20th Century and earlier

This is a list of events that occurred in the 20th Century and earlier:

7 Billion - 1 Million Years Before the Third Age

Circa 7 Billion Years Ago

• Birth of Lorien, the first sentient creature in the Milky Way galaxy. He along with those that were born in the years after him are naturally immortal. At first, Lorien's race is kept in balance by birth rates, with less than a handful being born each year but eventually the younger generations begin to be born mortal, eventually growing old, infirm and dying, while those that were the first, go on.
• Lorien and the others of his race go out into the galaxy, discover other, younger races including the races that would become known as the Vorlons, the Shadows, the Walkers of Sigma-957, and all the other races that would one day be collectively called "the First Ones". Lorien's race helped them to develop and nurtured them, acting as their teachers and guardians. Eventually Lorien's race would step aside and allow these new races to stand on their own and over the eons eventually becoming the teachers and guardians of the younger races as they begin to arise.
• The surviving immortal members of Lorien's race, those who have not died through injury or illness travel beyond The Rim for the void between galaxies, leaving Lorien behind as the last and the first of his race.

Circa 5 Billion Years Ago

• An underground city is built by some of the First Ones on the planet that would eventually become known as Beta Durani VII.

Circa 4 Billion Years Ago

• After destroying a thousand worlds, the race of First Ones that would become known as The Hand are captured by other First Ones and as punishment are banished to a parallel dimension through a gateway built in the underground city of Beta Durani VII. From their prison, The Hand are still able to watch this universe.
• A record of the deeds and fate of The Hand is left in the city, with a warning that they could one day find a way back. However, as the eons pass the city, the gateway and The Hand pass out of memory.

Circa 3 Million Years Ago

• At some point the Vorlons discover an ape-like genus on the planet Earth that will eventually produce the Human species and, like they had done on many other worlds, begin to manipulate these creatures to see them as "beings of light."

Circa 1.5 Million Years Ago

The Vorlons visited a thousand worlds.

• After having visited a thousand worlds, the Vorlons begin to believe that they truly are gods, as the younger races see them. In their pride they come to believe that they belonged to another higher plane and that they were superior to the universe that gave them birth. With this, the Vorlons resolved to apply all of their collective wisdom and knowledge to transcend this dimension to another place they believed to be the Well of Souls, the foundation of life itself and in doing so become true gods.

The Vorlons build their jumpgate.

• The Vorlons build and activate their gate, though they quickly realise the true depth of their mistake when they discover the universe they are trying to escape to contains an incomprehensibly powerful and malevolent race. Even older than the Vorlons, they had in their own universe destroyed thousands of races and continued to destroy thousands more, driven by a hunger beyond any understanding and the belief that only they have the right to exist and all others must be exterminated. Modifying the Vorlon gate to amplify their telepathy, the "Anti-Life" creatures used it to turn many of the Vorlons into their followers, willing to die for them.
• The Vorlons not affected by the telepathic impulses eventually managed to fight the invaders back and disable the gate, though those still under the influence dropped it into Hyperspace before the others could stop them and hid it away. The gate will continue to drift while the Vorlons search for it over the next million years.
• After the incident, the Vorlons create a race memory so that none of them will ever forget and that those that would serve them will know when the gate is found again.
• On a visit to Earth the Vorlons take genetic samples from the population of Homo erectus. Repeating this process across hundreds of other worlds, they begin re-engineering the DNA from these samples to create the Telepath genes.
• The First Ones encounter a group of non-corporeal entities and welcome them into their ranks. Over time these beings begin to believe that they are as wise and as knowledgeable as Lorien and the other First Ones and challenge their cosmic order. As punishment these beings are cast down to a primitive Earth and bound so that they cannot escape. Over the centuries however, they start taking possession of corporeal bodies and their tales of exile lay the foundations of many Human myths and religions as well as being the origin of the so-called "demonic possession".

1 Million - 10,000 Years Before the Third Age

Circa 1 Million Years Ago

• Having created great empires, explored the galaxy and become vast and timeless, most among the First Ones, having tired of their roles as guardians, slowly leave over the course of a million years. Some travel beyond the Rim to join the others that went before them, never to be seen again. Others, such as the Walkers of Sigma-957, would stay openly and travel among the stars between their places of power, barely aware of the Younger Races.
• Among those that chose to stay are the Vorlons and the Shadows who together would become the last guardians of the Younger Races, begin fighting against one another in a war of ideology. The Vorlons favoring evolution though control and discipline while the Shadows believe that the only way for the Younger Races to progress is though conflict and war.
• At the onset of their wars, rules of engagement were formulated through the mediation of Lorien which both sides agree to honour in order to maintain a balance. They also dictated that the Vorlons and the Shadows would not strike at each other directly.
• Lorien settles in the catacombs deep beneath Z'ha'dum. He will stay there until the arrival of John Sheridan in 2261. In the years to come, his presence there would be the reason that the Shadows persist in returning to this world every time they are driven off again and again during their wars of chaos. They believe that they are showing respect.
• On Shir-shraba, the Hyach-do break away from the main evolutionary line of the Hyach becoming a separate race. At first the two races compete for land and resources, but over time they eventually learn to live together.

Circa 497,800 B.C.

• An unknown race creates the Vindrizi as a species of genetically neutral symbiotic being to record all aspects of their hosts. Over the millennia they observe events all over the galaxy so that others can learn about the past when all the records have been lost in the next dark age.

Circa 30,000 B. C.

• Extinction of the Neanderthal, on Earth.

Circa 7800 B.C.

• Having abided by Lorien's rules of engagement for millennia, one of the two sides violate the rules and when the Shadows again begin to encourage conflict between the races, they are fought to a stand still by an alliance of the Vorlons and the other remaining First Ones and driven back to their stronghold at Z'ha'dum. After this "Last Great War" against the Shadows, the First Ones go into hiding and await the return of the Shadows.
• Sensing the physical death of a billion lives, the Soul Hunters descend on Ralga and take the entire species' souls. Unknown to them, the Ralgans were not dying, but evolving into a higher, incorporeal state and are trapped when the Soul Hunters place them all into a single soul globe and leave them in one of their Whisper Galleries.
• The inhabitants of Ceti IV abandon one of their underground cities.

10,000 - 1000 Years Before the Third Age

Circa 5000 B.C.

• The human civilization dawns on Earth. The city-state/Empire of Babylon and the area known as Mesopotamia, located between the banks of the Tigris and the Euphrates are widely considered to be the cradle of human civilization. Babylonian mythology tells of a time before the creation of the Earth when different generations of ancient and powerful gods fought one another in a war of Order against Chaos.

Circa 4800 B.C.

• The first known network of Jumpgates are built by an unknown alien civilization.
• The dawn of Hyach civilization on Shir-shraba.

Circa 3800 B.C.

• The Abbai civilization dawns on Ssumssha.

Circa 2800 B.C.

• The Yolu civilization dawns on Pa'ri.

Circa 1800 B.C.

• Hyach civilization stabilizes.
• Birth of the Soul Hunter that in 2263 will come to Babylon 5 to retrieve the Ralgan Soul Globe.

Circa 1300 B.C.

• The Markab civilization dawns on the Septis.

Circa 800 B.C.

• The Drazi civilization dawns on Zhabar.
• The Yolu achieve interstellar travel.

Circa 200

• The last of the known ancient jumpgates are built, marking the apparent disappearance of the builder's civilization as no other trace of them is found.

Circa 261

• The Brakiri civilization dawns on Brakir.
• The Grome civilization dawns on Gromahk.
• The pak'ma'ra civilization dawns on Pak'ma.

Circa 262

• On Centauri Prime, Tuscano becomes the first Emperor. After the construction of the first Royal Palace he commissions the Centauri Imperial Palace Guard, incorporating his seal into the buttons on their uniforms.

Circa 4th Century

• On Centauri Prime, the great Emperor Olion has a series of catacombs constructed beneath the capital city to the outlying regions as a means of escape. According to legend, Olion was absolutely paranoid that his people might turn against him. The only person aside from Olion who knew the layout of the maze was the catacomb's architect whom the Emperor had assassinated to keep the secret.

Circa 6th Century

• On Earth, Owain Ddantgwyn adopts the battle name of Arthur and unites the Kingdoms of Gwynedd and Powys. He is ultimately slain at the Battle of Camlann. Very few records of these events survive yet the "Arthurian legends" that grew up in the following centuries left a deep impression on human culture and civilization, well into the 23rd century. One such legend states that Arthur and his sword Excalibur would one day return to Earth in its greatest hour of need.

Circa 761

• Llort civilization dawns on Vartas.

Circa 1000s

• On Centauri Prime, Morell becomes the new Emperor of the Centauri Empire.

• In the third year of his reign, Morell puts down a Xon incursion in the Battle of the Scoria Plains.
• While returning with his soldiers to the royal palace following his victory at the Scoria Plains, Emperor Morell stops by the river Tuwain to water his dromes and rest his soldiers after the long march from the sea. While there he met Malia, a prophetess who warned Morell that a dagger would strike to his heart from near his heart and that only the crescent moon hidden in darkness would save him. Later, during a great dinner at the Palace, Morell's nephew Elfeni rises to offer a toast and Morell notices his nephew is wearing a broach shaped like a crescent moon and hidden by the shadow of his arm. Morell calls for the Palace Guard who stop Elfeni just as he draws a blade to assassinate his uncle.
• Morell returns to Tuwain and gives the prophetess Malia a tenth share of his fortune and his pledge that for as long as there was an Emperor, there would always be a prophetess of Tuwain held in royal favour, revered and honored as the Prophetess Supreme.

1062

• Emperor Morell commissions the building of an ornate carriage as a gift to his wife Celina. Shortly after she went mad and hanged herself from the highest of the palace’s four towers.
• On Shir-shraba, the Hyach pass religious laws making it immoral to intermarry with the Hyach-do.

13th Century

• Birth of G'Quan on Narn.

1258

• The "War of 20 Million Deaths" ends The new Centauri Republic is founded. The General from House Kiro who led the final assault that sees the extinction of the Xon is made Emperor. He commissions an elaborate jewel called "The Eye" (the sigil of House Kiro) that becomes the symbol of authority for the Emperors of the Republic over the centuries
• Extinction of the Ikarran.
• On Centauri Prime, the practice of arranged marriages is introduced to forge alliances between the Houses.

1259

Shadows intercept the Qal’Thaa.

• The starship Qal’Thaa is shot down near Theta 49 by a Shadow Vessel, while carrying a shipment of one thousand slaves from Zander Prime. A few life pods survived and made it to the surface where the remaining one hundred former slaves - now stranded with no way of returning home - settled and eventually established a small colony, having been seemingly forgotten by those that had kidnapped them from their homeworld.

1260

A Minbari not born of Minbari.

• As the First Shadow War nears its end, the tide of battle turns against the Minbari with the destruction of their greatest starbase and center for their war efforts. The remaining forces, their leaders dead and their ships damaged are scattered and cut off, unable to find a safe port as all other races had been turned against them and unwilling to return to Minbar for fear of leading the Shadows back to their homeworld.

• Jeffrey Sinclair arrives with Babylon 4 and sends a message to Kosh Naranek and Ulkesh Naranek of the Vorlon Empire. The Vorlons arrive first, and using one of the Triluminaries, Sinclair enters a chrysalis, emerging later as a Minbari/Human hybrid. Sending a signal to the Minbari who send a boarding party, they are met by Zathras and are taken to Sinclair who, flanked by two Vorlons, introduces himself as Valen.

• The Minbari see Valen and his station as an answer to their prayers and quickly rally around him and adopt the station as their new base. Valen first attempts to unite the Minbari Castes, but they begin to quarrel amongst themselves again, refusing to bend. Valen turns his back on them and creates the Anla'Shok: a new army that recognizes no caste lines and operates outside of the uncooperative castes. They in turn call him "Entil'Zha." Shamed by Valen's decisive actions, the Minbari allow him to re-organise them. He calls forth the nine, the first Grey Council consisting of three from each caste; worker, warrior and religious.

Valen and Nukenn at Mount H'Leya during the First Shadow War.

• Seeking allies, Valen calls many races to his cause, gathering them on Minbar where, just outside of the city of Tuzanor, at the peak of Mount H'Leya, he gives his holy "Times to come" speech, accompanied by a pair of Vorlons. He prophesizes the defeat of the Shadows and that they will return in a thousand years; That the Anla'Shok will arise and be instrumental in that coming war against their ancient enemy, in which the Minbari would unite with the other half of their soul. Among those to witness the event first hand was the Tak'cha Ramde Zarwin who becomes on of Valen's very first non-Minbari followers.

The Tak'cha assault the Yolu of Pa'ri

• The Yolu decline to join Valen's cause, choosing to remain neutral. The Tak'cha take it upon themselves to punish them and launch a punitive assault on their homeworld Pa'ri. When word reaches Valen of this atrocity he furiously expels the Tak'cha from the alliance and all Minbari records of their existence - save for those aboard the station - are expunged.

1261

• Slowly the tide of battle turns in the Minbari's favor and the Shadows are eventually driven out of all of their places and into hiding beneath Z'ha'dum where they enter into hibernation. With the war over, Babylon 4 (which the Tak'cha call "Ende X'Ton") is taken in secret to a place of rest to become a monument. Its crew never returned and its fate would remain a mystery for over nine hundred years.

• Hurr civilization dawns on Androma.
• The Hyach achieve interstellar travel.

• Valen finds and marries Catherine Sakai, the two have several children. Fearing persecution they both leave Minbar with their family.

Circa 1360

• Valen having been forced to leave Minbar passes away aged well over 100 years, though the exact circumstances are a mystery and his body is never found. His children returned to Minbar shortly after.

Circa 1400

• The Drazi achieve interstellar travel.

1412

• Birth of Jeanne d'Arc in the village of Domrémy in northeastern France on Earth. A mere peasant girl, she will later go on to lead the armies of France against the invading English, claiming to hear "voices from God". She is eventually captured and executed for heresy, though by the early 20th Century she would be posthumously canonised and declared a holy martyr.

Circa 1420

• On Shir-shraba, a Hyach-do wanders into an encampment of Drazi who are collecting Kili grain for the Dark Moon ceremony on Zhabar. The Hyach-do asked to be taken with them, but by the terms of their trade contract, the Drazi refused and notified those in charge of collection, unaware that this Hyach-do would be exterminated.

1442

• The Hyach-do are completely wiped out on the Hyach home world.

1456

• On Earth, a lone Drakh called Drak'hul takes up residence in the region of Wallachia to study the local humans, implanting several with keepers. The story of his activities pervaded in human culture for centuries afterwards before becoming merged with those of Vlad Tepes, a cruel and brutal Prince of Wallachia who came to power during the same period.

1591

• On Minbar, the Third Fane of Chudomo is formed and begins serving with honour.

1610

• January 7

On Earth, Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei first observes what will eventually become known as the moons Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto in orbit around Jupiter, later appropriately called the Galilean moons.

1758

• Varn, one of the last of his race is given guardianship of the Great Machine on Epsilon III, put there to hide from a violent group of outcasts determined to claim it as their own.

Circa 1759

• The Markab first develop interstellar travel.

1767

• Lorka VII is settled by a non-indigenous race, who would later claim that they were drawn to the planet by the "The Most Holy".

1772

• On Earth, Italian born mathematician and astronomer Joseph Louis Lagrange discovers the stationary solutions of the circular restricted Three-body problem which become known as the Lagrangian points.

Circa 1861

• The Yolu civilization stabilizes.

Circa 1871

• The Minbari Grey Council stop using chairs in their viewing rooms.

1882

• Frederic W.H. Myers, founder of the Society for Psychical Research in London first coins the term "Telepathy".

1888

Friday, November 9, 1888

• The body of Mary Jane Kelly, the last known victim of 'Jack The Ripper' is found in Whitechapel, London, England.

Sunday, November 11, 1888

• A Mr. Sebastian of 14B Heresford Lane, London, is found and taken by the Vorlons.

20th Century

Circa 1930

• The Vree develop interstellar travel.

July 10 - October 31, 1940

• During World War II, the Battle of Britain is fought in the skies over Britain. An ancestor of Jeffrey Sinclair serves as a fighter pilot in the battle, beginning a long line of fighter pilots that will continue into the 23rd century.

November 14, 1940

• During World War II, the city of Coventry in England is destroyed by bombers of the German Luftwaffe, killing 568 civilians in one night. Theories suggest Prime Minister Churchill had advanced warning of the blitz due to the cracking of the German 'Enigma' cypher, but chose not to act in order to keep the discovery secret.

Circa 1950s

• The Vree begin to abduct Humans for scientific research.

1953

• Noted Science fiction author Alfred Bester wins the very first Hugo Award for his novel The Demolished Man.

October 4, 1957

• The first man-made satellite, Sputnik 1, is launched into Earth orbit by the Soviet Union.

April 12, 1961

• Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin makes history in becoming the first human to orbit the Earth aboard the spacecraft Vostok 1.

May 5, 1961

• Astronaut Alan Shepard becomes the first American in space aboard the spacecraft Freedom 7.

July 20, 1969

• American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin become the first humans to set foot on the Moon.

July 20, 1976

• The Viking 1 probe lands in western Chryse Planitia on Mars. One mission objective is to search for life. The results prove inconclusive.

1977

• A book entitled The High Frontier by American physicist and space activist Gerard K. O'Neill is published. The book postulates the possibility of large, self-sustaining manned space colonies orbiting within stable Lagrangian points. One such concept, dubbed the O'Neill cylinder depicts a large cylindrical structure that creates gravity through rotation.

April 12, 1981

• The space shuttle Columbia, the first human reusable spacecraft, lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

January 28, 1986

• The space shuttle Challenger explodes in flight 73 seconds after liftoff, killing all seven astronauts on board.

November 20, 1998

• Construction of the International Space Station begins in Earth orbit.

April 12, 1999

• North American President Bill Clinton created the President's Commission on the Future.

References

Timeline
Before the Third Age:	20th Century and earlier - 21st Century - 22nd Century - 2200s - 2210s - 2220s - 2230s - 2240s
2250s:	2250 - 2251 - 2252 - 2253 - 2254 - 2255 - 2256 - 2257 - 2258 - 2259
2260s:	2260 - 2261 - 2262 - 2263 - 2264 - 2265 - 2266 - 2267 - 2268 - 2269
2270s onwards:	2270s - 2280s - 2290s - 2300s and beyond