Timelines & Places
Anchors for Tracking Institutions, Bibles & Beliefs
Before the Common Era (BCE)
2.5 Million Years Ago -- First scientific evidence of activity by Homo sapiens.
350,000 -- Tabun Cave on Mount Carmel -- Oldest tool identified to date; used by hominids, before the advent of modern humans. SOURCE
7000 -- Jericho -- Walls (30 Hectares = 74 Acres) & tower built with flint tools.
6000 -- Sumer & Akkad -- Villages appear.
4000 -- Babylon -- Sumerians settle on the site of the city of Babylon.
3000 -- Mesopotamia -- There were twelve cities in the Mesopotamian plain, each supported by produce grown by peasants in the surrounding countryside. Each village had to bring its entire crop to the city it served; officials allocated a portion to feed the local peasants, and the rest was stored for the aristocracy in the city temples. (Fields of Blood, p. 23).
2500 to 2000 -- Israel - Dolemens, Rock Structures and Drawings (click here)
2000 -- Ur -- Terah begins journey to Haran with his family (Abram is his one of his sons).
1925 -- Haran -- Abram called by Yahweh to take his family and go to Canaan.
1250 -- Canaan - Moses arrives at east side of Jordan River.
1050 -- Israel -- Saul becomes first King of the United Kingdom of Israel.
1010 -- Israel -- David becomes second King of the United Kingdom of Israel.
970 -- Israel -- Solomon becomes the third and last King of the United Kingdom of Israel.
957 -- Israel -- King Solomon completes the building of the First Temple in Jerusalem. It replaced the Tabernacle in the Wilderness of Moses. (click here)
930 -- Israel -- End of the United Kingdom of Israel. Northern Kingdom is called "Israel" ruled by King Jeroboam I. Southern Kingdom is called "Judah" ruled by King Rehoboam.
721 -- Israel -- Assyrian army captures Israel and forces away leading citizens into captivity in Assyria.
587 -- Jerusalem -- Babylonian armies destroy First Temple and force leading citizens into captivity in Babylon.
539 -- Babylon -- Cyrus the Great invades Babylonia.
536 -- Babylon -- First Decree of Cyrus the Great: Begins construction on Second Temple Jerusalem and a group of exiles can return.
519 -- Babylon -- Decree of Darius I of Persia: Resume construction of Temple in Jerusalem with additional funding.
518 -- Babylon -- Darius I orders governor of Egypt to collect the laws of Egypt and redact them to produce copy.
459 -- Babylon -- Decree of Artaxerxes I of Persia: Appoints Ezra to be his representative Judah.
458 -- Jerusalem -- Ezra arrives from Babylon with a Torah scroll, a scroll of the Persian law & funds for temple.
322 -- Greece -- Persian Empire falls to Alexander the Great of Greece and Israel under the rule Greeks.
93-87 – Judea -- Civil War between King Alexander Jannaeus (Sadducees) and the Pharisees (dominant political party in the Great Sanhedrin).
42 - Rome - Two years after his death Caesar declared to be a god by Senate.
6 -- Bethlehem -- Birth of Yeshua, the Jesus of history.
Common Era (CE)
27 -- Galilee & Judea -- Yeshua (Jesus) baptized by John the Baptist; becomes the Anointed One (Christ) and the Adopted Son of God. This is the beginning of his movement. He is 30 years old.
30 -- Judea -- Yeshua crucified by Romans (Age of the Apostles Begins).
66 -- Rome -- Peter and Paul executed during persecutions under Emperor Nero -- Paul was beheaded and Peter was crucified upside down.
70 -- Jerusalem -- Romans destroy Second Temple. Ends the era of Second Temple Judaism.
72 -- Gospel of Mark written.
80 -- Gospel of Luke and Book of Acts written.
90 -- Gospel of Matthew written.
95 -- Gospel of John written.
142 -- Rome -- Marcion created the first New Testament canon.
325 (May) - Nicaea – First Roman Church Council in which a Roman Emperor is involved. Emperor Constantine the Great rules God and Jesus "are of the same substance" -- Jesus is a god.
385 -- Spain -- First instance of capital punishment for heresy; Bishop Priscillian and six of his followers tortured and decapitated with the approval of a Synod in Trier. (Blasphemy, p. 44)
412 -- Hippo -- Bishop Augustine creates "Doctrine of Original Sin" -- all humans are sinners at birth because of Adam's sin. This created the need for a universal sin that required a universal savior and a universal church.
415 -- Alexandria, Egypt -- Christians under the patriarch Cyrillus engage in murderous attacks against Novatian schismatics, kidnapped the foremost Platonic philosopher of her time, Hypatia, stripped her in a church, and tore her limb from limb. (Blasphemy, p. 44)
431 -- Ephesus – Church Council decreed Mary to be “the Mother of God.”
450 -- Britain -- Three Germanic tribes invaded Britain the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes. The tribes spoke similar languages, which in Britain developed into what we now call Old English.
451 -- Chalcedon – Church Council creates the “Doctrine of the Trinity.”
476 – Rome -- Last emperor, Romulus Augustulus, captured by the Goths. End of Roman Empire in the West.
600-670 -- Britain -- Christians gain effective control of Britain
1088 -- Italy -- University of Bologna, first degree-granting university in Europe established.
1150 – France -- University of Paris established.
1167 – England -- University of Oxford established when King Henry II banned English students from attending the University of Paris.
1226 – England – University of Cambridge established.
1348-49 -- Europe -- Bubonic plague wipes out one-third of Europe’s population. Religious fanatics blamed the Jews and in German cities, entire Jewish communities were murdered. (Blasphemy, p. 53)
1440 - Germany -- Johannes Gutenberg invented the movable-type printing press in France. EOBH
1453-- Constantinople -- The fall of Constantinople in 1453 to the Muslims brings an end to the Roman Empire in the East.
1492 -- America -- On October 12 Columbuslands on one of the Bahamian islands, likely San Salvador.
1493 -- America -- Columbus returns to search for gold, but finds none so he sends 500 native slaves to Queen Isabella. He returns as "viceroy and governor. Promptly instituted policies of slavery and systematic extermination against the native Taino population and reduces it from eight million to about three million by 1496.
1517 -- Germany -- Oct. 31 Martin Luther posts the 95 Theses in protest of the sale of indulgences.
1520 -- Germany -- Martin Luther creates a new form of Christianity -- Protestantism -- new model of religious authority and new beliefs about salvation. Also launches "individualism" as a social structure.
1521-- Germany -- Lutheranismformed (Diet of Worms).
1523 -- Switzerland -- Reformed Christianity (Ulrich Zwingli).
1525 -- Switzerland -- Anabaptist (Conrad Grebel & Thomas Muntzer) "rebaptism" -- rejects "infant baptism."
1534 -- England -- King Henry VIII creates the Church of England by separating from the Roman Catholic Church.
1537 -- Netherlands -- Mennonites (Menno Simons).
1560 -- Scotland -- Presbyterianism (Church of Scotland - John Knox).
1564-1660-- Britain -- The Era of Puritanism
1582 -- England -- Congregationalism (Robert Browne).
1607 -- America -- Episcopal Church established in Jamestown colony in Virginia.
1609 -- Netherlands -- The first Baptist church formed by John Smyth.
1610-1611 -- Virginia Colony America -- Dale’s code commanded that God be daily served and that anyone not attending prayers twice daily would be “duly punished.” It provided for death to anyone who maliciously spoke against the doctrine of the Trinity, any person of the Trinity, or the “Articles of the Christian faith.” It fixed death as the penalty for blasphemy against God (unlawful oaths, taking the name of God in vain, or calling on God to damn someone. It expired in 1619. (Blasphemy, p. 238)
1611 -- England -- King James Version of the Bible published.
1648 -- England -- Quakerism (George Fox).
1655 -- America -- Jews win the right to settle in New Amsterdam and establish a Jewish community.
1660 -- England -- Dissenters left the Church of England and established their own Separatist congregations (Puritans).
1664 -- American Colonies -- The English conquer New Amsterdam and rename it New York.
1697 - England -- Blasphemy Act 1697 passed by Parliament that made it an offence for any person, educated in or having made profession of the Christian religion, by writing, preaching, teaching or advised speaking, to deny the Holy Trinity, to claim there is more than one god, to deny the truth of Christianity and to deny the Bible as divine authority. In effect, the act of 1698 converted heresy into blasphemy by including as part of the crime of blasphemy denials of the truth of the Christian religion. (Click Here)
1730 -- America Colonies -- New York Jews build their first synagogue, Shearith Israel.
1738-1784 -- Britain & America -- The "Great Awakening"
1776-1789 -- America -- Origin of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America
1804 -- America -- The first free black Baptist Church was formed in Boston. [UCSM]
1816 – America -- African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) established as a fully separate Methodist church; Richard Allen ordained the first Bishop.
1824 – America -- Black Baptist Churches were even sending missionaries to Africa. [UCSM]
1849 – America -- Campbell's Disciples - Stone's 'Christians' and Campbell's 'Disciples' merged and held first national convention. [UCSM]
1854 – Rome -- Roman Catholic Church creates doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. [UCSM]
1863 – America -- Seventh Day Adventist Church properly organized. It insists on tithes of one-tenth of all income from members. [UCSM]
1867 – America -- Reform Church in America; Protestant Dutch Church changed its name. [UCSM]
1867 – America -- Harvard School of Dental Medicine, first U.S. dental school established.
1898 – America -- Black Holiness Church; conversions often associated with speaking in tongues and spirit healing. Charles Parham taught students to expect a baptism of the "Holy Ghost and fire". One of his students was William Seymour. [UCSM]
1901 -- America -- American Standard Version of Bible.
1906 -- America -- Churches of Christ - Campbell's followers split away in 1906 to form the Church of Christ. (see 1849) [UCSM]
1906 -- America -- William Seymour (see 1898) - A Black Holiness minister who founded a mission on Azusa Street, Los Angles. The meetings held there, which coincided with the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, sparked a local religious revival marked by racial harmony, speaking in tongues, and enthusiastic services.
1906 – America -- American Jewish Committee formed; by Judge Mayer Sulzberger, Dr. Cyrus Adler, Louis Marshall and Jacob H. Shiff. [JHIST]
1914 – America -- Assemblies of God formed as a result of William Seymour's work (see 1906).
1918 – Israel -- Jerusalem - After the end of the first world war, and the collapse of the Ottoman empire, Jerusalem came under the jurisdiction of the British. [UCSM]
1918 - Poland - Created after the first world war out of territory previously governed by Russia and Germany. Large numbers of Orthodox Russians and Ukrainians. [UCSM]
1924 -- Germany -- The first scholar to recognize the fact that Proverbs 22:17-23:11 is based on the earlier Egyptian document, the Wisdom of Amenemope, was the German Egyptologist, Adolf Erman. [HDCRB-57]
1970 -- Globally -- Christianity had 1,130,000,000 affiliated members, 1,449,600 congregations/churches, and 18,630 denominations/paradenominations.
2000 -- Globally -- Christianity had 1,888,000.000 affiliated members, 3,447,900 congregations/churches, and 33,820 denominations/paradenominations.
More Timelines
Atheism and Agnosticism Timeline
Timeline in American Jewish History
Timeline of Reform (Judaism) Movement