Chronology by Region 1227ca. 500 B.C.E.: Adena culture of the North
American Midwest reaches its peak; date
of the Maya story of creation, the Popol
Vuh; the Cuspisnique build roads exclu-
sively with walls.
ca. 400 B.C.E.: The Mayans begin using
jugs with spouts.
ca. 400 B.C.E.–150 C.E.: Preclassic Period
of Mayan civilization.ca. 200 B.C.E.–ca. 600 B.C.E.: The Nazca
create hundreds of earth drawings, or
geoglyphs, that can been seen only from
the air.
ca. 100 B.C.E.: Hopewell societies,
especially in Illinois and Ohio, fl ourish;
pottery from Peru and Ecuador shows
the presence of facial ulceration, scarring,
and malformation of the mucous mem-
branes among the pre-Inca, an indication
of epidemic leishmaniasis.ca. 1 C.E.: Hohokam culture forms in U.S.
Southwest; Toltec city of Teotihuacán
founded.
ca. 50 C.E.: The city of Teotihuacán
establishes control in the valley of Mexico;
construction of the Pyramid of the Sun
begins.
ca. 100–600: The Moche people fl ourish
in northern Peru.
ca. 150–650: Classic Period of Mayan
civilization.ca. 475 B.C.E.: Beginning of the Iron Age
in China.
ca. 400 B.C.E.: The Chinese become the
fi rst to use catapults in warfare.
ca. 301 B.C.E.: Nomadic tribes invade
parts of northern China; Chinese
construct a massive irrigation system to
relieve fl ooding in river basins in Sichuan.
ca. 300 B.C.E.–ca. 300 C.E.: Yayoi Period
in Japan; religion called Shinto may have
originated during this period, though the
matter is disputed.ca. 221 B.C.E.: Qin Dynasty founded in
China; country united.
ca. 202 B.C.E.: Han Dynasty begins in
China.
ca. 101 B.C.E.: Using a compass for the
fi rst time, Chinese seafarers arrive on the
eastern coast of India.ca. 6 C.E.: People in China who want jobs
as government offi cials have to take a civil
service examination.
ca. 31: Earliest description of a Chinese
horizontal waterwheel.
ca. 80: A massive migration of Asians
moves westward with horses and cattle to
join the Iranians and Mongols to become
the Huns.
ca. 100: Japan imports rice for cultivation
from China.
ca. 105: China develops the fi rst paper
made from fi bers.
ca. 200: Japan invades and subdues
Korea.ASIA AND THE PACIFIC THE AMERICAS
ca. 500 B.C.E.: Portions of Greece become
the fi rst to use coins.
ca. 480 B.C.E.–ca. 1 C.E.: La Tène culture,
a Celtic Iron Age culture, emerges in the
area of modern-day Switzerland, and the
Celts expand through much of Europe.
ca. 457–ca. 429 B.C.E.: The “Golden Age”
of Athens under the rule of Pericles.
ca. 450 B.C.E.: Celts arrive in the British
Isles.
ca. 440 B.C.E.: The fi rst textbook of ge-
ometry written by the Greek Hippocrates
of Chios.
ca. 323–ca. 31 B.C.E.: Hellenistic Period
of Greece.
ca. 312 B.C.E.: Construction on Roman
Appian Way begins.
ca. 270 B.C.E.: Rome brings all of Italian
Peninsula under its authority.ca. 250 B.C.E.: Greek mathematician
Archimedes calculates value of pi and
develops the screw for pumping water.
ca. 170 B.C.E.: Rome builds the world’s
fi rst paved streets.
58–51 B.C.E.: Julius Caesar subdues
Gaul (France) in the name of the Roman
Empire.
1st century B.C.E.–476 C.E.: Roman
Empire.
55 B.C.E.–43 C.E.: Roman Empire invades
Britain twice, and Roman domina-
tion and infl uence grow through trade
and other interactions; city of London
founded.60s: First revolts against Roman rule by
Germanic and Celtic tribes.
64: Great Fire destroys much of Rome;
fi rst persecutions of Christians.
75–77: Roman conquest of Britain is
complete.
ca.138–ca. 192: Period of the so-called
Antonine plague, a series of epidemics in
the Roman world, including two notable
outbreaks in 165 and 180.
167: The fi rst Barbarian attacks on
Rome.EUROPE
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