| AD 1 |
| | |
| 9-23 | Rule of Wang Mang as emperor of China |
| 25 | Eastern Han dynasty begins its rule over China |
| c. 33 | Jesus Christ, Jewish religious leader, crucified |
| c. 50 | Buddhism reaches China |
|
| AD 100 |
| c. 105 | Paper invented in China, perhaps by Cai Lun |
| c. 120 | In China Zhang Heng introduces the seismograph |
| c. 120-62 | Kushan King Kanishka rules large areas of northern India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and central Asia |
| 184-205 | In China, rebellion by members of Yellow Turban sect greatly weakens Han dynasty |
| c. 190 | Rise of Hindu Chola kingdom near Tanjore, southern India |
|
| AD 200 |
| 220 | End of Han dynasty in china, followed by Three Kingdoms and Jin dynasty |
| c. 224 | End of Parthian power in Persian empire: beginning of Sassanid dynasty under Ardashir I (224-41) |
| 260 | Shapur I of Persia defeats Roman emperor Valerian in battle; Valerian captured |
|
| AD 300 |
| c. 320 | Rise of Gupta empire in Ganges Valley, India |
| 360 | Embassy from King Meghavarna of Sri Lanka reaches Gupta court; religious monument for Sri Lankan visitors is built |
| 376 | Beginning of reign of Chandragupta II; golden Gupta age |
| 386 | Beginning of era of north-south division in China (to 589) |
| 399 | Chinese Buddhist historian, Fa-hien, begins his journey through India |
|
| AD 400 |
| RELIGIOUS WORLDS |
| c. 400 | Gupta empire grows until it stretches across the whole width of India |
| 489 | Large Buddhist temples built in China; Buddhists also use cave temples |
|
| AD 500 |
| c. 500 | Indian mathematicians introduce the zero (0) |
| c. 500-15 | The Huns, a nomadic central Asian people, destroy the powerful Gupta empire of India |
| c. 538 | Buddhism reaches Japan, and slowly spreads throughout the country |
| 570 | Mohammed, the Prophet of Islam, is born in Mecca |
| 580s | Wen di, the first Sui emperor, reunites divided Chinese empire |
| 595 | Indian mathematicians use decimal system |
|
| AD 600 |
| c. 605-10 | Chinese build Grand Canal to link Yangtze with Changıan |
| 618 | Tang dynasty begins in China |
| 626 | Tang court adopts Buddhism |
| 632 | Death of Mohammed |
| 634 | Beginning of the Arab empire |
| 645-784 | Japanese court imitates Chinese form of government |
| 646-700 | Political and social reforms (Taika) take place in Japan |
| c. 650 | Revelations of Mohammed are written; they become the Koran |
| 661-750 | The Muslim Omayyads rule in Damascus, Syria |
|
| AD 700 |
| 710-84 | Nara, south of present-day Kyoto, is capital of Japan |
| 711 | Omayyads conquer Sind and found first Muslim state in India |
| 751 | Arabs win Battle of River Talas, central Asia; Islam comes to China |
| 762 | Abbasid dynasty ruling Iraq makes Baghdad its capital |
| 786-809 | Reign of Harun-al-Rashid, greatest Abbasid ruler |
| 794 | Heian-kyo (Kyoto) becomes capital of Japan |
| 794-1185 | Heian period in Japan; more independence from China |
|
| AD 800 |
| NEW NATIONS |
| 802 | King Jayavarman II of Khmer people of Cambodia founds Angkorian dynasty which becomes centre of Khmer life |
| 813-33 | Rule of Abbasid caliph al-Mamun; he sets up a House of Wisdom in Baghdad that becomes the most important school in the Arab world |
| 820s | Persian mathematician Musa al-Chwarazmi develops system of algebra |
| 845 | Buddhism banned in China |
| AD 850 |
| 850s | Arabs perfect astrolabe |
| 858 | Beginning of Fujiwara clanıs control of Japanese emperors |
| 866 | Fujiwara Yoshifusa (804-72) becomes regent over child emperor Seiwa |
| 868 | The Diamond Sutra, the oldest printed book still in existence, is produced by wood block printing in China |
| 886-1267 | Chola dynasty rules much of south India from capital at Tanjore |
| 887 | Fujiwara Mototsune (836-91) becomes chief advisor to the Japanese emperor |
| 889 | Khmers start to build capital city at Angkor, Cambodia |
|
| AD 900 |
| 906-07 | Collapse of Tang dynasty in China after many years of war; for the next 50 years, China is divided into many warring states |
| 907-26 | Khitan Mongols under Ye-lu a-pao-chi conquer inner Mongolia and several districts of northern China |
| 935 | Koryo state founded in western central Korea |
| 941 | Fujiwara Tadahira becomes civil dictator in Japan |
| 950 |
| 960 | Song dynasty reunifies China |
| 962 | Alptigin, Turkish warrior slave, seizes Afghan fortress of Ghazni and founds Ghaznavid dynasty |
| 970 | Paper money introduced by Chinese government |
| 983 | 1,000 chapter encyclopaedia, Taiping Yulan, produced in China |
| 985 | Chola king Rajaraja I (985-1014) conquers Kerala in south India, and Sri Lanka in 1001 |
| 997-1030 | Mohammed of Ghazni rules Afghan empire; he invades India 17 times |
|
| AD 1000 |
| MONKS AND INVADERS |
| c. 1000 | Chinese perfect gunpowder and begin to use it in warfare |
| c. 1008-20 | Japanese court lady Murasaki Shikibu writes the famous novel, Tale of Genji |
| 1014 | Rajendra I becomes ruler of the Cholas, who dominate much of India |
| 1044 | Anawrata takes power in Burma; he builds a large empire, strengthens his army, and founds a dynasty of able rulers |
| AD 1050 |
| 1065 | Muslim Seljuk Turks invade Asia Minor |
| 1071 | Seljuks defeat Byzantine army at Battle of Manzikert; they capture Jerusalem in 1076 |
| c. 1090 | Mechanical clock, driven by water, built in Kaifeng (Chinaıs capital city) |
| 1096 | Christian rulers from Europe go on First Crusade to retake Palestine from Seljuks |
| 1099 | Crusaders capture Jerusalem, in Palestine |
|
| AD 1100 |
| 1113-50 | Reign of Suryavarman II of Cambodia; he starts building temple complex of Angkor Wat |
| c. 1120 | Chinese play with painted playing cards |
| 1147-49 | Christian armies of Second Crusade defeated by Turks in Asia Minor and abandon siege of Damascus |
| 1150 |
| c. 1163 | Birth of Genghis Khan, creator of Mongol empire |
| 1173-93 | Saladin overcomes Palestine and Syria, taking Damascus |
| 1180s | Decline of Chola kingdom |
| 1186-87 | Last Ghaznavid ruler deposed by Mohammed of Ghur, Muslim founder of an empire in North India |
| 1187 | Saladin defeats Christians at Hattin and takes Jerusalem |
| 1192 | Truce between Christian Richard I of England and Muslim Saladin ends Third Crusade |
| 1192 | In Japan, Minamoto Yoritomo becomes shogun after long civil war ends with his victory |
|
| AD 1200 |
| CONQUEST AND PLAGUE |
| c. 1203 | Hojo family rules Japan after Minamoto Yoritomoıs death |
| 1206 | Former Turkestan slave Aibak founds new sultanate of Delhi in north India |
| 1206 | Mongol empire founded by Genghis Khan |
| 1229 | Christians regain Jerusalem, but lose it in 1244 |
| AD 1250 |
| 1256 | Hulagu, grandson of Genghis Khan, founds Mongol kingdom of Persia |
| 1260 | Khubilai, grandson of Genghis, becomes Great Khan |
| 1260 | Battle of Ain Jalut - Mongols, under Hulagu, halted by Mamluks in Palestine |
| 1271 | Venetian explorer Marco Polo sets out for China |
| 1281 | Mongols driven away from Japan by kamikaze, the divine wind |
|
| AD 1300 |
| c. 1300 | Osman I founds Ottoman dynasty in Turkey |
| 1321 | Tughluq dynasty founded in Delhi |
| 1335-38 | Ashikaga Takauji, Japanese general, rebels against emperor and becomes first of the Ashikaga shoguns |
| 1336 | Hindu empire of Vijayanagar in India founded by Harihara I becomes centre of resistance to Islam |
| AD 1350 |
| 1350 | Last Hindu Javanese kingdom of Majapahit begins to spread in southeast Asia |
| 1368 | Mongols driven out of China; Zhu Yuanzhang founds Ming dynasty |
| c. 1390 | Ottoman Turks complete conquest of Asia Minor |
| 1398 | Tamerlane sacks Delhi |
|
| AD 1400 |
| THE EXPANSION OF KNOWLEDGE |
| 1402 | Tamerlane, Mongol conqueror from central Asia, defeats Ottomans at battle of Ankyra in Turkey |
| c. 1403-09 | Encyclopaedia of over 20,000 chapters, the Yongle dadian, compiled in China |
| 1405-33 | Chinese Muslim, Zheng He, makes seven voyages westwards to collect tribute for Ming emperors |
| 1411-42 | Reign of Indian sultan Ahmad Shah of Gujarat, who builds splendid capital city of Ahmadabad |
| 1419-50 | Korea prospers under King Sejong; he introduces official Korean script |
| 1420-21 | Chinese Ming capital moves from Nanjing to Beijing |
| AD 1425 |
| 1430s | Collapse of Khmer empire in southeast Asia; Angkor Wat abandoned after being sacked by Thai army in 1431 |
| 1431-33 | Zheng He makes his seventh and final voyage; he sails as far as the east coast of Africa |
| 1448-88 | Thailand expands under King Trailok; he brings about major administrative and legal reforms |
| 1449-74 | Rule of shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa in Japan |
| AD 1450 |
| c. 1460 | Imperial porcelain works at Jingdezhen in China successfully import Ming pottery abroad |
| 1463-79 | War between Ottoman Turks and Venetians; Turks eventually triumphant |
| 1467-77 | Onin War in Japan, a civil war beginning as a conflict over shogunal succession, ends Ashikaga shogunateıs authority |
| 1483 | Ashikaga Yoshimasa completes building of the Silver Pavilion Temple, or Ginkakuji, at Kyoto in Japan |
| 1488 | First major Ikko-ikki, or Uprising of Ikko Buddhists, in Japan |
| 1488 | Ming emperors order rebuilding of Great Wall to defend China from northern invaders |
| 1492 | Sikander Lodi, sultan of Delhi (1489-1517), annexes Bihar and moves his capital to Agra to facilitate conquest of Rajasthan |
|
| AD 1500 |
| THE GREAT RULERS |
| 1501-24 | Reign of Ismail, first Safavid shah of Persia |
| 1520-66 | Reign of Sulayman the Magnificent; Ottoman empire at its peak |
| 1526 | Babur (descendant of Mongol ruler Genghis Khan and of Tamerlane), first Moghul emperor, invades India |
| 1546 | Tabinshwehti conquers Pegu from the Mons and assumes title of king of all Burma |
| 1549-51 | Mission of Jesuit St. Francis Xavier to Japan |
| 1551 | Bayinnaung inherits the Burmese throne and overruns Thailand |
| 1556-1605 | Reign of Moghul emperor Akbar in India |
| 1568-c. 1600 | Period of national unification in Japan begins when feudal lord, Oda Nobunaga, captures capital, Kyoto |
| 1573-1620 | Reign of emperor Wan Li in China: period of great paintings and porcelain-making; imperial kilns at Jingde zhen produce vast quantities of china |
| 1587-1629 | Reign of Shah Abbas I (the Great) of Persia; he consolidates and expands territories |
| 1592-98 | Korea succeeds in beating of Japanese invasions |
| c. 1590-1605 | Burma breaks up into small states |
|
| AD 1600 |
| COMMERCE AND COLONIES |
| c. 1600 | Abbas I (reigns from 1587 to 1629) introduces reforms in Persia and expands territory |
| 1600 | Battle of Sekigahara, Japan; Tokugawa Ieyasu defeats rivals; takes power and the Tokugawa or Edo period begins |
| 1600-14 | English, Dutch, Danish, and French East India Companies founded |
| 1607 | Confucianism begins to be main force in Tokugawa politics and society |
| 1612-39 | Japanese persecute Christians |
| 1619-24 | Dutch establish virtual monopoly of spice trade in Moluccas and other Indonesian islands |
| 1620s | Beginning of Japanese national policy of restriction of contact with the outside world |
| 1627 | Manchus overrun Korea, which later becomes vassal state |
| c. 1628 | Kingdom of Burma breaks up into small states |
| 1632-48 | Shah Jahan builds Taj Mahal at Agra in India |
| 1641 | Dutch capture Malacca on the Malay peninsula |
| 1644 | Quing (Manchu) dynasty takes over in China |
| 1657 | Tokugawa Mitsukuni begins compilation of History of Japan |
| 1658-1707 | Emperor Aurangzeb is the last great Moghul emperor; after 1707 empire begins to break up |
| 1661-1722 | Reign of the Kangxi emperor in China; Chinese territory extended and books and scholarship developed |
| 1664 | Dutch force king of Thailand to give them monopoly of deerskin exports and seaborne trade with China |
| 1683 | Formosa (Taiwan) becomes Chinese territory |
| 1690 | English East India Company official Job Charnock founds the city of Calcutta, on a swamp by the Hooghly river in Bengal, northeastern India |
|
| AD 1700 |
| THE AGE OF ENQUIRY |
| 1703 | In Japan, 47 ronin commit suicide |
| 1707 | Death of Moghul emperor Aurangzeb followed by break-up of empire |
| 1709 | Ghilzai people under Mir Vais defeat Persian army; Afghanistan no longer obedient province of Persian empire |
| 1709 | Death of shogun Tsunayoshi of Japan |
| 1716-45 | Reforming shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune rules Japan |
| 1716 | Manchu emperor Kangxi sends troops to expel Junkar people from Tibet; in 1720 Kangxi enthrones seventh Dalai Lama as tributary ruler of Tibet |
| 1722 | Death of Kangxi, enlightened Manchu emperor |
| 1722-35 | Rule of Manchu emperor Yongzheng; Treaty of Kiakhta signed with Russia; Siberian-Mongolian border defined |
| 1724 | Asaf Jah, a minister of the Moghul emperor, retires to the Deccan; he becomes an independent ruler and is declared first Nizam of Hyderabad |
| 1725 | Gujin tushu jicheng, the largest encyclopaedia ever printed, in 10,000 chapters, commissioned by Qing emperor Yongzheng |
| 1729 | Yongzheng sets up Grand Council, an informal and flexible body of military advisers |
| 1735 | Nadir Shah, chief adviser and general to last Safavid ruler in Persia, defeats Turks in great battle at Baghavand and captures Tiflis |
| 1736-47 | Nadir Shah reigns as shah of Persia |
| 1736-96 | Rule of Qianlong, as Qing emperor; boundaries of empire reach farthest limits; population increases greatly; frequent rebellions crushed ruthlessly |
| 1739 | Nadir Shah invades India and sacks Delhi, taking away Peacock Throne of the Moghul emperors, and vast wealth |
| 1740s | Power of Hindu Marathas of central India expands into northern India |
| THE AGE OF REVOLUTION |
| 1750 | Chinese capture Lhasa and take over state of Tibet |
| 1750-79 | Ahmad Shah Durrani (1747-73), who united Afghanistan, invades India, takes Lahore; plunders Delhi in 1755 |
| 1753 | Alaungaya reunites Burma; founds last Burmese dynasty, the Kombaung (to 1885) |
| 1756 | ³Black Hole² of Calcutta |
| 1757 | Robert Clive defeats Siraj ud daula, Nawab of Bengal, at Battle of Plassey |
| 1758 | Aoki Konyo, Japanese scholar who introduced the sweet potato into Japan, completes Dutch/Japanese dictionary |
| 1761 | Battle of Panipat between the Marathas and Ahmad Shah Durrani of Afghanistan; great Afghan victory |
| 1762 | British fleet captures Manila in Philippine Islands from Spain |
| 1763 | Britain becomes dominant power in India as a result of the Treaty of Paris |
| 1767 | Burmese invade Thailand, destroying its capital, Ayudhya, and forcing Thais to accept Burmese overlordship, but have to withdraw to repulse Chinese invasion of Burma |
| 1774-85 | Warren Hastings is governor-general of British India |
| 1777 | Christianity introduced to Korea by Chinese Jesuits |
| 1782-1809 | Rama I reigns in Thailand; founds Chakri dynasty |
| 1783-88 | Severe famine in Japan |
| 1784 | United States begins to trade with China |
| 1792 | Chinese army marches into neighbouring Nepal |
| 1792 | Sheikh Mohammed Ibn Abdul Wahhab, founder of Saudi Arabia, dies |
| 1794 | Aga Mohammed founds Kajar dynasty and unites all Persia |
| 1796 | Emperor Qianlong of China relinquishes power, but still directs government (to 1799) |
| 1799 | Ranjit Singh founds Sikh kingdom in Punjab, India |
|
| AD 1800 |
| INDEPENDENCE AND INDUSTRY |
| 1802-20 | Emperor Gia-Long unites Vietnam |
| 1803-05 | Second Maratha War disrupts central India |
| 1804 | Russian envoy visits Nagasaki in Japan and tries to get commercial treaty, but fails |
| 1811-18 | Mohammed Ali overruns much of Arabian peninsula; ends first Saudi empire |
| 1815 | Java restored to Dutch by British |
| 1817-19 | Last Maratha War; Maratha defeat; British rule India except Punjab, Sind, Kashmir |
| 1819 | Singapore founded by Stamford Raffles |
| 1820 | Peace treaty ends piracy and leads to 150 years of British supremacy in the Persian Gulf |
| 1820-41 | Minh Mang, emperor of Vietnam, reverses Gia-Longıs policies and expels Christians |
| c. 1820s | Development of North Pacific whaling industry; Japanese authorities clash with shipsı crews |
| 1824-26 | First Burmese War with Britain |
| 1825-28 | Persian-Russian War; Russia captures Tabriz |
| 1825-30 | Javanese revolt against Dutch |
| 1828 | Indian Hindu Raja Ram Mohan Roy founds reforming Hindu society, Brahmo Samaj |
| 1829 | Practice of suttee (widow burning) made illegal in India |
| 1831 | Mohammed Ali of Egypt seizes Syria; he rules it until 1840 |
| 1835-63 | Dost Mohammed rules in Afghanistan |
| 1837-53 | Shogunate of Tokugawa Ieyoshi in Japan |
| 1838 | Nakayama Miki founds faith-healing Tenri sect in Japan |
| 1839 | Ottoman sultan Abdul Majid starts the ³Tanzimat², a programme of modernisation |
| 1839-42 | First Afghan War with British; a British army annihilated |
| 1839-42 | Opium War in China |
| 1844 | Cambodia becomes a Thai protectorate |
| 1845-49 | Sikh Wars with Britain; Britain annexes Punjab |
| 1848 | Accession of Nasir ud-din, ablest of the Kajar dynasty of Persia |
| THE RISE OF NATIONALISM |
| 1850-64 | Taiping rebellion in China; Nanking falls, 1853 |
| 1851-68 | King Rama IV rules Thailand; opens the country to foreign trade |
| 1852 | Nasir-ud-Din (1848-96) takes personal power in Persia; major reforms of administration by Vizier Mirza Taki |
| 1853-78 | Able king Mindon Min reigns in Burma |
| 1854 | Treaty of Kanagawa; United States and Japan agree their first modern trade treaty |
| 1857-58 | Indian Mutiny shakes British rule in India; East India Company abolished in 1858 |
| 1860 | In China, British and French forces loot and burn down the emperorıs summer palace on the outskirts of Beijing |
| 1862 | French begin to occupy Indo-China (southeast Asia) |
| 1865-70 | King Kojong persecutes Christians in Korea; reform of traditional institutions |
| 1868-1910 | Reign of Rama V, founder of modern Thailand |
| 1868-1912 | Meiji period in Japan: great leap forwards in industrialization; 1868, capital moves to Edo (renamed Tokyo), shogunate abolished; 1875-88, civil legal code drawn up |
| 1872 | First Japanese railway opens (Tokyo to Yokohama) |
| 1876 | Queen Victoria of Britain is proclaimed empress of India |
| 1876 | Japanese pressure forces Korea to open ports to trade |
| 1876-78 | Famine in the Deccan, southern India; over five million die |
| 1877 | Satsuma rebellion in Japan; last stand of traditional samurai class is defeated |
| 1878-79 | Second Afghan War: British invade Afghanistan to counter Russian influence |
| 1884 | Dowager Empress Cixi sacks grand council of China |
| 1885 | Foundation of Indian National Congress; campaign for home rule |
| 1885-86 | Third Burmese War; Britain annexes Burma |
| 1889 | New Meiji constitution for Japan; first general election in 1890` |
| 1894-95 | War between Japan and China; Japanese win, occupy Korea |
| 1896 | British persuade Malay states to form federation |
| 1898 | In China Dowager Empress Cixi crushes attempts at reform |
| 1899 | France proclaims protectorate in Laos, southeast Asia |
|
| AD 1900 |
| THE WORLD GOES TO WAR |
| 1900 | Boxer rebellion in China |
| 1900 | Russia annexes Manchuria |
| 1902 | Anglo-Japanese Alliance agreed |
| 1902 | Series of commercial treaties between China and Britain, United States, and Japan |
| 1902 | Ibn Saud captures Riyadh, beginning the creation of Saudi Arabia |
| 1903 | British viceroy of India (Lord Curzon) sends an expedition into Tibet |
| 1905 | Japan presses Korea to sign a treaty whereby Japan ³protects² Korea |
| 1905 | Japanese navy fights and defeats Russian fleet in Tsushima strait |
| 1907 | Emperor Kojong of Korea abdicates; he is succeeded by his son Sujong |
| 1908 | Death of Chinese empress dowager Cixi and of the Guangxu emperor |
| 1911-12 | Chinese rebellion against Manchus; republic is established, Sun Yat-sen first president, but warlords gain power |
| 1912-26 | Taisho period in Japan |
| 1912 | Japan constructs its first dreadnought battleship |
| 1913 | China recognizes Outer Mongolia as independent |
| 1913 | Indian poet, Rabindranath Tagore, awarded Nobel Prize for Literature |
| 1916 | Beginning of Arab revolt against Ottoman Turks in Hijaz |
| 1916 | Hussein proclaims himself King of the Arabs |
| 1917 | Balfour Declaration promises homeland for Jews in Palestine |
| 1917 | British troops capture Baghdad and Jerusalem |
| 1917-25 | Sun Yat-sen struggles for leadership of Chinese republic |
| 1918 | Emir Faisal proclaims Syrian state; becomes king in 1920 |
| PEACE AND WAR |
| 1919 | British troops massacre over 300 Indian civilians at Amritsar |
| 1920 | Palestine becomes British mandate |
| 1920 | Indian leader Gandhi launches peaceful non-cooperation movement against British rule |
| 1923 | Mustafa Kemal becomes president of new republic, Turkey |
| 1924 | Chinese nationalist party, Kuomintang, holds first national congress |
| 1927 | Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai-shek establishes government at Nanking; Communists challenge his rule |
| 1928 | Japanese troops murder military ruler of Manchuria |
| 1930 | First Round Table Conference between British government and Indian parties |
| 1931 | Japanese occupy Chinese province of Manchuria |
| 1932 | Absolute rule of Thai king ends; he agrees to new constitution |
| 1934 | Communists go on Long March through China, led by Mao Zedong and Zhu De |
| 1934 | Opening of British oil pipeline from Kirkuk (Iraq) to Tripoli (Syria) |
| 1935 | Government of India Act passed; provinces of British India granted autonomy and self-government from 1937 |
| 1936 | General strike in Syria; French grant Syria home rule |
| 1937-38 | Conflict between Jews and Arabs in Palestine |
| 1937-45 | Undeclared war breaks out between China and Japan |
| 1941-42 | Japanese overrun much of southeast Asia |
| 1945 | World Zionist Conference calls for Jewish state in Palestine |
| 1945 | United States drops atomic bombs on Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki |
| ONE WORLD |
| 1947 | India gains independence |
| 1947 | Japanıs new democratic constitution comes into effect |
| 1948 | Israeli independence leads to the first Arab-Israeli war |
| 1949 | Mao Zedong proclaims Peopleıs Republic of China |
| 1950-53 | Korean War |
| 1951 | United States and 48 other countries sign peace treaty with Japan in San Francisco |
| 1953 | Mao Zedong introduces first five-year plan in China |
| 1954 | Vietminh defeat French troops at Dien Bien Phu |
| c. 1955 | Start of period of fast economic growth in Japan |
| 1961 | Troops from Saudi Arabia and other Arab states take over defence of Kuwait from British in face of Iraqi threat |
| 1964 | Tokyo Olympic Games; first Olympic Games in Asia |
| 1964 | Arab leaders set up Palestine Liberation Organization to unite Palestinian refugees |
| 1965-73 | Vietnam War |
| 1966 | Indira Gandhi becomes prime minister of India |
| 1967 | Six Day War between Israel and neighbouring Arab states |
| 1970 | Communist Khmer Rouge forces take over Cambodia |
| 1971 | After a brief Indo-Pakistani war, East Pakistan declared independent as Bangladesh |
| 1973 | Yom Kippur War between Arabs and Israelis begins |
| 1973 | Cut in Arab oil production and increased prices cause oil crisis in United States and Europe |
| 1976 | Zhou Enlai and Mao Zedong die; fall of ³Gang of Four² |
| 1978 | Vietnam invades Cambodia and forces out Khmer Rouge |
| 1979 | Ayatollah Khomeini adopts Islamic constitution for Iran |
| 1980 | Iran-Iraq War breaks out |
| AD 1982 |
| 1982 | Israeli forces invade Lebanon |
| 1984 | Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi assassinated by Sikhs |
| 1988 | Ceasefire in Iran-Iraq War |
| 1989 | Mass demonstrations for democracy in Tianıanmen Square, Beijing, China, end in massacre |
| 1989 | Vietnamese troops withdraw from Cambodia |
| 1990 | Iraq invades Kuwait; United States and allies send forces to the Gulf region; Gulf War begins |
| 1991 | Allied forces liberate Kuwait |
| 1995 | Itzhak Rabin, prime minister of Israel, assassinated |
