American History Chronologically

Unpacking 10,687 eventsfrom 21,050 BCE to today

Topics

Each event sits in one lane, but can carry several topics. Checked topics stay bright wherever their events sit; everything else fades. You can also click a lane name on the left.

Layers

WarsEvery war and conflict along the bottom; major wars in deep red. Shade the years of major warsTints every lane while a major war was under way. PopulationPeople living within today's fifty states, drawn behind the lanes. Native population before 1890 is an estimate, shown with its range. LifespansEveryone born or dying on the timeline, as bars from birth to death. Follows the topic filter. Story threadsFaint lines joining events that share a person, place, or institution.

Presidents by party

Reading the lanes

An event, placed on its date An approximate date An event lasting several days Hover a dot to draw lines to its connected stories

The top strip shows who held the land: party-colored presidents, the flags of every power that claimed part of today's United States, and Native sovereignty running beneath all of them. Before 1492 the scale is compressed so 21,000 years fit at the left edge.