From Cave Paintings to the Internet A Chronological and Thematic Database on the History of Information and Media Social / Political Outline

The Earliest Hearths
(Circa 1,500,000 BCE – 790,000 BCE)

The Oldest Intentional Burial
(Circa 100,000 BCE)

Archive of Egyptian Diplomatic Correspondence Written in the Diplomatic Language, Akkadian Cuneiform
(Circa 1,360 BCE – 1,330 BCE)

The Only Ancient Egyptian Document that Mentions Israel
(1,209 BCE – 1,208 BCE)

The Taylor Prism and the Sennacherib Prism
(689 BCE – 691 BCE)

Knowledge as Power: The Earliest Systematically Collected Library as Distinct from an Archive
(668 BCE – 627 BCE)

Destruction of Solomon's Temple
(586 BCE)

The Earliest Known Document in the History of Religious Toleration
(537 BCE)

The Rosetta Stone of Cuneiform Script
(522 BCE – 486 BCE)

Early Example of Assembly Line Production
(215 BCE – 210 BCE)

Destroying Most Records of the Past Along with 460, or More, Scholars
(213 BCE – 206 BCE)

The First Income Tax
(10 CE)

The Diocletianic Persecution of Christians
(February 24, 303 CE)

The Beginning of Constantine's Conversion
(October 28, 312 CE)

The Edict of Milan Proclaims "Religious Toleration"
(313 CE)

Foundation of the Imperial Library of Constantinople
(Circa 330 CE)

The Roman Empire Splits Permanently into Eastern and Western Halves
(393 CE)

At the Beginning of the Dark Ages Production of New Manuscripts Essentially Ceased
(Circa 400 CE – 600)

The Oldest Surviving Consular Diptych -- an Object that Could be Used as a Writing Tablet
(406 CE)

The Withdrawal of Roman Legions from Britannia Results in the End of Literacy in the Region
(410 CE)

The Goths Sack Rome
(August 24, 410 CE)

Saxons, Angles, and Jutes Invade Britain
(449 CE)

The Church Assumes Role of Educator and Civil Service for the Tribal Kingdoms
(Circa 450 CE – 650)

The Church Replaces the Roman State as the Source of Order and Stability
(Circa 450 CE – 650)

The Last Victory Achieved by the Western Roman Empire
(451 CE)

The Franks Convert to Christianity
(497 CE)

Thedoric Executes the Philosopher Boethius: Beginning of the Middle Ages
(524 – 525)

The Anglo-Saxons Conquer England
(Circa 550)

The Lombards Conquer Italy
(568)

Muslims Occupy Jerusalem for 451 Years
(638 – 1099)

Arab Conquest of Egypt Resulted in Smaller Exports of Papyrus-- A Probable Cause of the Eventual Adoption of Greek Minuscule in Byzantine Book Production
(641)

Possibly the Oldest Irish Manuscript
(Circa 650)

King Oswiu Causes Britain to Embrace the Mainstream of Christianity
(664)

Arabs Begin their Invasion of North Africa
(670)

Building the Dome of the Rock
(691)

Foundation of the Empire of al-Andalus in Spain
(April 30 – July 19, 711)

Charles Martel Stops Muslim Expansion at the Battle of Tours
(732)

Chinese Prisoners of War Convey Papermaking Techniques to the Arabs
(751)

Abd ar-Rahman Conquers Cordoba
(755)

Charlemagne Becomes King of the Franks
(768)

The Carolingian Revival
(779 – 814)

Charlemagne is Crowned Imperator Augustus
(December 25, 800)

Foundation of the Holy Roman Empire
(962)

The Norman Conquest
(September 28 – October 14, 1066)

Defeat of Byzantine Empire by Turks
(August 26, 1071)

Origins of the First Crusade
(March – November 1095)

Norman Crusaders Take Manuscripts as Spoils of War
(1175)

Foundation of the Tresor des Chartes
(July 3, 1194)

A Graphic Portrayal of 12th Century Life in Italy and Sicily
(1196)

Norman Crusaders Sack Constantinople and Burn the Imperial Library
(1204)

The Greatest Destruction of Muslim Libraries
(1218 – 1220)

Emperor John III Reestablishes the Byzantine Imperial Library
(1222)

French Copies of the Talmud Seized
(June 3, 1240)

Louis IX Orders the Burning of 12,000 Manuscripts of the Talmud
(June 1242)

The Domus Conversorum, Later the Public Record Office
(1253)

Michael VIII Palaiologos Reestablishes the Imperial Library
(1261)

The Travels of Niccolo and Maffeo Polo
(1266)

Carrying the Pope's Response to Kublai Khan
(1271)

Early Origins of the Star Chamber
(1275)

Edward I's Statute of the Jewry
(1275)

The First European Patrons of the Art of Printing?
(1294)

The Black Death
(1347 – 1353)

One of the Few Surviving Documents of Roman Government Circa 420 CE
(January 1436)

The Ottoman Turks Capture Constantinople
(May 29, 1453)

Warfare Accelerates the Spread of Printing
(October 27, 1462)

The Sultan Prohibits Turks from Printing
(1484)

Restoring the Whole of Spain to Christian Rule
(January 30, 1492)

Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand Expell the Jews from Spain
(March 31, 1492)

Departure of Columbus for the New World & the Expulsion of the Jews from Spain
(July 30 – August 3, 1492)

Sultan Bayezid II Wellcomes Jewish Refugees from Spain
(August 1492)

The First Eyewitness Report to Become a Bestseller
(February 15, 1493)

The First Book Printed in the Ottoman Empire
(December 13, 1493)

Dissolution of the Monasteries Brings Destruction and Dispersal of Libraries
(1536 – 1541)

The Codex Mendoza
(Circa 1540)

The First Work of Modern Antisemitism
(1543)

In an Expose of the Witchcraft Delusion, One of the First Scientific Approaches to the Study of Mental Illness
(1563)

Consolidating and Amplifying the Regulation of Printing in England
(June 23, 1586)

The Pilgrims Land at Plymouth in New England
(1620)

Maximilian Donates the Bibliotheca Palatina to the Vatican
(1622)

Sixty Printed Books and Three Newsbooks Ordered to be Burned
(1640 – 1660)

Abolition of the Star Chamber Stimulates Publishing
(1641)

The Great Plague of London
(April 1665 – September 1666)

The American Revolutionary War Begins
(April 17, 1775)

The Declaration of Independence
(July 4, 1776)

Technology Leading to Disruptive Economic and Social Change
(1781)

Bastille Day
(July 14, 1789)

Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen
(August 26 – August 27, 1789)

The First U.S. Census
(August 2, 1790)

Jews Receive Full Citizenship in France
(September 27, 1791)

Suppression of Printing in Russia
(1798)

Probably the First Printing Presses in Africa since 1519
(1798 – 1799)

The First Census of England, Scotland and Wales
(1801)

The Abolition of Slavery in the British Empire
(1807)

Luddites
(1811)

The Library of Congress is Destroyed During the War of 1812
(August 25, 1814)

Foundation of the Birth Control Movement
(1822)

The First Opinion Poll
(1824)

Exposition of Bubbles
(1841)

Funding Cut Off for the Difference Engine No. 1
(1842)

Origins of the Internal Revenue Service
(July 1, 1861 – 1862)

Foundation of the National Museum of Health and Medicine
(1862)

The Library and Museum Moved to the Site of Lincoln's Assassination
(1867)

British Telegraph is Nationalized
(1870)

The Garden City Movement
(1898)

The First National Opinion Poll?
(1916)

Napoleon's Penis, and Other Napoleon Memorabilia
(1916 – 1924)

The Russian Revolution
(October 1917)

The End of World War I
(November 11, 1918)

Burning 100,000,000 Books and Killing 6,000,000 People
(1933 – 1945)

Hitler Seizes Power
(January 30, 1933)

Purging Germany of Jewish Culture
(April 6 – April 8, 1933)

Burning 25,000 Volumes of "un-German" Books
(May 10, 1933)

The Social Security Program Creates a Giant Data-Processing Challenge
(1935 – 1936)

An Experimental Electromechanical Cryptanalysis Machine Capable of Binary Multiplication
(1937)

Kristallnacht
(November 9, 1938)

The Polish Cipher Bureau Reveals Enigma Decription Techniques to the French and British
(July 25, 1939)

Britain and France Declare War on Germany
(September 3, 1939)

Liste des schädlichen und unerwünschten Schrifttums
(December 31, 1939)

Untitled
(June 22, 1940)

The Nazis Destroy the National Library of Serbia
(April 6, 1941)

Japan Attacks Pearl Harbor; U.S. Declares War on Japan
(December 7, 1941)

Repeated Dispersal and Eventual Burning of the Greatest Library in Poland
(October 1944)

Automated Detection and Interception System
(1949)

UNIVAC Predicts the Election of Dwight D. Eisenhower
(November 4, 1952)

One of the Earliest Surviving British Television Dramas
(December 12 – December 14, 1954)

Standing up to Censorship and McCarthyism
(1956)

"Nineteen Eighty-Four" Filmed
(1956)

Sputnik is Launched
(October 4, 1957)

ARPA is Founded
(February 7, 1958)

The Gutenberg Galaxy
(1962)

The Largest Archive of Digital Social Science Data
(1962)

First of the "Ten Greatest Software Bugs of All Time"
(July 28, 1962)

Social Security Numbers as Identifiers
(1964)

"Information Overload" Coined
(1964)

720 Million Printed Copies in Under Four Years
(May 1964)

First System for Interactive Display of Molecular Structures
(1966)

"Computational Analysis of Present-Day American English"
(1967)

Computer Privacy
(March 1967)

Problem with the Apollo 11 Guidance Computer Nearly Prevents the First Moon Walk
(July 21, 1969)

Whitehouse.gov
(October 1994)

Weapons of Financial Mass Destruction
(December 14 – December 21, 2000)

Regulations.gov is Launched
(January 2003)

The First Intelligible Word from an Extinct South American Civilization?
(August 12, 2005)

The EPA Begins to Close its Scientific Libraries
(November 20, 2006)

"An Uncensorable System for Mass Document Leaking"
(December 2006)

My.BarackObama.com
(February 11, 2007)

The First Embassy of a Real Country in a Virtual World
(May 30, 2007)

Statistical Analysis Correctly Forecasts the Election of Obama
(March 3, 2008)

The Obama-Biden Campaign Launches Facebook Connect Integration on My.BarackObama.com
(October 20, 2008)

An Election Reported Interactively in Real Time
(November 4, 2008)

Change.gov
(November 5, 2008)

Web Collage of 208 Print Newspapers
(November 9, 2008)

Securing Cyberspace
(December 8, 2008)

Australia to Build National Fiber Optic 100 Megabit Network
(April 7, 2009)

"Green Dam Youth Escort"
(May 19, 2009)

"The Web Pries Lid off Iranian Censorship"
(June 23, 2009)

U.S. National Text Pager Intercepts from 9/11
(November 26 – November 26, 2009)

After the Earthquake in Haiti, Donating by SMS Text
(January 13, 2010)

"Assessing the Future Landscape of Scholarly Communication. . . "
(February 2010)

Liberte ou la Mort: Haiti's Declaration of Independence Discovered
(February 2010)

YouTube Interviews the President
(February 1, 2010)

After Five Years More Than Two Billion Views Per Day
(May 16, 2010)