isaac marries Rebecca.

Middle Kingdom (11th-12th Dynasties).

Jacob and Esau are born to Isaac and Rebecca.

The Hittites, Indo-European tribes from Asia Minor, form a single kingdom.

Babylonians use geometry in astronomic measurements; identify signs of the zodiac.

Four basic elements identified in India: earth, air, fire, and water.

Egyptians use 24-sign alphabet.

Beginning of Semitic alphabet.

Indoor bathroom plumbing first used in Crete.

Stonehenge, England, is center of religious worship.

Century  1900 BC     The Printed Time Line has each date and time span.

Oldest form of novel written in Egypt.

During the 12th Dynasty of Egypt, strong Pharaohs encourage farming; international trade, literature, art and architecture flourish.

Abraham dies at the age of 175.

Copper and gold mined.

First-hand records of Assyrian history begin.

Ishmael dies.

sells birthright to Jacob.

Jacob flees to Haran.

Jacob works for his uncle Laban to obtain Rachel as his wife.

Laban tricks Jacob into marrying Rachel’s older sister, Leah. A week later Jacob marries Rachel and agrees to work another 7 years.

Jacob and Leah have six sons (Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun) and one daughter Dinah.

Joseph is born to Jacob and Rachel when Jacob is 91.

Jacob wrestles with an angel. God changes his name to Israel. Benjamin is bon to Jacob and Rachel.

Century  1800 BC      The Printed Time Line has each date and time span.

Aged 17, is his father’s favorite. Joseph’s brothers sell him into slavery in Egypt.

Joseph is a slave to Potiphar, the captain of Pharoah’s guard.

Joseph interprets Pharoah’s dreams correctly and foretells 7 years of plenty followed by 7 years of famine. Joseph becomes viceroy over all Egypt.

Jacob and his family enter Egypt.

Sons of Jacob (Israel)--- Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, Benjamin.

Grandsons (sons of Joseph) ---Manasseh, Ephraim.

Jacob does in Egypt at age 147.

Great Labyrinth of Egypt built by Amenemhet III.

Joseph dies in Egypt at age 110.

The people of Israel in Egypt.

Second Intermediate Period (13th-17th Dynasties) begins.

Century  1700 BC      The Printed Time Line has each date and time span.

Hammurapi (Hammurabi) reigns in Babylon.

Hyksos invasion of Egypt; Hebrew bondage begins.

First Chinese dictionary contains 40,000 characters.

Century  1600 BC      The Printed Time Line has each date and time span.

Hyksos rule Egypt

Century  1500 BC      The Printed Time Line has each date and time span.

Hittites sack Babylon.

Hyksos expelled from Egypt.

18th Dynasty begins in Egypt.

Ahmose.

The “Book of the Dead,” 18th Egyptian dynasty religious documents.

Hebrew midwives ordered to destroy all Hebrew male children.

All newborn Hebrew males are to be cast into the Nile.

Aaron.

Moses is born in Egypt.

Amenhotep.

Thutmose.

Thutmose I builds first tomb in Valley of the Kings.

Thutmose II.

Thutmose III.

Queen Hatshepshut.

Primitive Greek Alphabet.

Library in Hittite capital contains tablets in eight language.

Shipbuilding flourishes in Mediterranean and Scandinavian countrie.

Leprosy in India and Egypt.

Foundation of Corinth

Century  1400 BC      The Printed Time Line has each date and time span.

Moses flees to the land of Midian.

The great oppression of the Hebrews begins.

Amenhotep II.

Thutmose IV.

Shang dynasty in China.

While tending flocks on Mt. Horeb, Moses sees a burning bush. God reveals himself to Moses as “I AM”. God commissions Moses and his brother Aaron to lead Israelites out of slavery.

The Ten Plagues.

The Israelites eat their first Passover meal and depart Egypt the following day.

God parts sea.

“High Date” for the Exodus and wilderness wanderings.

God gives Moses the Ten Commandments.

Tabernacle.

Amenhotep.

Death of Moses at age 120.

The Israelites invade Canaan under the leadership of Joshua.

Rehab helps spies.

The Israelite males are circumcised and the people celebrate the Passover for the first time since the Exodus.

Conquest of Canaan completed.

Century  1300 BC     The Printed Time Line has each date and time span.

Joshua dies at the age of 110.

Era of the judges.

Othniel becomes.

Amenhotep IV (Ikhaton).

Tutankhamen (“King Tut.

Ehud becomes judge.

Horemhab.

19th Dynasty begins.

Ramses.

Seti.

Ramses.

Century  1200 BC      The Printed Time Line has each date and time span.

Ruth.

“Low Date” for the.

Deborah and Barak judge Israel.

Judges: Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah (Barak), Gideon, Tola Jair, Jephthah, Ibzan, Elon, Abdon, Samson, Eli, and Samuel.

Merneptah.

Gideon becomes judge.

Iron Age begins.

Hittite Empire collapses.

Olmec culture in Mexico marked by massive basalt sculptures

Century  1100 BC      The Printed Time Line has each date and time span.

Abimelech usurps power in Israel.

Trojan War begins.

Conquest of Troy (traditional date in Greek literature).

Tola becomes judge.

Jair becomes judge.

Egypt’s power begins to decline.

Dynasty begins in China.

Jephthah becomes judge.

Ibzan becomes judge.

Samson is born.

Eli becomes priest.

Tiglath-Pileser I rules Assyria

Century  1000 BC      The Printed Time Line has each date and time span.

Samuel is born.

Elon becomes judge.

Abdon becomes judge.

Samson becomes judge.

The Philistines expand into the heart of Israel.

Samuel, Judge & Prophet of Israel.

Saul is born.

Samuel secretly chooses Saul as king.

David is born.

Priesthood of Abiathar.

Saul wins numerous victories over the Philistines and brings prosperity to the Israelites.

Use of iron for tools and weapons spreads from middle East to Mediterranean region.

Samuel secretly anoints David as Saul’s successor.

David kills Goliath.

David and Jonathan become close friends.

Saul turns against David.

Samuel dies.

At Gilboa the Philistines rout the Israelites. Saul commits suicide. Jonathan is slain.

David becomes king of Judah.

David reigns 40 years, first over Judah, then over all Israel.

David captures Jerusalem and makes it his capital.

David brings the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem.

Beginning of Hebrew literature: Song of Deborah.

Era of classic paganism in Greece.

Caste system develops in India; pantheistic religion teaches identity of self, transmigration of soul.

Professional musicians sing and play at religious ceremonies in Israel.

Refrigeration developed: Chinese using block ice cut in winter and stored.

Mayan Dynasties founded in central America.

Tribe of Latins settles for the first time near the Tiber River, Italy

Century  900 BC       The Printed Time Line has each date and time span.

Solomon is born to David and Bathsheba.

Nathan.

David dies at the age of about.

Solomon ascends the throne.

Solomon reigns for 40 years.

Solomon builds the Temple in Jerusalem.

Solomon’s Temple completed.

Solomon brings the Ark of the Covenant to the Temple.

Hyram becomes king of Tyre.

Solomon marries many foreign women.

Rehoboam becomes king of Israel and Judah.

Jeroboam rebels; sets up a rival kingdom in the north.

Abijah becomes king of Judah.

Asa becomes king of Judah.

Nadab becomes king of Israel.

Baasha becomes king of Israel

Century  800 BC       The Printed Time Line has each date and time span.

Elah becomes king of Israel.

Zimri becomes king of Israel.

Tibni becomes king of Israel.

Omri becomes king of Israel.

Asshurnasirpal II.

City of Samaria founded; becomes religious center of Israel.

Ahab becomes king of Israel.

Jehosophat becomes king of Judah.

Israel’s king Ahab marries a Phoenician princess Jezebel, a devoted worshipper of the Canaanite god Baal.

Ahab builds a temple for Baal in Samaria; kills many prophets of God.

Prophet Elijah challenges all the prophets of Baal to a contest on Mt. Carmel.

Ahaziah becomes king of Israel.

Jehoram becomes king of Judah.

Joram (Jehoram) becomes king of Israel.

Shalmaneser III.

Battle of Qarqar- Israel and Syria clash with Assyria.

Earliest samples of Hebrew script include victory stele for King Mesa of Moab in Dibon (eastern Jordan).

Elijah chooses Elisha as his successor.

Elijah is taken to heaven in a chariot of fire.

Jehu becomes king of Israel.

Ahaziah becomes king of Judah.

Athaliah seizes the throne of Judah.

Joash becomes king of Judah.

Elisha heals the leprosy of Naaman, commander of the army of Syria.

Shamsi-Adad V.

Assyria forces Israel to pay tribute.

King Mesha of Moa.

Greek script develops based on Phoenician.

The temple of Baal in Jerusalem is destroyed.

Jehoahaz becomes king of Israel.

Elisha prophesies Israel’s victory over Syria and dies the following year.

Adad-Nirari III.

Homer writes oral legends to the Trojan War and its aftermath in “Iliad” and “Odyssey”.

Isaiah’s teachings of the coming of the Messiah.

Metal sculpture, carving, carpet weaving, embroidery flourishing in Asia Minor.

Earliest recorded music written in cuneiform.

First iron utensils

Century  700 BC       The Printed Time Line has each date and time span.

Jehoash becomes king of Israel.

Amaziah becomes king of Judah.

Jeroboam II becomes king of Israel.

Uzziah becomes co-regent of Judah.

Jonah begins his ministry.

Shalmaneser IV.

Uzziah becomes full king of Judah.

Amos begins to prophesy.

Ashurdan III.

First recorded Olympic games.

Eclipse of the sun visible in Mesopotamia on June 15; mentioned in Assyrian texts.

Hosea begins to prophesy.

Zechariah becomes king of Israel.

Shallum becomes king of Israel.

Menahem becomes king of Israel.

Pekah becomes king of Israel.

Jotham becomes king of Judah.

Isaiah begins to prophesy.

Micah begins to prophesy.

Ashur-Nirari.

Tiglath-Pileser III 744-727.

Shulmaneser.

Traditional date for the founding of Rome 753.

Ahaz becomes king of Judah.

Hoshea becomes king of Israel.

Sargon II takes Samaria, exiles people to Babylon.

Beginning of collection of “Sayings of Solomon”.

Israel (Northern Kingdom) falls to the Assyrians.

The kingdom of Israel ceases to exist. The area is settled with people Assyria is deporting from other regions; they come to be called Samaritans.

Hezekiah becomes king of Judah.

Judah invaded by the Assyrians.

Sennacherib.

Indian Vedas completed (collection of religious, philosophical, and educational writings.

Greek worship of Apollo and Dionysus (later named Bacchus)

Century  500 BC       The Printed Time Line has each date and time span.

Jehoachin becomes king of Judah.

Zedekiah becomes king of Judah.

Ezekiel, a prophet and a priest in Babylon, sees his first vision.

Obadiah.

Ezekiel predicts the fall of Jerusalem.

Nebuchadnezzar burns the Temple and every substantial building in Jerusalem. The Jews are deported to Babylon. The rabbis preempt the priests as the chief custodians of divine truth.

An anthology of poetic lamentations over Jerusalem is collected.

Jeremiah dies.

Pythagoras, philosopher and mathematician.

Ezekiel, after 25 years in exile, sees an elaborate vision of the Jerusalem Temple restored and the nation of Israel reunited.

PERSIAN EMPIRE.

Cyrus the Great.

Nebuchadnezzar builds the Hanging Gardens, one of the seven ancient wonders of the world (Babylon).

Gautama Buddha, founder of Buddhism (India).

Zerubbabel and Joshus lead a small party of Jewish repatriates back to Palestine.

The Temple started in Jerusalem.

Cambyses.

Kung Fu-tse (Confucius), Chinese philosopher.

Temple of Artemis begun at Ephesus; one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

The Books of the Pentateuch are clearly held as scripture.

Darius.

Babylon falls to Persia.

Darius (Gubaru) the Mede rules in Babylon.

Egypt ruled by the Persians.

Zechariah.

Haggai.

Construction of the Temple is completed.

Roman Republic established.

Aramaic language begins to replace Old Hebrew in Palestine.

Indian surgeon Susrata performs cataract operations.

Pericles

Century  400 BC       The Printed Time Line has each date and time span.

Xerxes I.

Ahasuerus makes Esther queen.

Sophocles, Greek dramatist.

Herodotus the historian.

The Greeks defeat Xerxes at Thermopalye, then again at Salamis.

Esther becomes queen of Persia and later saves the Jews of the empire from extermination.

The Feast of Purim started.

Malachi.

Artaxerxes.

Socrates.

Ezra, a priest and expert in the Jewish Law, urges radical religious reform in Judah and condemns mixed marriages; many Jewish men divorce their non-Jewish wives.

Joel.

The Parthenon (temple to Athena) built in Athens.

Sophocles writes “Antogone”.

Euripides writes “Medea”.

Peloponnesian war between Athens and Sparta.

Ezra reads the Torah publicly in Jerusalem, and the people promise to obey it.

Judah becomes a theocracy led by a high priest.

Nehemiah takes a small contingent of Jews back to Palestine.

The history of Judah enters an obscure period.

Darius II.

Plato.

Egypt independent from Persia.

Artaxerxes II.

Death of Protagoras, Greek philosopher.

Diogenes, Greek philosopher.

The Midrash (Jewish commentaries of Hebrew scriptures) begins to develop

Century  300 BC       The Printed Time Line has each date and time span.

Gauls sack Rome.

Plato founds philosophical school known as the Academy (Athens).

Aristotle, Greek philosopher.

Artaxerxes III.

Etruscan actors present first theatrical performance in Rome.

Roman armies develop battle tactics of the Roman legion.

Alexander the Great conquers Palestine as most cities and regions surrender to him peacefully.

After Alexander’s death, Palestine is ruled by Ptolemy, governor of Egypt.

Aristotle becomes teacher of Alexander the Great.

Persia regains control of Egypt.

Epicurius born.

Aristotle forms beginnings of musical theory.

Aristotle teaches at Athens.

Alexander the Great conquers Egypt and Palestine.

Hellenization begins.

Ptolemaic Egypt controls Palestine.

Ptolemy I.

Alexandrian Empire divided.

Ptolemy rules Egypt.

Seleucus rules Persia and Syria.

Antigonus rules Macedonia and Greece.

Seleucus I.

Zeno, Pheonician philosopher, begins the Stoic school of philosophy in Athens.

Museum and library of Alexandria begun.

Rome becomes a major world power in the western Mediterranean.

Parisi tribe founds small fishing village on an island in the Seine River (beginnings of the city of Paris)

Century  200 BC       The Printed Time Line has each date and time span.

Ptolemy II.

Antiochus I.

Archimedes, Greek mathematician and scientist.

Eratosthenes proposes that the earth moves around the sun.

Antiochus II.

Completion of lighthouse at Pharos, Alexandria.

The first Syro-Egyptian war begins.

Hinduism codified in India.

Rome’s first Punic war against Carthage; Romans control Italy.

First competitions of gladiators in Rome.

The second Syro-Egyptian war begins.

Septuagint (scriptures translated into Greek in Alexandria).

The fourth Syro-Egyptian war begins.

Septuagint (Scriptures translated into Greek in Alexandria).

Parchment made at Pergamum.

First Roman Prison erected.

Leap year appears in Egyptian calendar.

Ptolemy III.

The Jewish population of Alexandria grows rapidly.

The Mishna begins to appear among the Jews.

Antiochus III the Great.

Ptolemy IV.

Second Punic war; Hannibal in Italy.

Great Wall of China built to keep out invaders 215Rome’s first Macedonian war.

Rome drives Carthage out of Spain.

The fifth Syro-Egyptian war begins; Carthage surrenders to Rome.

Rome’s second Macedonian war.

Dead Sea Scrolls (copies of scriptures) written

Century  100 BC       The Printed Time Line has each date and time span.

The Surian Seleucids begin to rule Palestine; Jewish priests on good terms with the Seleucids.

Rosetta Stone Tribute to Ptolemy V written in Greek, Egyptian hieroglyphs and Egyptian demotic.

Seleucus IV Philopator.

First stone bridge built in Rome.

Antiochus IV bans obedience to the Jewish Law. He devotes the Temple in Jerusalem to Olympian Zeus and burns copies of the Torah.

The Maccabean Revolt.

Judah’s forces recapture the Temple and begin to purify it for rededication. When it is rededicated exactly the three years after it was desecrated, the feast of Hanukkah is established.

Antiouchus IV Epiphanes.

The Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV tries to force Jews to abandon their law, desecrates the temple.

Rome’s third Macedonian war.

Earliest paved streets in Rome.

Judas Maccabeus leads a Jewish revolt against the Seleucids.

Temple in Jerusalem rededicated, Hanukkah.

Jonathan, brother of Judas Maccabeus, continues revolt.

HASMONEAN DYNASTY.

Antiuchus V Eupator.

Demetrius I Soter.

The Jews in Egypt build a temple at Leontopolis.

Hasmoneans take control of the priesthood.

The first “Book of Maccabees” in Hbrew.

Rome’s fourth Macedonian war.

Alexander Balas.

Rome’s third Punic war against Carthage, ending in the destruction of Carthage.

Romans control Greece.

Demetrius II.

SELEUCIDS OF SYRIA.

Antiochus VI.

Simon, brother of Judas Maccabeus, governs Judea.

The Venus of Milo sculpture.

John Hyrcanus becomes high priest in Jerusalem.

Rome begins to expand her empire eastwar.

The Pharisees begin to emerge as a sect.

Antiochus VII Sidetes.

Emporer Wu Ti founds state religion of Confucianism (China).

John Hyrcanus I, high priest.

Rome begins to expand her empire eastward.

John Hyrcanus I becomes ruler of Judea.

Demetrius III.

Antiochus VII Grypus.

Hyrcanus repudiates the Pharisees and declares himself a Sadducee.

Antiochus IX Cyzicanus.

Pharisees and Sadducees gain importance in Palestine.

Cicero born.

Aristobulus I declares himself ruler of Judea.

Alexander Jannaeus succeeds Aristobulus as king.

Julius Caesar born.

Ships from China reach India for the first time.

New Testament

Click on these dates to see what is in that century AD

001 100-300 400-600 700-999 1000-1199 1200-1399 1400 1500 1600-1799 1800-1999 2000-Present

Century  1-100 AD          The Printed Time Line has each date and time span.

Rome’s first Mithridatic war against Pontus.

Rome’s second Mithridatic war.

Oldest existing amphitheatre built at Pompeii.

Alexander Polyhistor writes history of the Jews.

Sulla dictator of Rome.

Salome Alexander.

Rome’s third Mithridatic war.

Spartacus leads slave revolt.

Virgil, Roman poet.

ROMAN EMPIRE.

Julius Caesar, Crassus and Pompey form the First Triumvirate.

Pompey conquers Jerusalem for Rome.

Horace, Roman poet.

Pompey conquers Jerusalem for Rome.

Hyrcanus II, high priest.

Julius Caesar cconquers Gaul.

Caesar invades Britain.

Cleopatra VII rules Egypt.

Herod appointed king.

Herod captures Jerusalem.

Caesar crosses the Rubicon.

Pompey slain in Egypt.

Library of Alexandria destroyed by fire, much ancient literature lost forever.

Julian calendar of 365.25 days put in use; leap year introduced.

Caesar assassinated.

The second Triumvirate at Rome (Anthony, Pepidus, and Octavian).

Ovid, Roman poet.

Battle of Phillipi.

Herod the Great appointed king of Judea.

Battle of Actium, Rome controls Egypt.

Hillel and Shammai are the leading rabbis.

Caesar Augustus (Octavian), first Roman Emperor.

Herod begins to rebuild the Jerusalem Temple.

Herod dies.

Birth of Jesus in Bethlehem.

Octavian takes the title of Augustus.

Herod begins refurbishing the Temple.

Philo of Alexandria.

Herod dies.

John the Baptist born.

Jesus born in Bethlehem.

Herod Archelaus rules Judea

Century  AD 1.

Century  AD 100-300          The Printed Time Line has each date and time span.

Death of the Apostle John.

Didache: Instructions of the Apostles written.

Century  AD 400-600          The Printed Time Line has each date and time span.

After 22 years of work, Jerome finishes translating the Old and New Testaments into Latin.

The Vulgate, as it is known, is the Bible used for the next 1000 years.

Arian Visigoths sack Rome.

Nestorius teaches.

Council of Ephesus condemns Nestorianism and Pelagianism.

Nestorianism taught that there were two distinct Persons in Jesus Christ (Mary is mother of the human part only), therefore some of Jesus’ actions were human and some were divine. Pelagianism claimed that man can attain salvation by works). The Council of Ephesus defined Mary, Jesus’ mother, as Theotokos, “bearer of God,” to show that Jesus has one nature that is fully human and fully divine.

Patrick evangelizes Ireland.

Leo the Great becomes pope; persuades Attila the Hun to spare a weakened Rome.

Council of Chalcedon.

Chalcedon focused on the divine and human natures of Christ, confirming Pope Leo’s Tome (the summary of his teaching) and condemning Appolinarianism, Nestorianism, and Monophysitism (also known as Eutychianism, which denies the humanity of Christ). Copts of Egypt and Syria divided, the majority forming monophysite or “One Nature” churches.

Fall of the Western Roman Empire; beginning of the Middle Ages.

Pope’s excommunication of Patriarch Acacius of Constantinople leads to first schism between Western and Eastern Churches.

Clovis, king of Franks, converts to Christianity.

Armenian church secedes from Byzantium and Rome.

By end of century, Scriptures translated into 13 languages.

Syrian Orthodox church establishes monophysite monastery in Ethiopia.

Codex Bezae, the New Testament in Greek and Latin, produced.

First plans of the Vatican Palace in Rome are laid.

Eastern and Western Churches reconcile.

Irish monasteries flourish as centers of learning, spiritual life, and training for missionaries.

Christianity spreads throughout the Middle East, including the Arabian Peninsula.

Monk Benedict writes the Rule, a guide for monastic life.

Cassiodorus founds great Monastery of Vivarium where he writes and directs literary activities of fellow monks.

Death of Dionysius Exiguus, Roman monk best known for labeling the “Anno Domini” era.

Church bells used in France to announce beginning of services.

Wales converted to Christianity by St. David.

The crucifix develops as an ornament.

The Golden Era of Byzantine art begins.

Mosaics at the Church of St. Apollinare in France show one of the first representations of the Last Supper.

Fifth Council of Constantinople.

The Fifth Council of Constantinople, convened by Emperor Justinian, condemned the “Three Chapters” (the writings of several theologians including Theodore of Mopsuestia) for alleged heresies.

St. Sophia Basilica in Constantinople is consecrated.

Plainsong “Gregorian” chants begin to develop.

Pope Gregory introduces picture books for illiterates to replace the Bible.

First church bell hung and rung in Rome.

First record of use of Episcopal rings as sign of a bishop’s authority.

Persians take Damascus and Jerusalem; as booty, they remove the Holy Cross found by Helen, mother of Constantine.

Tibet begins to develop into a unitary state.

Barbarian invasion halt in Western Europe.

Khazars form empire between lower Volga and lower Don.

Book printing in China begins.

In Italy, the monetary system is replaced by barer.

From India, smallpox spreads via China and Asia Minor to southern Europe.

Fatima, daughter of Muhammad, is born.

Muhammad declares himself to be Prophet of God; founds the religion of Islam.

“Burning water” (Petroleum) used in Japan.

End of the Sui dynasty in China; from this point, the Tang dynasty rules until.

Formation of orchestras of hundreds of players in China.

Production of porcelain begins in China.

The Hegira: Muhammad’s flight from Mecca to Medina; Year One in the Muslim calendar.

Muhammad marries Aisha, the 10-year-old daughter of Abu Bakhr, future first Caliph of the Muhammadans.

Progress of Muhammadanism, the churches of Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexandria being lost to Christian faith.

Muslims conquer Jerusalem.

Muhammad captures Mecca and writes letters to all the rulers of the world, explaining principles of the Muslim faith.

Cotton supposed to have been introduced in Arab countries.

Muhammad dies; Medina becomes seat of first Caliph, Abu Bakhr, who succeeds his son-in-law Muhammad.

Buddhism becomes state religion in Tibet.

Persia appeals to China for help against Muslims.

Arabs find at Alexandria the famous library with 300,000 papyrus scrolls.

Arabs conquer the Persians.

Alexandria is destroyed by the Arabs; end of the Alexandrian school, the center of Western culture.

Eastern Roman Empire weakened by the Arab conquest of Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Syria.

Synod of Whitby aligns the English church with Rome for the next nine centuries.

The Venerable Bede, English monk and historian, born.

Caliphs introduce first organized news service.

Arabs attack North Africa.

Earliest Old English (Anglo-Saxon) translations and paraphrases of portions of the Bible by Caedmon and Aldhelm.

Eastern and Western churches drift further apart due to differences in church practices and expression of theology.

On clergy celibacy: the Eastern church allowed priests to be married, provided that they were married before ordination. The Western church discouraged it.

The Dome of the Rock, gold-domed shrine of Islam, built on Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

Quinisext Council at Constanti nople (not recognized by Rome) settles Biblical canon of the Eastern Church.

Revenna Cosmography, catalog of all known countries, towns, and rivers appears.

Charles Martel born.

Clovis III becomes king of all Franks.

Arabs overrun Armenia.

Persecution of Jews in Spain.

First Arab coinage.

Arabs destroy Carthage

Century  AD 700-999 The Printed Time Line has each date and time span.

Stone church buildings (instead of wooden ones) appear in England.

Easter eggs come into use among Christians.

Boniface, “Apostle to the Germans,” establishes Benedictine Monasticism.

Bede translates Gospel of John into English; writes Ecclesiastical History.

Official policy by Iconoclasts Pope Leo III and Emperor Constantine V opposing use of images in Byzantine churches.

Water wheels for driving mills in use all over Europe.

Population explosion in China leads to first large urban developments.

Buddhist monasteries in Japan become centers of civilization.

Spanish Jews, freed by the Arabs, begin their cultural development.

Muslim Moors invade Spain and Portugal, their first foothold in Europe.

Arabs occupy Samarkand and make it a center of Islamic culture; here they learn the art of making paper.

Kojiki, first history of Japan, is compiled.

Muslim empire extends from the Pyrenees to China, with Damascus as its capital.

Arabs conquer Lisbon.

Caliph Omar II grants tax exemption to all believers.

Pope Gregory II excommunicates the Byzantine emperor.

Venerable Bede, English historian and theologian who introduced counting of dates before the birth of Christ, dies.

Pope Gregory III asks Charles Martel for help against Lombards, Greeks, and Arabs.

Oldest Western fresco, “Crucifixion,” at St. Quirico chapel of St. Maria Antiqua church in Rome.

Constantine V Copronymus succeeds to the throne of Byzantium and renews the prohibition of image worship.

Charlemagne, son of Pepin the Short, born.

Flowering of Buddhist civilization in China.

Charles Martel defeats the Muslims in France, stopping the Muslim advance in Europe for 100 years.

First printed newspaper appears in Peking.

A council of 300 Byzantine bishops endorses iconoclasm.

Pepin, son of Charles Martel, unites and rules the Franks.

At the request of Pope Stephen II (III), Pepin invaded Italy to defend it against Lombard invaders. Pepin gave conquered land to the church (called the Donation of Pepin), which established the papal states.

Emperor Constantine V begins dissolution of monasteries.

Charlemagne, son of Pepin, expands empire what is now France, Germany, and Italy; forces German Saxons to convert.

Beds become popular in France and Germany.

Prime of medicine, astronomy, mathematics, optics, and chemistry in Arab spain.

Wind organs, coming from Byzantium, replace water organs.

The four sects of Islam appear: Sunnites, Hefenites, Shafites, and Malikites.

Founding of Turkish Empire by a Tartar tribe in Armenia.

Charles the Great, Charlemagne, becomes king of the Franks.

Euclid’s Elementes translated into Arabic.

Empress Irene becomes virtual leader of the Byzantine Empire and restores image worship.

The “Wessobrunn Prayer,” esrliest German ecclesiastical verse, appears.

The Nestorians, settled in China since 645, develop missionary activities and build monasteries.

Seventh Council of Nicaea.

The Seventh Council of Nicaea condemned iconoclasm (the belief that venerating sacred images is idolatry) and Adoptionism (belief that Jesus was not Son of God by nature). This is the last council that was recognized as binding by both the eastern and western churches.

Charlemagne condemns image worship at the Synod of Frankfurt.

Byzantine Empress Irene overthrows her son Constantine, blinds him, assumes sole power, and reportedly proposes to marry Charlemagne.

Caliph Mahdi institutes an inquisition.

Vikings land in Ireland.

Flowering of Korean civilization.

Horse-charging posts for royal messengers installed in France.

City of Machu Picchu flourishes in Peru.

Charlemagne crowned first Holy Roman emperor in Rome (the new empire of the West, as opposed to the Byzantine or Eastern Roman Empire) by Pope Leo III.

Charlemagne’s administration reformed the law and church organization. At the Synod of Aiz-la-Chapelle, Charlemagne adopted the Filioque clause. He also encouraged all monasteries to teach reading and writing. Through the influence of the scholar Alcuin, schools were founded and scriptoria set up to copy the Bible and Latin classics. This commitment to culture is known as the Carolingian Renaissance. Pope Leo III separated from the Eastern Empire and became supreme bishop of the West.

Egbert, king of the West Saxons, unifies England and becomes the first king.

Charlemagne prohibits prostitution.

Charlemagne dies.

Earliest records of Persian poetry and literature.

First planting of rose trees in Europe.

Persian scientist and mathematician Muhammed ibn Musa al Chwarazami writes a book on equations and coins the term “algebra”.

Arabs take over Indian numerals, including zero, to multiply by ten.

Sweden is evangelized by Anskar, “Apostle of the North”.

Persecution of image worshipers in the Eastern empire.

Christians in Egypt are persecuted and forced to wear 5-pound crosses around their necks.

Image worship reestablished.

Charlemagne’s empire split between his three grandsons.

Nestorians persecuted in China.

Vivian Bible, one of the earliest illustrated manuscripts, written in Tours.

Arabs conquer Crete, Sicily, and Sardinia.

Astronomical System of Ptloemy (d.c.178) translated into Arabic as Almagest.

Caliph Mamun founds the Academy of Translations at Baghdad.

Muslims invade Italy, sack Rome, and damage the Vatican.

Origin of the Church modes, leading c. 750 years later to major and minor scales.

Earliest known attempt at polyphonic music.

Cyril and Methodius, “Apostles of the Slavs,” start missionary work in Moravia.

The Greek missionary brothers also invented a Slavic alphabet, the Cyrillic.

Photian Schism.

Communion between Eastern and Western church was broken when Patriach Photius of Constantinople (Eastern Orthodox Church) rejects the Roman pope’s claim of primacy among the bishops of the East as well as the West over changes made to the Nicene Creed.

Prince Boris I of Bulgaria accepts Christianity.

Alfred the Great, king of Wessex, translates portions of the Bible into Old English (Anglo-Saxon).

Groups of Jews settle in Germany and develop their own language, Yiddish.

Astrolabe perfected by the Arabs.

Kaldi is credited with the discovery of coffee.

Norse pirates, or Norsemen, attack as far south as the Mediterranean but are thwarted.

Norsemen discover Iceland.

Rurik, first Russian grand prince, founds Novgorod, establishing the Russian nation.

The Russian Northmen attack Constantinople.

Calibrated candles are used in England for the first time to measure time.

Alfred the Great becomes king of Britain.

The pope and the patriarch of Constantinople excommunicate each other.

Earliest Hebrew manuscript of the Old Testament discovered.

Alfred the Great establishes a militia and navy, extends power of the king’s courts, and institutes fairs and markets.

William, Duke of Aquitane, founds Benedictine Abbey of Cluny, France, which becomes center for reform under Abbot Odo.

Bulgarian Church separates from Rome and Constantinople.

Beginning of Mayan Post-Classical period.

England divided into shires, with country courts as the safeguard of the civil rights of the inhabitants.

Constantinople is still commercial and cultural center of the world.

The beginning of the famous Arabian tales A Thousand and One Nights.

The Jewish book of creation, Sepher Yetzirah, written.

Vikings have developed the art of shipbuilding and discover Greenland.

Muslims gain control of Sicily.

Russians again attack Constantinople.

Commercial treaties between Russia and Constantinople.

The drama of “The Three Maries and the Angels” performed at many churches on Easter morning (beginnings of the Easter play).

Christianization of Hungary begins.

Cordoba, Spain, becomes seat of Arab learning, science, commerce, and industry.

Firdausi, greatest Persian poet, born.

Otto I the Great becomes King of Germany.

Revolts against imperial rule set off a period of civil war in Japan.

Arabs bring kettledrums and trumpets to Europe.

Conversion of royalty across the empire, including Olga of Kiev (Ukraine today), Miesko of Poland, and Stephen of Hungary.

Otto I, the Great, crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope John XII.

First monastic foundation at Mt. Athos, Greece.

Revival of monasticism in England.

Poles under Mieczyslav I convert to Christianity.

Europe is in the “Dark Ages”.

Russian Grand Duchess Olga christened in Constantinople.

Mieczyslav I becomes first ruler of Poland.

Conversion of Vladimir of Kiev, grandson of Olga, to Eastern (Orthodox) Christianity.

According to tradition, Vladimir considered other religions, but chose Orthodoxy because the splendor of the worship at the Church of St. Sophia in Constantinople convinced him that “God dwells there among men.” Vladimir ordered the population of Kiev to choose Christianity. He wiped out paganism, built churches, and established schools. At his death, he donated all of his possessions to the poor.

Poland submits to the Holy See.

Musical notation systematized.

Olaf Tryggvesson becomes first Christian king of Norway.

First canonization of saints.

In Egypt, Caliph El Hakim persecutes Copts, destroying thousands of churches and forcing people to convert to Islam.

Leif Ericson converts to Christianity while in Norway; the next year he brings the Gospel to his father’s colony in Greenland.

Gerbert of Aurillac, mathematician, inventor, and philosopher, becomes Pope Sylvester II, first French pope.

The present arithmetical notation brought to Europe by the Arabs.

First Chinese encyclopedia of 1,000 volumes begun, completed.

Eric the Red establishes first Viking colony in Greenland.

Hugh Capet elected King of France.

Cane sugar arrives in Venice from Alexandria

Century  AD 1000-1199   The Printed Time Line has each date and time span.

Greek Catholicism (Melkite) introduced in Nubia.

Christianity reaches Iceland and Greenland.

Hungary and Scandinavia converted to Christianity.

Widespread fear of the end of the world and the Last Judgment.

Nestorians convert northern Mongolians; their beliefs spread to Persia, India and China.

Muslims destroy the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

First persecution of heretics (Waldensians) in Germany.

Viking raider Leif Eriksson discovers North America, calls in Vinland (Nova Scotia).

Beowulf, Old English epic written.

Spiritual center of Judaism switches from Mesopotamia to Spain.

Artistic revival in Italy (fresco and mosaic painting).

Chinese perfect their invention of gunpowder made up of charcoal, sulfur, and potassium nitrate.

Murasaki Shikibu finishes The Tale of Genji, the world’s first novel.

Danes control England.

Canute takes the English throne.

Jaroslav the Wise, Prince of Kiev, codifies Russian law and builds cities, schools, and churches.

In music, Guido introduces solmization (assigning syllables to steps of the diatonic scale).

Omar Khayyam, Persian poet and scientist, is born.

Canute conquers Norway, dies in 1035; kingdom divided among his sons: Harold Harefoot (England), Sweyn (Norway), Hardecanute (Denmark).

Macbeth murders Duncan, king of Scotland.

Rise of the Seljuk Turks.

The oldest Russian monastery in Kiev is built.

Polyphonic singing replaces Gregorian chant.

Edward the Confessor begins building Westminster Cathedral.

Great Schism between the Western and the Eastern Churches.

Roman Cardinal Humbart, envoy of Pope Leo IX, excommunicates Patriarch Michael Cerularius in the Church of St Sophia (Hagia Sophia) in Constantinople. Despite this, there is some cooperation between the eastern and Western Churches against the Seljuk Turks.

Normans (French Christians) conquer Britain, Sicily, and evangelize the Celts.

Construction on the cathedral in Pisa, Italy, begins.

Seljuk Turks (converts to Islam) from Central Asia conquer Persia, move west toward Constantinople.

Emergency of strong papacy when Gregory VII (Hildebrand) becomes pope.

Gregory worked to revive and reform the Church, prohibiting simony (buying or selling of church offices), sexual immorality in the clergy, and lay investiture (custom of emperors and local rulers choosing local church leaders).

Excommunication of married priests.

The harp arrives in Europe.

Robert Guiscard, Norman invader, establishes kingdom in Italy.

Seljuk Turks (Asian nomads) move west and capture Baghdad, Armenia, Syria, and Palestine.

William of Normandy invades England, defeats last Saxon king, Harold II, at Battle of Hastings, crowned William I of England (“the Conqueror”).

Appearance of comet, later called “Halley’s comet”.

Constantine the African brings Greek medicine to the Western world.

Conflict with English and French kings and German emperors continues throughout medieval period.

The First Crusade.

Pope Urban II calls for volunteers for a crusade to repel the Turks: specifically to help Eastern Christians in Constantinople, to liberate the church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, and to reopen the Holy Land to Christian pilgrims. More than 70,000 people headed for the Holy Land; in their zeal they slaughtered Jews in Germany and pillaged villages en route. They captured Jerusalem and brutally massacred their opponents, setting up the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem under Godfrey of Bouillon.

Peter Abelard, French theologian and philosopher, is born.

First water-driven mechanical clock constructed in Peking.

First record of gondolas in Venice.

Bernard founds a Cistercian monastery at Clairvaux, which becomes the influential center of Europe.

Concordat of Worms (Germany).

The Concordat of Worms addressed the power struggle between the Papacy and the Holy Roman Emperors. The King was recognized as having the right to invest bishops with secular authority in the territories they governed, but not with sacred authority.

Lateran Council (Rome) ratifies the Concordat of Worms.

Appearance of Gothic architecture.

Beginning of secular music.

Decline of Islamic science begins.

Order of Knights Hospitalers of St. John founded in JerusalemFlorence becomes free republic.

The Knights Templar, order of monastic soldiers sworn to protect Holy Land pilgrims, is recognized.

Disputed election of Popes Innocent II and Anacletus II: Innocent becomes pope.

False Messiahs appear in France and Persia.

Second Lateran Council (Rome) focuses on pseudo-popes (popes elected by unauthorized councils).

Second Cursade.

Preached by Bernard of Clairvaus in response to the Muslim conquest of Edessa, The Second Crusade, led by Louis VII of France and Emperor Conrad III of Germany, fails.

Beginning of troubadour music in France.

Moses Maimonides, Jewish religious philosopher, is born.

Syrian Orthodox church reaches zenith.

College of Cardinals established by pope.

Carmelite order founded by Brethold on Mount Carmel in Palestine.

Thomas Becket becomes archbishop of Canterbury.

A close friend of Henry II and chancellor of England, Becket resigns his chancellorship after conflicts with Henry over the power of the church and the throne.

Becket murdered by knights of Henry II.

Pope Alexander III establishes rules for canonization of saints.

Beginning of the Waldensians.

French merchant and reformer Peter Valdes gives his wealth to the poor and becomes an itinerant preacher. His beliefs are accepted by the church, but his practice of appointing ministers and preaching without permission draws criticism and eventually excommunication.

The game of chess arrives in England.

Chinese use explosives in warfare.

Eric of Sweden conquers Finland.

Tristan et Iseult, Celtic epic by Beroul and Thomas.

Troubadours (wandering minstrels) glorify romantic concepts of feudalism.

Ibn-Rushid begins translating Aristotle’s works.

Chretien de Troyes produces Lancelot, romance of courtly love.

First authenticated influenza epidemics in Europe.

Third Lateran Council denounces the Waldensians and Albigensians.

Albigensians were heretics that believed that Jesus was an angel with a phantom body, and therefore did not die or rise again.

Muslim general Saladin defeats Crusaders at the Horns of Hattin (Galilee) and captures Jerusalem.

The Third Crusade.

Led by Richard I (the Lionheart) of England, Philip II of France, and Barbarossa, the Holy Roman Emperor, the Third Crusade captures Cyprus, Acre, and Jaffa. Richard negotiates access to Jerusalem for Christian pilgrims.

Walter Map organizes the Arthurian legends in their present form.

Glass windows appear in English private homes.

The Jews are banished from France.

Massacre of the Jews at the coronation of Richard I the Lionheart.

Richard conquers Cyprus and sells it to the Templars.

Second era of Maya civilization begins in Central America.

Tea arrives in Japan from China

Century  AD 1200-1399    The Printed Time Line has each date and time span.

Pope Innocent III claims right of the pope to oversee moral conduct of heads of state and to choose rulers, including the emperor; the height of papal authority.

Fourth Crusade.

Innocent III launches the Fourth Crusade to defeat Egypt. After some setbacks, Crusaders defy the pope and sack Constantinople, center of the Orthodox Church. A three-day massacre by the Crusaders alienates the Eastern and Western Churches for centuries.

Church declares a crusade against Albigensians.

Francis of Assisi gives away his wealth and starts group of traveling preachers (Franciscans).

Mongol Genghis Khan rises to power; conquers China, Iran, and Iraq.

Children’s Crusade disaster.

Fourth Lateran Council condemns Waldensians and Albigensians; affirms doctrine of transubstantiation.

Dominican order forms, dedicated to spiritual reform.

Fifth Crusade to defeat Egypt fails; Francis of Assisi crosses enemy lines to preach to the sultan.

Islam begins to replace Indian religions.

Development of Jewish cabalistic philosophy in southern Europe.

Engagement rings come into fashion.

The first court jesters appear at European courts.

Roger Bacon, greatest scientist of his time, is born.

King John forced by barons to sign the Magna Carta at Runnymede, limiting royal power.

The first giraffes shown in Europe.

Mongols invade Russia.

Crusaders recover Jerusalem by negotiation.

The Inquisition in France forbids Bible reading by all laymen.

The Papal Inquisition (Rome) established.

The pope entrusts Dominicans with the Inquisition.

Muslims recapture Jerusalem by force.

Leprosy imported to Europe by the Crusaders.

Mongols defeat Germans in Silesia, invade Poland and Hungary, and withdraw from Europe after Ughetai, Mongol leader, dies.

The Inquisition begins to use instruments of torture.

Thomas Aquinas, the most influential medieval theologian, writes Summa Theologiae.

Chartres cathedral consecrated.

Thomas Aquinas publishes Summa Contra Gentiles.

Mongol leader Kublai Khan asks the pope to send 100 Christian teachers to baptize him and teach his people. The pope sends seven. In 1295 the Mongols begin to convert to Islam.

Byzantine Empire rebuilt.

Second Council of Lyon decrees unification of the eastern and western church, but unification is rejected in the East.

Kublai Khan governs China, becomes ruler of Mongols, establishes Yuan dynasty in China, invades Burma.

Dante Alighieri is born.

First toll roads used in England.

Marco Polo of Venice travels to China, in court of Kublai Khan, returns to Genoa and writes Travels.

Edward I expels all Jews from England.

Moses de Leon, Jewish theologian, produces the Zohar, fundamental work on Jewish Mysticism.

Invention of the glass mirror.

Invention of spectacles.

English King Edward I summons the Model Parliament.

Pope claims supremacy over secular rulers.

Franciscan active in Mongol empire.

Dante composes “Divina Commedia”.

The “Babylonian Captivity”.

For the next 70 years, the papacy resides in Avignon, France. The new pope favors French policies; convenes the Council of Vienne that abolishes the Order of Knights Templar and gives their wealth to King Philip IV of France.

Marsilius of Padua writes Defensor Pacis, stating that the church should be ruled by general councils; he is condemned as heretical.

The pope forbids the use of counterpoint in church music.

Thomas Aquinas is canonized.

Mali Empire reaches its height (Africa) under King Mansa Musa.

Jacque de Molay, Grand Master of the Templars, burned at the stake in Paris for alleged heresy.

Salic Law, excluding women from succession to throne, adopted in France.

John Wycliffe, future priest and diplomat, is born.

Bubonic plague originates in India.

The Bubonic plague, also known as the Black Death, the Plague kills 33% of the people in Europe (about 40 million). People blame the disease (which is transmitted by fleas living on rats) on Avignon papacy, the Jews, or personal immorality.

Beginning of the Renaissance in Italy.

Aztecs establish Tenochtitlan, their capital, on site of modern Mexico City.

Ivan I, Grand Duke of Russia, makes Moscow his capital.

Peak of Muslim culture in Spain.

Hundred Years’ War: English and French kings fight for control of France.

Geoffrey Chaucer is born.

Petrarch is crowned poet on the Capitol, Rome.

At least 25 million people die in Europe’s “Black Death” (bubonic plague).

Jan Hus, forerunner of the Reformation, is born.

John Wycliffe proposes that papal taxation and civil power should be limited.

Wycliffe believes Scripture should be available to the people in their own language; people inspired by Wycliffe (derisively called “Lollards,” meaning mumblers), translate the entire Bible into English (1382) from Latin, and call it the Wycliffe Bible.

Oxford becomes the spiritual center of England.

Julian of Norwich, English mystic, is born.

Ming Dynasty begins in China.

Restoration of the Great Wall.

Catherine of Sienna, mystic, sees a vision calling the new pope, Gregory XI, to return the papacy to Rome, which he does in.

Great Papal Schism: Two popes at one time.

The College of Cardinals elects an Italian pope, Urban VI, but later denies the validity of the decision and elects Clemenet VII instead. Urban remains in Rome; Clement goes to Avignon, France. The Schism continues.

Thomas a Kempis, German mystic, is born.

Wycliffe expelled from Oxford, his doctrines condemned.

John Wycliffe, “morning star of the Reformation,” dies.

Johann Gutenberg, inventor of printing in Europe, is born.

Robin Hood appears in English popular literature.

Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales appears.

Byzantines lose last possessions in Asia Minor to Turks.

Timur, the Mongol conqueror, begins last great conquest- Delhi

Century  AD 1400-1499   The Printed Time Line has each date and time span.

In England, it becomes illegal to translate or read the Bible in English without permission of a bishop.

Compilation of “Yung Lo Ta Tien”, Chinese encyclopedia in 22,937 volumes, only three copies made.

Pope John XXIII excommunicates Jan Hus.

Jan Hus writes De Ecclesia, which supports ideas popularized by Wycliffe.

Council of Constance. The Council condemns Wycliffe on 267 different heresies and demands that Jan Hus recant; he refuses and is burned at the stake as a heretic. Council affirms that general councils are superior to popes (counciliarism), a decision later overturned. Pope Martin V is elected; the Great Papal Schism ends.

Thomas A Kempis, a German monk, writes the Imitation of Christ, a devotional.

Henry V defeats French at Agincourt.

Portugal’s Prince Henry the Navigator sponsors exploration of Africa’s coast.

Torquemada, the future Spanish Grand Inquisitor, is born.

Holland becomes the center of European music.

Joan of Arc, a French peasant girl during the Hundred Years’ War, sees visions and hears voices telling her to save France. She leads a successful military expedition at Orleans. At about age 19, she is taken prisoner, tried for witchcraft, and is burned. The verdict is reversed.

The double-headed eagle becomes the emblem of the Holy Roman Empire.

Fra Angelico works at the San Marco Monastery in Florence.

Council of Florence.

The Council of Florence affirms the primacy of the pope over general councils. It declares reunion between the Roman and Orthodox churches, but is not accepted by the Orthodox.

Modern English develops from Middle English.

Incas rule in Peru.

Vatican Library founded.

Gutenberg prints the “Constance Mass Book”.

Ottoman Turks capture Constantinople.

The Turks make the Church of St. Sophia (Hagia Sophia) a mosque. Scholars flee to the West with Greek literary and scientific manuscripts, including manuscripts of the Bible. These manuscripts help to revive classical learning during the Renaissance.

Plans begin to build a new St. Peter’s Baslica in Rome.

Johann Gutenberg prints the Latin Vulgate.

Gutenberg’s Vulgate is the first book printed using moveable metal type. The invention of printing makes the Bible accessible to more people who previously could not afford handmade copies, which cost a year’s wage.

Beginning of the Renaissance; Florence becomes center of arts and learning.

The Wars of the Roses, civil wars between rival noble factions, begin in England.

Gutenberg dies.

Ivan the Great rules Russia until 1505 as first czar; ends.

First printed music.

Beginning of the Spanish Inquisition under the joint direction of state and church.

At the initiation of King Ferdinand V and Queen Isabella of Spain, and approved by the pope, the Inquisition is established to investigate and punish heretics. Its cruel methods (torture, death by burning), secret trials, and favoritism toward the Spanish monarchy continue despite protests from Rome. Franciscan and Dominican friars serving as judges often misuse their power. Thousands of Jews are deported. Later the Inquisition is used against Protestants.

Portuguese navigators discover West Africa.

William Caxton prints the first book in English.

Botticelli, Perugino and others paint frescoes in the Sistine Chapel in Rome.

Leonardo da Vinci invents parachute.

Russians begin to explore Siberia.

The last Muslim Moors removed from Spain by Ferdinand and Isabella.

Columbus discovers the America.

Peak of papal corruption: Rodrigo Borgia buys cardinals’ votes and becomes Pope Alexander VI.

Pope Alexander VI avoids war by dividing newly discovered lands in the Americas and Africa between Spain and Portugal. Vast colonizing of the New World by explorers for next 150 years. Settlers wishing to exploit the land and the people conflict with missionaries (Dominicans, Franciscans and Jesuits) who spread the Gospel and advocate for the Indians.

Dominican friar Savonarola preaches reform.

Savonarola encourages the people of Florence, Italy, to burn luxury items and return to a humbler Christian life. He sells church property and gives the proceeds to the poor. Eventually, he is caught in a political conflict with Alexander VI and is excommunicated; later he is executed for heresy.

The first orphanages open in Holland and Italy.

Moors are conquered in Spain by troops of Ferdinand and Isabella.

Jews are expelled from Portugal.

Vasco da Gama sails around Africa and discovers sea route to India

Century  AD 1500-1599    The Printed Time Line has each date and time span.

Papal bull orders burning of books against authority of the Church.

Council of Lateran V.

Lateran V pronounces “Immortality of the Soul” as dogma of the Church; forbids printing of books without permission of Roman Catholic authorities.

Erasmus, priest and Greek scholar, publishes a Greek translation of the New Testament, Later editions of his Greek text form the basis of the textus receptus and are used by Martin Luther, William Tyndale, and the King James Bible (Authorized Version) translators.

Martin Luther posts 95 theses in Wittenberg; the Protestant Reformation begins.

Luther challenged the Church to a discussion on the subject of penance, the pope’s authority, and the selling of indulgences.

Swiss Ulrich Zwingli spreads reform.

Copernicus publishes that the earth actually revolves around the sun.

Turks conquer Egypt, control Arabia.

Hernando Cortes conquers Mexica for Spain.

Luther excommunicated by Pope Leo X.

Luther translates the New Testament into German.

Polyglot Bible (in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic) published by the University of Alcala, Spain.

The Anabaptist movement begins in Zurich; spreads to Germany.

The Anabaptist movement, predecessor the Brethren and Mennonite churches, teaches believers’ baptism only, democratic decision making, and separation of church and state.

The Anabaptists settle down as “Moravian Brothers” in Moravia.

William Tyndale completes printing of the New Testament from Greek without permission; copies circulated throughout England.

The term Protestantism becomes associated with Lutheranism, Zwinglianism, and Calvinism.

Protestant characteristics: acceptance of the Bible as the only source of revealed truth, the doctrine of justification by faith alone, and the priesthood of all believers.

Troops of the Holy Roman Empire attack Rome; end of Italian Renaissance.

Augsburg Confession adopted by Lutherans.

Henry VIII recognized as Supreme Head of Church in England.

Breaking away from Roman Catholic control, the new “Church of England” (Anglican Church) sets forth a doctrinal statement: The 39 Articles.

Jesuit order, started by Ignatius Loyola, vows to evangelize the heathen.

Sir Thomas More executed as traitor for refusal to acknowledge king’s religious authority.

The Munster Rebellion
Anabaptists take over Munster and are slaughtered. Later, under the leadership of Menno Simons, the group adopts pacifism.

Coverdale Bible: first printing of entire Bible in English.

John Calvin establishes Reformed and Presbyterian form of Protestantism in Switzerland.

William Tyndale strangled and burnt at the stake.

John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion explains Protestant beliefs.

The Matthew’s Bible: first English Bible published with the King’s permissio.

John Knox leads reformation in Scotland.

Pope Paul III establishes Inquisition at Rome.

First Protestant burned at the stake by the Spanish Inquisition.

Council of Trent.

The Catholic Counter-Reformation condemns indulgence sellers, immorality of clergy, nepotism (appointing family members to church offices), and Protestantism.

Jesuit Francis Zavier begins missionary efforts in the Indies and Japan.

Ivan IV (“the Terrible”) crowned as czar of Russian.

Queen Mary Tudor restores Roman Catholicism to England, bans Protestant translations of the Bible, and persecutes Protestants.

Queen Elizabeth I becomes queen of England and Supreme Governor of the Church of England.

Elizabeth aims for a compromise between Catholics and Protestants, but she is excommunicated by the pope, and in turn persecutes Catholics.

Akbar the Great becomes Mogul emperor of India.

Renaissance reaches height in England.

John Knox’s Reformed church begins in Scotland.

Beginning of Puritanism in England.

Puritans sought to purify the Protestant faith through emphasis on Scripture reading, less church ceremony, and diligence.

The Geneva Bible- first Bible printed with verse divisions.

First Calvinist refugees from Flanders settle in England.

Heidelberg Catechism formed- the most widely held Protestant doctrinal statement for centuries.

First War of Religion begins when 1,200 French Huguenots are slain; ends with Peace of Amboise.

Bishops Bible- Church of England translation.

Protestant Netherlands revolts against Catholic Spain; independence not acknowledged by Spain until.

Massacre on St. Bartholomew’s Day in Paris: 2,000 Huguenots murdered.

Formula of Concord defines Lutheran beliefs.

Pope Gregory XIII attempts to reconcile Roman Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches.

Jesuit mission founded in China.

Catholic scholar Gregory martin translates the Rheims-Douay Bible from the Vulgate (Latin) while in exile in France.

Mary Queen of Scots executed for Treason by order of Queen Elizabeth I.

Defeat of the Spanish Armada by the English.

Henry IV converts to Roman Catholicism in attempt to end religious wars.

Council of Brest-Litovsk.

Most Orthodox in Kiev, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Polish Galatia (Uniat Churches) join communion with Roman Catholic Church.

Edict of Nantes grants freedom of worship to Huguenots after 30 years of persecution.

Pompeii discovered.

Century  AD 1600-1799    The Printed Time Line has each date and time span.

Persecution of Catholics in Sweden under Charles IX.

Jesuit missionary and scholar, Matteo Ricci, starts evangelizing China.

Emperor Rudolf II continues persecution of Protestants; suppresses meetings of Moravian Brethren.

Dutch Reformed theologian Jacobus Arminius becomes professor at Leiden.

Arminius’s studies of Romans lead him to doubt Calvin’s doctrine of predestination, resulting in doctrines emphasizing man’s ability to choose Christ and Christ’s death for all people (Arminianism).

Gunpowder Plot fails.

Catholic fanatics attempted to kill England’s King James I and blow up houses of Pariament in order to seize the government.

First Baptist church is founded in Amsterdam by John Smyth, who baptizes himself (by pouring).

Emporer Rudolph II permits freedom of religion in Bohemia.

Revolts in Transylvania against Rudolf II.

Jamestown, Virginia, established- first permanent English colony on American mainland.

Tea from China is shipped for the first time to Europe by Dutch East India Company.

King James Version Bible published.

King James I of England commissions 54 scholars to undertake a new Bible translation, which takes six years to complete. The scholars use the Bishops Bible and Tyndale’s Bible as well as available Greek and Hebrew manuscripts.

Pilgrims land at Plymouth Rock on Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

Last recorded burning of heretics in England.

John Calvin’s collected works published in Geneva.

Galileo is prohibited y Church from scientific studies.

Dutch Reformed Synod of Dort.

The Synod denounces Arminianism and responds to Arminius’s five criticisms of Calvinism with five points of Calvinism. They are (using the mnemonic TULIP): the total depravity of mankind (mankind’s inability to choose Christ), unconditional election, limited atonement, the irresistibility of grace, and the perseverance of the saints (an elect person cannot “lose” his salvation).

Start of the Thirty Years’ War- Protestants revolt against Catholic oppression.

Michael Romanov, son of the Patriarch of Moscow, is elected Tsar of Russia, thus founding the House of Romanov.

A Dutch shop brings the first African slaves to British North America.

Separatists reject the Church of England and sail to America on the Mayflower. Later Puritans, who wish to cleanse the church, arrive and start colonies.

Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople, Cyril Loukaris (Lucar), befriends Protestants and presents the earliest known copy of the Bible in Greek (Codex Alexandrinus, fifth century AD) to Charles I of England.

New Netherlands is founded by Dutch West India Company.

Catholicism wiped out in Japan, thousands of martyrs.

The Sisters of Charity founded by Vincent de Paul.

First Baptist church formed in London.

Inquisition forces Galileo to recant his belief in Copernican theory.

Welsh Puritan Roger Williams banished from Massachusetts; establishes Providence, RI; proclaims complete religious freedom.

Massachusetts Bay Colony founded.

Eruption of Vesuvius.

First printing press appears in North America, in Cambridge.

Civil war in England.

Puritan member of Parliament, Oliver Cromwell, defeats the king’s troops. Later as Lord Protector, he seeks tolerance for many Protestant groups.

Westminster Confession accepted as statement of Presbyterianism in Scotland and England.

Calvinists are acknowledged by Lutherans as coreligionists.

Beginnings of the Quaker movement (the Society of Friends).

End of the Thirty Years’ War: Catholics and Protestants given equal rights in most of Holy Roman Empire.

Taj Mahal completed.

End of Ming Dynasty in China- Manchu Dynasty comes to power.

Waldensians break from Roman Catholicism and embrace Protestantism.

Cromwell dies; his son Richard resigns the following year, the Puritan government collapses.

Dutch peasants (Boers) settle in South Africa.

British take New Amsterdam from the Dutch and rename it New York.

Great Plague in London kills 69,000.

Great Fire of London.

First Bible translation into Arabic printed in Rome.

John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress published.

Edict of Nantes revoked; Huguenots flee France.

English Parliament issues Toleration Act (tolerating all Protestant groups, but not Roman Catholics).

War of European powers against the Turks; high point of Turkish advance in Europe.

James II of England calls for freedom of conscience; Protestants fear restoration of Catholicism and demand “Glorious Revolution”.

Peter the Great becomes Tzar of Russia; attempts to westernize nation and build Russia as a military power.

Chinese emperor officially allows Christianity; Ricci’s initial 2,000 converts multiply to 300,000.

Pope Clement XI condemns “Chinese Rites,” the mixture of Confucianism and ancestor worship with Christianity in China.

Death of Philipp Jakob Spener, the “father of Pietism”.

Pietism emphasizes feelings, a personal religious experience, and living a life of intense devotion.

First Presbyterian church of America.

King Charles II of Spain dies; end of the Spanish Hapsburgs; Philip V, grandson of Louis XIV, is heir to the throne.

War of Spanish Succession begins- the last of Louis XIV’s wars for domination of the continent.

Peter the Great lays the doundation of St. Petersburg.

United Kingdom of Great Britain formed: England, Wales, and Scotland.

Christian religious reaching prohibited in China.

Jesuits expelled from Russia.

Peter the Great appoints the Holy Synod to head the Russian Orthodox church, putting the church under the state’s control.

German Count Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf welcomes fleeing Hussites from Moravia.

The pietistic colony that forms, “Herrnhut” (Moravian Brethren), sends out missionaries to Africa, India, and the Americas.

Greek Catholic (Melkite) church established in what is now Lebanon.

Primarily located in Ethiopia and part of Egypt, the Melkite church accepted the Council of Chalcedon rejecting monophysitism.

Quakers demand abolition of slavery.

Jonathan Edwards, American theologian, preaches in Northampton.

Tibet becomes Chinese protectorate.

John Wesley, founder of Methodism, writes his “Journals”.

Conversion of John and Charles Wesley.

The Wesleys’ emphasis on living a holy life by doing specific spiritual disciplines each week is derided as “Methodist.” Eventually the descriptive is accepted with pride, and Methodism spreads rapidly in the Church of England.

George Whitefield, Anglican preacher, gives open-air evangelistic messages.

Koran translated into English
The Great Awakening in New England, led by Whitefield.

Fredrick II “the Great” introduces freedom of press and freedom of worship in Prussia.

Great Britain adopts Gregorian calendar.

Baal Shem founds Jewish sect of Hassidim in Carpathian mountain region.

Publication of the Encyclopedie in France, the “bible” of the Enlightenment.

Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary first published.

Seven Years’ War (French and Indian Wars in America), in which Britain and Prussia defeat France, Spain, Austria, and Russia; France loses North American colonies; Spain cedes Florida to Britain in exchange for Cuba.

Beginning of British Empire in India.

John Newton, former slave trader converts, writes “Amazing Grace”.

Tzarina Catherine the Great grants freedom of worship in Russia.

Serra founds the first of nine missions in California.

Catherine II (“the Great”) becomes tzarina of Russia.

Mozart writes his first symphony at age eight.

Britain imposes the Stamp Act on the American colonists.

John Wesley sends Francis Asbury to preach in America.

First independent Black Baptist church established in America.

Pope clement XIV dissolves Jesuit order

The Boston Massacre.

Sir William Arkwright patents spinning machine- early step in Industrial Revolution.

Encyclopedia Britannica, first edition.

The Boston Tea Party.

First Continental Congress drafts “Declaration of Rights and Grievances”.

American Revolution.

Declaration of Independence.

Act of Congress prohibits import of slaves into the U.S.

“Sunday school” developed in England by Robert Raikes out of concern for urban poor.

John Wesley’s Deed of Declaration, the basic work of Methodism.

Russian Orthodox send missionaries to Alaska.

Korean Christianity expands, then is exterminated.

Mennonites from Central Europe settle in Canada.

French Revolution.

Crimea annexed by Russia.

Constitution of the United States of America signed.

French Parlement presents grievances to Louis XVI who agrees to convening of Estates-General.

French Revolution begins with the storming of the Bastille.

In U.S., Washington elected president with all 69 votes of the Electoral College.

Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette executed; Reign of Terror begins in France.

The French Revolution results in a new government and a new religion hostile to Christianity, “The Cult of Reason.” Thousands of Catholic and some Protestant clergy are executed.

Napoleon Bonapart, French general, defeats Austrians.

Rosetta Stone discovered in Egypt, making possible the deciphering of hieroglyphics.

First Roman Catholic bishop consecrated in America.

Second Great Awakening: revival sweeps New England for 30 years.

William and Dorothy Carey of England (parents of modern Protestant missions) sail for India.

Many American churches begin to divide over slave holding

Century  AD 1800-1999   The Printed Time Line has each date and time span.

British and Foreign Bible Society founded in London.

William Wilberforce leads Parliament to abolish slave trade in the British Empire.

United States Evangelical Association holds first convention.

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland established with one monarch and one parliament; Catholics excluded from voting.

Austria makes temporary peace with France, marking end of Holy Roman Empire.

Napoleon transforms the Consulate of France into an empire, proclaims himself emperor of France, systematizes French law under Code Napoleon.

Lord Nelson defeats the French-Spanish fleets in the Battle of Trafalgar.

England prohibits slave trade.

In the US, Congress bars importation of slaves.

Restoration Movement gives rise to the Disciples of Christ and some Church of Christ groups.

The African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) founded by Richard Allen, a free Black.

American Bible Society founded.

Napoleon’s Grand Army invades Russia in June; forced to retreat in winter, most of Napoleon’s 600,000 men are lost.

French defeated by allies in War of Liberation, Napoleon exiled.

Napoleon returns; defeated by Wellington at Waterloo.

Congress of Vienna; victorious allies change the map of Europe.

African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church forms.

Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith (reestablished by Pope Pius VII) spurs Roman Catholic missionary efforts in Ethiopia, Mongolia, North Africa, and Hawaii.

Catholic Emancipation in England allows Roman Catholics to sit in Parliament and to hold almost any public office.

Greeks proclaim a republic and independence from Turkey; Turks invade Greece.

Mexico becomes a republic.

Decembrist revolt in Russia crushed.

Russia declares war on Turkey; Turks recognize Greek independence.

Friedrich Schleiermacher, the “Father of Liberal Protestant Theology,” teaches that God is within human reality, not above it.

Joseph Smith, Jr., founds the Church of the Latter-day Saints (Mormonsim), which denies the Trinity.

The Oxford Movement calls the Church of England to return to “high church” practices and doctrines.

George Muller opens faith orphanage in England.

Slavery abolished in British Empire.

Samuel Morse exhibits his electric telegraph.

First Opium War between Britain and China; Treaty of Nanking confirms cession of Hong Kong to Great Britain.

David Livingstone, missionary, goes to Africa.

Soren Kierkegaard’s Philosophical Fragments.

The YMCA and YWCA formed.

The Young Men’s/Women’s Christian Association formed in London during the Industrial Revolution to introduce Christianity to new large populations in urban areas.

Adventist Movement begins with William Miller.

Mormons found Salt Lake City.

U.S. declares war on Mexico.

Brigham Young leads Mormons to Great Salt Lake.

Failure of potato crop causes famine in Ireland.

Revolts in Paris, Vienna, Venice, Berlin, Milan, Rome, and Warsaw.

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels’s Communist Manifesto.

California gold rush begins.

Baptist preacher Charles H. Spurgeon draws such great crowds that a church is built for him in England.

Immaculate Conception dogma pronounced by Pope Pius IX.

It states that Mary, Jesus’ mother, was free from original sin, a belief debated since the Middle Ages.

Beginning of “revivalism”: revival meetings held in urban areas.

Dwight L. Moody converts and works with the YMCA. He develops a simple message of repentance, salvation, and the work of the Holy Spirit.

Charles Darwin writes Origin of the Species.

South African Republic established.

Crimean War.

Crimean War begins as Turkey declares war on Russia; Florence Nightingale nurses wounded there.

U.S, Supreme Court, in Dred Scott decision, rules that a slave is not a citizen; later Abraham Lincoln states, “This Government cannot endure permanently half salve and half free”.

Seventh-Day Adventist Church founded.

“In God We Trust” first appears on US coins.

Catholics in Korea persecuted by revolutionaries.

Hudson Taylor begins China Inland Mission.

Former slaves join with other African-Americans to start denominations in America, including the Black Baptist and the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church.

U.S. Civil War; amendment to the U.S. Constitution abolishes slavery.

Swiss humanist Jean Henri Dunant proposes the foundation of an international voluntary relief organization: the Red Cross.

First International Workingmen’s Association founded by Karl Marx in London and New York.

Lincoln fatally shot at Ford’s Theater.

Ku Klux Klan founded by Confederate veterans in Tennessee.

Alfred Nobel invents dynamite.

Revolution in Spain; Queen Isabella deposed, flees to France.

First U.S. transcontinental rail route completed.

First Vatican Council (Roman Catholic) on faith; church declares papal infallibility dogma.

Christian Science and Jehovah’s Witnesses (Watchtower) founded; both deny Christ’s deity.

The Salvation Army founded to minister to the poor.

Franco-Prussian War; Italians enter Rome and name it their capital city.

Korea becomes an independent nation.

Russo-Turkish war (ends with power of Turkey in Europe broken; extensive re-division of southeast Europe.

Thomas Edison invents electric light.

B.B. Warfield, Reformed theologian, becomes principal at Princeton seminary.

Five “fundamentals” of the faith, set forth by the Evangelical Alliance to define the line between fundamentalism and modernism (radical liberalism): inerrancy of Scripture, deity of Jesus, Virgin birth, Jesus’ death providing substitutionary atonement, Jesus’ physical resurrection, and his imminent return.

Turks massacre 300,000 Armenian Christians.

Berlin West Africa Conference held in Berlin; 14 European nations discuss expansion in Africa.

Statue of Liberty dedicated.

“Jack the Ripper” murders in London.

Eiffel Tower built for the Paris exposition.

New Zealand becomes first country in the world to grant women the vote.

Alfred Nobel’s will establishes prizes for peace, science, and literature.

Chinese Boxer Rebellion against foreign influence.

Spanish-American War begins.

Amy Carmichael, Irish missionary to India, starts work with children at Donavur.

Welsh Revival.

Azusa Street revivals (Los Angeles).

Led by William Seymour, the revivals emphasize living a holy life as demonstrated by Spirit baptism and evidenced by speaking in tongues. Beginning of Pentecostalism.

Scofield Bible published.

Wright brothers fly first powered, controlled, heavier-than-air-plane.

Russo-Japanese War- competition for Korea and Manchuria.

The Russian Revolution of 1905 begins on “Bloody Sunday”.

Second Hague Peace Conference adopts 10 conventions on rules of war.

Immigration to the US restricted by law.

Communism spreads anti-religious ideology through Europe, Asia, and Latin America; Christianity eradicated from education and worship.

Karl Barth’s Commentary on Romans.

Birth of Neo-orthodoxy, which challenges liberalism with an emphasis on the Bible and on God’s transcendence.

Chinese Republic proclaimed after revolution overthrows Manchu Dynasty.

Mexican Revolution.

Titanic sinks on maiden voyage; over 1,500 drown.

Balkan Wars.

World War I.

Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdinand and wife Sophie are assassinated; Austria declares war on Serbia, Germany on Russia and France, Britain on Germany.

Genocide of estimated 1,000,000 Armenians by Turkish soldiers.

U.S. declares war on Germany.

Russian Revolution.

In the climax of long unrest under czars, Bolsheviks seize power in armed coup d ‘etat led by Lenin and Trotsky.

Balfour Declaration promises Jewish homeland in Palestine.

Russian revolutionaries execute the former czar and his family; Russian Civil War.

Worldwide influenza epidemic strikes; by 1920, nearly 20 million are dead.

Versailles Treaty.

The treaty incorporating Woodrow Wilson’s draft “Covenant of League of Nations” was signed by Allies and Germany, but rejected by U.S. Senate.

Mahatma Gandhi, leader of Indian Passive Resistance Movement, initiates “truth force” campaigns, beginning nonviolent resistance movement against British rule in India.

Scopes “Monkey” Trial (State of Tennessee v. John Scopes) on the teaching of evolution.

Ecumenical Missionary Conference held in Jerusalem.

League of Nations holds first meeting in Paris.

Treaty of Sevres dissolves Ottoman Empire.

Mussolini marches on Rome; forms Fascist government.

Hitler publishes Volume I of Mein Kampf.

Charles A. Lindbergh flies first successful solo nonstop flight from New York to Paris.

Lateran Treaty establishes independent Vatican City.

In U.S., stock market prices collapse; first phase of Depression and world economic crisis.

Wycliffe Bible Translators founded.

Famine in USSR.

Hitler appointed German Chancellor, gets dictatorial powers; Nazi terror begins.

Nazis repudiate Versailles Treaty; Mussolini invades Ethiopia.

War between China and Japan begins; continues through World War II.

World War II.

After marching into Austria, Germany invades Poland, Norway, Denmark, The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France; in 1941, Germany attacks the Balkans and Russia.

Nazi leaders attend Wannsee Conference to coordinate the systematic genocide of Jews known as the Holocaust.

Rudolf Bultmann leads movement to “demythologize” the Bible.

Rise of Nazism, leading to World War II and the death of 6 million Jews and millions of Christians.

Modern Martyrs: Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Lutheran pastor and a leader of the underground church in Germany, is hanged for plotting to kill Adolph Hitler.

Franciscan priest Maxmilian Kolbe, prisoner in Auschwitz, volunteers to die and is executed in place of a fellow prisoner.

Discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the oldest known copies of portions of the Bible (c. 100 BC).

Modern political State of Israel.

Billy Graham’s Los Angeles Crusade launches his ministry.

Japanese surprise attack on U.S. fleete at Pearl Harbor.

U.S. and Britain declare war on Japan.

More than 120,000 Japanese living in western U.S. moved to “relocation centers”.

The first electronic brain or automatic computer is developed in the U.S.

Allies invade Normandy on D-Day; Battle of the Bulge.

Germany surrenders; U.S. drops atomic bombs on Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; Japan surrenders.

United Nations established; League of Nations dissolved.

Gandhi assassinated.

Start of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)-treaty signed by 12 nations.

World Council of churches formed by representatives from all major Christian denominations except Roman Catholic.

Pope Pius XII proclaims dogma of bodily assumption of the Virgin Mary.

The Revised Standard Version of the Bible published.

Scientology and Unification Church founded; neither accepts the Trinity nor the deity of Jesus Christ.

Korean War.

U.S. Supreme Court unanimously bans racial segregation in public schools.

Western European Union (WEU) comes into being; Warsaw Pact, east European mutual defense agreement, signed.

Rosa Parks refuses to sit at the back of the bus; Martin Luther King, Jr., leads black boycott of Montgomery, Ala, bus system.

Egypt takes control of Suez Canal; Israel launches attack on Egypt’s Sinai peninsula and drives toward Suez Canal.

Space Age begins: Russians launch Sputnik I, first Earth-orbiting satellite.

Vietnam War.

Second Vatican Council (Roman Catholic).

The Council accepts Protestants as “separated brethren,” encourages translating and reading the Bible, revokes the excommunication of the Great Schism (1054), upholds papal infallibility and encourages services (the Mass) to be held in each common language rather than in Latin.

U.S. Supreme Court rules no locality may require recitation of Lord’s Prayer or Bible verses in public schools.

Baptist minister Martin Luther King, Jr. receives Nobel Peace Prize for civil rights efforts.

Communist China and Soviet Union split in conflict over Communist ideology.

Bay of Pigs.

Cuba invaded by an estimated 1,000 anti-Castro exiles aided by U.S.; invasion crushed.

Berlin Wall erected between East and West Berlin to halt flood of refugees.

Cuban missile crisis.

USSR to build missile bases in Cuba; U.S. President John F. Kennedy orders Cuban blockade, lifts blockade after Russians back down.

Second Vatican Council.

U.S. President John F. Kennedy assassinated.

Martin Luther King, Jr., civil rights leader, arrested during demonstration against voter-registration rules.

Malcolm X, black-nationalist leader, assassinated.

six-day riot in Watts section of Los Angeles.

Arab-Israeli Six-Day War.

Martin Luther King, Jr. slain in Memphis.

Apollo II Astronauts take man’s first walk on moon.

Internet (ARPA) goes online.

Many major national and international crusades held: Latin America (Luis Palau), worldwide Here’s Life crusade (Campus Crusade), Korea (Billy Graham), Jesus Movement in the U.S.A; charismatic movement.

The Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church end a 400-year-old dispute by agreeing on a definition of the “essential meaning of the Eucharist”.

U.S. Supreme Court rules death penalty unconstitutional.

U.S. Supreme Court rules on Roe v. Wade, landmark case overturning state laws outlawing abortion.

Karol Cardinal Wojtyla of Poland becomes Pope John Paul II.

U.S. troops invade Cambodia.

Watergate scandal.

Five men apprehended by police in attempt to bug Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, DC’s Watergate complex.

Pol Pot and Khmer Rouge take over Cambodia.

“Framework for Peace” in Middle East signed by Egypt’s president Anwar Sadat and Israeli premier Menachem Begin.

“Test-tube baby” born in England.

Soviet invasion of Afghanistan stirs world protests.

A federal court in Little Rock, Arkansas, declares it unconstitutional to teach “creationism” equally with the theory of evolution.

The World Council of Churches holds historic interdenominational Eucharist.

The US and Vatican establish full diplomatic relations after a hiatus of 116 years. The largest demonstrations in French history, with nearly a million marchers, force the government to abandon its challenge to the independence of church schools.

China releases the former Roman Catholic bishop after 30 years’ imprisonment.

The Coptic Pope Shenouda released from banishment in Wadi Monastery and preaches reconciliation with Egypt’s Islamic majority.

Beijing’s Roman Catholic Cathedral is reopened.

John Paul II becomes the first Pope in recorded history to visit a synagogue; also leads 100 world religious leaders (Christian, Buddhist, Hinsu, Jewish, Muslim, Shinto, Sikh) in prayers for peace at St. Francis’ Basilica.

Israeli archeologists discover a 2,600-year-old biblical text.

Preacher Oral Roberts successfully raises $4.5 million after declaring that God would “call him home” if he failed to do so.

Jim Bakker, head of the “Praise the Lord” television network, resigns after accusations of adultery.

Jim Bakker is convicted of a $3.7 million fraud and is jailed for 45 years.

The Rev. Pat Robertson announces his Republican candidacy for the President.

Celebrations in Moscow mark 1,000 years of Christianity in Russia.

The Roman Catholic Cathedral in Lithuania’s capital reopened after 38 years’ closure.

The North Korean government allows a Roman Catholic mass to be celebrated by two South Korean priests.

Indian Hindu fundamentalists attempt to demolish an important Islamic mosque sited on the alleged birthplace of the Hindu god Rama.

AIDS first identified.

Major nuclear accident at Soviet Union’s Chernobyl power station.

Gorbachev campaigns for openness and reconstruction (beginning of the end of Communist Russia).

Thousands demonstrating for democracy killed in Tiananmen Square, Beijing.

After 28 years, Berlin Wall demolished.

The first Anglican female priests in the UK are ordained.

Chinese government launches ‘Strike Hard’ anti-crime campaign aimed at controlling crime and registering house churches.

Death of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Catholic nun who spent 50 years caring for the poor and dying.

Pope John Paul II apologizes for Roman Catholic Church’s lack of moral leadership during Holocaust.

World Wide Web.

South Africa frees Nelson Mandela, imprisoned 27 1/2 years.

Western Alliance ends cold war and proposes joint action with Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

Persian Gulf War.

South African Parliament repeals apartheid laws.

Rwandan genocide of “Tutsis by Hutus begins.

Europeans agree on single currency, the euro.

Century  AD 2000- Present  The Printed Time Line has each date and time span.

New government laws ease the situation for Christians in Vietnam- one of the last Communist-ruled countries in the world.

The Evangelical Church of Vietnam is allowed to build and renovate church buildings and conduct training.

The Roman Catholic Church is allowed to open a new diocese and ordain 57 new priests.

More than 1,500Christians killed and 173 churches destroyed in Nigeria.

Stalinist regime of North Korea kills hundreds of Christians.

More than 70 Christians have been arrested in Saudi Arabia during worship in their private homes; this is Saudi Arabia’s largest crackdown on Christians in a decade.

Many Christians in Somalia flee the country after believers killed by Muslims.

Massive crackdown on the house churches took place throughout China; pressure to have them registered with the government in order to exercise greater control.

Increased violence against Christians and attacks on the churches in India.

North Korea is the worst violator of the religious right for Christians.

Stock plunge; beginning of the end of the Internet stock boom.

Microsoft loses antitrust suit.

Presidents of North and South Korea sign peace accord.

Human genome deciphered.

Global warming talks collapse at Hague conference.

Earthquake kills thousands in India.

British livestock epidemic.

In U.S., terrorists attack World Trade Center and Pentagon.

U.S. and British forces launch bombing campaign against Taliban government and al-Qaeda terrorist camps in Afghanistan.

Enron, one of world’s largest energy companies, files for bankruptcy.

The euro currency debuts in 12 European countries.

Space shuttle Columbia explodes, killing all seven astronauts.

U.S. and Britain launch war against Iraq.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization formally admits seven new countries: Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia.

Enormous tsunami devastates Asia; at least 225,000 killed.

Hurricane Katrina causes massive damage in U.S. Gulf states.

European spacecraft lands on Saturn moon.

Death of beloved Pope John Paul II.

Rosa Parks dies.

End to 20 years of civil war in Sudan; 2 million dead; Darfur violence continues

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Comparison of Bible Time Lines in Book Form
	Rose Book of Bible and Christian History Time Lines	Wall Chart of World History	Timechart of Biblical History	Bible Time Line
Time span covered	Adam – 2006	Adam – 1997	Adam – AD 100	Early man prior to Adam 11,000 BC– AD 125
Includes Bible History and World History?	YES
Includes Christian History?	YES	YES	NO	NO
Number of key people and events in the Christian history section?	300	30	NONE	NONE
Illustrated?	YES
Photos?	YES	NO	NO	YES
Map?	YES	NO	NO	YES
Can time line be removed from book without damage?	YES, Slips in and out for use as book or on wall	NO	NO	NO
Paper quality	Heavy chart paper
Type size	11 point	4-8 point (very small)		9 point
Length of time line section	20 feet	15 feet	10 feet	15.5 feet
Fits in a bookcase?	YES 11.5 x 9.25 in 28 x 23 cm	No, too tall 17.5 x 12.25 in 44 x 31 cm	No, too tall 17.5 x 12.25 in 44 x 31 cm	No, too tall 17.5 x 12.25 in 44 x 31 cm
Price On-line	$29.99	$19.99	$29.99	$34.98
Publisher, copyright date	Rose Publishing 2006 Rose Book (click here)	Barnes &Noble, 1997	Third Millennium Press, 2002	Thomas Nelson, 1992