👑 Empires, rulers, faiths, languages and culture
The Roman and Mongol empires and their rulers, Japan’s path to a modern state, where the world’s great faiths began, the languages and scripts of the ancient world, and landmarks of art and literature.
🏛 Rome: an empire across three continents
From the first emperor to a divided, Christianised empire.
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27 BCE
Augustus and the Principate
The regime established by Augustus, the first emperor, was called the ‘Principate’.
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79 CE
Pompeii and the Colosseum
Pompeii was buried in a volcanic eruption; the Colosseum, where gladiators fought wild beasts, was built the same year.
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Fourth century CE
Constantine and Constantinople
Constantine became emperor and established the city of Constantinople; after he became a Christian the empire was substantially Christianised, and it was divided into eastern and western halves.
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Latin and Greek
Latin was the main language of the empire, though many in the east continued to use Greek.
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800
Charlemagne crowned
Charlemagne, king of the Franks, was crowned Holy Roman Emperor.
🐎 The Mongols
The empire built by Genghis Khan and his successors.
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c. 1162
The birth of Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan was born near the Onon river in the north of present-day Mongolia.
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1206
The quriltai of 1206
Before the assembly of 1206, Genghis Khan reorganised the Mongols into a disciplined military force; the yasa, his code of law, is said to have been promulgated there.
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1215
Peking sacked
The Great Wall of China was breached in 1213 and Peking sacked in 1215.
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1227
Death of Genghis Khan
He died having spent most of his life in military combat.
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1260
Qubilai Khan in Peking
Qubilai Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, became Grand Khan in Peking; China was conquered by 1279, and the Yuan dynasty ended in 1368.
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1370–1405
Timur
Timur, a Barlas Turk who claimed descent from Genghis Khan, ruled; his descendant Babur later founded the Mughal empire in India.
⛩ Japan and China: paths to modernisation
From the shoguns to a modern nation-state.
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1603–1867
The Tokugawa shoguns
Members of the Tokugawa family held the position of shogun.
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1853
Commodore Perry
The USA sent Commodore Matthew Perry to Japan to demand a treaty to open trade and diplomatic relations.
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1868
The Meiji Restoration
A movement removed the shogun from power and brought the Emperor to Edo; Japan built a modern nation-state and an industrial economy.
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1894 and 1905
Japan defeats China and Russia
Japan defeated China in 1894 and Russia, a European power, in 1905, and incorporated Taiwan (1895) and Korea (1910).
🕊 Where great faiths began
As NCERT’s world history records them.
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c. 551 BCE
Confucius
The Chinese philosopher Confucius.
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Jainism and Buddhism spread
NCERT’s world timeline records cities and states, the first coins, and the spread of Jainism and Buddhism in the subcontinent before the Mauryan empire.
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Early 1st century CE
Christianity
Christianity originated in Palestine in the early first century CE; Jesus Christ lived in Judaea, a province of the Roman Empire. It reached Axum in 330.
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594
Buddhism reaches Japan
Buddhism was introduced in Japan.
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Seventh century CE
Islam
Islam originated in the seventh century CE; the Prophet Muhammad went to Medina in 622, the beginning of the Hijri era.
🔤 Languages and scripts of the ancient world
The first written languages and the scripts that carried them.
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Before c. 2400 BCE
Sumerian and Akkadian
The first known language of Mesopotamia was Sumerian, gradually replaced by Akkadian around 2400 BCE; Akkadian flourished till about Alexander’s time.
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After 1000 BCE
Aramaic
Aramaic, similar to Hebrew, trickled in from 1400 BCE, became widely spoken after 1000 BCE, and is still spoken in parts of Iraq.
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Hieroglyphs and papyrus
Egypt developed a hieroglyphic script and wrote on papyrus, a reed that grew along the Nile.
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Shang China
Cities, writing and kingdoms appeared in China under the Shang dynasty.
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Languages of the Roman world
Aramaic was dominant in the Near East, Coptic in Egypt, Punic and Berber in North Africa, Celtic in Spain and the north-west; many were oral until a script was invented for them.
🎭 Landmarks of art and literature
Buildings, books and theatre that still speak to us.
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The pyramids of Egypt
NCERT’s world timeline lists Egypt’s first kingdoms, cities, pyramids and calendar among the early developments of Africa.
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1388
The Canterbury Tales
Geoffrey Chaucer wrote one of the earliest compositions in English.
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1564–1616
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare, dramatist in England.
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1586
Kabuki theatre
The first Kabuki play was staged in Japan.
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1605
Don Quixote
One of the first novels, written in Spanish.
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1632–53
The Taj Mahal
Built in India in the Mughal period.
How we check: every entry is from an NCERT world-history textbook; our build fails unless its key phrases are found in the chapter itself. Faiths are described only by when and where they began, as NCERT gives it.