360The world since 1666, 60 words at a time
The major events of the past 360 years, by century, decade and moment. Each one is told in 60 words, with the full story in 360 words or fewer.
21st century
- 2000–26Century overview
The 21st century so far: smartphones, Vision 2030 and AI
In the 21st century, smartphones and social media put the internet in billions of pockets, and artificial intelligence began to change everyday work. Saudi Arabia launched Vision 2030 in 2016, opening to tourism and investment and winning Expo 2030 and the 2034 FIFA World Cup. The world also faced a global pandemic.
- 2024Event
Saudi Arabia is confirmed as host of the 2034 World Cup
On 11 December 2024, FIFA's Congress confirmed Saudi Arabia as host of the 2034 FIFA World Cup, the world's most watched sporting event. It will be the first men's World Cup hosted by Saudi Arabia, with matches planned in cities including Riyadh, Jeddah, Al Khobar, Abha and NEOM.
- 2023Event
Riyadh wins the right to host Expo 2030
On 28 November 2023, member states of the Bureau International des Expositions voted in Paris to award World Expo 2030 to Riyadh. The Saudi capital won 119 votes, far ahead of Busan and Rome. Expo 2030 Riyadh will run from October 2030 to March 2031, welcoming visitors from around the world.
- 2023Event
Saudi astronauts Rayyanah Barnawi and Ali AlQarni fly to the space station
On 21 May 2023, Saudi astronauts Rayyanah Barnawi and Ali AlQarni launched from Florida on the Ax-2 mission and became the first Saudis to visit the International Space Station. Barnawi, a biomedical researcher, became the first Saudi woman in space. During about eight days on the station, they carried out 14 scientific experiments.
- 2022Event
The world's population reaches eight billion
The United Nations marked 15 November 2022 as the day the world's population reached eight billion people. It had grown from seven billion in about 11 years, thanks to longer lives, better health care and lower child mortality. Growth is now slowing, and the UN expects the population to peak at around 10.3 billion in the mid-2080s.
- 2021Event
The James Webb Space Telescope is launched
On 25 December 2021, an Ariane 5 rocket launched the James Webb Space Telescope from Kourou, French Guiana. Built by NASA with the European and Canadian space agencies, it unfolded a 6.5 m gold-coated mirror on its way to a point 1.5 million km from Earth. Its first images, in July 2022, showed the early universe in astonishing detail.
- 2020sDecade
The 2020s so far: the pandemic, AI and Riyadh's global stage
The decade opened with the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccines developed in record time. Saudi Arabia hosted the G20 summit in 2020, celebrated its first Founding Day in 2022, won Expo 2030 and was confirmed as host of the 2034 World Cup. The James Webb telescope and AI chatbots marked new eras in science and technology.
- 2019Event
Astronomers reveal the first picture of a black hole
On 10 April 2019, the Event Horizon Telescope team released the first image of a black hole: a glowing ring around a dark shadow at the centre of the galaxy M87, about 55 million light-years away. It is about 6.5 billion times the mass of the Sun. Eight radio observatories worked together as one Earth-sized telescope.
- 2019Event
Saudi Arabia opens its doors to tourists from around the world
On 27 September 2019, Saudi Arabia launched tourist visas for the first time, letting visitors from 49 countries apply online or on arrival. As part of Vision 2030, the Kingdom invited the world to discover its heritage sites, such as AlUla and Diriyah, its Red Sea coast and its cities. Tourism has since become one of its fastest-growing industries.
- 2016Event
Saudi Arabia launches Vision 2030
On 25 April 2016, Saudi Arabia announced Vision 2030, a national plan led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to diversify the economy beyond oil. It aims for a vibrant society, a thriving economy and an ambitious nation. Since then, the Kingdom has opened to tourism, expanded entertainment and sport, and launched giga-projects.
- 2015Event
Nearly every nation agrees the Paris climate agreement
On 12 December 2015, at the COP21 climate conference near Paris, 196 parties agreed to limit global warming to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, and to try to keep it to 1.5°C. Each country sets its own plan to cut emissions and updates it every five years. The agreement came into force in November 2016.
- 2012Event
CERN announces the discovery of the Higgs boson
On 4 July 2012, scientists at CERN, near Geneva, announced that two experiments at the Large Hadron Collider had found a new particle matching the Higgs boson. Predicted in 1964, the particle helps explain why other basic particles have mass. Peter Higgs and François Englert shared the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics.
- 2010sDecade
The 2010s: Vision 2030 and a changing Kingdom
King Salman began his reign in 2015, and in 2016 Saudi Arabia launched Vision 2030 to diversify its economy. Women began driving in 2018, and tourist visas were introduced in 2019. Worldwide, scientists found the Higgs boson, photographed a black hole, and nations signed the Paris climate agreement.
- 2010Event
The Burj Khalifa opens as the world's tallest building
On 4 January 2010, the Burj Khalifa opened in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. At 828 m, it became the world's tallest building by a wide margin, more than 300 m taller than the previous record holder. Designed by the architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, it has more than 160 floors and became a symbol of the city.
- 2007Event
The iPhone is unveiled and the smartphone age begins
On 9 January 2007, Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone, combining a phone, a music player and an internet device with a large touchscreen. It went on sale that June. With Android phones following in 2008, smartphones became the main way most people use the internet, changing how the world communicates, shops and works.
- 2003Event
Scientists complete the Human Genome Project
On 14 April 2003, scientists announced the completion of the Human Genome Project, a 13-year international effort to read the roughly 3 billion letters of human DNA. It found that people have only about 20,000 genes. The map has transformed medicine, and reading a genome now costs a tiny fraction of the original price.
- 2000sDecade
The 2000s: the human genome and the smartphone
The Human Genome Project was completed in 2003. Social media and YouTube appeared, and the iPhone launched in 2007. King Abdullah began his reign in 2005, Saudi Arabia joined the World Trade Organization, and KAUST opened in 2009. A financial crisis in 2008 caused a global recession.
20th century
- 1900–99Century overview
The 20th century: flight, world wars and the digital age
The 20th century brought powered flight, two world wars, space travel and computers. King Abdulaziz unified the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932, and oil discovered in 1938 transformed it. Antibiotics and vaccines lengthened lives, people walked on the Moon, and the World Wide Web connected the world by the century's end.
- 1998Event
The first part of the International Space Station is launched
On 20 November 1998, a Russian Proton rocket launched Zarya from Baikonur, the first module of the International Space Station. Weeks later, a US shuttle attached the Unity module. The first crew moved in on 2 November 2000, and people have lived aboard ever since. Built by five space agencies, it is the largest structure in orbit.
- 1997Event
IBM's Deep Blue beats the world chess champion
On 11 May 1997, IBM's chess computer Deep Blue won the sixth and final game of a match against the world champion Garry Kasparov in New York, winning the match 3½ to 2½. It was the first time a computer had beaten a reigning world champion in a match under tournament conditions, a milestone for artificial intelligence.
- 1994Event
The Channel Tunnel opens between Britain and France
On 6 May 1994, Queen Elizabeth II and French President François Mitterrand opened the Channel Tunnel, linking Britain and France by rail under the sea. About 50 km long, with about 38 km under the seabed, it has the longest undersea section of any tunnel. Eurostar trains now link London and Paris in about two and a quarter hours.
- 1990sDecade
The 1990s: the World Wide Web goes public
The World Wide Web opened to the public, and by the decade's end millions were online. Saudi Arabia issued its Basic Law of Governance in 1992 and established the Shura Council. The Soviet Union dissolved, Nelson Mandela became South Africa's president, Dolly the sheep was cloned, and the euro was launched.
- 1990Event
The Hubble Space Telescope is launched
On 24 April 1990, the space shuttle Discovery carried the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit, and astronauts released it the next day. Above the blurring atmosphere, Hubble could see further and more sharply than telescopes on the ground. A flaw in its mirror was fixed by astronauts in 1993, and it has since made more than 1.5 million observations.
- 1990Event
Germany is reunified
On 3 October 1990, East and West Germany were reunited as one country, less than a year after the Berlin Wall fell. Germany had been divided since the end of the Second World War. Crowds celebrated in front of the Reichstag in Berlin. Germans now mark 3 October every year as the Day of German Unity.
- 1989Event
Tim Berners-Lee proposes the World Wide Web
In March 1989, the British scientist Tim Berners-Lee, working at CERN in Switzerland, proposed a system for sharing information using linked documents. It became the World Wide Web. The first website went online in 1991, and in 1993 CERN made the technology free for all, letting the web grow to billions of users.
- 1989Event
The Berlin Wall falls
On the night of 9 November 1989, East Germany opened its border crossings, and crowds poured through the Berlin Wall, which had divided the city since 1961. People celebrated on top of the wall and began chipping pieces away. Less than a year later, on 3 October 1990, Germany was reunified.
- 1987Event
The world agrees to protect the ozone layer
On 16 September 1987, countries signed the Montreal Protocol, agreeing to phase out chemicals that were destroying the ozone layer, which shields life from the Sun's harmful ultraviolet rays. It became the first UN treaty signed by every country in the world. The ozone layer is now slowly healing and is expected to recover by about 2066.
- 1985Event
Prince Sultan bin Salman becomes the first Arab in space
On 17 June 1985, Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz flew aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery, becoming the first Arab astronaut. During the seven-day mission, the crew deployed a communications satellite for Arabsat. The flight was a proud moment for Saudi Arabia, and he later led the Saudi Space Commission.
- 1981Event
IBM launches the Personal Computer
On 12 August 1981, IBM launched the IBM Personal Computer, model 5150, priced from $1,565. It used an Intel processor and Microsoft's operating system. Because its design was open, other companies could build compatible machines, and the 'PC' became the standard for business and home computing around the world.
- 1980sDecade
The 1980s: the first Arab in space and the personal computer
King Fahd began his reign in 1982, and in 1985 Prince Sultan bin Salman became the first Arab in space. The IBM PC brought computers into offices and homes, the space shuttle began flying, and in 1989 the Berlin Wall fell and Tim Berners-Lee proposed the World Wide Web.
- 1980Event
The world declares smallpox eradicated
On 8 May 1980, the World Health Assembly declared that smallpox had been wiped out worldwide. The disease had killed hundreds of millions of people over the centuries. A global vaccination campaign led by the World Health Organization tracked down the last cases. Smallpox remains the only human disease ever eradicated.
- 1977Event
NASA launches the two Voyager spacecraft
In August and September 1977, NASA launched Voyager 2 and Voyager 1 to explore the outer planets, using a rare alignment that occurs every 175 years. Together they visited Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Both have since entered interstellar space and are the most distant human-made objects. Each carries a golden record of sounds from Earth.
- 1973Event
The first call from a handheld mobile phone
On 3 April 1973, Martin Cooper, an engineer at Motorola, made the first public call from a handheld mobile phone, on a street in New York. He called a rival at Bell Labs. The prototype weighed about 1.1 kg and its battery lasted about 20 minutes. Ten years later, the first handheld mobile phone went on sale.
- 1971Event
Intel launches the first commercial microprocessor
On 15 November 1971, Intel advertised the 4004, the first commercially available microprocessor: a whole computer processor on a single chip, smaller than a fingernail. It held about 2,300 transistors and was designed for a Japanese calculator company, Busicom. Microprocessors went on to power personal computers, phones and countless devices.
- 1970sDecade
The 1970s: development plans and the first microchips
Saudi Arabia launched its first five-year development plan in 1970, building roads, ports, schools and industry. SABIC was founded in 1976. Elsewhere, the microprocessor and the first personal computers arrived, Concorde began supersonic passenger flights, and the world's first baby conceived by IVF was born in 1978.
- 1969Event
Humans walk on the Moon for the first time
On 20 July 1969, NASA's Apollo 11 landed on the Moon. Hours later, Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on its surface, followed by Buzz Aldrin, while Michael Collins orbited above. Hundreds of millions of people watched on television. The crew returned safely to Earth on 24 July, completing one of humanity's greatest journeys.
- 1968Event
Apollo 8 orbits the Moon and photographs 'Earthrise'
On 24 December 1968, Apollo 8 became the first crewed spacecraft to orbit the Moon. Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders were the first people to see the far side with their own eyes. Anders photographed the Earth rising over the lunar horizon. 'Earthrise' became one of the most famous photographs ever taken.
- 1967Event
Christiaan Barnard performs the first human heart transplant
On 3 December 1967, at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa, the surgeon Christiaan Barnard and his team transplanted a human heart for the first time. The patient, 53-year-old Louis Washkansky, lived for 18 days before dying of pneumonia. Today, thousands of heart transplants are performed every year.
- 1963Event
Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first woman in space
On 16 June 1963, the Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova launched aboard Vostok 6 and orbited the Earth 48 times in almost three days. A former textile factory worker and amateur parachutist, she was 26. Her call sign was 'Chaika', meaning seagull. She remains the only woman to have flown a space mission alone.
- 1962Event
Telstar relays the first live television across the Atlantic
On 10 July 1962, the satellite Telstar 1 was launched from Florida. Within weeks, it relayed the first live television pictures between the United States and Europe. Viewers saw each other's countries live for the first time. A pop instrumental named after it reached number one in Britain and America. Satellites now carry television and phone calls worldwide.
- 1961Event
Yuri Gagarin becomes the first person in space
On 12 April 1961, the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin orbited the Earth once in the spacecraft Vostok 1, becoming the first human in space. The flight lasted 108 minutes. As he lifted off, he said, 'Poyekhali!', meaning 'Let's go!' His journey opened the era of human spaceflight.
- 1960sDecade
The 1960s: the first astronaut and the Moon landing
Yuri Gagarin became the first person in space in 1961, and Apollo 11 landed on the Moon in 1969. Saudi Arabia co-founded OPEC in 1960, and King Faisal began his reign in 1964, launching major development and the Kingdom's first television service. Satellites began relaying television across oceans.
- 1957Event
Sputnik, the first satellite, starts the space age
On 4 October 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the world's first artificial satellite. The metal sphere, about 58 centimetres wide, orbited the Earth every 96 minutes, sending radio beeps that people around the world could hear. It started the space age and the space race.
- 1955Event
The Salk polio vaccine is declared safe and effective
On 12 April 1955, scientists announced that Jonas Salk's polio vaccine was safe and effective, after a trial involving about 1.8 million children in the United States. Polio had paralysed tens of thousands of children every year. Vaccination began at once. With Albert Sabin's oral vaccine and a global campaign, wild polio now survives in only two countries.
- 1953Event
The structure of DNA is revealed
On 25 April 1953, James Watson and Francis Crick published the double-helix structure of DNA in the journal Nature, using X-ray images made by Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins. The discovery explained how living things store and copy genetic information, and it opened the way to modern genetics and medicine.
- 1953Event
Hillary and Tenzing reach the summit of Everest
At about 11:30 on 29 May 1953, Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay, a Sherpa mountaineer from Nepal, became the first people known to stand on the summit of Mount Everest, the world's highest mountain. They were part of a British expedition led by John Hunt. The news reached London on the day of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation.
- 1950sDecade
The 1950s: DNA, Everest and the space age
In 1953, scientists revealed the double-helix structure of DNA, and climbers first reached the summit of Everest. King Saud succeeded King Abdulaziz that year. A polio vaccine was approved in 1955, and in 1957 the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the first artificial satellite, starting the space age.
- 1947Event
Bell Labs scientists build the first transistor
On 16 December 1947, John Bardeen and Walter Brattain, working in William Shockley's group at Bell Labs in New Jersey, built the first transistor, a tiny device that could amplify electrical signals. It replaced bulky vacuum tubes. Billions of transistors now fill every computer chip and phone, and the three men shared the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics.
- 1945Event
The United Nations is founded
On 24 October 1945, the United Nations came into existence, with 51 founding members, to maintain world peace and promote cooperation. Saudi Arabia was among the founding nations, and Prince Faisal bin Abdulaziz, later King Faisal, signed the UN Charter for the Kingdom. The UN now has 193 member states.
- 1940sDecade
The 1940s: the Second World War and the United Nations
The Second World War, the deadliest conflict in history, ended in 1945. Nations founded the United Nations that October to keep the peace. King Abdulaziz met President Roosevelt in 1945, and Saudi oil production grew. Penicillin became a mass-produced medicine, and the first electronic computers and the transistor were built.
- 1939Event
The Second World War
The Second World War began when Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939 and ended with Japan's surrender on 2 September 1945. Fought across Europe, Africa, Asia and the Pacific, it was the deadliest conflict in history, with an estimated 70 to 85 million deaths. Afterwards, nations founded the United Nations.
- 1938Event
Oil is discovered at Dammam No. 7
In March 1938, after years of searching, the Dammam No. 7 well in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province struck oil in commercial quantities. Six earlier wells had disappointed, but geologist Max Steineke urged the team to keep drilling. The discovery transformed the Kingdom's future, and the well later earned the name Bir Al-Khair, the Prosperity Well.
- 1932Event
King Abdulaziz unifies the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
On 23 September 1932, King Abdulaziz Al Saud proclaimed the unification of his lands under one name: the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The royal decree joined the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd and its dependencies into a single state. The day marked the end of three decades of unification and is celebrated every year as Saudi National Day.
- 1930Event
Uruguay hosts and wins the first FIFA World Cup
The first FIFA World Cup was played in Uruguay from 13 to 30 July 1930, with 13 national teams. France's Lucien Laurent scored the tournament's first goal. In the final at Montevideo's new Estadio Centenario, Uruguay beat Argentina 4–2. Nearly a century later, the World Cup is the most watched sporting event on Earth.
- 1930sDecade
The 1930s: hard times, a new kingdom and a world at war
The 1930s began in the Great Depression, as factories closed and millions lost their jobs worldwide. In 1932, King Abdulaziz unified the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and in 1938 oil was found at Dammam. New technology spread, from radio to the first television services. The decade ended when the Second World War began in September 1939.
- 1928Event
Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin
In September 1928, the Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming noticed that mould growing on a laboratory dish had killed the bacteria around it. He named the substance penicillin. In the 1940s, Howard Florey and Ernst Chain turned it into a medicine, the first widely used antibiotic, saving millions of lives.
- 1927Event
Charles Lindbergh flies solo across the Atlantic
On 20 and 21 May 1927, the American pilot Charles Lindbergh flew alone and non-stop from New York to Paris in the Spirit of St. Louis, a single-engine plane. The 5,800 km flight took 33 and a half hours. He won a $25,000 prize, and huge crowds greeted him. The flight inspired public enthusiasm for air travel.
- 1922Event
Howard Carter finds the tomb of Tutankhamun
On 4 November 1922, in Egypt's Valley of the Kings, workers for the archaeologist Howard Carter found a step cut into the rock. It led to the tomb of the young pharaoh Tutankhamun, hidden for more than 3,000 years. Inside were more than 5,000 objects, including his famous gold mask, now in the Grand Egyptian Museum.
- 1920sDecade
The 1920s: insulin, penicillin and the first television
The 1920s brought insulin to treat diabetes and, in 1928, the discovery of penicillin. John Logie Baird demonstrated television, Charles Lindbergh flew alone across the Atlantic, and films learned to talk. King Abdulaziz's realm grew into the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd. The decade ended with the Wall Street Crash.
- 1914Event
The First World War begins
After the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary in June 1914, a chain of alliances drew Europe's great powers into war. The First World War lasted until 11 November 1918 and killed around 20 million people. It reshaped the world's map and led to the League of Nations.
- 1914Event
The Panama Canal opens between the Atlantic and Pacific
On 15 August 1914, the cargo ship SS Ancon made the first official passage through the Panama Canal. The 82 km canal across the Isthmus of Panama joined the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, using giant locks to lift ships over the land. It cut the sea journey from New York to San Francisco by about 13,000 km.
- 1912Event
The Titanic sinks on its first voyage
In the early hours of 15 April 1912, the RMS Titanic, then the largest ship in the world, sank in the North Atlantic after hitting an iceberg on its first voyage from Southampton to New York. More than 1,500 people died. The disaster led to major new rules for safety at sea.
- 1911Event
Amundsen's team becomes the first to reach the South Pole
On 14 December 1911, the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen and four companions became the first people to reach the South Pole. They travelled on skis with dog sledges and planted the Norwegian flag. A British team led by Robert Falcon Scott arrived five weeks later and found the tent Amundsen had left. Scott's party died on the return.
- 1910sDecade
The 1910s: the Titanic, the First World War and a deadly flu
The Titanic sank on its first voyage in 1912. The First World War, from 1914 to 1918, killed around 20 million people. Henry Ford's moving assembly line changed manufacturing, the Panama Canal opened, Einstein published general relativity, and a flu pandemic swept the world from 1918.
- 1908Event
Ford launches the Model T, the car for the many
On 1 October 1908, the Ford Motor Company in Detroit began selling the Model T, a simple, tough car priced at $850. In 1913, Henry Ford introduced the moving assembly line, which cut production time and prices sharply. More than 15 million Model Ts were built by 1927, putting much of America on wheels.
- 1905Event
Einstein's 'miracle year' transforms physics
In 1905, Albert Einstein, a 26-year-old clerk at the patent office in Bern, Switzerland, published four papers that changed physics. They explained light as particles, proved atoms exist, set out special relativity and introduced E = mc², showing that mass and energy are equivalent. 1905 became known as his 'miracle year'.
- 1903Event
The Wright brothers make the first powered flight
On 17 December 1903, at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Orville Wright flew the Wright Flyer for 12 seconds and 37 metres, the first controlled, sustained flight of a powered aeroplane. By the end of the day, his brother Wilbur had flown 260 metres in 59 seconds. Aviation was born.
- 1902Event
Abdulaziz recovers Riyadh
On 15 January 1902, the young Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman Al Saud and a small band of companions recovered Riyadh, the capital of his forefathers. It was the first step in three decades of unification that led to the proclamation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932.
- 1901Event
The first Nobel Prizes are awarded
On 10 December 1901, five years after the death of the Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel, the first Nobel Prizes were awarded, as his will had asked. Wilhelm Röntgen won physics for discovering X-rays. Prizes also went to chemistry, medicine, literature and peace. They are still presented every year on 10 December.
- 1901Event
Marconi receives the first radio signal across the Atlantic
On 12 December 1901, at Signal Hill in Newfoundland, Guglielmo Marconi heard three faint clicks through his earphone: the Morse code letter S, sent by radio from Poldhu in Cornwall, England, about 3,500 km away. It showed that radio waves could cross an ocean, and it began the age of long-distance wireless communication.
- 1900sDecade
The 1900s: Riyadh recovered and the first powered flight
In 1902, the young Abdulaziz Al Saud recovered Riyadh, beginning the journey that created the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In 1903, the Wright brothers made the first powered aeroplane flight. Albert Einstein published his theory of relativity in 1905, and Henry Ford's Model T brought cars to ordinary families.
19th century
- 1800–99Century overview
The 19th century: railways, electricity and the modern world
The 19th century built the modern world. Railways and steamships shrank distances, the telegraph and telephone carried messages in moments, and electric light began to replace flames. Medicine discovered germs and anaesthesia. In 1824, Imam Turki bin Abdullah founded the Second Saudi State with Riyadh as its capital.
- 1898Event
Marie and Pierre Curie discover polonium and radium
In 1898, Marie and Pierre Curie discovered two new radioactive elements in Paris: polonium in July, named after Marie's homeland Poland, and radium in December. Marie Curie coined the word 'radioactivity'. She became the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, in 1903, and the only person to win Nobel Prizes in two sciences.
- 1896Event
The first modern Olympic Games open in Athens
In April 1896, the first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens, revived by the French educator Pierre de Coubertin. About 240 athletes from 14 countries competed in 43 events. The Olympics have since grown into the world's largest sporting event, held every four years.
- 1895Event
Wilhelm Röntgen discovers X-rays
On 8 November 1895, the German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen discovered a new kind of invisible ray that could pass through the human body and show the bones inside. He called them X-rays. Within months, doctors were using them, and in 1901 Röntgen received the first Nobel Prize in Physics.
- 1895Event
The Lumière brothers hold the first public cinema show
On 28 December 1895, Auguste and Louis Lumière showed ten short films to a paying audience in a basement room of the Grand Café in Paris. Their cinématographe both filmed and projected moving pictures. Each film lasted under a minute, showing scenes such as workers leaving a factory. It is often called the birth of cinema.
- 1890sDecade
The 1890s: X-rays, cinema and the Olympic Games reborn
In 1895, Wilhelm Röntgen discovered X-rays and the Lumière brothers screened the first films to a paying audience. Guglielmo Marconi pioneered radio, Marie and Pierre Curie discovered radium, and the first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens in 1896.
- 1889Event
The Eiffel Tower is completed in Paris
On 31 March 1889, the engineer Gustave Eiffel climbed to the top of his new iron tower in Paris and raised the French flag. Built for the World's Fair marking the centenary of the French Revolution, it stood about 300 m high, the tallest structure on Earth. Many artists called it ugly. It became the symbol of Paris.
- 1886Event
Karl Benz patents the first practical motor car
On 29 January 1886, the German engineer Karl Benz patented his Motorwagen, a three-wheeled vehicle powered by a petrol engine. It is widely regarded as the first practical car. In 1888, Bertha Benz drove it about 100 kilometres, the first long-distance car journey, proving its value.
- 1885Event
Pasteur's rabies vaccine saves a boy's life
On 6 July 1885, the French scientist Louis Pasteur began treating nine-year-old Joseph Meister, who had been badly bitten by a rabid dog, with an experimental vaccine. The boy survived, though rabies was almost always fatal. The success made Pasteur world-famous and led to the founding of the Pasteur Institute in Paris in 1887.
- 1880sDecade
The 1880s: the motor car, time zones and the Eiffel Tower
In 1886, Karl Benz patented the first practical motor car. The world agreed on Greenwich as the prime meridian, the basis of time zones. Louis Pasteur created a rabies vaccine, Heinrich Hertz proved radio waves exist, and the Eiffel Tower opened in Paris in 1889.
- 1879Event
Edison's light bulb brings practical electric light
In late 1879, Thomas Edison's team in Menlo Park, New Jersey, tested a light bulb with a carbon filament that glowed for many hours. In England, Joseph Swan had developed a similar lamp. Edison also built power stations to supply electricity, and electric light soon replaced gas and candles.
- 1876Event
Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone
On 7 March 1876, Alexander Graham Bell received a US patent for the telephone. Three days later, he spoke the first words over it to his assistant: 'Mr Watson, come here, I want to see you.' Telephone exchanges soon spread to cities worldwide, beginning the age of instant voice communication.
- 1872Event
Yellowstone becomes the world's first national park
On 1 March 1872, US President Ulysses S. Grant signed a law making Yellowstone, in the Rocky Mountains, the world's first national park, protected 'for the benefit and enjoyment of the people'. Home to geysers, hot springs, canyons and wildlife such as bison and wolves, it inspired a worldwide movement. There are now thousands of national parks.
- 1870sDecade
The 1870s: the telephone, the phonograph and the light bulb
Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone in 1876. Thomas Edison invented the phonograph to record sound in 1877 and demonstrated a long-lasting electric light bulb in 1879. Germany became a unified empire in 1871, and the Universal Postal Union linked the world's mail services.
- 1869Event
Mendeleev presents the periodic table of the elements
On 6 March 1869, the Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev's periodic table was presented to the Russian Chemical Society. He arranged the 63 known elements by atomic weight and grouped them by their properties, leaving gaps for elements not yet discovered. When gallium, scandium and germanium were found, they matched his predictions.
- 1869Event
The Suez Canal opens, linking the Mediterranean and the Red Sea
On 17 November 1869, the Suez Canal in Egypt opened after ten years of construction. The 164 km waterway joined the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea, so ships between Europe and Asia no longer had to sail around Africa. The voyage from London to Mumbai became about 7,000 km shorter.
- 1869Event
America's first transcontinental railroad is completed
On 10 May 1869, a ceremonial golden spike was driven at Promontory Summit, Utah, joining the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads. The line linked the eastern United States with California. A journey across the country that had taken months by wagon or ship could now be made in about a week. Thousands of Chinese and Irish workers built it.
- 1863Event
The world's first underground railway opens in London
On 10 January 1863, the Metropolitan Railway opened between Paddington and Farringdon in London, the world's first underground railway. Steam trains ran through shallow tunnels dug under the streets, and about 38,000 passengers rode on the first day. Cities around the world followed, and metro systems now carry tens of billions of journeys a year.
- 1863Event
The Football Association is founded and football's rules are written
On 26 October 1863, representatives of London football clubs met at the Freemasons' Tavern to found the Football Association and agree a single set of rules. Their 'Laws of the Game' separated association football, or soccer, from rugby, which allowed carrying the ball. Football became the world's most popular sport, played and watched by billions.
- 1860sDecade
The 1860s: the underground, dynamite and the periodic table
The 1860s brought the world's first underground railway, in London, and the end of slavery in the United States after its civil war. James Clerk Maxwell explained light as electromagnetism, Alfred Nobel invented dynamite, and Dmitri Mendeleev created the periodic table. In 1869, the Suez Canal opened to shipping.
- 1859Event
Darwin publishes On the Origin of Species
On 24 November 1859, Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species, explaining how living things change over many generations through natural selection. Based on decades of observation, including on the voyage of HMS Beagle, it became one of the most influential books in the history of science.
- 1851Event
The Great Exhibition opens in London's Crystal Palace
On 1 May 1851, the Great Exhibition opened in the Crystal Palace in London's Hyde Park. The huge glass and iron hall held more than 100,000 exhibits from around the world, from steam engines to diamonds. About six million visitors came, and it inspired the world's fairs and expos that followed, including Expo 2030 in Riyadh.
- 1850sDecade
The 1850s: the Great Exhibition and the origin of species
London's Great Exhibition of 1851 showcased industry from around the world. John Snow traced cholera to a water pump, founding modern epidemiology. Henry Bessemer found a cheap way to make steel, the first commercial oil well was drilled in Pennsylvania, and Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859.
- 1846Event
Ether anaesthesia is shown in public for the first time
On 16 October 1846, at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, the dentist William Morton gave a patient ether before the surgeon John Collins Warren removed a tumour from his neck. The patient felt no pain. The public demonstration spread anaesthesia around the world within months and made modern surgery possible.
- 1840sDecade
The 1840s: stamps, anaesthesia and the first computer program
The world's first postage stamp, the Penny Black, appeared in 1840. Ada Lovelace published what is often called the first computer program, and surgeons began using anaesthesia. Astronomers found Neptune by mathematics, while famine struck Ireland and gold drew thousands to California.
- 1840Event
The Penny Black, the first postage stamp, comes into use
On 6 May 1840, the Penny Black became valid for postage in Britain, the world's first adhesive postage stamp. It showed the young Queen Victoria and paid for a letter anywhere in the country for one penny. The idea, from the reformer Rowland Hill, made sending letters cheap and simple, and other countries soon copied it.
- 1831Event
Faraday discovers how to make electricity from magnetism
On 29 August 1831, Michael Faraday showed in London that a changing magnetic field can create an electric current. This discovery, electromagnetic induction, is the principle behind every power-station generator and transformer today. Within weeks he built the first electric generator, a copper disc spinning between the poles of a magnet.
- 1830sDecade
The 1830s: the intercity railway and the electric telegraph
The Liverpool and Manchester Railway opened in 1830 as the first intercity line. Michael Faraday discovered how to generate electricity with magnets, and the electric telegraph began sending messages along wires. Britain abolished slavery across most of its empire, and Charles Darwin sailed around the world on HMS Beagle.
- 1826Event
Niépce takes the oldest surviving photograph from nature
Around 1826 or 1827, the French inventor Nicéphore Niépce captured the view from an upstairs window of his house in Burgundy on a metal plate coated with bitumen. The exposure took many hours, perhaps days. It is the oldest surviving camera photograph. His partner Louis Daguerre developed a faster process, announced to the world in 1839.
- 1825Event
The first public steam railway opens
On 27 September 1825, the Stockton and Darlington Railway opened in north-east England. George Stephenson's Locomotion No. 1 pulled a train of coal wagons and passengers, becoming the first public railway to use steam locomotives. Within decades, railways crossed continents and transformed travel and trade.
- 1824Event
Imam Turki bin Abdullah founds the Second Saudi State
In 1824, Imam Turki bin Abdullah founded the Second Saudi State and made Riyadh its capital. He restored stability to central Arabia and renewed the legacy of the First Saudi State. Riyadh's choice as capital shaped the future, and the city is today the capital of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
- 1820sDecade
The 1820s: the Second Saudi State and the first railway
In 1824, Imam Turki bin Abdullah founded the Second Saudi State and made Riyadh its capital. In England, the Stockton and Darlington Railway opened in 1825 as the first public railway using steam locomotives. The first surviving photograph was taken, and Louis Braille created his reading system for blind people.
- 1816Event
Laennec invents the stethoscope
In 1816, the French doctor René Laennec rolled a sheet of paper into a tube to listen to a patient's heart, and heard it far more clearly. He built a wooden version and called it the stethoscope. His study of chest sounds helped doctors diagnose heart and lung diseases, and the stethoscope became the symbol of medicine.
- 1815Event
Napoleon is defeated at the Battle of Waterloo
On 18 June 1815, near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, an allied army led by the Duke of Wellington and a Prussian army under Field Marshal Blücher defeated Napoleon Bonaparte. It was Napoleon's final battle. He abdicated days later and was exiled to Saint Helena. The defeat ended more than two decades of war in Europe.
- 1810sDecade
The 1810s: Waterloo and the year without a summer
The Napoleonic Wars ended at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, and the Congress of Vienna redrew Europe's map. That year, the eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia cooled the planet, bringing a 'year without a summer' in 1816. The stethoscope and an early bicycle were also invented.
- 1807Event
Robert Fulton's steamboat opens a new era of travel
On 17 August 1807, Robert Fulton's steamboat, later known as the Clermont, set off up the Hudson River from New York to Albany. It covered about 240 km in 32 hours, far faster than sailing boats against the current. It became the first commercially successful steamboat service, and steam soon transformed river and ocean travel.
- 1804Event
Trevithick's engine makes the first railway locomotive journey
On 21 February 1804, a steam engine built by the Cornish engineer Richard Trevithick hauled 10 tons of iron, five wagons and about 70 men along a tramway at the Penydarren ironworks in Wales. It was the first journey by a steam locomotive on rails, covering almost 16 km in about four hours.
- 1800sDecade
The 1800s: the first battery and the first steam locomotive
Alessandro Volta announced the first electric battery in 1800. Four years later, Richard Trevithick ran the first steam locomotive on rails. Napoleon crowned himself Emperor of the French, Lewis and Clark crossed North America, and Britain abolished its slave trade in 1807.
- 1800Event
Volta builds the first electric battery
In a letter dated 20 March 1800, the Italian scientist Alessandro Volta described his 'pile': a stack of zinc and copper discs separated by cloth soaked in salt water. It was the first battery, the first source of a steady electric current. It opened the age of electricity, and the unit of electric potential, the volt, is named after him.
18th century
- 1700–99Century overview
The 18th century: Enlightenment, steam and a new Saudi state
The 18th century was the age of the Enlightenment, when thinkers championed reason and knowledge. In 1727, Imam Muhammad bin Saud founded the First Saudi State in Diriyah. In Britain, steam engines and spinning machines launched the Industrial Revolution. The century ended with new nations and new ideas about government.
- 1799Event
The Rosetta Stone is found
On 15 July 1799, French soldiers rebuilding a fort near Rashid, known to Europeans as Rosetta, in Egypt, found a stone carved with the same decree in three scripts: hieroglyphs, demotic and ancient Greek. Because scholars could read the Greek, it became the key to deciphering ancient Egyptian writing, which Jean-François Champollion achieved in 1822.
- 1796Event
Edward Jenner tests the first vaccine
On 14 May 1796, the English doctor Edward Jenner infected a boy with mild cowpox and later showed he was protected from smallpox. It was the first vaccine. Vaccination spread worldwide, and in 1980 smallpox, which had killed hundreds of millions of people, became the first human disease ever eradicated.
- 1790sDecade
The 1790s: the first vaccine and the metric system
In 1796, Edward Jenner tested the first vaccine, against smallpox, a breakthrough that would save hundreds of millions of lives. France introduced the metric system, now used almost everywhere. Eli Whitney's cotton gin transformed farming, and French soldiers in Egypt found the Rosetta Stone, the key to reading hieroglyphs.
- 1789Event
The French Revolution begins
On 14 July 1789, crowds in Paris stormed the Bastille, a royal fortress and prison, in the opening days of the French Revolution. Within weeks, the National Assembly abolished feudal privileges and adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. The revolution ended absolute monarchy in France and spread new ideas about rights across Europe.
- 1783Event
People fly for the first time, in a hot-air balloon
On 21 November 1783, Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and the Marquis d'Arlandes rose over Paris in a hot-air balloon built by the Montgolfier brothers. They flew about nine kilometres in some 25 minutes, the first free flight carrying people. Ten days later, a hydrogen balloon also flew, and the age of flight had begun.
- 1781Event
William Herschel discovers Uranus
On 13 March 1781, the musician and amateur astronomer William Herschel spotted a faint disc through his home-made telescope in Bath, England. It was a new planet, Uranus, the first discovered with a telescope and the first unknown to ancient astronomers. It doubled the known size of the solar system.
- 1780sDecade
The 1780s: first flights and the French Revolution
In 1783, people flew for the first time, in a hot-air balloon built by the Montgolfier brothers. William Herschel discovered Uranus, the first planet found by telescope. The United States adopted its Constitution in 1787, and the French Revolution began with the storming of the Bastille in 1789.
- 1776Event
The United States declares independence
On 4 July 1776, representatives of thirteen American colonies adopted the Declaration of Independence, announcing their separation from Britain and the birth of the United States. Largely written by Thomas Jefferson, it stated that all men are created equal with rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Americans celebrate the date as Independence Day.
- 1770sDecade
The 1770s: a new nation and a new economics
On 4 July 1776, the United States declared independence from Britain. The same year, Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations founded modern economics, and James Watt's improved steam engines entered service. Captain Cook charted Australia's east coast, and the world's first iron bridge rose in England.
- 1769Event
James Watt patents his improved steam engine
In January 1769, the Scottish engineer James Watt patented a steam engine with a separate condenser. It used far less coal than earlier engines, and with his partner Matthew Boulton, Watt built engines that powered mines, mills and factories. His work drove the Industrial Revolution, and the unit of power, the watt, honours him.
- 1768Event
The first Encyclopaedia Britannica begins to appear
In December 1768, the first part of the Encyclopaedia Britannica was published in Edinburgh, Scotland, sold in weekly instalments. The full first edition, in three volumes, was finished in 1771. It became the best-known reference work in the English language, and after more than 240 years in print it moved online in 2012.
- 1761Event
Harrison's sea clock solves the longitude problem
In 1761 and 1762, John Harrison's fourth sea clock, H4, sailed from England to Jamaica and lost only about five seconds over the voyage. Accurate time at sea let sailors calculate their longitude, their position east or west, for the first time. Harrison, a self-taught carpenter and clockmaker, had worked on the problem for decades.
- 1760sDecade
The 1760s: the Industrial Revolution gathers pace
In the 1760s, British inventors transformed industry. James Hargreaves built the spinning jenny, Richard Arkwright the water frame, and James Watt designed a far more efficient steam engine. Captain James Cook began his first Pacific voyage, and the Encyclopaedia Britannica was first published in Edinburgh.
- 1750sDecade
The 1750s: the first great encyclopedia
In 1751, France's Encyclopédie began gathering the world's knowledge for ordinary readers, a landmark of the Enlightenment. Benjamin Franklin showed lightning is electricity, Samuel Johnson published his famous English dictionary, and the British Museum opened as one of the first free public museums. A great earthquake struck Lisbon in 1755.
- 1740sDecade
The 1740s: electricity in a jar and the Celsius scale
In the 1740s, Anders Celsius proposed the temperature scale now used across most of the world. Scientists learned to store electricity in the Leyden jar, and Benjamin Franklin began his famous experiments. Montesquieu's ideas on separating government powers shaped future constitutions.
- 1735Event
Linnaeus publishes his system for naming living things
In 1735, the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus published Systema Naturae, a system for grouping and naming plants, animals and minerals. Later he gave every species a two-part Latin name, such as Homo sapiens for humans. Scientists around the world still use his naming system, which made it possible to describe and compare life on Earth.
- 1730sDecade
The 1730s: naming nature and keeping time at sea
Carl Linnaeus published his system for classifying living things in 1735, the basis of scientific names still used today. John Harrison completed his first marine clock to solve the longitude problem. John Kay's flying shuttle sped up weaving, and Leonhard Euler founded a new branch of mathematics.
- 1727Event
Imam Muhammad bin Saud founds the First Saudi State
In 1727, Imam Muhammad bin Saud took leadership in Diriyah and founded the First Saudi State, the beginning of the nation that became the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Diriyah grew into a centre of stability, trade and culture. Since 2022, Saudi Arabia has celebrated this beginning every year on 22 February as Founding Day.
- 1720sDecade
The 1720s: the First Saudi State is founded
In 1727, Imam Muhammad bin Saud founded the First Saudi State in Diriyah, a moment Saudi Arabia now celebrates as Founding Day on 22 February. Elsewhere, a financial bubble burst in London, Isaac Newton died, and Vitus Bering set out to explore the waters between Asia and America.
- 1710sDecade
The 1710s: Newcomen's engine and the longitude prize
Thomas Newcomen built the first practical steam engine in 1712 to pump water from mines. Daniel Fahrenheit made reliable mercury thermometers. Britain offered a huge prize for measuring longitude at sea, and France's King Louis XIV died in 1715 after a 72-year reign.
- 1700sDecade
The 1700s: a new capital, a united Britain and the piano
Peter the Great founded St Petersburg in 1703 and made it Russia's window on Europe. England and Scotland united as Great Britain in 1707. Abraham Darby began smelting iron with coke, a vital step for industry, and in Italy, Bartolomeo Cristofori built the first pianos.
17th century
- 1666–99Century overview
1666–1699: The age of science begins
Our 360 years begin in the middle of the Scientific Revolution. Isaac Newton explained gravity and motion, microscopes revealed tiny living things, and scientists measured the speed of light. New institutions such as the Royal Society and the Bank of England laid foundations for modern science and finance.
- 1698Event
Thomas Savery patents a steam pump to drain mines
On 2 July 1698, the English engineer Thomas Savery received a patent for a machine that used steam to pump water out of mines, which he called 'the Miner's Friend'. It was one of the first practical uses of steam power. Improved by Thomas Newcomen and later James Watt, steam engines went on to power the Industrial Revolution.
- 1690sDecade
The 1690s: a bank, a steam pump and a travelling tsar
The Bank of England was founded in 1694, shaping modern public finance. Thomas Savery patented a steam pump in 1698, an early step toward the Industrial Revolution. Russia's young tsar, Peter the Great, toured Western Europe to learn shipbuilding and science, and Christiaan Huygens explained light as a wave.
- 1687Event
Newton publishes the Principia
In July 1687, Isaac Newton published the Principia, setting out his three laws of motion and the law of universal gravitation. He showed that the same force pulls an apple to the ground and holds the planets in their orbits. The book became the foundation of physics for more than two centuries.
- 1680sDecade
The 1680s: Newton's Principia and Halley's comet
In 1687, Isaac Newton published the Principia, explaining the laws of motion and universal gravitation. Edmond Halley, who paid to print it, studied the comet that now bears his name. The French court moved to Versailles, and in England, Parliament gained new powers in 1689.
- 1675Event
The Royal Observatory is founded at Greenwich
On 22 June 1675, King Charles II of England signed a warrant to build an observatory at Greenwich, near London, to chart the stars and help sailors find their longitude at sea. John Flamsteed became the first Astronomer Royal. Two centuries later, the line through Greenwich became the world's Prime Meridian, longitude zero.
- 1670sDecade
The 1670s: microscopes, starlight and a new observatory
In the 1670s, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek became the first person to describe bacteria, seen through microscopes he made himself. Ole Rømer showed that light takes time to travel. England founded the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, and better clocks began to change how people measured time.
- 1666Event
The Great Fire of London
In September 1666, a fire that began in a bakery on Pudding Lane burned for four days and destroyed most of the City of London, including more than 13,000 houses and St Paul's Cathedral. London was rebuilt in brick and stone, and the disaster led to new building rules and the growth of fire insurance.
- 1660sDecade
The 1660s: fire, plague and Newton's great years
London suffered a great plague in 1665 and a great fire in 1666, then rebuilt in brick and stone. In the same years, a young Isaac Newton developed his first ideas on gravity, light and calculus. Scientific societies were founded in London and Paris, and France's King Louis XIV began transforming Versailles.