Timelines are tools that historians and students use to organize events in chronological order. Timelines can be of great use in helping us understand how things occurred over time and getting a sense of how we got here and where we might be going. Timelines will help you remember the order and dates of important events, which will help you retain and understand social studies content better.

Below is an example of a timeline following the invention and evolution of the bicycle. The timeline begins in the year 1818 and ends with the development of the modern mountain bike in the early 1970s.

A timeline following the development of the bicycle from 1818 to the modern mountain bike developed in the 1970s.
Source: Bicycle evolution-en, A12, Wikimedia