3114 BC (August 11th) - Start of the Mayan Calendar Mayan Calendar 

2700 BC - Egyptians create the 365 day calendar

2550 BC - The Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt is built

1000 BC - Chinese create gunpowder

753  BC - Legend states that Rome is created by Romulus

750  BC - Homer writes the Iliad and the Odyssey

500  BC - Chinese philosopher Confucius preaches about morality, the family, and politics

438  BC - The Parthenon is finished by Ictinus and Callicrates in Athen's Acropolis 

432  BC - The Peloponnesian Wars, which  pit Sparta against Athens begin 

429  BC - Plague kills over one-third of the population of Athens

429  BC - Hippocrates, the Greek physician, pioneers the field of modern medicine 

399  BC - The Greek philosopher Socrates is condemned for undermining tradition and corrupting the youth in 399 B.C.

356  BC - The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, is destroyed by fire

354  BC - The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, tomb of King Mausolus and one of the Seven Wonders of the World, is built

347  BC - The Greek philosopher Plato establishes the Academy

336  BC - King Philip of Macedon is assassinated, his son who will be known as Alexander the Great succeeds him

323  BC - Alexander the Great dies 

312  BC - Rome's first aqueduct is finished, providing pure drinking water for the city

285  BC - The Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the Seven Wonders of the World,  is completed by Sostratus of Cnidus

280  BC - The Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, is finished by the sculptor Chares of Lindus

264  BC - The first Punic War between Rome and Carthage begins

218  BC - The second Punic War between Rome and Carthage occurs

202  BC - The second Punic War ends when Roman commander Scipio Africanus defeats forces led by the Carthaginian general Hannibal.

214  BC - Construction of the 2,500-mile long Great Wall of China begins 

183  BC - Hannibal, the great Carthaginian general, commits suicide

168  BC - Syria's Antiochus IV Epiphanes outlaws Judaism, launches an attack against the Great Temple in Jerusalem

165  BC - Judah Maccabaeus and his brothers wrest Jerusalem from Syria. They cleanse the Great Temple, destroy idols, and restore Judaism.

149  BC - The third Punic War begins when a Roman army invades the North African city of Carthage.

73   BC - Rome's third Servile War begins under the famous gladiator Spartacus, who takes control of Mount Vesuvius.

58   BC - Julius Caesar invades Gaul

44   BC - Julius Caesar is made Dictator for life. He is assassinated on March 15 of the same year

36   BC - Marc Antony, marries Cleopatra of Egypt despite the fact that he is still married to Octavian's sister

31   BC - Octavian's forces defeat armies under Marc Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium

30   BC - Marc Antony commits suicide after hearing a false report that Cleopatra has done the same

27   BC - The Roman Empire that rules until the late fifth century is founded by Octavian, who rules as Augustus Caesar

6    BC - Jesus of Nazareth is born

33   AD - Jesus of Nazareth is crucified

120  AD - Hadrian begins construction on the famous "Hadrian's Wall" in northern England

570  AD - Muhammed is born

632  AD - Muhammed dies

1431 AD - Joan of Arc is burned at the stake

1492 AD - Christopher Columbus lands in the Bahamas, believing them to be India

1505 AD - Juan Bermudez discovers the island that is later named 'Bermuda'

1513 AD - Ponce de Leon claims Florida for Spain while looking for a legendary 'Fountain of Youth'

1521 AD - Hernando Cortez conquers the Aztec empire

1531 AD - Francisco Pizarro invades Peru and conquers the Incan Empire

1607 AD -  

1629 AD - Naumkeag, later called Salem is founded to accept the first wave of 1,000 Puritan settlers

1775 AD - (June 17th) The British sustain heavy losses in the Battle of Bunker Hill before forcing a rebel retreat

1776 AD - (January) Thomas Paine publishes 'Common Sense'

1776 AD - (July 4th) The 'Declaration of Independence' is formerly adopted by Congress

1776 AD - (December 25th) Washington crosses the Delaware River for a successful attack against the British at Trenton

1781 AD - (October 19th) - Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown, ending British hopes of victory in America

1783 AD - The Treaty of Paris is signed, marking the end of the Revolutionary War

1804 AD - Napoleon is crowned Emperor of France

1809 AD - Edgar Allen Poe is born

1815 AD - (June 18) Napoleon is defeated at Waterloo

1859 AD - Charles Darwin publishes 'The Origin of Species'

1864 AD - (April 14th) Abraham Lincoln is shot and killed in the Ford's Theater by John Wilkes Booth

1864 AD - (April 26th) John Wilkes Booth is cornered and shot dead

1876 AD - General George Custer is defeated in the Battle of Little Bighorn 

1903 AD - Orville and Wilbur fly the first plane 

1905 AD - Albert Einstein publishes his Theory of Relativity 

1912 AD - The 'unsinkable' Titanic sinks after hitting an iceberg, killing 1500 people

1932 AD - Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to make a solo transatlantic flight 

1968 AD - (April 4th) Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr is assassinated 

1969 AD - (March 10th) James Earl Ray pleads guilty to the assassination of Martin Luther King as is sentenced to 99 years in prison

1969 AD - (March 28th) Dwight D Eisenhower (34th President) dies of heart failure 

1969 AD - (July 20th, 10:56Pm EDT)) Neil Armstrong steps onto the lunar surface, becoming the first man to walk on the moon

1972 AD - (May, 2nd) J. Edgar Hoover, director and founder of the FBI dies

1972 AD - (September 11th) 11 Israeli athletes are killed by Arab terrorists at the Summer Olympics in Munich 

1975 AD - (July 31st) Former President of the Teamsters Union, Jimmy Hoffa is reported missing

1980 AD - (May 18th) Mount St Helens in southwestern Washington erupts, killing at least 26 people