The universe is approximately 13.7 billion years old, but our world begins 4.6 billion years ago.

The Big Bang and beginning of the universe occurs, 13.7 billion years ago.


4.6 billion years ago, the star of our solar system, the Sun, forms. The planet Earth follows.

  • Hadean eon

    • Precambrian era

      • 4.6 billion to 4 billion years ago

        • Formation of the Earth and Moon

        • Heavy astronomical activity



  • Archean eon

    • Precambrian era

      • 4 billion to 2.5 billion years ago

        • Formation of Earth’s crust

        • First signs of life

          • Prokaryotes



  • Proterozoic eon

    • Precambrian era

      • 2.5 billion to 541 million

        • Oxygenation of atmosphere

        • First eukaryotes



  • Phanerozoic eon

    • Paleozoic era

      • 541 million to 252 million years ago

        • Cambrian period

          • 541 million to 485 million years ago

            • Cambrian Explosion



        • Ordovician period

          • 485 million to 444 million years ago

            • First land plants

            • Marine biodiversity



        • Silurian period

          • 444 million to 419 million years ago

            • First jawed fish

            • Vascular plants



        • Devonian period

          • 419 million to 359 million years ago

            • Age of fish

            • First amphibians



        • Carboniferous period

          • 359 million to 299 million years ago

            • Coal swamps

            • First Reptiles



        • Permian period

          • 299 million to 252 million years ago

            • Pangea forms

            • Mass extinction



    • Mesozoic era

      • 252 million to 66 million years ago

        • Triassic period

          • 252 million to 201 million years ago

            • First dinosaurs

            • First mammals



        • Jurassic period

          • 201 million to 145 million years ago

            • Age of dinosaurs

            • First birds



        • Cretaceous period

          • 145 million to 66 million years ago

            • Flowering plants

            • Mass extinction



    • Cenozoic era

      • 66 million years ago to present

        • Paleogene period

          • 66 million to 23 million years ago

            • Mammals diversify



        • Neogene period

          • 23 million to 2.58 million years ago

            • First hominins



        • Quaternary period

          • 2.58 million years ago to present

            • Ice Ages

            • Rise of humans



*Thank you to Science Notes.

  • Anthropological origins of Homo sapiens species (Modern day humans, where do we come from?)

    • The Tree of Biology

      • Animalia

        • Vertebrates

          • Mammals

            • Primates

              • Hominids

                • Humans (The first modern humans appeared in Africa 300,000 years ago.)

                • Dryopithecus

                  • 13 million to 7 million years ago

                  • Europe and Asia

                • Ramapithecus

                  • 16.6 million to 5.3 million years ago

                  • East Africa, India, Pakistan, the Near East, and China

                • Australopithecus

                  • 4.2 million to 1.9 million years ago

                  • East Africa and South Africa

                • Homo habilis

                  • 2.4 million to 1.4 million years ago

                  • Sub-Saharan Africa

                • Homo erectus

                  • 1.9 million to 117,000 years ago

                  • East Africa, South Africa, Western Asia, East Asia, and Western Europe

                • Homo sapiens neanderthalensis

                  • 400,000 to 40,000 years ago

                  • Europe and Asia

                • Homo sapiens (Modern Humans)

                  • 300,000 years ago to present

                  • Earth

  • Modern Humans

    • 300,000 years ago



  • Ancient China

    • 6000 BCE to 220 CE




  • Ancient Sumerian Civilization

    • 4500 BCE to 1750 BCE




  • Ancient Mesopotamian Civilization

    • 3500 BCE to 539 BCE




  • Indus River Valley Civilization

    • 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE




  • Ancient Egyptian Civilization

    • 3100 BCE to 30 BCE




  • The Kingdom of Kush

    • 2500 BCE to 350 CE




  • Mayan Empire

    • 2000 BCE to 1500 AD

      • “Golden Age” 250 CE to 900 CE




  • Ancient Greece

    • 1200 BCE to 146 BCE




  • Carthage

    • 814 BCE to 146 BCE




  • Ancient Rome

    • 753 BCE to 476 CE



  • Ghana Empire

    • 300 to 1240 CE



  • Medieval Europe

    • 450* (approx.) to 1500 CE



  • Great Zimbabwe

    • 1100 to 1450 CE



  • Feudal Japan

    • 1185 to 1868 CE



  • Mali Empire

    • 1235 to 1645 CE



  • Italian Renaissance

    • 1300 to 1600 CE



  • Aztec Empire

    • 1325 to 1521 CE



  • The Kingdom of Kongo

    • 1390 to 1914 CE



  • Portuguese Colonial Empire

    • 1415 to 1999



  • Inca Empire

    • 1438 to 1533 CE



  • Songhai Empire

    • 1460 to 1591 CE



  • Discovery of the Americas by European Nations

    • 1492 CE, Christopher Columbus



  • Spanish Colonial Empire

    • 1492 to 1976 CE



  • European Colonization of the Americas

    • 1500 to late 20th Century CE



  • North Atlantic Slave Trade

    • 1500 to 1800 CE



  • European Slavery in the Americas

    • 1500 to 1900 CE



  • British Colonial Empire

    • 1607 to 1997 CE



  • First French Colonial Empire

    • 1534 to 1814 CE



  • First Dutch Colonial Empire

    • 1602 to 1815 CE



  • The French and Indian War

    • 1754 to 1763 CE



  • American Independence

    • Declaration of Independence, United States of America’s Independence Day

      • 1776 CE

    • The declaration of Mexican independence from external European ruling authority

      • 1821 CE

  • The Revolutionary War

    • 1775 to 1783 CE



  • The War of 1812

    • 1812 to 1815 CE



  • Second Dutch Colonial Empire

    • 1815 to 1975 CE

  • Second French Colonial Empire

    • 1830 to 1980 CE

  • The Civil War

    • 1860 to 1865 CE



  • The Spanish-American War

    • 1898 CE



  • The Phillipine-American War

    • 1899 to 1902 CE



  • World War I

    • 1914 to 1918 CE

  • World War II

    • 1939 to 1945 CE

  • Israel-Palestine Conflict

    • 1948 CE to Present



  • The Korean War

    • 1950 to 1953 CE



  • The Information Age

    • 1950 to Present

  • The Vietnam War

    • 1955 to 1975 CE



  • The War on Drugs

    • 1971 CE

  • The Internet

    • 1983 CE

  • The Gulf War

    • 1990 to 1991 CE



  • The Iraq War

    • 2003 to 2011 CE



  • Gaza War

    • 2023 CE to Present



Check out Google Earth to explore more!

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