The Timeline of the Universe and Earth
The universe and the Earth we live on have a rich history that spans over billions of years. From the Big Bang to the emergence of complex life, this timeline offers a glimpse into the incredible journey that our planet has taken. It begins with the formation of the universe itself and takes us through the birth of stars, the creation of galaxies, and the emergence of life on Earth. This timeline of the Universe and Earth sheds light on the major milestones in our planet’s history and how it has changed over time.
- 13.8 billion years ago: Big Bang
- 13.8 billion years ago: (10^-36 seconds after the Big Bang): Inflationary epoch
- 13.8 billion years ago: (10^-12 seconds after the Big Bang): Quark epoch
- 13.8 billion years ago: (1 second after the Big Bang): Formation of protons and neutrons
- 13.79 billion years ago: Formation of hydrogen and helium atoms
- 13.6 billion years ago: Formation of the first stars and supernovae
- 13.6 billion years ago: Formation of the Local Group
- 13.6 billion years ago: Formation of the Milky Way’s halo
- 13.3 billion years ago: Formation of the first galaxies and galaxy clusters
- 12.8 billion years ago: Formation of the first dwarf galaxies
- 10.8 billion years ago: Formation of the first massive galaxies
- 13 billion years ago: Formation of the Large Magellanic Cloud
- 13 billion years ago: Formation of the Small Magellanic Cloud
- 13 billion years ago: Formation of the Boötes void
- 13 billion years ago: Formation of the Fornax cluster
- 12 billion years ago: Formation of the first supermassive black holes
- 12 billion years ago: Formation of the first quasars
- 11 billion years ago: Formation of the first globular clusters
- 10 billion years ago: Formation of the Hercules-Corona Borealis Great Wall
- 10 billion years ago: Formation of the Milky Way’s disk
- 9 billion years ago: Formation of the Milky Way’s bulge
- 7 billion years ago: Formation of the second generation of stars
- 6 billion years ago: Formation of the Eridanus supervoid
- 5 billion years ago: Formation of the third generation of stars
- 4.6 billion years ago: Formation of the protoplanetary disk
- 4.6 billion years ago: Formation of the Sun and Solar System
- 4.6 billion years ago: Formation of the Oort cloud
- 4.5 billion years ago: Formation of Earth and other terrestrial planets from the protoplanetary disk
- 4.5 billion years ago: Formation of Earth’s Moon from a Mars-sized object impacting the early Earth
- 4 billion years ago: Formation of the Hydra-Centaurus Supercluster
- 4 billion years ago: Formation of the Virgo Supercluster
- 4 billion years ago: Formation of the Great Attractor
- 4 billion years ago: First known continental crust formation
- 3.8 billion years ago: Formation of the atmosphere
- 3.8 billion years ago: First evidence of banded iron formations, indicating the presence of oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere
- 3.5 billion years ago: First evidence of plate tectonics
- 3.5 billion years ago: First evidence of magnetosphere
- 3.5 billion years ago: Emergence of life on Earth
- 3.5 billion years ago: First evidence of stromatolites, microbial mats formed by cyanobacteria
- 3.5 billion years ago: Evolution of single-celled organisms
- 3.2 billion years ago: Formation of the Vaalbara supercontinent
- 3.4 billion years ago: First evidence of photosynthesis by bacteria
- 3 billion years ago: Formation of the Pisces–Cetus Supercluster Complex
- 3 billion years ago: Formation of the continent of Ur
- 2.4 billion years ago: Oxygenation of the atmosphere by photosynthetic organisms
- 2.4 billion years ago: First known snowball Earth event
- 2.4 billion to 2.1 billion years ago: Great Oxygenation Event, marking a significant increase in atmospheric oxygen
- 2 billion years ago: Formation of the Shapley Supercluster
- 2 billion years ago: Emergence of eukaryotic cells
- 1.8 billion years ago: End of the Huronian glaciation, a major ice age
- 1.8 billion years ago: Formation of the Sturgeon supergroup, a major sequence of sedimentary rocks
- 1.6 billion years ago: Formation of the Horologium-Reticulum Supercluster
- 1.6 billion years ago: First appearance of red algae
- 1.6 billion years ago: First evidence of eukaryotic algae
- 1.5 billion years ago: Rise of atmospheric oxygen to near-modern levels
- 1.5 billion years ago: First evidence of macroscopic organisms with bilateral symmetry
- 1.3 billion years ago: Formation of the supercontinent Rodinia
- 1.2 billion years ago: Formation of the Perseus-Pisces Supercluster
- 1.2 billion years ago: Formation of the first complex multicellular organisms
- 1.2 billion years ago: First evidence of reproduction in eukaryotes
- 1.2 billion years ago: First evidence of green algae
- 1.2 billion to 600 million years ago: Major increase in the diversity and complexity of life
- 600 million years ago: Formation of the Centaurus Supercluster
- 541-510 million years ago: Cambrian explosion
- 540 million years ago: The emergence of complex life
- 500 million years ago: Emergence of Fish
- 500 million years ago: Early plants and animals colonize land
- 490 million years ago: First jawless fish
- 460 million years ago: First land-dwelling animals
- 420 million years ago: First bony fish
- 400 million years ago: Emergence of Insects
- 360 million years ago: First amphibians
- 310 million years ago: First reptiles
- 300 million years ago: Pangea forms
- 298-252 million years ago: Permian period
- 251 million years ago: Permian Extinction
- 251-65 million years ago: Rise of Dinosaurs
- 251-199 million years ago: Triassic period
- 225 million years ago: First mammals
- 201 million years ago: Triassic Extinction
- 199-145 million years ago: Jurassic period
- 150 million years ago: Emergence of Birds
- 140 million years ago: First flowers
- 100 million years ago: Evolution of snakes
- 85 million years ago: Emergence of modern crocodiles
- 68-66 million years ago: Tyrannosaurus Rex roams the Earth
- 66 million years ago: Cretaceous-Paleogene Extinction
- 65 million years ago: present: Age of mammals
- 60 million years ago: Mammals evolve to be larger
- 55 million years ago: Rapid diversification of mammals
- 55 million years ago: First primates
- 55 million years ago: Emergence of Primates
- 55 million years ago: Emergence of the horse
- 50 million years ago: Emergence of Whales
- 35 million years ago: Emergence of the elephant
- 30 million years ago: Rise of the grasslands
- 25 million years ago: First human-like apes
- 23 million years ago: Apes diversify into great apes
- 8 million years ago: Emergence of gorillas
- 7 million years ago: Emergence of chimpanzees
- 7 million-2 million years ago: Hominin Evolution
- 7 million years ago: Emergence of Hominids
- About 6 million years ago: Human lineage splits from chimpanzees
- 4 million years ago: Emergence of Australopithecus
- 2.8 million years ago: Emergence of Homo habilis
- 2.6 million years ago: Development of early stone tools
- 2.6 million-11,700 years ago: Ice Age
- 2.5 million years ago: Emergence of Humans
- 2 million years ago: Emergence of Homo erectus
- 2 million years ago: Emergence of Homo erectus
- 1 million years ago: Use of fire by early humans
- 600,000 years ago: Emergence of Homo heidelbergensis
- 400,000 years ago: Emergence of Homo neanderthalensis
- 300,000-200,000 years ago: Emergence of Homo sapiens
- 250,000 years ago: Emergence of Homo naledi
- 200,000 years ago: Emergence of anatomically modern humans
- 100,000 years ago: Emergence of art in human societies
- 10,000-5,000 years ago: Emergence of the first agricultural societies
- 10,000-2000 BCE: Neolithic Revolution
- 4000 BCE-2000 BCE: Sumerian civilization
- 4000 BCE: Emergence of the first civilizations
- 3500 BCE: Invention of Writing
- 3500 BCE: Invention of the Wheel
- 3150 BCE: Rise of Ancient Egypt
- 3100 BCE-30 BCE: Egyptian civilization
- 3100 BCE: Unification of Upper and Lower Egypt
- 3000 BCE: Invention of the sail
- 3300 BCE-1300 BCE: Indus Valley Civilization
- 2700 BCE-1450 BCE: Minoan civilization
- 2500 BCE-609 BCE: Assyrian civilization
- 2500 BCE: Construction of the Pyramids
- 2500 BCE: Construction of Stonehenge
- 2000 BCE-900 CE: Mayan civilization
- 2000 BCE: Rise of the Hittite Empire
- 1894 BCE-539 BCE: Babylonian civilization
- 1600 BCE-1178 BCE: Hittite civilization
- 1600 BCE-1100 BCE: Mycenaean civilization
- 1600 BCE-1046 BCE: Shang dynasty of China
- 1200 BCE-539 BCE: Phoenician civilization
- 1200 BCE: Invention of the Alphabet
- 1200 BCE: Collapse of the Bronze Age civilizations
- 1046 BCE-256 BCE: Zhou dynasty of China
- 900 BCE-300 BCE: Etruscan civilization
- 814 BCE-146 BCE: Carthaginian civilization
- 800 BCE-146 BCE: Ancient Greek civilization
- 753 BCE-476 CE: Roman civilization
- 622 CE-1258 CE: Arab civilization
- 550 BCE-330 BCE: Persian civilization
- 509 BCE-27 BCE: Roman Republic
- 508 BCE: Athenian democracy established
- 479 BCE: Persian Wars end
- 333 BCE: Alexander the Great defeats the Persian Empire
- 322 BCE-185 BCE Mauryan Empire of India
- 305 BCE-30 BCE: Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt
- 221 BCE-206 BCE: Qin dynasty of China
- 218 BCE – 201 BCE: Second Punic War between Rome and Carthage
- 206 BCE-220 CE: Han dynasty of China
- 200 BCE-650 CE: Teotihuacan civilization
- 30 BCE: Octavian becomes the first Roman Emperor, Caesar Augustus
- 64 CE: Great Fire of Rome
- 220 CE-280 CE Three Kingdoms period in China
- 312 CE: Conversion of Emperor Constantine to Christianity
- 320 CE-550 CE: Gupta Empire of India
- 330 CE-1453 CE: Byzantine Empire
- 330 CE-1453 CE: Eastern Roman Empire
- 476 CE-476 CE: Western Roman Empire
- 581 CE-618 CE: Sui dynasty of China
- 618 CE-907 CE: Tang dynasty of China
- 622 CE: Hijra, beginning of the Islamic calendar
- 622 CE-1258 CE: Arab civilization
- 793 CE-1066 CE: Viking civilization
- 800 CE: Coronation of Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor
- 800 CE-1431 CE: Khmer Empire
- 960 CE-1279 CE: Song dynasty of China
- 1066 CE: Battle of Hastings, Norman Conquest of England
- 1096 CE: First Crusade begins
- 1206 CE-1227 CE: Mongol Empire under Genghis Khan
- 1206 CE-1368 CE: Mongol Empire
- 1206 CE-1526 CE: Delhi Sultanate of India
- 1215 CE: Magna Carta signed in England
- 1279 CE-1368 CE: Yuan dynasty of China
- 1299 CE-1923 CE: Ottoman Empire
- 1325 CE-1521 CE: Aztec civilization
- 1336 CE-1646 CE: Vijayanagara Empire of India
- 1348 CE: Black Death arrives in Europe
- 1368 CE-1644 CE: Ming dynasty of China
- 1438 CE-1532 CE: Inca civilization
- 1492 CE: Columbus’s first voyage to the Americas
- 1492 CE-1975 CE: Spanish Empire
- 1501 CE-1736 CE: Safavid Empire
- 1517 CE: Martin Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses spark the Protestant Reformation
- 1526 CE-1857 CE: Mughal Empire of India
- 1581 CE-1795 CE: Dutch Republic
- 1583 CE-1997 CE: British Empire
- 1600 CE-1868 CE: Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan
- 1607 CE: Founding of Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North America
- 1618-1648 CE: Thirty Years’ War in Europe
- 1644 CE-1912 CE: Qing dynasty of China
- 1687 CE: Newton publishes Principia Mathematica
- 1721 CE-1917 CE: Russian Empire
- 1754-1763 CE: French and Indian War in North America
- 1776 CE: American Declaration of Independence
- 1787 CE: United States Constitution ratified
- 1793 CE: Reign of Terror in France
- 1804 CE: Napoleon becomes Emperor of France
- 1804 CE-1814 CE: French Empire
- 1830 CE: Indian Removal Act signed by President Andrew Jackson
- 1838 – 1839 CE: The Trail of Tears
- 1839 CE: Opium War between China and Great Britain
- 1848 CE: Revolutions throughout Europe
- 1861 CE: American Civil War begins
- 1869 CE: Completion of the Transcontinental Railroad in the United States
- 1914 – 1918 CE: World War I
- 1917 CE: United States enters World War I
- 1929 CE: Stock Market Crash leads to the Great Depression
- 1933 CE: Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany
- 1939 – 1945 CE: World War II
- 1945 CE: United Nations founded
- 1947 CE: India and Pakistan gain independence
- 1948 CE: State of Israel established
- 1950-1953 CE: Korean War
- 1954 CE: Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision in the United States
- 1955 CE: Montgomery Bus Boycott in the United States
- 1956 CE: Suez Crisis
- 1957 CE: Ghana gains independence, beginning of decolonization of Africa
- 1961 CE: Construction of the Berlin Wall
- 1962 CE: Cuban Missile Crisis
- 1963 CE: March on Washington and “I Have a Dream” speech by Martin Luther King Jr. in the United States
- 1964 CE: Civil Rights Act signed into law in the United States
- 1967 CE: Six-Day War in the Middle East
- 1969 CE: Apollo 11 moon landing
- 1971 CE: End of the Bretton Woods system
- 1972 CE: Watergate scandal in the United States
- 1973 CE: Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision in the United States
- 1975 CE: End of the Vietnam War
- 1979 CE: Iranian Revolution
- 1986 CE: Chernobyl nuclear disaster
- 1990 CE: Reunification of Germany
- 1991 CE: Gulf War
- 1994 CE: Genocide in Rwanda
- 1995 CE: Oklahoma City bombing in the United States
- 1997 CE: Hong Kong transferred to China
- 1999 CE: Euro currency introduced
- 2003 CE: Invasion of Iraq
- 2004 CE: Indian Ocean tsunami
- 2005 CE: Hurricane Katrina in the United States
- 2007 CE: Global financial crisis begins
- 2013 CE: Edward Snowden leaks U.S. government surveillance information
- 2014 CE: Ebola outbreak in West Africa
- 2015 CE: Paris climate agreement signed
- 2016 CE: Brexit referendum in the United Kingdom
- 2019 CE: Notre Dame Cathedral fire in Paris
- 2020 CE: COVID-19 pandemic begins
Summary
The timeline of the universe and Earth’s history offers a fascinating look into the evolution of our planet and the universe as a whole. From the Big Bang to the emergence of complex life, this timeline highlights the most significant events in our planet’s history, showcasing the incredible journey that our world has taken. It reveals how Earth has transformed over billions of years, and it offers a glimpse into how our planet will continue to change in the future, making this timeline a must-read for anyone interested in the universe and the history of our world.