One press draws named stretches of history, from the Stone Age to the 2010s, each with its usual dates, where it applies and one line on what marks it.
๐ฐArchaic period in North AmericaAbout 8000 to 1000 BC, North America. People lived on nuts, seeds and shellfish before settled farming.
๐บJลmon periodAbout 14,000 to 300 BC, Japan. Named for pottery decorated by pressing cords into the wet clay.
๐นMesolithicAbout 15,000 to 5,000 years ago in Europe. The last hunter-gatherers there, before farming arrived.
๐พNeolithicAbout 10,000 to 2000 BC, Asia, Europe and Africa. The New Stone Age, when farming and settled life began.
๐ฅPaleolithicAbout 3.3 million to 11,650 years ago, worldwide. The Old Stone Age, when people made knapped stone tools.
๐ฟStone AgeRoughly 3.4 million years, ending between 4000 and 2000 BC, worldwide. All but about 1% of the human past.
๐ฆฃUpper PaleolithicAbout 50,000 to 12,000 years ago, Africa and Eurasia. The things people left behind grow far more varied.
๐งฑUruk periodAbout 4000 to 3100 BC, Mesopotamia. Named after the city of Uruk, it is when cities first appeared.
๐พYangshao cultureAbout 5000 to 3000 BC, along China's Yellow River. A farming culture named after a site found in 1921.
Show all 139 periods (130 more)
Ancient 29
๐นAchaemenid Empire550 to 330 BC, from Iran outward. Founded by Cyrus the Great, it was the largest empire of its time.
๐ฆAkkadian EmpireAbout 2334 to 2154 BC, Mesopotamia. Sargon of Akkad's realm is often called the first empire in history.
๐ก๏ธBronze AgeFrom about 3000 BC to about 1200 BC in much of the Old World. The middle of the three ages, before iron.
๐๏ธClassical GreeceAbout 510 to 323 BC, Greece. Some 200 years that took in democratic Athens and the Peloponnesian Wars.
๐ชทGupta EmpireMid 3rd to mid 6th century AD, northern India. Some historians call it the Golden Age of India.
๐Han dynasty202 BC to AD 220, China. A golden age, broken from AD 9 to 23 by the Xin dynasty of Wang Mang.
๐บ๏ธHellenistic period323 to 30 BC, eastern Mediterranean and Middle East. From Alexander the Great's death to Cleopatra VII's.
๐งฑIndus Valley CivilizationAbout 3300 to 1300 BC, Pakistan and northwest India. A Bronze Age civilization also called Harappan.
โ๏ธIron AgeAbout 1200 to 550 BC, Europe and the Near East. The last of the three ages, after stone and bronze.
๐ฆMaurya EmpireAbout 320 to 185 BC, South Asia. Founded by Chandragupta Maurya and known from the Edicts of Ashoka.
๐Migration PeriodAbout AD 300 to 600, Europe. Goths, Vandals, Huns and others moved in as the Western Roman Empire fell.
๐Minoan civilizationAbout 3100 to 1100 BC, Crete. Often called Europe's first civilization, with palaces at Knossos.
๐บMycenaean GreeceAbout 1750 to 1050 BC, mainland Greece. The last phase of the Greek Bronze Age, named after Mycenae.
๐Nazca cultureAbout 100 BC to AD 800, south coast of Peru. Makers of the Nazca lines, huge designs in the desert.
๐New Kingdom of EgyptAbout 1570 to 1069 BC, Egypt. Also called the Egyptian Empire, it was the peak of Egypt's power.
๐บNok culturePerhaps 1500 BC to 1 BC, Nigeria. Known for terracotta sculptures first found at the village of Nok in 1928.
๐บOld Kingdom of EgyptAbout 2700 to 2200 BC, Egypt. The Age of the Pyramids, when Khufu and Khafre built theirs at Giza.
๐ฟOlmec civilizationAbout 1200 to 400 BC, Veracruz and Tabasco, Mexico. Its center moved from San Lorenzo to La Venta.
๐Ptolemaic Kingdom305 to 30 BC, Egypt. A Greek dynasty ruled from Alexandria until the death of Cleopatra VII.
๐งฑQin dynasty221 to 206 BC, China. The first imperial dynasty and the shortest major one, founded by Qin Shi Huang.
๐ฆ Roman Empire27 BC to AD 476 in the West. One-man rule began under Augustus; the eastern half lasted until 1453.
๐๏ธRoman Republic509 to 27 BC, Rome. The first date is traditional. Rome grew from one city to rule the Mediterranean.
๐ฅSasanian EmpireAD 224 to 651, Iran. Founded by Ardashir I, the House of Sasan ruled for over four centuries.
๐ขShang dynastyAbout 1600 to 1046 BC, Yellow River valley, China. The earliest Chinese dynasty backed by archaeology.
๐ฏThree Kingdoms periodAD 220 to 280, China. Cao Wei, Shu Han and Eastern Wu split the country after the Han dynasty fell.
๐Vedic periodAbout 1500 to 500 BC, northern India. The age when the Vedas were composed, which gives it its name.
โ๏ธWarring States periodAbout 475 to 221 BC, China. Rival states fought until Qin conquered the rest and founded an empire.
๐พYayoi periodAbout 300 BC to AD 300, Japan. Wet-rice farming took over from the hunting and gathering of Jลmon times.
๐Zhou dynastyAbout 1046 to 256 BC, China. At 790 years it is the longest-lasting dynasty in Chinese history.
Medieval 33
๐Abbasid Caliphate750 to 1258, Iraq. Caliphs who ruled mostly from Baghdad, the capital they founded in 762.
๐Al-Andalus711 to 1492, Spain and Portugal. Muslim-ruled Iberia, which shrank at last to the Emirate of Granada.
๐Anglo-Saxon England5th century to 1066, England. From the end of Rome's rule in Britain to the Norman Conquest.
๐ฆ Aztec Empire1428 to 1521, Valley of Mexico. An alliance of three city-states that fell to Cortรฉs and his allies.
โฆ๏ธByzantine EmpireAD 330 to 1453, centered on Constantinople. Its people called themselves Romans to the end.
๐ChampaAbout the 2nd century to 1832, central and southern Vietnam. Cham coastal states; Vietnam annexed the last.
โ๏ธCrusades1095 to 1291, Europe and the Holy Land. Campaigns called by the popes, the first by Urban II in 1095.
๐Delhi Sultanate1206 to 1526, northern India. Five dynasties in turn ruled from Delhi, from the Mamluks to the Lodis.
๐ก๏ธEarly Middle AgesLate 5th to 10th century, Europe. Once called the Dark Ages, a name historians now argue over.
๐ฏGoryeo918 to 1392, Korea. The state that unified the peninsula and gave Korea its name.
๐งฑGreat ZimbabweAbout 1100 to 1550, Zimbabwe. A walled city; nothing of stone in precolonial southern Africa is larger.
๐ธHeian period794 to 1185, Japan. The capital moved to what is now Kyoto, and hiragana and katakana emerged.
โชHigh Middle AgesAbout 1000 to 1300, Europe. Europe's population grew fast and the great Italian city-states rose.
๐ฆ Holy Roman Empire800 or 962 to 1806, central Europe. A loose empire that lasted a millennium until the Napoleonic Wars.
๐ฆInca Empire1438 to 1533, the Andes. The largest empire in the Americas before Columbus, run from Cusco.
๐ญIslamic Golden Age8th to 14th century, Islamic world. Scholars at Baghdad's House of Wisdom put old learning into Arabic.
๐ก๏ธKamakura period1185 to 1333, Japan. The first shogunate, under Minamoto no Yoritomo, and the rise of the samurai.
๐Khmer Empire802 to 1431, Cambodia. Also called the Angkor period, for the empire's best-known capital.
๐ถKievan Rus'Late 9th to mid-13th century, eastern Europe. The first East Slavic state, ruled by the Rurik dynasty.
๐Kingdom of BeninAbout the 11th century to 1897, southern Nigeria. Its capital, Edo, is now called Benin City.
๐Late Middle AgesAbout 1300 to 1500, Europe. Famine and the Black Death cut the population to around half.
โตMajapahit1292 to 1527, Java, Indonesia. A Hindu-Buddhist sea empire that peaked under Hayam Wuruk.
โMalacca SultanateAbout 1400 to 1511, Malaysia. A Malay sultanate and busy trading port until the Portuguese took its capital.
๐ชMali EmpireAbout 1235 to 1610, West Africa. Founded by Sundiata Keita and famed for the wealth of Mansa Musa.
๐ฐMiddle Ages5th to late 15th century, Europe. The middle of the three ages of Western history, after Rome fell.
๐ฝMississippian periodLate 10th to 16th century, southern United States. Maize-farming towns; the city of Cahokia began in 1050.
๐Mongol Empire1206 to 1368, Mongolia to eastern Europe. History's largest empire of joined-up land, begun by Genghis Khan.
๐งญSong dynasty960 to 1279, China. Founded by Emperor Taizu and ended by the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty.
๐ชทSukhothai Kingdom1238 to 1438, north-central Thailand. Si Inthrathit made it a kingdom; it later came under Ayutthaya.
๐ซTang dynasty618 to 907, China. Seen as a high point of Chinese civilization, with a break under Empress Wu Zetian.
๐Vijayanagara Empire1336 to 1646, southern India. A Hindu empire that two brothers founded, Harihara I and Bukka Raya I.
โตViking AgeAbout 800 to 1050, northern Europe. Norse raiders, traders and settlers reached as far as North America.
๐นYuan dynasty1271 to 1368, China. Kublai Khan's Mongol-led dynasty, between the Song and the Ming.
Early modern 27
๐งญAge of DiscoveryAbout 1418 to 1620, worldwide. European sailors explored, colonized and conquered across the globe.
๐กAge of Enlightenment1715 to 1789 by tradition, Europe. Thinkers put reason, evidence and individual liberty first.
๐American Revolution1765 to 1789, Thirteen Colonies. A rebellion that became a revolution and created the United States.
๐ถAyutthaya Kingdom1351 to 1767, Thailand. A Thai kingdom and trading power, for 15 years from 1569 a vassal of Toungoo Burma.
๐ทDutch Golden AgeAbout 1588 to 1672, the Netherlands. The Dutch Republic became a leading trading and sea power.
๐ฏEdo period1603 to 1868, Japan. The Tokugawa shoguns kept a long peace and shut out most foreign contact.
๐ญElizabethan era1558 to 1603, England. The reign of Elizabeth I, when playwrights such as Shakespeare broke new ground.
๐ฆEthiopian EmpireAbout 1270 to 1974, Ethiopia and Eritrea. From Yekuno Amlak to the last emperor, Haile Selassie.
๐ฅFrench Revolution1789 to 1799, France. It ran from the Estates General to the Coup of 18 Brumaire.
๐ปGeorgian era1714 to 1830, Britain. Named after four kings called George; many stretch it to 1837.
๐ดโโ ๏ธGolden Age of Piracy1650s to 1730s, North Atlantic and Indian Oceans. It began with buccaneers raiding Spanish colonies.
๐ฏJoseon1392 to 1897, Korea. A kingdom of 505 years that made Neo-Confucianism the state's ideology.
๐ดKingdom of KongoAbout 1390 to 1914, central Africa. Independent until 1862, then at times a vassal of Portugal.
๐Lan Xang1353 to 1707, Laos. Founded by Fa Ngum; the capital moved from Luang Prabang to Vientiane in 1560.
๐ฎMing dynasty1368 to 1644, China. The last imperial dynasty ruled by the Han people, after the Mongol-led Yuan.
๐Mughal Empire1526 to 1857, South Asia. Founded by Babur after his win at the First Battle of Panipat.
โชNew Spain1535 to 1821, Mexico and beyond. A Spanish viceroyalty with its capital in Mexico City.
๐Ottoman EmpireAbout 1299 to 1922, centered on Turkey. It began as Osman I's small state and took Constantinople in 1453.
๐Qing dynasty1644 to 1912, China. The Manchu-led last imperial dynasty, proclaimed in 1636 and in Beijing from 1644.
๐Reformation1517 to 1648, Europe. Most accounts start the clock at Martin Luther's Ninety-five Theses.
๐จRenaissance15th and 16th centuries, Europe. A revival of classical art and learning that began in Florence.
๐Safavid Iran1501 to 1736, Iran. Shah Ismail I made Twelver Shi'ism the official religion.
๐ญScientific RevolutionAbout 1543 to 1687, Europe. Often dated from a book by Copernicus to Isaac Newton's Principia.
โ๏ธSengoku period1467 to about 1600, Japan. An age of civil war; books end it anywhere from 1568 to 1615.
๐ฆThirteen Colonies1607 to 1776, Atlantic coast of North America. British colonies, from Jamestown to independence.
โ๏ธToungoo dynasty1510 to 1752, Burma. It ruled in two runs, 1510 to 1599 and 1599 to 1752; the Second Burmese Empire.
๐นTudor period1485 to 1603, England and Wales. From Henry VII's accession to the death of Elizabeth I.
Modern 41
โ๏ธ1900s1900 to 1909, worldwide. The first powered flight came in 1903, and cars went into mass production.
๐ช1910s1910 to 1919, worldwide. World War I broke out in 1914 and ran until a truce on November 11, 1918.
๐ท1920s1920 to 1929, worldwide. The Roaring Twenties, or the Jazz Age, until the Wall Street crash of October 1929.
๐ช๏ธ1930s1930 to 1939, worldwide. The decade of the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl and, from 1933, the New Deal.
๐ป1940s1940 to 1949, worldwide. World War II filled most of the first half, and the Cold War began after it.
๐บ1950s1950 to 1959, worldwide. Recovery from World War II, the baby boomer generation and, in 1957, Sputnik 1.
๐1960s1960 to 1969, worldwide. Known as the countercultural decade, with the Beatles and the first Moon walks.
๐บ1970s1970 to 1979, worldwide. An oil crisis brought recession. Historians now call the decade a pivot of change.
๐ผ1980s1980 to 1989, worldwide. The Cold War's last decade. It closed with the Berlin Wall coming down.
๐พ1990s1990 to 1999, worldwide. The post-Cold War decade. The World Wide Web arrived and population hit 6.1 billion.
๐ฑ2000s2000 to 2009, worldwide. Internet use rose from 7% to 26% of the world, and the 2008 financial crisis hit.
๐คณ2010s2010 to 2019, worldwide. It opened with recovery from the Great Recession. Smartphones became widespread.
โApartheid1948 to 1994, South Africa and Namibia. A system of racial segregation written into law.
๐ผBelle รpoque1871 to 1914, France and Europe. The 'Beautiful Era' from the Franco-Prussian War to World War I.
๐British Raj1858 to 1947, Indian subcontinent. The years of rule by the British Crown.
โCivil rights movement1954 to 1968, United States. A campaign to end legal segregation that won the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
๐งCold WarAbout 1947 to 1991, worldwide. A rivalry between the United States, the Soviet Union and their allies.
๐Cultural Revolution1966 to 1976, China. Launched by Mao Zedong, it lasted until his death.
๐Edwardian era1901 to 1910, United Kingdom. The reign of Edward VII, often stretched to the start of war in 1914.
๐บ๏ธFrench Indochina1887 to 1954, Southeast Asia. French-held territories in Vietnam and Cambodia, joined by Laos in 1899.
๐ฐGilded AgeLate 1870s to late 1890s, United States. Named after an 1873 novel that Mark Twain wrote with Charles Dudley Warner.
๐Great Depression1929 to 1939, worldwide. A severe global downturn, often dated from the Wall Street crash of 1929.
๐ญIndustrial RevolutionAbout 1760 to 1840, Britain first. Hand work gave way to machines, steam power and factories.
๐Konbaung dynasty1752 to 1885, Burma. The last Burmese royal dynasty; it lost three wars with Britain between 1824 and 1885.
๐Meiji era1868 to 1912, Japan. The Meiji Emperor's reign, when Japan left feudal rule behind and industrialized fast.
๐ตMexican RevolutionNovember 20, 1910 to December 1, 1920, Mexico. A decade of regional wars rather than one single conflict.
๐๏ธNapoleonic era1799 to 1815, France and Europe. From Napoleon Bonaparte's coup to his defeat at Waterloo.
๐Nguyแป n dynasty1802 to 1945, Vietnam. The last Vietnamese dynasty; after 1883 it ruled in name only under the French.
๐ซProhibition era1920 to 1933, United States. Making, moving and selling alcoholic drinks was banned nationwide.
๐๏ธReconstruction era1865 to 1877, United States. It followed the Civil War and ended when the last federal troops left the South.
๐ฉRegency eraAbout 1795 to 1837, Britain. The formal regency it is named for ran only from 1811 to 1820.
๐ธReiwa eraMay 1, 2019 to today, Japan. The current era, which began when Naruhito became the 126th emperor.
๐ชRussian Empire1721 to 1917, northern Eurasia. The last era of the tsars, ended when a republic was proclaimed.
๐บ๏ธScramble for AfricaLate 19th century to 1914, Africa. By the end only Ethiopia and Liberia were outside European control.
๐พShลwa era1926 to 1989, Japan. The reign of Emperor Shลwa (Hirohito), the longest of any Japanese emperor.
๐Sokoto Caliphate1804 to 1903, northern Nigeria. Founded by Usman dan Fodio and ended by British, French and German conquest.
๐ฐ๏ธSoviet Union1922 to 1991, Eurasia. A communist state, the largest country by area, with roots in the 1917 revolution.
๐Space RaceAbout 1955 to 1975, United States and Soviet Union. Rival satellite plans led to a joint flight in orbit.
๐Victorian era1837 to 1901, United Kingdom. The reign of Queen Victoria, when schooling first reached nearly every child.
๐ชWorld War IJuly 28, 1914 to November 11, 1918, worldwide. The Allies fought the Central Powers in the Great War.
๐World War IISeptember 1, 1939 to September 2, 1945, worldwide. The Allies fought the Axis powers.
How this list was compiled: Compiled for this site. The choice of the 139 periods and the lines are our own; each one was checked on 2026-09-19 against the opening of its own English Wikipedia article (https://en.wikipedia.org/). The start and end years, the place and the fact on each card all had to appear in that text. 63 periods were also read the same day against a second source: 59 against the World History Encyclopedia article (https://www.worldhistory.org/) and 4 English periods against English Heritage's Story of England (https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/learn/story-of-england/). The other 76 rest on the one article. A second source does not always repeat the card's years. Where it gives different years, or a century and no year, the card keeps Wikipedia's years: the Aztec Empire, for example, is 1428 to 1521 on the card and about 1345 to 1521 in World History Encyclopedia. Six cards take a year from the second source because the Wikipedia opening gives none: the Akkadian Empire, the Shang dynasty, Great Zimbabwe, the start of the Byzantine Empire, the end of the Reformation and the end of the Mongol Empire. A seventh, the Bronze Age, takes its end year from the summary box of its Wikipedia article (about 3000 BC to about 1200 BC), because the opening gives a start and no end. The Toungoo dynasty's years come from the sentence on its two periods of rule, not from the first sentence, which says mid-16th century. The Scramble for Africa line about Ethiopia and Liberia comes from the body of its Wikipedia article. 60 cards have dates that are a convention or an estimate, and they hedge: most say about, roughly or perhaps or name a century, and a few give two possible years, a decade or the words by tradition. The Reiwa era was still running on the check date, so its card ends at today. Each period sits under the era that holds its middle year: before 3000 BC, 3000 BC to AD 499, 500 to 1499, 1500 to 1799, 1800 on. Nothing here was checked against Britannica. Periods whose opening text gave no usable years were left off, among them the Hittites, Phoenicia, the Kingdom of Kush, the Kingdom of Aksum, the Three Kingdoms of Korea, the Ghana Empire, the Chola Empire, the Toltecs, the Ancestral Puebloans, the Pagan Kingdom and Srivijaya. Licence: own work
How it works
Five named periods come up on each press of this random time period generator, from a list of 139 that runs from the Stone Age to Japan's Reiwa era. Every card gives the usual start and end years, where the name applies and one line on what marks the period.
Read the full guide
Where a period lands: the middle-year rule
The Era row holds 9 periods of prehistory, 29 ancient, 33 medieval, 27 early modern and 41 modern, 12 of them single decades. A long period sits under the era that holds its middle year, with cut-offs at 3000 BC and the years 500, 1500 and 1800, so the Ming dynasty is Early modern. The Region row combines with it: Medieval with East Asia leaves seven, from the Tang dynasty to Goryeo. Of the 139, 76 lie wholly outside Europe.
Why two books give different years
Most period dates are a convention. Nobody announced the Bronze Age: historians drew its edges long afterwards, and bronze reached regions at different times. Japan's Sengoku period ends in 1568, 1600 or 1615, depending on the book. So 60 of the 139 cards hedge their dates, with about, roughly, a century or two possible years. Reigns and wars with recorded dates, such as the Tudor period from 1485 to 1603, do not.
Southeast Asia in the Region row holds 11 periods, from Champa and the Khmer Empire to French Indochina.
For a class timeline, press Hide all dates, draw five and line them up by start year, then tap to check.
Tap Single decades before a theme party: twelve cards, from the 1900s to the 2010s.
Questions and answers
Where do the period dates come from?
Each card follows the opening of the period's own encyclopedia article, last read on September 19, 2026. For 63 periods a second source was read too, World History Encyclopedia or English Heritage; where it gives other years, or none, the card keeps the article's. Periods with no usable years, such as the Hittites and the Kingdom of Kush, were left off. Found a better-sourced year? Send it through the contact page.
What counts as a time period here?
A span of years that has a name, from World War I at just over four years to the Stone Age at roughly 3.4 million. A single dated moment, such as a battle or a launch, belongs to the random historical event generator.
Does the list include fantasy or future eras?
No. All 139 periods are real, and the newest is Japan's Reiwa era, which began on May 1, 2019 and is still running. For invented ages, the random setting generator has 30 fantasy ages and futures among its eras.