North Africa (4,365 – 2,638 BCE) Late Neolithic / Chalcolithic — Aridification, Oasis Engineering, and Coastal Exchange

The greater Luoyang area has been sacred ground since the late Neolithic period.

This area at the intersection of the Luo and Yi rivers was considered the geographical center of China.

Because of this sacred aspect several cities, all of which are generally referred to as "Luoyang", have been built there.

In 2070 BCE, the Xia Dynasty king Tai Kang had moved the Xia capital to the intersection of Luo River and Yi River and named the city Zhenxun.

In about 1600 BCE, King Tang of Shang defeated Jie, the final Xia Dynasty king, and built Western Bo, a new capital on the Luo River.

The ruins of Western Bo are located in Luoyang Prefecture.

In 1046 BCE, the Duke of Zhou constructs a settlement named Chengzhou for the remnants of the captured Shang nobility.

The Duke also moves the Nine Tripod Cauldrons to Chengzhou from the Zhou Dynasty capital at Haojing.

The most important feudal princes (known later as the twelve princes) meet during regular conferences, where important matters, such as military expeditions against foreign groups or offending nobles are decided.

During these conferences, one prince will sometimes be declared hegemon and assume the leadership over the armies of all feudal states.

At this time, the control Zhou kings exert over feudal princes is greatly reduced, and the feudal system crumbles, leading to the so-called Spring and Autumn Period in Chinese history.

The Zhou Dynasty, the political and military control of China by the Ji family, began in the eleventh century BCE when its founders overthrew the centuries long rule of the Shang dynasty.

Few records survive from this early period and accounts from the Western Zhou period cover little beyond a list of kings with uncertain dates.

When the twelfth and last king of the Western Zhou period replaces his wife with a concubine, the former queen's powerful father joins forces with Quanrong barbarians to sack the western capital of Haojing and kill the king in 770 BCE.

Most of the Zhōu nobles withdraw from the Wei River valley and the capital is reestablished downriver at the old eastern capital of Chengzhou near modern-day Luoyang.

This is the start of the Eastern Zhou period.

…Chengzhou (today Luoyang) in the Yellow River valley. 

The fleeing Zhou elite do not have strong footholds in the eastern territories; even the crown prince's coronation has to be supported by those states to be successful.

The Zhou court, with the greatly reduced imperial domain limited to Luoyang and nearby areas, can no longer support six groups of standing troops; subsequent Zhou kings will have to request help from neighboring or powerful states for protection from raids and for resolution of internal power struggles.

The Zhou court, which will never regain its original authority, is relegated to being merely a figurehead of the feudal states.

Though Zhou nominally retains the Mandate of Heaven, the title holds no power.

This year marks the beginning of the Spring and Autumn Period (770–476 BCE) in Chinese history, when many vassal states will fight and compete for supremacy.

It is named after the title of a Confucian book of chronicles, Ch'un Ch'iu, covering the period 722–479 BCE.

An early version of the game of go, called Yi, is mentioned in the entry corresponding to the year 546 in China’s “Zuo Zhuan” (“Tso Chuan”) chronology.

China’s so-called “Spring and Autumn Period” ends in 476 BCE (or, by some authorities, in 403 BCE).

After the king of Wú died during an invasion of Yuè (496 BCE), his son, King Fuchāi of Wú, had nearly destroyed the Yuè state, defeated Qí, and threatened Jìn.

In 482 BCE, King Fuchāi holds an interstate conference to solidify his power base, but Yuè captures the Wú capital.

Fuchāi rushes back but is besieged by the Yue forces.

The armies of the emerging western Wei valley frontier state of Qin (Ch'in), long an effective opponent of the invaders from central Asia, adopt the nomad tactic of using mounted cavalry troops rather than the traditional Chinese chariots.

With the consequent increase in mobility, the Qin capture the Zhou imperial capital of Luoyang in 256.

Lastly, they depose the Zhou Dynasty's remnants in Luoyang and …

Wang, seeking to control fluctuations in the prices of food and textiles by purchasing excess goods and then selling them when prices rise, establishes a state economic adjustment agency in 10.

The same agency also becomes responsible for loaning money to entrepreneurs, at the rate of three percent per month.

Six offices are set up: in Luoyang, …