Thinking about the Vast Span of recorded time in The Wheel of Time and decided to do a comparison of the timeline to our world to get an idea of how ancient these histories are. I started at 998 NE, when the Eye of the World begins, and set that as 2024, trying to choose noteworthy historical events that corresponded in "distance in time" to book events. Lots of years on Wikipedia mostly recorded battles between European nobles I have barely (or never) heard of so if more history conscious readers have good analogues put them in the notes or reblogs! Sometimes I've generalized if a big event happened a couple years off of the precise date, and as I go back of course the dates get more and more general.
As for the WoT timeline events, I tried to stick to major political events or personal events that seem to have resonated culturally, like false Dragons.
998 NE - 2024 AD. The events of The Eye of the World begin. Now.
978 NE - 2004 AD. Rand al'Thor born on Dragonmount. Aiel War ends. Facebook launches.
955 NE - 1981 AD. Malkier falls to the Blight. IBM launches the first desk-sized computer.
849 NE - 1875 AD. Verin Mathwin born. Tchaikovsky, Saint-Saens and Bizet all release new works. The Battle of Little Bighorn, the Impressionist Movement begins with Claude Monet.
586 NE - 1612 AD. Alivia born in Seanchan. English witch trials and hangings. Macbeth written. Galileo observes moons of Jupiter.
1135 FY/0 NE - 1026 AD. The New Era begins since the 100 Years War fucked up the world so bad no one is 100% sure what year it actually is. Vikings establish colony in Newfoundland.
1021 FY - 912 AD. Children of the Light founded. Ongoing Viking raids in the British Isles. Various Byzantine wars in Asia Minor.
(I didn't realize the White Cloaks were this old, they are as established a presence in the Westlands as England is in our world.)
1117 FY - 1008 AD. The 100 Years War ends, Arad Doman, Ghealdan and Altara founded around this time. The Kingdom of England emerges from the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.
992-4 FY - 885 AD. Seanchan colonized. Artur Hawkwing dies without an heir, precipitating the 100 Years War. Tear, Cairhien and Andor founded. Golden Age of the Muslim world, dominated by the Abbasid Caliphate. Seeds of the schism between the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church are planted. Classic Maya civilization begins its decline.
939 FY - 830 AD. Artur Hawkwing crowned king. Vikings cause widespread problems in the British Isles and present-day France.
1350 AB/0 FY - 109 BC. The Trolloc Wars end leaving the entire Westlands consumed by political strife. The Free Years begin. The Han Empire rules China, the Ptolemies rule Egypt, the Roman Republic is a thing.
1200 AB - 259 AD. Manetheren falls in the Trolloc Wars while Aridhol retreats into isolation and becomes Shadar Logoth. The Amyrlin Tetsuan is stilled and deposed for her betrayal of Manetheren. Rome wars with Carthage. Construction begins on the Great Wall of China. The Septuagint is translated in Alexandria. The Lion Capital of Ashoka is carved.
(I included Tetsuan here cause this is one of those events that the Red Ajah is still mad about 2300 years later at the time of the main series! And the events of Manetheren are as remote to Emond's Fielders as the Punic Wars are to us.)
~1000 AB - 459 BC. The Trolloc Wars begin. The Jews return to Jerusalem from Babylon. Aeschylus writes The Oresteia and the temple of Zeus at Olympia is completed, becoming one of the 7 Wonders of the World.
335 AB - 1,124 BC. Raolin Darksbane falsely declares himself as the first Dragon Reborn. The Iliad and the destruction of Troy probably set (not written down) around this time.
False Dragon drama is older than the Iliad.
202 AB - 1,257 BC. Tar Valon completed. The Exodus from Egypt, Mycenae built in Bronze Age Greece, earliest surviving Chinese writing.
(I think this is so cool, living in the White Tower is like living in a 60 story Bronze Age palace with no elevators built by extra dimensional giant cat people.)
0 AB - 1,459 BC. The Breaking of the World ends with the death of the last male channeller. Egypt defeats Canaan in history's first recorded battle.
The trauma of the Breaking and male channelling is as ancient as the very beginnings of recorded history in this Age.
300 years earlier - 1,760 BC. The Breaking of the World begins as saidin is tainted. Hammurabi reigns in Babylon.
110BB - 1,970 BC. Mierin and Beidomon drill the Bore at the Collam Daan. Minoan palaces are built on Crete, China has its Bronze Age, Stonehenge is constructed.
400 BB - 2,260 BC. Lewis Theron Telamon is born. The Indus Valley civilization thrives, Enheduanna, priestess of the moon god Nanna, is born in Sumerian Ur.
741 BB - 2600 BC. The Age of Legends. The Great Pyramid of Giza is built - still older than anything Robert Jordan imagined (!!)
