Plot events, eras and dates on a clean animated timeline. Export as PNG, SVG, GIF or MP4.
Free to try · No design skills · Ready in about two minutes
Overview
A history timeline carries a different kind of weight than a product timeline. It usually spans years, decades or centuries rather than weeks, often needs to show two periods overlapping, a reign running alongside a war, and the dates themselves are settled fact, not a target someone is trying to hit.
This page builds that version: a timeline for plotting historical events, eras and dates, meant for a class assignment, a history blog post, a family history project, or a museum or library display, using the same animated timeline engine as the rest of Reochart, tuned for this use.
Reochart animates each milestone onto the line in turn, so the narrative unfolds instead of sitting flat. Add a date and a short description per event and export as MP4, GIF, PNG or SVG, on your brand on Pro.
How it works
List your events with their dates, exact days for recent history, just a year or a century for anything older, and choose a scale, decades or centuries for a broad sweep, exact dates for a shorter, detailed stretch.
Label each event briefly and add an era or period band wherever two spans overlap, a reign next to a war, for instance, so overlapping periods sit next to each other without one date crowding out another.
Examples
Real charts made in Reochart, each with its own data and theme. Hover to play the animation.
Good fit
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Compare
Historical timeline vs roadmap vs general timeline.
| Chart type | Typical span | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Historical timeline | Years to centuries | A narrative across long stretches of settled history |
| Roadmap | Weeks to a year | Planned, uncertain work grouped into lanes |
| General timeline | Weeks to a few years | A single sequential business process |
Your data
One row per event: a year, full date, or range, and a short description. A century or decade works just as well as an exact day. Paste from a sheet or import a CSV. Fifteen to twenty events per view reads best.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1066 | Battle of Hastings |
| 1776 | Declaration of Independence |
| 1969 | Moon landing |
Step by step
Drop your numbers in, or import a CSV.
Choose the chart, theme and animation speed.
Tune colours, labels and add your brand.
Download MP4, GIF, PNG or SVG.
Best practices
Watch out
Fitting a century's worth of detail onto a timeline sized for a decade makes every label overlap the next.
Not distinguishing a point event from an era that spans years makes the timeline read as a flat list rather than a shape with duration in it.
Using exact-day precision for events only known to the nearest decade reads as false confidence rather than care.
Leaving out BC/AD or BCE/CE markers on a timeline that spans the boundary is the fastest way to confuse a reader about how much time passed.
Why Reochart
FAQ
Yes. Ancient history through the present all work the same way, since the scale is something you set rather than a fixed window built around modern dates.
Use whatever precision you actually have. A vague 'circa 1200s' entry is more honest than inventing a specific year the historical record doesn't support.
Yes. Many events, a reign, a war, an era, don't have one day attached to them, so entries can be set to a range instead.
Yes, using an era or period band alongside the point events, so two spans can sit next to each other without one date crowding out the other.
Yes. A student assignment usually needs a clear sequence of dated events with short labels, exportable as an image for a printed report or a video for a presentation.
Yes. Charts animate by default, and you can export the animation as an MP4 or GIF, or grab a static PNG or SVG if you prefer.
Yes. Pro exports a crisp, scalable SVG vector, alongside MP4, GIF and PNG. Every export renders at 1080p.
Yes. The free plan lets you make every chart type except the animated bar chart race, and export an animated MP4 with a small watermark, no card needed. Pro adds the bar chart race, removes the watermark, and adds GIF and SVG, your brand colours and logo, longer videos and CSV import.