Timeline of environmental history

The timeline lists geological, astronomical, and climatological events in relation to events in human history which they influenced. For the history of humanity's perspective on these events, see timeline of the history of environmentalism.

Pre-Holocene

Year(s)		Event(s)
Start	End
c. 2,588,000 BC	c. 12,000 BC	Pleistocene era
c. 19,000 BC		Last Glacial Maximum/sea-level minimum
c. 20,000 BC	c. 12,150 BC	Mesolithic 1 period
c. 17,000 BC	c. 13,000 BC	Oldest Dryas stadial (cool period) during the last Ice age/glaciation in Europe.
c. 13,000 BC		Beginning of the Holocene extinction. Earliest evidence of warfare
c. 12,670 BC	c. 12,000 BC	Bølling oscillation interstadial (warm and moist period) between the Oldest Dryas and Older Dryas stadials (cool periods) at the end of the Last glacial period. In places where the Older Dryas was not seen, it is known as the Bølling-Allerød.
c. 12,340 BC	c. 11,140 BC	Cemetary 117: site of the world's first battle/war.
c. 12,500 BC	c. 10,800 BC	Natufian culture begins minor agriculture
c. 12,150 BC	c. 11,140 BC	Mesolithic 2 (Natufian culture), some sources have Mesolithic 2 ending at 9500 BC
c. 12,000 BC	c. 11,700 BC	Older Dryas stadial (cool period)
c. 11,700 BC	c. 10,800 BC	Allerød oscillation
c. 13,000 BC	c. 11,000 BC	Lake Agassiz forms from glacial meltwater, floods through the Mackenzie River into the Arctic Ocean at 11,000 BC, possibly causing the Younger Dryas cold period
c. 10,900 BC (calibrated) or c. 8900 BC (non-calibrated)		Younger Dryas impact event suspected at either of these dates.
c. 10,800 BC		Younger Dryas cold period begins.
c. 10,000 BC		Preboreal period begins. World: Sea levels rise abruptly and massive inland flooding occurs due to glacier melt. Neolithic culture begins, end of most recent glaciation. First cave drawings of the Mesolithic period are made, with war scenes and religious scenes, beginnings of what became story telling, and metamorphosed into acting.

10th millennium BC

Year(s)		Event(s)
Start	End
c. 9700 BC		Lake Agassiz reforms from glacial meltwater Bering Sea: Land bridge from Siberia to North America disappears as sea level rises. See Beringia for further information North America: Long Island becomes an island, and not just a terminal moraine, when rising waters break through on the western end to the interior lake
c. 9660 to 9600 BC		Younger Dryas cold period ends. Pleistocene ends and Holocene begins. Large amounts of previously glaciated land become habitable again. Some sources place the Younger Dryas as stretching from 10,800 BC to 9500 BC. This cool period was possibly caused by a shutdown of the North Atlantic thermohaline circulation (Gulf Stream/Jet Stream), due to flooding from Lake Agassiz as it reformed.
c. 9564 BC		Destruction of Atlantis, according to theosophic tradition.
c. 9500 BC		Ancylus Lake, part of the modern-day Baltic Sea, forms. There is evidence of harvesting, though not necessarily cultivation, of wild grasses in Asia Minor about this time.
c. 9500 BC		End of the pre-Boreal period of European climate change. Pollen Zone IV Pre-boreal, associated with juniper, willow, birch pollen deposits. Neolithic era begins in Ancient Near East, first stone structures at Jericho built. Temporary global chilling, as the Gulf Stream pulls southward, and Europe ices over (1990 Rand McNally Atlas). In Antarctica, long-term melting of the Antarctic ice sheets is commencing.

9th millennium BC

• c. 8500 BC – 7370 BC - Jericho established
• c. 8000 BC - Transition from Boreal period to Atlantic period, Last glacial period ends, Upper Paleolithic period ends, Mesolithic period begins, Old Man in the Mountain formed in New Hampshire

— Antarctica — long-term melting of the Antarctic ice sheets is under way.

— Asia - rising sea levels caused by postglacial warming.

— North America - The glaciers were receding and by 8000 BCE the Wisconsin had withdrawn completely.

— World - Inland flooding due to catastrophic glacier melt takes place in several regions.

8th millennium BC

• c. 7900 BC - 7700 BC - Lake Agassiz refills from glacial melt-water around 7900 BC as Glaciers retreat north
• c. 7640 BC — Date theorized for impact of Tollmann's hypothetical bolide with Earth and associated global cataclysm.
• c. 7500 BC - Mesolithic hunters reach Ireland
• 7000 BC: Neolithic Subpluvial begins in northern Africa, Mesolithic period ends

7th millennium BC

• c. 6600 BC - Jiahu Script, symbols on tortoise shells in Jiahu
• c. 6500 BC — English Channel formed, ubaid period, copper age and invention of the wheel occur during this time. Paleolithic period ends, Neolithic period begins in China, continues to 2300 BC
• 6440±25 BC: Kurile volcano on Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula has VEI 7 eruption. It is one of the largest of the Holocene epoch
• c. 6400 BC - Lake Agassiz drains into oceans for the final time, leaving Lakes Manitoba, Winnipeg, Winnipegosis, and Lake of the Woods, among others in the region, as its remnants. The draining may have caused the 8.2 kiloyear event, 200 years later
• c. 6200 BC — The 8.2 kiloyear event, a sudden significant cooling episode
• c. 6100 BC — The Storegga Slide, causing a megatsunami in the Norwegian Sea
• c. 6000 BC — Climatic or Thermal Maximum, the warmest period in 125,000 years, with minimal glaciation and highest sea levels. (McEvedy)

— Rising sea levels form the Torres Strait, separate Australia from New Guinea.

— Increasing desiccation of the Sahara. End of the Saharan Pluvial period.

— Associated with Pollen Zone VI Atlantic, oak-elm woodlands, warmer and maritime climate. Modern wild fauna plus, increasingly, human introductions, associated with the spread of the Neolithic farming technologies.

— Rising sea levels from glacial retreat flood what will become the Irish Sea, separating the island of Ireland from the British Isles and Continental Europe.

6th millennium BC

• c. 5600 BC — According to the Black Sea deluge theory, the Black Sea floods with salt water. Some 3000 cubic miles (12,500 km³) of salt water is added, significantly expanding it and transforming it from a fresh-water landlocked lake into a salt water sea.
• c. 5500 BC — Beginning of the desertification of north Africa, which ultimately lead to the creation of the Sahara desert. It's possible this process pushed some natives into migrating to the region of the Nile in the east, thereby laying the groundwork for the rise of Egyptian civilization.
• 5300 BC - beginning of Sumeria, start of its ubaid period. Vinča script (Tărtăria tablets)
• c. 5000 BC — The Older Peron transgression, a global warm period, begins.
• 5000 BC — Use of a sail begins. The first known picture is on an Egyptian urn found in Luxor.
• 5000 BC - Transition from Atlantic period to Subboreal period
• 5000 BC - Metallurgy appears

5th millennium BC

• 4570 - 4250 BC - Merimde culture on the Nile River
• 4400 BC - Predynastic Egypt and Sumerian civilizations begin, Uruk period begins in Sumeria

4th millennium BC

• 3900 BC — Intense aridification triggered worldwide migration to river valleys, causing changes in human behaviour. Abrupt end of the Ubaid period.
• c. 3600 BC - 2800 BC — Climatic deterioration in Western Europe and the Sahara. In Europe Pollen zone VII Sub Boreal, oak and beech. Glacial advances of the Piora oscillation, with lower economic prosperity in areas not able to irrigate in the Middle East.
• 3100 - 2686 BC - Early Dynastic Period of Egypt. The hallmarks of Ancient Egypt (art, architecture, religion) all formed during this period. This is widely assumed to be the time and place of the first writing system, the Egyptian hieroglyphs (disputed, as some think they were used as far back as 3200 BC, while others believe they weren't invented until the 28th century BC).
• 3200 - 3000 BC - Protodynastic Period of Egypt
• 3000 - 2800 BC - 30 km/19 mi-wideBurckle Crater is formed in Indian Ocean from a possible meteor or comet impact, possibly inspiring most flood myths.

3rd millennium BC

• ca. 30th century BC, Sumerian Cuneiform script, considered among the oldest alphabets, is created
• 2900 BC — Floods at Shuruppak from horizon to horizon, with sediments in Southern Iraq, stretching as far north as Kish, and as far south as Uruk, associated with the return of heavy rains in Nineveh and a potential damming of the Karun River to run into the Tigris. This ends the Jemdet Nasr period and ushers in the Early Dynastic Period of Sumer cultures of the area. Possible association of this event with the Biblical deluge.
• 2650 BC — Sumerian epic of Gilgamesh describes vast tracts of cedar forests in what is now southern Iraq. Gilgamesh defies the gods and cuts down the forest, and in return the gods say they will curse Sumer with fire (or possibly drought). By 2100 BC, soil erosion and salt buildup have devastated agriculture. One Sumerian wrote that the "earth turned white." Civilization moved north to Babylonia and Assyria. Again, deforestation becomes a factor in the rise and subsequent fall of these civilizations.

— Some of the first laws protecting the remaining forests decreed in Ur.

• 2500 BC — Sahara becomes fully desiccated. Desiccation had been proceeding from 6000 BCE, as a result of the shift in the West African tropical monsoon belt southwards from the Sahel. Subsequent rates of evaporation in the region led to a drying of the Sahara, as shown by the drop in water levels in Lake Chad. Tehenu of the Sahara attempt to enter into Egypt, and there is evidence of a Nile drought in the pyramid of Unas.
• 2300 BC - Neolithic period ends in China
• 2200 BC — Beginning of a severe centennial-scale drought in northern Africa, southwestern Asia and midcontinental North America, which very likely caused the collapse of the Old Kingdom in Egypt as well as the Akkadian Empire in Mesopotamia. This is the transition from the Subboreal period to the subatlantic period.

2nd millennium BC

• 1900 BC — The Atra-Hasis Epic describes Babylonian flood, with warnings of the consequences of human overpopulation.
• 1450 BC — Minoan civilization in the Mediterranean declines, but scholars are divided on the cause. Possibly a volcanic eruption was the source of the catastrophe (see Minoan eruption). On the other hand, gradual deforestation may have led to materials shortages in manufacturing and shipping. Loss of timber and subsequent deterioration of its land was probably a factor in the decline of Minoan power in the late Bronze Age, according to John Perlin in A Forest Journey.
• 1206 BC - 1187 BC — Evidence of major droughts in the Eastern Mediterranean. Hittite and Ugarit records show requests for grain were sent to Egypt, probably during the reign of Pharaoh Merenptah. Carpenter has suggested that droughts of equal severity to those of the 1950s in Greece, would have been sufficient to cause the Late Bronze Age collapse. The cause may have been a temporary diversion of winter storms north of the Pyrenees and Alps. Central Europe experienced generally wetter conditions, while those in the Eastern Mediterranean were substantially drier. There seems to have been a general abandonment of peasant subsistence agriculture in favour of nomadic pastoralism in Central Anatolia, Syria and northern Mesopotamia, Palestine, the Sinai and NW Arabia.
• c 2000 BC -1000 BC - The Sarasvati River dries up. Desertification of the Thar Region begins.

1st millennium BC

• 800 BC - 500 BC — Sub-Atlantic period in Western Europe. Pollen Zone VIII, sub-Atlantic. End of last Sea Level rise. Spread of "Celtic fields", Iron Age A, and Haalstadt Celts. Increased prosperity in Europe and the Middle East.
• 800 - 200 BC - Axial age, a revolution in thinking that we know as Philosophy, begins in China, India, and Europe.
• 508 BC - Democracy created in Ancient Greece
• c. 225 BC — The Sub-Atlantic began about 225 BCE (estimated on the basis of radiocarbon dating) and has been characterized by increased rainfall, cooler and more humid climates, and the dominance of beech forests. The fauna of the Sub-Atlantic is essentially modern although severely depleted by human activities. The Sub-Atlantic is correlated with pollen zone IX; sea levels have been generally regressive during this time interval, though North America is an exception.
• c. 200 BC — Sri Lanka first country in the world to have a nature reserve, King Devanampiyatissa established a wildlife sanctuary

1st millennium AD

2nd century

• 186 - Hatepe eruption in New Zealand turns the skies red over Rome and China.

4th century

• c. 300 - Migration period begins. This leads in a couple of centuries to the fall of Rome.
• 301 - San Marino founded, claims to be the world's oldest republic

6th century

• 535-536: global climate abnormalities affecting several civilizations.

9th century

• c. 850 — Severe drought exacerbated by soil erosion causes collapse of Central American city states and the end of the Classic Maya civilization.
• 874 - According to Landnámabók, the settlement of Iceland begins.

10th century

• 930 - Althing, oldest parliamentary institution in the world that is still in existance, is founded
• 980s - Greenland settled by Viking colonists from Iceland

11th century

• 985-1080 - [[[Norse_colonisation_of_the_Americas#Vinland_and_L.27Anse_aux_Meadows|Norse Colony at L'Anse aux Meadows]]
• 1006 - SN 1006, brightest apparent magnitude stellar event in recorded history (-7.5 visual mangitude)
• 1054 - SN 1054, created the Crab Nebula
• 1099 - The Hodh region of Mauritania becomes desert.

12th century

• 1104 - Venice Arsenal in Venice, Italy is founded, employed 16,000 at its peak for the mass production of sailing ships in large assembly lines, hundreds of years before the industrial revolution
• 1150 - Renaissance of the 12th century in Europe, blast furnace for the smelting of cast iron is imported from China
• 1185 - First record of windmills

13th century

• c. 1250-1850 — Start of the Little Ice Age, a stadial period within our interglacial warm period

14th century

• Great Famine of 1315–1317
• 1347 to 1350s — Bubonic plague decimates Europe, creating the first attempts to enforce public health and quarantine laws.
• 1350 - Western Settlement in Greenland abandoned

15th century

• 1408 - last known recording (a wedding) of norse settlers in Greenland
• 1453 - Eruption of Kuwae in Pacific contributes to fall of Constantinople. Environmental Science is developed.
• 1492 - Christopher Columbus lands in Caribbean islands, starting the Columbian Exchange, causing the Aztec Empire and Inca Empire to fall to the Spanish in the next century, as well as bringing various species of animals and plants across the Atlantic Ocean.

17th century

• 1600 - Huaynaputina erupts in South America. The explosion had effects on climate around the Northern Hemisphere (Southern hemispheric records are less complete), where 1601 was the coldest year in six centuries, leading to a famine in Russia; see Russian famine of 1601–1603.

18th century

• c. 1750 - Beginning of Industrial Revolution, which eventually turns to use of coal and other fossil fuels to drive steam engines and other devices. Anthropogenic carbon pollution presumably increases.
• 1783 - the volcano Laki erupts, emitting sufficient sulfur dioxide gas and sulphate particles to kill a majority of Iceland's livestock and cause an unusually cold winter in Europe and Western Asia.
• 1789 - a recent study of El Niño patterns suggests that the French Revolution was caused in part by the poor crop yields of 1788-89 in Europe, resulting from an unusually strong El-Niño effect between 1789-93.
• Night of June 6, 1796 - Ragundasjön was dried out in four hours when indalsälven took a new course, at least partially as a result of canal digging activities.
• 1796 - Smallpox vaccine invented. This and other medical discoveries over the next two centuries help to increase life expectancy and decrease infant mortality, leading to a worldwide population boom.
• 1798 - Thomas Robert Malthus publishes An Essay on the Principle of Population, thus beginning Malthusian economics.

19th century

• 1815 — Eruption of Mt. Tambora in what is now Indonesia, largest in the 2nd millennium AD. Leads to the-
• 1816 — -"Year Without a Summer."
• 1872 — Yellowstone National Park, the world's first national park, opens on March 1.
• 1883 - Eruption of Krakatoa in Indonesia. The sound of the explosion is heard as far as Australia and China, the altered air waves causes strange colours on the sky and the volcanic gases reduce global temperatures during the following years. The vivid sunsets were captured in Edward Munch's The Scream.
• 1890 - Yosemity National Park, the world's first national park, opens. The park becomes a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984.

20th century

• 1900 - The Galveston Hurricane of 1900 hits Galveston, Texas and reverses the city's previously rapid growth.
• 1906 - San Francisco earthquake causes collapse of insurance markets and the Panic of 1907.
• 1914-1918 — World War I, which involves heavy bombardment, explosions, and poison gas warfare.
• 1918 — Spanish Flu kills between 50 to 100 million people
• 1932 to 1937 — Exceptional precipitation absence in northern hemisphere exacerbated by human activities causes the Dust Bowl drought of the US plains and the Soviet famine of 1932-1933 (harsh economic damage in US and widespread death in USSR)
• 1937-1945 — Pacific War and World War II, with heavy bombardment, genocide, and explosions. Towards the end of the war, nuclear warfare occurs for the first time when Hiroshima and Nagasaki are bombed.
• post-1945 — Nuclear tests are performed by the United States, Soviet Union, India, Pakistan, China, North Korea, the United Kingdom, and France. Above-ground detonations continue until the Partial Test Ban Treaty is signed in 1963, causing fallout and spreading radiation around the explosion sites.
• 1960 — World human population reached 3 billion mark.
• 1970s-2010s — Deindustrialization occurs in the Midwest and then much of the United States, as manufacturing industries (and their pollution) move to China, India, and other countries.
• 1980 — Mount St. Helens erupts explosively in Washington state.
• 1984 — Bhopal disaster.
• 1986 — Chernobyl meltdown and explosion, contaminating surrounding area, including Pripyat.
• 1987 — World human population reached 5 billion mark.
• 1999 — World human population reached the 6 billion mark.

21st century

• 2004 — Earthquake causes large tsunamis in the Indian Ocean, killing nearly a quarter of a million people.
• 2005 — Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma cause widespread destruction and environmental harm to coastal communities in the US Gulf Coast region, especially the New Orleans area.
• 2010 — Earthquake in Haiti destroyed vital infrastructure.
  • The eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano affected activities in Europe and across the world.
  • Deepwater Horizon oil spill in Gulf of Mexico.

caption

Year(s)	Event
2004	Earthquake causes large tsunamis in the Indian Ocean, killing nearly a quarter of a million people.
2005	Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma cause widespread destruction and environmental harm to coastal communities in the US Gulf Coast region, especially the New Orleans area.
2010	Earthquake in Haiti destroyed vital infrastructure.
2010	The eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano affected activities in Europe and across the world.
2010	Deepwater Horizon oil spill in Gulf of Mexico.

External links

• Timeline of European Environmental History
• Environmental History Timeline