TIMELINE

15000 B.C.

The first domestication of plants in the world was done by people of the Hoabinhian culture, somewhere in Southeast Asia.

7000 BC

The first Neolithic (late Stone Age) culture of North China, known as the Yangshao, developed out of a Hoabinhian subculture that moved north from northern Southeast Asia.

5000 BC

Dugout canoes had probably been used on the rivers of Southeast Asia. Probably not long before 4000 B.C. the outrigger was invented in Southeast Asia, adding the stability needed to move by sea.

3000 BC

The now-expert boat-using peoples of Southeast Asia were entering the islands of Indonesia and the Philippines. They brought with them a geometric art style that was used in pottery, wood carvings, tattoos, bark cloth, and later woven textiles.

1000 BC

The Southeast Asians moved west, reaching Madagascar probably around 2,000 years ago. It would appear that they contributed a number of important domesticated plants to the economy of eastern Africa.

1 AD

Contact began between Viet Nam and the Mediterranean, probably by sea as a result of developing trade. Several unusual bronzes, strongly suggesting eastern Mediterranean origins, have been found at the Dong Son site.