Past CrumbsHistorical dates & calendar converters

Drawer V · Timelines

Historical timeline maker, BCE to CE

Add events with a date, a title and a note, BCE or CE. The timeline spaces them to scale, keeps itself in your browser, and prints or downloads as SVG or PNG. Nothing is uploaded.

Add an event

Events

  1. 24 February 1582The bull Inter gravissimas
  2. 15 October 1582Italy, Spain, Portugal and Poland switch
  3. 20 December 1582France switches
  4. 1 March 1700Denmark, Norway and Protestant German states
  5. 14 September 1752Great Britain and its colonies switch
  6. 1 March 1753Sweden switches
  7. 1 January 1873Japan adopts the Gregorian calendar
  8. 14 February 1918Russia switches
  9. 1 March 1923Greece switches
Era bands (optional)
From and to (whole years)

  1. 1582 – 1752Britain still on the Julian calendar
  2. 1700 – 1712Sweden's own calendar

Kept in this browser only.

From Julian to GregorianBritain still on theJulian calendarSweden's owncalendar160017001800190024 February 1582The bull Inter gravissimasPope Gregory XIII decrees the calendar reform.15 October 1582Italy, Spain, Portugal and Poland switchThursday 4 October is followed by Friday 15 October.20 December 1582France switches9 December is followed by 20 December.1 March 1700Denmark, Norway and Protestant German states18 February is followed by 1 March.14 September 1752Great Britain and its colonies switchWednesday 2 September is followed by Thursday 14 September.1 March 1753Sweden switches17 February is followed by 1 March.1 January 1873Japan adopts the Gregorian calendarLeaving its lunisolar calendar.14 February 1918Russia switches31 January is followed by 14 February.1 March 1923Greece switches15 February is followed by 1 March.

How to make your timeline

Give each event a year and, if you know them, a month and day. Choose BCE for dates before the Common Era: there is no year 0, so 1 BCE is followed directly by 1 CE, and the scale counts it that way. Events sort themselves into date order and the axis picks round years for its marks, or months when everything falls within a few years. Labels that would overlap are moved down, with a dotted line back to their date.

Era bands mark a stretch of years, such as a reign or a war, as a bar in the margin. Pencil buttons edit an event, and the bin removes it. Your timeline is saved in this browser as you work; it is never uploaded, so use the SVG download to move it to another device. SVG stays sharp at any size and opens in most drawing programs; PNG is a picture for slides and documents.

Questions

Can I print it on one page?

Print shows only the timeline, scaled to the page width. A long timeline runs on to further pages; for a poster, download the SVG and print it at any size.

How far back can I go?

Up to 999,999 BCE, and forward to 9999 CE. Very long spans get marks every thousand years or more.

Where is my timeline kept?

In this browser's local storage, on this device only. Clearing the site's data, or Clear all, removes it.

Sources