Timeline
Topic: Studying Indian History: Sources, Dating and Historiography · NCERT: Class 6, Ch 4 "Timeline and Sources of History"; Class 7, Ch 6 "The Age of Reorganisation"
Meaning
A timeline is a line that shows events in the order they happened, over a chosen period. It shows at a glance what came first and what came later. You can build one even when exact dates are not known, as long as the order is known. Timelines also let us place kingdoms, rulers or civilisations side by side and compare them.
Example
A timeline of Harappan discoveries shows the steps in order:
- 1875: Cunningham reports a Harappan seal.
- 1921: Daya Ram Sahni digs at Harappa.
- 1946: Mortimer Wheeler digs at Harappa.
- 1990: R.S. Bisht works at Dholavira.
A simpler timeline shows that the Buddha (born c. 560 BCE) lived before Jesus.
Don't confuse with
- Era: a way of counting years from a starting event, such as the Gupta era. A timeline only arranges events in order. It does not set a starting point for counting.