
Honestly, this is one of those things I didn’t know I needed until I started using it 😂 The side-by-side view is SO much better than looking at history one country at a time.
For people who love history and want the big picture
The Same-Time History System is a world timeline for people who love history: 8 regions side by side, from 3500 BC to today. So you can pick any year, look across one page, and finally see what the whole world was doing at that moment.

What you get today
5,000 years · 8 regions · every entry sourced
Turn one page and the whole world is there. Europe, Africa, Asia, the Americas and Oceania, in the same decade. You start with a short guide. Then you read it, print it, or sort it your way.
✦ Free bonus: The Wall Timeline. 5,000 years to print and hang, with a blank band for your own family.
Questions? Email hello@meanwhilehistory.com, we reply within 24 hours · Secure checkout · Instant download · 90-day "See How It All Fits" guarantee
↓ What's inside
Everything is a download that stays yours. Open the timeline first. Go deeper when you want.

The heart of it
Look across one page and you see one moment, everywhere. 9 PDFs, one per era, from 3500 BC to today, with the 8 regions of the world side by side. Big, clear type, on paper or on a tablet.

Sort it your way
The whole timeline in one spreadsheet: every period in a row, all 8 regions side by side. Scroll through 5,000 years, or switch to the sortable list and filter by year, region or theme.

Go deeper · Vol. 1
Twelve times the world changed in many places at once. Each one is a short story on a double page. The easiest way in.

Go deeper · Vol. 2
Your grandmother was born in 1889. What was happening in her country that year? And in the rest of the world? Now you can see it.

Go deeper · Vol. 3
Before page one, there are 13.8 billion years. This volume tells them, and joins right onto the first page of the timeline.

✦ Bonus
$19 value — included FREE today
Write your grandmother's name on the wall, and see where her life sits in 5,000 years of history. Print the timeline at home on sheets you tape together. Or send one file to a print shop for a big poster (24×36" or A1). Along the bottom runs a blank "Our Family" band for your parents, grandparents and ancestors. Hang it in a hallway, a study, or wherever the grandkids do homework.
↓ How it works
Order — Secure checkout. Your download link arrives by email in about a minute.
Open Start Here — It shows you how to open everything on your device, step by step.
Pick a year — Try 1492. Look across the page. Meanwhile…
Works on: iPad · Android tablet · iPhone · Android phone · Windows · Mac · Chromebook · Paper
5,000 years · 8 regions · one price
Your download link arrives in about a minute after your order.

✦ Bonus: The Wall Timeline, to print and hang
✦ Extra: The Same-Time Finder card, to keep by your side
The "See How It All Fits" 90-Day Guarantee.
For 90 days: if the system hasn't shown you how history fits together, or a file won't open on your device and we can't fix it, send one email. You get a full refund. No questions, nothing to return.
Questions? Email hello@meanwhilehistory.com, we reply within 24 hours · Secure checkout · Instant download · 90-day "See How It All Fits" guarantee
✦ Extra bonus · $15 value
One look, and you know where you are in 5,000 years. Included free today. A two-sided card to keep next to your tablet or your book. On the front: the 9 eras, which file holds each one, the 8 region colors and the 6 theme symbols. On the back: 24 key dates.
…the Same-Time Finder, free today: $15

✦ Who we are
At school, Rome was one chapter and China was another. Africa and the Americas got a few pages, if that. Nobody showed you what was happening everywhere at once. Us neither. So we built the view we always wanted: one page, one moment, the whole world.
Every line has its source, so you can check it yourself. There is nothing to log into and nothing to renew. You download it, and it's yours. When we add more, you get the new version free. And if you ever spot a mistake, tell us. We'll fix it in the next version.
— Meanwhile History · World history, side by side
What readers are saying

Honestly, this is one of those things I didn’t know I needed until I started using it 😂 The side-by-side view is SO much better than looking at history one country at a time.

Really impressed with this. I’ve had other history timelines before, but this one feels much easier to actually use. I can open it, find a period, and just explore.
The “what was happening elsewhere?” idea is brilliant. I’ve already caught myself going down several rabbit holes just because two events lined up in the same year.

I bought this mainly for the genealogy section. It did not disappoint. Being able to put my ancestors’ lives alongside the bigger historical picture makes their stories feel much more real.
Okay... I was NOT expecting to spend two hours looking through a timeline 😅 There’s just something about seeing all the regions next to each other that makes you want to keep checking another year.
Very nice resource. Clean, straightforward, and not overloaded with unnecessary stuff. I especially like having both the printable version and the sortable file.
This completely changed how I think about chronology. School history always felt like:Romans → medieval Europe → Renaissance → etc. Here you can actually see what was happening everywhere at the same time.
I’m a bit of a spreadsheet nerd, so the filterable file was a huge plus for me 😂 Being able to filter by region/theme/year is exactly what I wanted.
BOUGHT IT FOR MY KIDS, ENDED UP USING IT MYSELF
The Deep Time section is fantastic. Going from the Big Bang all the way through dinosaurs, early humans, farming and the first cities gives you such a different sense of scale.
I really like the fact that I can print it. Sounds like a small thing, but having the timeline physically in front of me makes it much easier to understand than scrolling through a website.
Not gonna lie, the first thing I did was jump straight to 1492 and look across the page And then I picked another date... and another...
This is exactly what I was hoping for. Not another giant list of historical facts something that actually helps you see the connections between them.
I’m using this with my grandchildren and they LOVE asking what was happening “over there” while we’re looking at something familiar here. Unexpectedly good conversation starter ❤️
The sources on the entries are a really nice touch. I like being able to follow something interesting instead of just taking the timeline at face value.
I’ve always found world history difficult to keep straight because everything gets taught separately. This makes it click a lot more. Simple idea, very effective.
10/10 for the concept. The first few pages were enough to make me realize how much history I’ve been mentally storing as completely separate events when they were actually happening at the same time.
I’m usually not a “print things out” person, but the wall timeline got me 😂We printed it, put it up, and now everyone keeps adding little family dates underneath it.
One of my favorite things about this is that you can use it differently depending on what you’re looking for.Want a quick overview? PDF. Want to dig into data? Spreadsheet. Want something on the wall? Yep.
This is really well thought out. Especially the fact that it doesn’t make you read from page 1 to page 500. You can just pick a year/person/region and start there.
I LOVE the “meanwhile...” idea. You see an event you know, then look across the page and suddenly there are five completely different stories happening at the same time.
As someone who loves family history, this is right up my street. The ancestor lifeline is such a simple idea but it adds a lot.
Much easier to use than I expected.I was worried it would be one of those huge historical resources where you need an hour just to figure out where to start. The Start Here section solves that nicely.
The science + arts section at the bottom of the pages is a great idea. It’s one of those details you might not notice immediately, then suddenly you’re checking it on every page.
I’ve used it on my iPad, printed pages, and played around with the spreadsheet. No weird software, no complicated setup. That matters to me.
Okay this is dangerous for procrastinators 😂 “I’ll just check what was happening in 1200.” ...45 minutes later...
I appreciate how balanced the whole thing feels. It actually feels like world history rather than European history with a few other places added around the edges.
Very cool concept
Bought it because I’m a history fan. Kept using it because I kept finding things I didn’t know.That’s probably the best compliment I can give it.
I’ve looked at a lot of timelines over the years and this is probably the format I’ve found most useful. It doesn’t try to make history feel like one long straight line. It shows you the world happening simultaneously — which, obviously, is how it actually happened. And somehow that makes everything make more sense.
Any questions? Email hello@meanwhilehistory.com. We reply within 24 hours.
Yes. The timeline and the volumes are PDFs, so they open on any iPad, tablet, phone or computer. The sortable file opens in Google Sheets or Apple Numbers, both free. The Start Here guide shows you how, device by device. And if a file won't open and we can't fix it, you get your money back.
Yes. If you can open an email attachment, you can open this. There's nothing to install, no account and no password. Start Here walks you through your first 10 minutes. And if you prefer paper, print it.
No. You don't need Excel or any paid program. The PDFs open anywhere. The sortable file works in Google Sheets (free), Apple Numbers (free), or Excel if you have it. No macros, no security warnings.
The facts are out there. The order isn't. Online you get one topic at a time, in forty open tabs. This puts every region side by side, one decade at a time, and links each line back to its source. You get the big picture in one look.
No. That's the whole point. The world is split into 8 regions, and every page shows all 8. No region gets more than 1 entry in 4, and none gets less than 1 in 15. The chart is in your Start Here guide.
Every entry links to the page it comes from, like encyclopedia articles and national archives. Click and check. If you ever find a mistake, email us. We'll check it and fix it in the next version, which you get free.
Yes. Every PDF prints clean on A4 or US Letter at home. The Wall Timeline prints on sheets you tape together, or as one big poster at a print shop.
Right after checkout, you get an email with your download link, usually in about a minute. Download it once and it's yours. No login, no subscription. When we add entries, countries or fixes, you get the new version free, by email.
Thousands, across all 8 regions, from 3500 BC to today. But we didn't chase the biggest number. We kept each page easy to read, with big type and a limit per decade, so you can actually use it. Every new version adds more.
It's written for adults, in plain English. Older kids can use it with you, and the Wall Timeline is the easiest way to start together.
You have 90 days. If the system hasn't shown you how history fits together, or a file won't open on your device and we can't fix it, send one email. Full refund. No questions, nothing to return.
Email hello@meanwhilehistory.com and we'll reply within 24 hours, usually much faster.