The ancestors of Aboriginal Australians crossed the sea from Southeast Asia to the Sahul landmass at least 50,000 years ago, founding one of the world's oldest continuous cultures.
Upper Palaeolithic people paint hundreds of animal figures on the walls of the Lascaux cave in south-western France, among the best-known works of prehistoric art.
The earliest evidence of wheeled vehicles appears around the mid-4th millennium BCE in Mesopotamia, the northern Caucasus and Central Europe.
The Sumerians of Mesopotamia develop cuneiform, one of humanity's earliest writing systems, first used for economic record-keeping.
By tradition, King Narmer unites Upper and Lower Egypt, beginning the dynastic period of ancient Egypt.
Around 3000 BCE, Austronesian-speaking peoples began migrating from Taiwan into the Philippines and Indonesia, eventually spreading across the Pacific and as far as Madagascar.
According to Vietnamese historiographical tradition, the Hồng Bàng dynasty was founded in 2879 BCE and the Hùng kings ruled Văn Lang; the date is legendary.
Planned cities such as Mohenjo-daro and Harappa flourish along the Indus, with drainage systems, standardised weights and an undeciphered script.
The pyramid of Pharaoh Khufu is completed; it remained the tallest human-made structure for nearly 4,000 years.
Sargon of Akkad conquers the Sumerian city-states, creating the first known multi-ethnic empire in Mesopotamia.
Great palaces such as Knossos are built on Crete, marking the height of the Bronze Age Minoan civilization.
King Hammurabi of Babylon issues one of the oldest and most complete written legal codes known.
Bearers of the Lapita culture, known for their dentate-stamped pottery, settled islands from the Bismarck Archipelago to Fiji, Tonga and Samoa, laying the foundations of Polynesian societies.
Mycenaean civilization, the first advanced civilization of mainland Greece, develops fortified palace centres and Linear B writing.
The Shang is the earliest Chinese dynasty confirmed by archaeology, leaving oracle-bone script and sophisticated bronzes.
Ahmose I expels the Hyksos and reunifies Egypt, opening the New Kingdom, the height of ancient Egyptian power.
The hymns of the Rigveda, the oldest text of Hinduism, are composed in Vedic Sanskrit and transmitted orally for generations.
The Nok culture flourished in present-day central Nigeria, known for its terracotta sculptures and as one of the earliest iron-smelting cultures in sub-Saharan Africa.
Pharaoh Akhenaten elevates the worship of the Aten and moves the capital to Amarna, an unusual religious upheaval in Egyptian history.
Ramesses II begins a reign of about 66 years, regarded as one of Egypt's most powerful and celebrated pharaohs.
Ramesses II's Egyptian army fights the Hittites near Kadesh in Syria, one of the largest chariot battles of antiquity.
Ramesses II and the Hittite king Hattusili III conclude one of the earliest peace treaties whose text survives.
Many Eastern Mediterranean states, including the Hittite Empire, collapse or decline sharply during a prolonged period of upheaval.
The Olmecs develop the earliest known complex civilization of Mesoamerica along Mexico's Gulf Coast, known for their colossal stone heads.
Ancient Greek tradition placed the war between the Greeks and Troy around the 12th century BCE; its historicity remains debated.
The Phoenicians use a consonantal alphabet that became the ancestor of the Greek, Latin, Hebrew and Arabic scripts.
King Wu of Zhou defeats the last Shang king, founding the Zhou, the longest-lasting dynasty in Chinese history.
Bantu-speaking peoples from west-central Africa gradually spread across eastern and southern Africa over millennia, bringing agriculture and ironworking.
A Bronze Age and early Iron Age culture of the Red River valley and north-central Vietnam, famous for its bronze drums.
By tradition, Phoenicians from Tyre found Carthage in North Africa, later a major commercial power of the western Mediterranean.
Traditionally, the first Olympic Games were held at Olympia in 776 BCE, a date later Greeks used for reckoning time.
After the sack of Haojing, the Zhou court relocates to Luoyi, and royal power declines relative to the feudal states.
According to legend, Romulus founded Rome in 753 BCE; the Romans later counted years from this date.
The Iliad and the Odyssey, traditionally attributed to Homer, take shape around the 8th century BCE and become foundational works of Greek literature.
The Neo-Assyrian Empire captures Samaria, ending the northern Kingdom of Israel and deporting part of its population.
A Babylonian and Median coalition sacks Nineveh, the Assyrian capital, marking the collapse of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.
Nebuchadnezzar II's forces take Jerusalem, destroy Solomon's Temple and deport many Judeans to Babylon.
Confucius, founder of Confucianism, is born in the state of Lu; his teachings shape East Asian culture for over two millennia.
Cyrus II defeats the Median king Astyages, laying the foundation of the Persian Achaemenid Empire, the largest empire of its time.
Cyrus the Great takes Babylon, ending the Neo-Babylonian Empire; he later allows exiled Judeans to return to Judah.
Darius I takes the throne, organising the empire into satrapies and building Persepolis and the Royal Road.
Traditionally, the Romans expel King Tarquin the Proud and establish a republic led by elected consuls.
Cleisthenes reorganizes Athenian citizens into new tribes and broadens political participation, often seen as the birth of Athenian democracy.
Siddhartha Gautama attains enlightenment at Bodh Gaya and teaches in the Ganges plain, founding Buddhism.
In the desert of southern Peru, the Nazca and earlier cultures create enormous geoglyphs on the ground, best seen in full from above.
Athenian forces defeat the first Persian invasion of Greece.
The Greek fleet, urged on by Themistocles, defeats the Persian navy, turning the tide of Xerxes' second invasion of Greece.
A small Greek force led by the Spartan king Leonidas holds off the Persian army of Xerxes I before being overwhelmed.
Seven major states vie for supremacy for over two centuries, an era that also sees the flourishing of the Hundred Schools of Thought.
Under Pericles, the Athenians build the Parthenon on the Acropolis, dedicated to the goddess Athena.