Free download · PDF · CC BY 4.0
Free printable world history timeline and map
Two free PDFs to print: a world history timeline of 69 turning points in seven chapters, from the first writing in Sumer (c. 3200 BCE) to 9/11, and a world history map with 72 numbered places, a key, and Europe and the Mediterranean enlarged. Each is two pages, in US Letter or A4. No sign-up, and you can copy and share them freely.
World history timeline
69 turning points, 3200 BCE to 2001, each with its date, place and one line on why it matters. Two pages, portrait, with a short “Try this” box for class.
World history map
72 places where history turned, numbered in time order. Page 1 is the world; page 2 enlarges Europe, the Mediterranean and the Middle East, where 50 of them are. Two pages, landscape.
What is on the timeline
The same seven chapters as the interactive world history timeline, with the same entries:
- The ancient world c. 3200 – 1046 BCE · 5 entries
- Classical antiquity 551 BCE – 476 CE · 12 entries
- The Middle Ages 8th century – 1453 · 7 entries
- The Renaissance 14th – 17th century · 4 entries
- The early modern world 15th – 18th century · 8 entries
- Revolutions and world wars 1760 – 1945 · 21 entries
- The world since 1945 1945 – today · 12 entries
The map uses the 72 places of the interactive world history map, drawn on the engraved world plate from the Histia app (coastlines from Natural Earth, Robinson projection).
Ways to use them in class
- Before a unit: hand out the timeline and ask which entries students already know something about. It shows quickly where to start.
- Connections: pick an entry on the map, find it on the timeline, then find something else that happened within 100 years on another continent.
- Gaps: 69 entries leave out a great deal. Ask what is missing from a chapter, and why it might matter.
- On the wall: print the two map pages side by side, or the timeline pages one above the other.
Printing tips
- Print at 100% / actual size. “Fit to page” also works, a little smaller.
- Double-sided: the timeline flips on the long edge, the map on the short edge.
- Black and white is fine: each kind of entry also has its own shape.
Frequently asked questions
Is this world history timeline really free to print?
Yes. Both PDFs are free to download, print, copy and share, in class or anywhere else, under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (CC BY 4.0). The only condition is a credit: “World history timeline by Histia (histiaapp.com), CC BY 4.0”. There is no sign-up and no email to give.
Can I print it in black and white?
Yes. Every type of entry has its own shape as well as its own colour (a dot for events, a diamond for people, a triangle for conflicts, a ring for periods), so nothing is lost in grayscale.
Which paper size should I choose?
US Letter for the United States and Canada, A4 almost everywhere else. Print at 100% (actual size); each file is two pages, so one sheet printed on both sides holds the whole timeline or the whole map.
Is there an interactive version?
Yes. The same events are on the interactive timeline at histiaapp.com/timeline, where many of them open a short explainer, and on the interactive world history map, where you can drag through 5,000 years and see what was happening elsewhere at the same time.