Asia for Educators
Timeline of Asia in World History
An initiative of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute of Columbia University
FOR ALL STUDENTS & EDUCATORS
Index of Topics for All Time Periods
Earliest times to 4000 BCE
China
Japan
Korea
Vietnam & SE Asia
South Asia
Early Humans
Neolithic Period (Yangshao)
Paleolithic and
Neolithic Periods (Jomon)
Neolithic Period
Neolithic Period
Mesolithic and Neolithic Period;
Indus / Early Harappan
4000 to 1000 BCE
China
Japan
Korea
Vietnam & SE Asia
South Asia
Neolithic Period
Xia, Shang, Zhou
Oracle Bones/Writing
Divination
Bronze Casting
Women: Childbearing
Warfare
Bronzes and Jades
Neolithic Period (Jomon)
Origin Myths in the
Kojiki
and
Nihon Shoki
Shinto
Neolithic Period
Origin Myths
Neolithic Period
and Bronze Age
Neolithic Period;
Indus/Early Harappan
Harappan/Vedic Period
The Indus Script
The Divine World
Sculpture and Figurines
300 to 600 CE
China
Japan
Korea
Vietnam & SE Asia
South Asia
Period of Disunity
Spread of Buddhism
Women: Ballad of Mulan
Literature: Wan Can,
Tao Qian
Kofun (Tomb) Period
Asuka Period
Buddhism Reaches Japan
Three Kingdoms Period:
Koguro, Paekche, Silla
Buddhism Reaches Korea
Sondok, Silla Queen
Bronze Age and Iron Age
(Chinese Rule Continues in Viet Regions)
Buddhism and Hinduism
in Mainland Southeast Asia
Gupta Empire
Buddhism
The Puranas
Gupta Buddhist Sculpture
and Hindu Temples
600 to 1000 CE
China
Japan
Korea
Vietnam & SE Asia
South Asia
Silk Road; Xuanzang's
Pilgrimage to India
Spread of Buddhism;
Buddhism in China
Islam in China
Scholar-Officials
Rulership, Laws, Taxes
Silk, Paper, Porcelain
Poetry about War
Silk Road Trade; Slavery
Women and Family
Tang Poets:
Wang Wei, Li Bo, Du Fu
Journey to the West
(Tale of Monkey)
Cave Paintings; Calligraphy; Music
Asuka Period
Nara Period, Heian Period
Hiragana, Katakana, Kanji
Buddhism in Japan
Japanese Missions
to Tang China;
Prince Shôtoku's Constitution
Waka (Tanka) Poetry
The Tale of Genji
Folk Tales
Emaki (Picture Scrolls)
Unified Silla; Koryô
Injunctions of King T'aejo
Mechanical Toys
Two Silla Queens:
Sondok and Chindok
Oral Poetry of Silla
Chinese Rule Continues
under Tang Dynasty
Chữ Nôm
Cao Vuong
Powerful Regional States
Islam Enters India
Chola Bronzes
1000 BCE to 300 CE
China
Japan
Korea
Vietnam & SE Asia
South Asia
Zhou and Warring States
Qin Unification
Han Consolidation; The Silk Road
Language / Caligraphy
Confucianism, Daoism
Mecius, Legalism
Silk, Paper, Porcelain
Warfare
Agriculture, Foreign Relations
Women and Family
Classic of Odes
Neolithic Period (Jomon)
Yayoi, the People of Wa
Origin Myths in the
Kojiki
and
Nihon Shoki
Shinto
Pimiko, Queen of Wa
Bronze Age (Old Choson), Iron Age (Conquest by Chinese Han Dynasty)
Early Three Kingdoms / Silla
Origin Myths
Bronze Age and Iron Age (Dongson; Conquest by Chinese Han Dynasty)
Si Vuong (Shi Xie)
Women Warriors (The Tru'ng Sisters)
Vedic Period / Indo-Gangetic; Nanda
Mauryan, Kushan, Shunga
Early Hinduism
Early Buddhism
Early Jainism
Global Trade
Mahabharata, Ramayana
1000 to 1450
China
Japan
Korea
Vietnam & SE Asia
South Asia
Song, Liao, Jin
Yuan: Mongols
Marco Polo
Ming
Neo-Confucianism
Neo-Confucian Reform
China under Khubilai Khan
Ming Promotion
of Social Order
"Rainbow Bridge"
Astronomy
Military Technology
Agriculture;
Growth of Cities
Ming Voyages
Homes and Gardens
Women
Literature: Yue Fei,
Sima Guang,
Su Shi, Li Qingzhao
Painting, Calligraphy Ceramics
Late Heian Period
Kamakura, Muromachi
Mongol Naval Campaigns
New Buddhist Sects
Order during
Political Transition
The Tale of the Heike
An Account of My Hut,
by Chômei
Kenkô's Essays in Idleness
Noh and Kyôgen
Scroll Painting
Koryô
Chosôn; King Sejong
Hangul, the Korean Script
Neo-Confucian
Anti-Buddhism
Chosôn Land Reform
Printing Technology
Slave Status
Koryô and Chosôn Ceramics
End of Chinese rule;
Ly and Tran dominate
Religious Poetry
of Tran Ming Tong
Powerful Regional States
Development of Urdu
Islam in Northern India
Bhakti Poets
1450 to 1750
China
Japan
Korea
Vietnam & SE Asia
South Asia
Ming, Qing
Ming Neo-Confucianism
Moral Instruction
Christianity Enters China
Qing Government
Astronomy
Advanced Economy;
Silver Trade
Homes and Gardens
Women
Qing Literature
Painting
Muromachi
Momoyama, Edo
Edicts of the
Tokugawa Shogunate
Japanese-Dutch Trade
Social Hierarchy in Tokugawa Society:
Samurai, Merchants
Women
Comic Prose, Verse
Matsuo Bashô
Bunraku; Kabuki
Cultivated Samurai
Chanoyu (Tea Ceremony)
Kano, Rinpa, Ukiyo-e
Chosôn
Admiral Yi Sun-Shin
Slavery; Genealogy
Neo-Confucian Reforms
Women
Vietnam's
Independent Period
Mac Scholar-Officials
Lê Defends Itself
against Champa
Deccan Sultanates;
Mughal Dynasty
Sikhism;
Akbar's Universal Religion
Bhakti Poets
Women
Taj Mahal;
Mughal Court Painting
1750 to 1919
China
Japan
Korea
Vietnam & SE Asia
South Asia
Qing
"Self-Strengthening"
Radical Social Reform
May Fourth Movement
Taiping Rebellion
Internal Crisis; Famine
Reform to Revolution
Sino-Japanese War
China and Europe
China and the U.S.
Homes and Gardens
Western Views
of Chinese Women
Painting
Edo, Meiji
Reflections on
Japan's Modernization
Meiji Charter Oath
and Constitution
Sino-Japanese War
Russo-Japanese War
Japanese-Dutch Trade
Commodore Perry
Codes of
Merchant Houses
Food and Identity
Natsume Sôseki
and the "I" Novel
Silent Films
Ukiyo-e; Japonisme
Chosôn
Japanese Rule
Chosôn Reformers
Reactions to the West
Tonghak Uprising
Contact with
U.S. and Europe
Queen Min
Nguyen Unites Vietnam
French Rule
Family vs. Nation:
Hoang Cao Khai
and Phan Dinh Phung
Nguyen Court's
Examination System
Economy of the South
during the Rule
of Trinh and Nguyen, 1770s
Mughal Dynasty;
British Rule
South Asian Diaspora
Women
Court Painting;
"Company" Painting
1900 to 1950
China
Japan
Korea
Vietnam & SE Asia
South Asia
Republic of China
May Fourth Movement
Mao Zedong and
the Chinese Revolution
Rebuilding China
Communism in China
Second Sino-Japanese War
(1937-1945)
Mao Zedong on Warfare
Women during
the Republican Era
Raising Children
Farmers and
the Chinese Revolution
Literature:
Lu Xun, Mao Dun
Graphic Arts
Meiji, Taisho, Showa
Nationalism
and Propaganda
Russo-Japanese War
World War I
World War II
Japanese American
Internment
The Atomic Bomb
American Occupation
Shiseido: Changing Ideals
of Feminine Beauty
Akutagawa Ryunosuke
Silent Films
Japanese Rule
Korean Communist Party
Stories about
the Colonial Experience
"Comfort Women"
French Rule
1945 Declaration
of Independence
Striving for Modernity:
The Haircut
New Generation of Poets
British Rule
Independence
and Partition
South Asian Diaspora
1950 to 2000
China
Japan
Korea
Vietnam & SE Asia
South Asia
People's Republic of China
"Hundred Flowers" Period
Land Reform,
Socialized Agriculture,
The Great Leap Forward
Cultural Revolution
Socialism and Democracy
after Mao Zedong
Tiananmen Square
Demonstrations
Religion in China Today
Political System
since 1949
Foreign Policy
U.S.-China Relations
Population Trends
Autobiographies about Life in China after 1949
Graphic Arts
Showa, Heisei
Government and Politics
Postwar Military Policy
Japan and the World
after World War II
Japan's Economy,
Postwar and Beyond
The New Middle Class
Kawabata Yasunari
Korean War and
the Division of Korea
Korea in the 21st Century
Christianity
Postwar South Korea
Kim Dae-Jung
Kim Ilsông
and North Korea
Security on the
Korean Peninsula
Korean Immigrants
in the U.S.
Political Satire
Vietnam War
Socialist Republic
of Vietnam
Entrepreneurial Families
Republic of India
Islamic Republic
of Pakistan
India's Democracy
South Asian Diaspora
Village Life
in Northern India
Traditional Arts
21st Century
China
Japan
Korea
Vietnam & SE Asia
South Asia
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