Herbal Timeline :: CE
53 CE - Historia Naturalis – Pliny the Elder (Rome)
60 CE - De Materia Medica – Discorides (Rome)
100 CE - First cataract surgery performed in Egypt (Egypt)
Pen-Ts’ao Ching of Shen-nung committed to paper (China)
139 CE - Claudius Galenus (Galen of Pergamum) born (Rome)
476 CE - Holy Roman Empire rises (Middle Ages)
550 CE - Christianity arrives in British Isles (Middle Ages)
622 CE - Islamic armies begin their expansion (Islam)
800 CE - Vikings begin raids (Middle Ages)
Charlemagne issues “Garden Edict” (Middle Ages)
865 CE - Rhazes born (Islam)
c900 CE - School of Salerno founded (Middle Ages)
925 CE - Kitab al Mansuri – Rhazes (Islam)
950 CE - Leech Book of Bald, first British herbal (Middle Ages)
1016 CE - Canon Medicinae, first complete medical treatise in Arabic by Avincenna (Islam)
1020 CE - Liber Servitoris (The Book of Simples) - Abulcasis (Islam)
1060s CE - Norman conquest of England (Middle Ages)
1095 CE - First Crusade (Middle Ages)
1125 CE - Antifotarium Salernitanum – Praepositus (Middle Ages)
1146 CE - Second Crusade (Middle Ages)
1150 CE - Physica and Causae et Curae – Hildegard of Bingen (Middle Ages)
1189 CE - Third Crusade (Middle Ages)
1200 CE - Albertus Magnus, Bishop of Regensburg born (Middle Ages)
1204 CE - Fourth Crusade (Middle Ages)
1220 CE - Corpus of Simples – Ibn al-Baitar (Islam)
1295 CE - Marco Polo returns from Asia and publishes his memoirs (Middle Ages)
1300 CE - Spice trade route to Asia reopened (Middle Ages)
1340 CE - Black Death grips Europe for 60 years (Middle Ages)
1400 CE - Ottoman Empire closes spice routes (Middle Ages)
1450 CE - Guttenburg invents the printing press (Age of Exploration)
1484 CE - Herbarius Moguntinae Impressus (Age of Exploration)
1492 CE - Columbus arrives in Americas (Age of Exploration)
1493 CE - Paracelsus born (Age of Exploration)
1498 CE - da Gama opens sea rout to Southeast Asia (Age of Exploration)
1500 CE - Doctrine of Signatures proposed by della Porta (Age of Exploration)
1511 CE - King Henry VIII forbids untrained persons from practicing medicine/herbalism (Britain)
1517 CE - Protestant Reformation begins
1519 CE - Cortez encounters the Aztecs, returns to Europe with chocolate, vegetables,spices and gold (Age of Exploration)
1520 CE - Paracelsus pioneers chemical extraction of essential oils (Age of Exploration)
1525 CE - Banches Herball, compilation of traditional English folk healing – Anonymous (Britain)
1526 CE - The Grete Herball – Anonymous (Britain)
1530 CE - Herbarum Vivae Eicones - Bruhfels (Age of Exploration)
1539 CE - Neu Kreuter Buch – Tragus
1542 CE - De Historia Stirpium – Fuchsius (Age of Exploration)
1543 CE - King Henry VIII issues Herbalists Charter (Britain)
1551 CE - William Turner begins publishing A New Herball (Britain)
1570 CE - Alchemia, first chemistry textbook, published – Glauber (Age of Exploration)
1575 CE - Handbuch du Pharmalocognosie – Tschirch (Age of Exploration)
1577 CE - Joyful Newes out of the New Worlde – Manardes (Age of Exploration)
1597 CE - Pen Ts’ao Kung Mu by Li-Shih-Chen published for the final time (China)
Hernerall Historie of Plantei – Gerard (Britain)
1600 CE - British East India Company forms (Age of Exploration)
1621 CE - Phsyic garden at Oxford planted (Britain)
1628 CE - William Harvey discovers blood circulation (Britain)
1648 CE - Cromwell overthrows English monarchy
1652 CE - The Complete Herbal and English Physician – Culpepper (Britain)
1660 CE - Culpepper translates Pharmacopoiea from Latin to English (Britain)
1690 CE - Theatrum Botanicum – Parkinson
1699 CE - Royal Botanic Gardens founded at Edinburgh, Scotland (Britain)
Acetaria, a Discorse of Sallets – Evelyn (Britain)
1700s CE - Carl Linne expands on Parkinson’s botanical classification system (Britain)
Pharmacology and chemistry take precedence over Doctrine of Signatures
1760 CESamuel Thomson born (America)
1770 CE - Ginseng east of Appalachian Mountains becomes extinct (America)
1775 CE - American Revolution begins, Boston Tea Party (America)
Withering isolates foxglove as a remedy for heart ailments (Britain)
1785 CE - Materia Medica Americana, America’s first herbal – Schopf (America)
1799 CE - Shakers launch medicinal herb industry (America)
George Washington dies after being drained of 4 pints of blood (America)
1805 CE - First drug (morphine) extracted from an herbal source
1809 CE - Thomson tried and acquitted for murder of patient (America)
1810 CE - Herb garden planted at Monticello (America)
1813 CE - Thomson obtains first medical patent (America)
1820 CE - First synthesis of an organic compound from inorganic chemicals
1822 CE - New Guide to Health, or the Botanic Family Physician – Thomson
1828 CE - Medical Flora – Rafinesque (America)
1830 CE - Eclectics found Reformed Medical Society College (America)
1845 CE - Eclectic Medical Institute in Cincinnati, Ohio (America)
1850 CE - Law of Similars proposed by Hahnemann (Britain)
1855 CE - Kings American Dispensatory – John King (America)
1890 CE - Lloyd Brothers Pharmaceuticals Inc founded (America)
1895 CE - Dr. Benedict Lust, father of naturopathy arrives in US from Germany, opens first health food store in America
1900s CE - Pharmaceuticals gain prominence over herbs for healing
1927 CE - C. F. Hilda Leyel opens the first Culpepper shop (Britain)
1930s CE - Harry Hoxsey begins selling cancer formulae based on old family recipe (America)
1940s - Leyel lobbies Parliament against a proposal to outlaw herbalism (Britain)
1950s - Mao orders herbalists to work in conjunction with western physicians (China)
1960s - Federal Food and Drug Administration closes Hoxsey Clinic in Dallas, Texas (America)
Natural healing begins resurgence in America (America)
1974 CE - World Health Organization concludes that world wide health can be enhanced using herbal methods
1978 CE - John Bastyr College of Naturopathic Medicine founded in Seattle, Washington (America)
West Germany forms Commission E to study validity of herbal treatments
1994 CE - US Congress passes Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (America)
