Paper is invented in modern-day China
The oldest known archaeological fragments of the immediate precursor to modern paper date to the 2nd century BCE in China.
3rd Century B.C.E.
Humans of Han Dynasty in modern-day China transform calligraphy into art
Calligraphy is considered as one of the four best friends of ancient Chinese literati, along with playing stringed musical instrument, the board game go, and painting.
The astrolabe is invented, perhaps by the Appolonius of Perga in Greece
An astrolabe is an elaborate inclinometer, historically used by astronomers and navigators to measure the inclined position in the sky of a celestial body, day or night.
Thule culture emerges in the Arctic
The Thule Tradition lasted from about 200 BC to 1600 AD around the Bering Strait. The Thule people being the prehistoric ancestors of the Inuit who now live in Northern Labrador.
Masinissa founds the kingdom of Numidia
Numidia (202 BC 40 BC, Berber: Inumiden) was an ancient Berber kingdom of the Numidians, located in what is now Algeria and a smaller part of Tunisia , Libya and Morocco in the Berber world.
The Silk Road is formally established – connecting China, the Middle East, and other ancient civilizations
The network was used regularly from 130 BCE, when the Han Dynasty of China officially opened trade with the west, to 1453 CE, when the Ottoman Empire boycotted trade with the west and closed the routes.
Modu Chanyu founds the Xiongnu Empire in modern-day Mongolia
The Xiongnu were a tribal confederation of nomadic peoples who, according to ancient Chinese sources, inhabited the eastern Eurasian Steppe from the 3rd century BC to the late 1st century AD.
Hannibal, one of history’s greatest military tacticians, marches elephants over the Alps
Hannibal Barca is considered one of the greatest generals of antiquity and his tactics are still studied and used in the present day.
Construction begins on the Great Wall of China
Originally conceived by Emperor Qin Shi Huang (c. 259-210 B.C.) in the third century B.C. as a means of preventing incursions from barbarian nomads into the Chinese Empire, the wall is one of the most extensive construction projects ever completed.