World History Timelines

The Bronze Age Shang Dynasty in China is roughly dated between 1700-1050 BC, and, according to the Shi Ji, it began when the first Shang emperor, T'ang, overthrew the last of the Xia (also called Erlitou) dynasty emperors.

The Kingdom of Kush is one of several names used for the region of Africa directly south of ancient Dynastic Egypt, approximately between the modern cities of Aswan, Egypt, and Khartoum, Sudan.

Two different types of "Hittites" are mentioned in the Hebrew Bible (or Old Testament): the Canaanites, who were enslaved by Solomon; and the Neo-Hittites, Hittite kings of northern Syria who traded with Solomon. The events related in the Old Testament occurred in the 6th century BC, well after the glory days of the Hittite Empire.

The Olmec civilization is the name given to a sophisticated central American culture with its heyday between 1200 and 400 BC. The Olmec heartland lies in the Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco, at the narrow part of Mexico west of the Yucatan peninsula and east of Oaxaca.

The Zhou Dynasty (also spelled Chou) is the name given to a historical period roughly consisting of the last two-fifths of the Chinese Bronze Age, traditionally marked between 1046 and 221 BC (although scholars are divided on the starting date)

The Etruscan civilization was a cultural group in the Etruria region of Italy, from the 11th through the first century BC (Iron Age into Roman times).

The African Iron Age is roughly between the 2nd century AD-1000 AD. In Africa, unlike the Europe and Asia, the Iron Age is not prefaced by a Bronze or Copper Age, but rather all the metals were brought together.

The Persian Empire included all of what is now Iran, and in fact Persia was the official name of Iran until 1935; the traditional dates for the classic Persian Empire are about 550 BC-500 AD.

The Ptolemies were the final dynasty of Egyptian pharaohs, and their progenitor was a Greek by birth: one of Alexander the Great's generals, Ptolemy I. The Ptolemies ruled Egypt between 305-30 BC, when the last of the Ptolemies, Cleopatra, famously committed suicide.

Aksum (also spelled Axum) is the name of a powerful, urban Iron Age Kingdom in Ethiopia, that flourished in the centuries before and after the time of Christ; ca 700 BC-700 AD.

The Moche culture was a South American society, whose sites were located along the arid coast of what is now Peru between 100 and 800 AD, and wedged between the Pacific Ocean and the Andes mountains.