INTRODUCTION............................................................................ 9
THE PREHISTORIC WORLD: 7,000,000-10,000bc
Human Origins 7,000,000-2,000,000bc................................................................................ 11
Peopling the Earth 2,000,000-40,000bc............................................................................... 13
Human Development 40,000-8000bc................................................................................... 16
THE ANCIENT WORLD: 10,000-500bc
From Hunting to Farming 8000-3000bc.............................................................................. 19
Early Farming Communities 8000-2000bc........................................................................... 22
The Dawn of Civilization 4500-2000bc................................................................................. 24
Early Cultures of the Middle East 9000-4300bc................................................................... 27
Sumer 4300-2334bc............................................................................................................... 30
The First Empires of Mesopotamia 2334-1595bc................................................................ 32
Kingdoms and Empires of Mesopotamia 1595-1000bc....................................................... 35
The Assyrian and Babylonian Empires 1000-539bc............................................................. 37
The Hebrews 1200-539bc...................................................................................................... 41
The Achaemenid Empire 559-480bc.................................................................................... 43
Early Egyptian Civilization 6000-2040bc.............................................................................. 46
Middle Kingdom Egypt 2040-1532bc................................................................................... 50
New Kingdom and Late Period Egypt 1532-332bc.............................................................. 52
The Indus Valley Civilization 3300-1700bc.......................................................................... 55
Vedic Period India 1700-500bc............................................................................................. 57
The First Civilizations in East Asia 6000-221bc.................................................................... 60
Peoples of Central Asia 6000-400bc..................................................................................... 62
Neolithic and Bronze Age Europe 6500-500bc................................................................... 66
The Rise of Aegean Civilization 3000-1100bc...................................................................... 68
The Rise of Greece 1100-480bc............................................................................................ 71
Phoenicians and Carthaginians 900-480bc.......................................................................... 73
Peoples of the Americas 4000-200bc.................................................................................... 76
Peoples of Africa 7000-500bc................................................................................................ 79
THE CLASSICAL WORLD: 500bc-ad500
Classical Greece 500-435bc................................................................................................... 83
Greece and Macedon 435-336bc.......................................................................................... 86
Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic World 336-30bc.................................................. 89
Parthian and Sasanian Persia 238bc-AD636........................................................................ 92
The Etruscans and the Rise of Rome 800-290bc................................................................. 95
The Later Roman Republic 290-27bc.................................................................................. 98
The Roman Empire 27bc-ad300......................................................................................... 101
The Fall of the Western Roman Empire ad300-476.......................................................... 104
The Celts 500bc-ad500........................................................................................................ 107
Germans and Steppe Peoples 400bc-ad500....................................................................... 110
The Early Byzantine Empire ad480-629............................................................................. 113
Mauryan India 500bc-ad50.................................................................................................. 116
Kushan and Gupta India ad50-550..................................................................................... 118
The Han Empire 221bc-ad220............................................................................................ 121
China and Japan ad220-589................................................................................................ 124
South-east Asia and the Pacific 300bc-ad500..................................................................... 127
The Maya 200bc-ad900........................................................................................................ 131
Mexico and South America 200bc-ad700........................................................................... 133
Africa 500bc-ad500.............................................................................................................. 136
Advances in Technology 500bc-ad600................................................................................ 138
Religions of the East 600bc-ad500...................................................................................... 141
Religions of the West 500bc-ad500..................................................................................... 144
THE MEDIEVAL WORLD: 500-1500
The Carolingian Empire 600-814...................................................................................... 147
Europe in the Age of the Vikings 793-1100....................................................................... 150
The Holy Roman Empire 962-1806................................................................................... 153
Christendom 500-1300....................................................................................................... 156
Feudal Europe 1000-1300................................................................................................... 159
War and Plague in Medieval Europe 1000-1400............................................................... 161
The Rise of Europe's Towns and Cities 1000-1500........................................................... 165
The Birth and Spread of Islam 622-750............................................................................. 167
The Abbasid Empire 750-1037........................................................................................... 170
The Byzantine Empire 629-1453........................................................................................ 173
Turkish Empires 1037-1453................................................................................................ 175
The Crusades 1095-1291..................................................................................................... 179
Renaissance Europe 1400-1500.......................................................................................... 182
Africa 500-1500.................................................................................................................... 185
India 550-1500..................................................................................................................... 188
Sui and Tang China 589-907.............................................................................................. 192
Song China 907-1279.......................................................................................................... 194
The Mongol Empire 1204-1405......................................................................................... 197
Japan and Korea 600-1500.................................................................................................. 201
South-east Asia 500-1500.................................................................................................... 203
North America and the Pacific 500-1500........................................................................... 206
Toltecs and Aztecs 800-1520............................................................................................... 208
South America and the Incas 1000-1533........................................................................... 210
World Religions 500-1500................................................................................................... 215
THE EARLY MODERN WORLD: 1500-1783
Dawn of a New Era 1494-1559............................................................................................ 218
The Age of European Exploration 1415-1600.................................................................. 221
The Reformation in Europe 1517-1618............................................................................. 224
Europe in the Time of the Thirty Years' War 1618-1648 ................................................. 227
Swedish Expansion in the Baltic 1521-1721...................................................................... 230
The Expansion of Russia 1492-1783.................................................................................. 232
Europe in the Age of Absolute Monarchs 1648-1715....................................................... 235
18th-Century Europe 1715-1783........................................................................................ 238
The Rise of European Capitalism 1492-1775.................................................................... 240
The European Enlightenment 1650-1800......................................................................... 243
The Rise of the Ottoman Empire 1492-1640.................................................................... 245
The Decline of the Ottoman Empire 1640-1783.............................................................. 248
Safavid Persia and the Rise of Mughal India 1500-1779................................................... 250
Mughal India 1605-1765..................................................................................................... 254
Ming China 1368-1644........................................................................................................ 257
The Rise of Manchu Qing China 1644-1783..................................................................... 259
Japan 1500-1800.................................................................................................................. 262
South-east Asia 1500-1800.................................................................................................. 265
African Kingdoms 1500-1800............................................................................................. 268
Spanish Colonization of the Americas 1550-1783............................................................. 271
European Exploration of North America 1500-1700....................................................... 274
Colonial North America 1650-1775................................................................................... 276
The American Revolution 1763-1783................................................................................ 279
THE 19th-CENTURY WORLD: 1783-1914
The French Revolution 1789-1799..................................................................................... 282
Napoleonic Europe 1800-1815........................................................................................... 285
The Industrial Revolution 1770-1914................................................................................ 288
Consequences of the Industrial Revolution 1800-1914.................................................... 291
The Growth of Nationalism in Europe 1815-1849............................................................ 294
German and Italian Unification 1815-1871....................................................................... 297
The Russian Empire 1783-1917.......................................................................................... 300
The European Alliance System 1871-1914........................................................................ 302
The Demise of the Ottoman Empire 1783-1923............................................................... 305
The Westward Expansion of the United States 1783-1910............................................... 308
The American Civil War 1861-1865................................................................................... 310
The Industrial Expansion of the United States 1800-1914............................................... 314
The Development of Canada 1763-1914........................................................................... 316
Independence in Latin America 1783-1830...................................................................... 319
Latin America Post-independence 1830-1910................................................................... 321
The British in India 1765-1905.......................................................................................... 325
The Decline of Manchu Qing China 1783-1911............................................................... 328
The Modernization of Japan 1800-1914............................................................................ 331
Colonialism in South-east Asia 1790-1914......................................................................... 334
Colonialism in Australia and New Zealand 1788-1914..................................................... 337
Africa 1800-1880.................................................................................................................. 340
The Scramble for Africa 1880-1914................................................................................... 343
Science and Technology 1783-1900................................................................................... 345
Medicine 1783-1900............................................................................................................ 348
THE MODERN WORLD
World War I 1914-1918....................................................................................................... 352
The Russian Revolution and the Soviet Union 1917-1939............................................... 355
Europe Between the Wars 1918-1939................................................................................ 358
The USA and Canada 1914-1945....................................................................................... 362
World War II in Europe 1939-1945.................................................................................... 364
The Holocaust 1942-1945................................................................................................... 367
Japan 1914-1941.................................................................................................................. 370
World War II in the Pacific 1941-1945............................................................................... 373
The Republic of China 1911-1949..................................................................................... 376
Independence in India 1905-1949..................................................................................... 379
The Cold War 1945-1989.................................................................................................... 383
The USA and Canada 1945-1999....................................................................................... 386
The Soviet Union and Post-Soviet Russia 1945-1999........................................................ 389
Europe 1945-1999............................................................................................................... 392
The People's Republic of China 1949-1999...................................................................... 396
Japan and Korea 1945-1999................................................................................................ 399
South-east Asia 1914-1999.................................................................................................. 403
The Indochina Wars 1954-1979......................................................................................... 406
Central and South Asia 1948-1999..................................................................................... 408
Australia and New Zealand 1914-1999............................................................................... 411
The Middle East 1923-1999................................................................................................ 414
The Arab-Israeli Conflict 1948-1999.................................................................................. 417
The Rise of Islamism 1979-1999......................................................................................... 420
Africa 1914-1999.................................................................................................................. 424
Latin America 1910-1999.................................................................................................... 427
Environmental Challenges 1900-1999............................................................................... 430
Advances in Science and Technology 1900-1999.............................................................. 433
Advances in Medicine 1900-1999....................................................................................... 436
THE 21st-CENTURY WORLD
The USA and Canada 2000 onwards.................................................................................. 440
Putin's Russia 2000 onwards................................................................................................ 443
Europe 2000 onwards.......................................................................................................... 446
China 2000 onwards............................................................................................................ 449
Japan and Korea 2000 onwards........................................................................................... 452
South-east Asia 2000 onwards............................................................................................. 454
Central and South Asia 2000 onwards................................................................................ 459
The War in Afghanistan 2001-2014.................................................................................... 462
Australia and New Zealand 2000 onwards.......................................................................... 465
Islamism 2000 onwards........................................................................................................ 467
The Middle East, North Africa and the Arab Spring 2000 onwards ................................ 470
The Arab-Israeli Conflict 2000 onwards............................................................................. 473
The War in Iraq and the Rise of Islamic State 2000 onwards ........................................... 475
Sub-Saharan Africa 2000 onwards....................................................................................... 478
Latin America 2000 onwards............................................................................................... 480
The Environment 2000 onwards......................................................................................... 483
Globalization, Population Growth and Movement 2000 onwards.................................... 485
The Banking Crisis and the Global Recession 2007-2012................................................ 488
Science and Technology 2000 onwards.............................................................................. 491
Medicine and Disease 2000 onwards.................................................................................. 494
Into the Future..................................................................................................................... 497
Timeline................................................................................... 500
Index........................................................................................ 507
