Central Asia > Central Asia Timeline
- 1000-800 B.C.
Pastoralist horseback archers wielding compound bows become dominant in the Eurasian steppes. They raid settled areas and come into contact with Greeks and Chinese. - Mid-7th century B.C.
The Cimmerians, a Steppe tribe from northern Anatolia, control the Zagros Mountains and may have been resposible for the destruction of Urartu (otherwise, Medes or Scythians, perhaps). Armenians replace Urartians by the late 6th century. - c. 545 B.C.
Western Central Asian city-states become satrapies within the Achaemenid empire. Satrapies will continue when Alexander conquers Persia and beyond, into the period of the Seleucids. - c. 330 B.C.
Conquest of Afghanistan and Bactria by Alexander the Great. - 3rd century B.C.
Buddhism comes to the Greco-Bactrian kingdom. - 54 B.C.
Han Chinese control the 36 walled city-states of Xinjiang, which act as buffer between the Chinese and the northern nomads and are important for the trade along the Silk Road. - 53 B.C.
Roman leader Crassus defeated by the Parthians in northern Mesopotamia, which gives the Parthians control of the Silk Road. - 1st century A.D.
Proto-Kushans and/or Yuezhi are driven westward into Afghanistan by the Xiongnu. - 4th century
The Huns make their presence felt throughout the Roman Empire and beyond.
Sources:
- "Central and North Asia, 1000 B.C.-1 A.D.". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000-. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/04/nc/ht04nc.htm (October 2000)
- "Central and North Asia, 1-500 A.D.". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000-. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/05/nc/ht05nc.htm (October 2000)
- Marc Van DeMieroop, A History of the Ancient Near East. Blackwell 2d ed. 2007.
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Central Asian History
Mark Dickens' list of major events from 1200 BC to 1600 AD beginning with occupations and invasions, first by the Cimmerians, then by the Scythians.Timeline
Tom Mallon's colorful timeline to correspond with his Coins and History of Asia site. Shows the era of the Indo-Scythians, Indo-Parthians, Hephthalites, Kushans and Turks in the Central Asia section of this multi-cultural timeline.
