7/25/2019 How to Make a Timeline
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How to Make a Timeline
Part 1: Timeline Basics
How do people keep track of things that happen on certain days
or in certain years?
They make a timeline.
Forexample, Maria's parents want to keep track of important
things in her life.They decide to make a timeline. Maria is born in
1!. "he walks for the first time
in 1#, when she is $. The next year, she says her first words.
%nd in 1&, shecelebrates her fifth birthday. Her parents can
keep track of all these things by
ptting them on a timeline like the one at the right.
"eehow the e(ents that happened first areat the bottom? Then, as
yo mo(e towardthe top, the e(ent that happened next is nextas yo
mo(e p the line. The last e(ent is at
the top.
)ttinge(ents on a timeline like this gi(esyo a sense of how mch
time goes by in
between each e(ent. *t also helps yoremember +st when those
important thingshappened. ears from now, when Maria hasher own
children, she might want to remember when she first walked. "he can
lookat this timeline that her parents made and remember that when
she first walked,she was $.
-rganiseit as yo want in a (ertical or horiontal line.
Part 2: Timelines in History
Historians, too, se timelines to track things like the growth of
a ci(iliation, theprogress of a war, and the de(elopment of a
new
technology.
Theycan also keep track of important dates in history like when
famos explorersset off on their famos (oyages.
Forinstance, look at this list of explorers, listed in
alphabetical order/
0olmbs reaches the ew 2orld in 13$
4a 5ama reaches *ndia in 13&
4rake completes sailing arond the world in 1#&6
Magellan disco(ers what comes to be called the "trait of
Magellan in 1#$6
ow, let's pt these e(ents on a timeline 7below8. otice how they
change order.otice also that the distance between 0olmbs and 4a
5ama 79 years8 is mchsmaller on the timeline than the distance
between Magellan and 4rake 796 years8.
This is another good se of a timeline. *t can help yo tell that
certain e(entshappened mch closer together in time than other
e(ents.
