Afghanistan
Mullah Mohammad Omar 1996-2001; leader of the Taliban; gave refuge to
bin Laden's Al
Qaeda terrorist group
Hamid Karzai 2001-present
Akkadian
Empire
Sargon I 2335-2279 BC; united Akkad and Sumer;
conquered most of Mesopotamia
Algeria
Ahmed Ben Bella 1962-1965; won independence from France
Abdelaziz Bouteflika 1999-present; made peace with rebels in civil war
Angola
Agostinho Antonio Neto 1975-1979; won independence from Portugal;
established Popular
Movement for the Liberation of Angola Party (MPLA)
Jose Eduardo dos Santos 1979-present; leader of MPLA; signed peace with
UNITA leader
Savimbi in 1991; agreed to share power with Savimbi in Lusaka Protocol
Argentina
Juan Peron 1946-1955, 1974-1976; married popular Eva (Evita); Peronista
party formed to
support him; later married Isabel
Isabel Peron 1974-1976; third wife of Juan Peron; first woman president
in Western
Hemisphere
Jorge Rafael Videla 1976-1981; led military junta; guerilla warfare
"dirty war" throughout
country for years
Leopoldo Galtieri 1981-1982; resigned after losing Falklands War
Raul Alfonsin 1983-1989
Carlos Menem 1989-1999
Fernando de la Rua 1999-2001; resigned amid economic crisis, led to 5
presidents in 2 weeks
Ramon Puerta 2001
Adolfo Rodriguez Saa 2001
Eduardo Camano 2001-2002
Eduardo Duhalde 2002- ; Peronist candidate who had lost in 1999 to de
la Rua
Armenia
Robert Kocharian 1998-present; Prime Minister Sarkissian was killed in
Parliament in 1999
Assyria
Shalmaneser III 859-824 BC; failed to conquer Aram; monuments include
the Black
Obelisk and the Gates of Balawat
Tiglath-pileser III 745-727 BC; took over Babylonia
Shalmaneser V 727-722 BC; conquered Israel
Sargon II 722-705 BC; deported Israelites; expanded empire; made
capital at Calah and built
new city Dar Sharrukin
Sennacherib 705-681 BC; moved capital to Nineveh; razed Babylonia;
commemorated in poem
by Byron
Ashurbanipal 669-627 BC; collected large library in Nineveh; attacked
Memphis and Susa
Ashur-uballit II 612-609 BC; last Assyrian king
Australia
John Adrian Louis Hope 1901-1903; first governor-general
Edmund Barton 1901-1903; first prime minister
John Curtin 1941-1945; allied with US in WWII; member of Labor party
Robert Gordon Menzies 1949-1966; founded Liberal Party; longest term as
prime minister
Gough Whitlan 1972-1975; leader of Labor Party; dismissed by
governor-general
Malcolm Fraser 1975-1983; led Liberal Party
Robert Hawke 1983-1991; brought Labor Party to power
Paul Keating 1991-1996; led Labor Party
John Howard 1996- ;
restored Liberal Party to power
Azerbaijan
Haydar Aliyev 1993-present
Aztec
Empire
Montezuma II 1502-1520; killed by his own people when Cortes made him
appeal for an end to
the revolt against the Spaniards
Cuauhtemoc 1520; last emperor
Babylonia
First Babylonian Empire
Hammurabi 1792-1750 BC; defeated King Rim-Sin of Larsa; established
code of
laws (Code of Hammurabi)
Samsu-iluna 1750-1712 BC; son of Hammurabi
Chaldean Period
Nebuchadnezzar II 605-562 BC; defeated Egyptians at Carchemish;
captured
Jerusalem and Judah; restored Babylonian empire
Nabonidus 546-539 BC; son Belshazzar given most power; defeated by
Persian
Cyrus the Great
Bangladesh
Mujibur Rahman 1971-1975; killed in coup
Ziaur Rahman 1977-1981; killed in coup
Hossain Mohammad Ershad 1983-1990; leader of Jatiya party; jailed for
corruption
Begum Khaleda Zia 1991-1996; widow of Ziaur Rahman; led Bangladesh
Nationalist Party
Belarus
Aleksandr Lukashenko 1994-present
Bolivia
Antonio Jose de Sucre 1826-1828; helped win independence for South
America from Spain;
fought with Bolivar at Ayacucho
Hilarion Daza c. 1880; fought with Peru against Chile in War of the
Pacific; ceded Atacama
Province to Chile
Victor Paz Estenssoro 1952-1956, 1960-1964, 1985-1989; founded
Nationalist Revolutionary
Movement; nationalized tin industry
Jorge Quiroga Ramirez 2001-present
Brazil
Pedro I 1822-31; son of Portuguese John VI, who had fled to Brazil as
Napoleon invaded
Portugal
Getulio Vargas 1930-1945; dictator took control in junta
Fernando Cardoso 1995-
Caliphate
Early Period
Muhammad 619-632; raised by Abu Talib; married Khadija; made Hegira
from
Mecca to Medina; became ruler of Medina and defeated Mecca; wrote
Koran; founded Islam
Abu Bakr 632-634; Muhammad's father-in-law
Umar I 634-644; defeated Persia; conquered Egypt, Syria, and Iraq
Uthman ibn Affan 644-656; assassinated by rebel troops
Ali 656-661; fought Muawiyah at Siffin; assassinated by the Kharijites;
his
followers were the Shiites
Umayyad Dynasty
Muawiyah 661-680; revolted against Caliph Ali; moved capital from Mecca
to
Damascus; successors conquered North Africa and Spain until stopped
by Martel at Poitiers
Yazid I 680-683; slaughtered Husayn and the Kufan Shiites at Karbala
Muwan II ?-750; overthrown by Abbasids
Abbasid Dynasty
Abu al-Abbas 750-754; overthrew Umayyads
al-Mansur 754-775; built capital at Baghdad
Harun al-Rashid 786-809; court described in Arabian Nights;
member of
Barmecides family was grand vizier; exchanged gifts with Charlemagne;
vizier Jaffar and chief executioner Mesrour
al-Mustasim ?-1258; killed by Mongol Hulagu, ending dynasty
Fatimid Dynasty
Ubayd Allah al-Mahdi 909-?; established dynasty in Tunisia; he was a
Shiite
claiming descent from Mohammad's daughter Fatima and Caliph Ali;
proclaimed Moslem messiah (Mahdi)
Spanish Umayyads
Abd-ar-Rahman 929-?; descendants ruled from Cordoba until 1031
Cambodia
Norodom Sihanouk 1941-1955; king; still head of state
Pol Pot 1975-1985; leader of Khmer Rouge; arrested 1997
Hun Sen 1998-present
Canada
John MacDonald 1867-1873, 1878-1891; Conservative; first prime minister
Alexander Mackenzie 1873-1878; Liberal
Wilfrid Laurier 1896-1911; Liberal
Robert Laird Borden 1911-1920; switched from Conservative to Union
party
W.L. Mackenzie King 1921-1926, 1926-1930, 1935-1948; Liberal
Richard Bennett 1930-1935; Conservative; proposed the Bennett New Deal
during Depression
Louis St. Laurent 1948-1957; Liberal
John Diefenbaker 1957-1963; Progressive Conservative
Lester Pearson 1963-1968; Liberal; won 1957 Nobel Peace Prize for
diplomatic work in
Korea and the Suez
Pierre Trudeau 1968-1979; Liberal
Brian Mulroney 1984-1993; Progressive Conservative; negotiated Meech
Lake Accord with
Quebec Premier Bourassa in 1987 included Native Americans
Kim Campbell 1993; Progressive Conservative; first female prime
minister
Jean Chretien 1993-present; Liberal
Chile
Bernardo O'Higgins 1817-1823; leader in South American independence
from Spain
Salvador Allende Gossens 1970-1973; niece is author Isabel Allende
Augusto Pinochet Ugarte, 1974-1990; led anti-Marxist coup; committed
human rights abuses
Patricio Aylwin Azocar 1990-1994
Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle 1994-2000
Ricardo Lagos Escobar 2000-present; first socialist president since
Pinochet's coup
China
Xia Dynasty 2205-1766 BC
Shang Dynasty
1500-1027 BC
Western Chou
Dynasty 1027-770 BC
Eastern Chou 770-256 BC
Spring and Autumn Period 722-481 BC
Warring States 403-221 BC
Ch'in (Qin) Dynasty 221-206 BC
Shih Huang-Ti 221-210 BC; originally Cheng; advised by Li Ssu; built
Grand Canal
Western Han
Dynasty 202 BC - 9 AD
Hsin Dynasty 9 - 23, interrupting Han
Wang Mang - usurper; reformer; murdered by Liu clan
Eastern Han Dynasty 25-220
Three Kingdoms (Wei, Shu, Wu) 220-265
T'ang Dynasty
618-906
Sung Dynasty
960-1279
Yuan (Mongol)
Dynasty 1279-1368
Kublai Khan 1279-1294; grandson of Ghengis; built court at Cambaluc
(Beijing);
visited by Marco Polo (Venice); Buddhist
Ming Dynasty
1368-1644
Ch'ing (Manchu)
Dynasty 1644-1912
Pu Yi 1908-1912; last emperor; appointed head of Manchukuo by Japan in
1932
Republic
1911-1937
Yuan Shikai 1912-1916; former Manchu general
Chiang Kai-shek 1927-1937; led Kuomintang (Nationalist) Party founded
by Sun
Yat-sen; purged communists
Occupied by Japan 1937-1945
Communist 1949-
Chairman Mao Tse-Tung 1949-1976; led Long March; established Communist
government in China; policies included Hundred Flowers, Great Leap
Forward, and Cultural Revolution
Premier Zhao Enlai 1949-1976
De Facto Leader Deng Xiaoping 1976-1997; encouraged "Four
Modernizations" and
instituted reforms leading to more market-style economy
General Secretary Hu Yaobang 1981-1987; reformer supported by Tiananmen
Square protestors
General Secretary Zhao Ziyang 1987-1989; was removed for being
sympathetic to
Tiananmen Square protestors
Premier Li Peng 1987-1998
General Secretary Jiang Zemin 1989- ; former Shangai mayor; continued
Deng's
reforms
Premier Zhu Rongji 1998 -
Colombia
Simon Bolivar 1821-1830; won independence from Spain, freeing Colombia
at Boyaca;
continued to liberate Ecuador and Peru while Santander ran government
of Gran
Colombia, including Venezuela and Panama
Francisco de Paula Santander 1832-1837; Colombia and Panama became New
Granada
Ernest Samper 1994-1998; Liberal Party; accused of accepting bribes
from drug cartels
Andres Pastrana 1998-present; Conservative Party
Congo
(former Zaire)
Patrice Lumumba 1960; first premier; removed by President Kasavubu and
murdered by
Tshombe's Katangan rebels
Mobutu Sese Seko 1965-1997; renamed nation Zaire
Laurent Kabila 1999-2001; leader of rebels who ousted Mobutu;
assassinated by bodyguard;
renamed nation Democratic Republic of the Congo
Joseph Kabila 2001-present
Costa
Rica
Miguel Angel Rodriguez Echeverria 1998-present
Cuba
Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar 1952-1959
Fidel Castro Ruz 1959-present; ousted dictator Batista and established
Communist government
Dominican
Republic
Rafael Trujillo 1930-1961; dictator; assassinated
Joaquin Balaguer 1961-1962, 1966-1996; defeated Bosch in 1966 election
after US intervention
Hipolito Mejia 2000-present
Ecuador
Abdala Bucaram 1996-1997; known as "El Loco" (The Crazy One)
Gustavo Noboa Bejarano 2000-present
Egypt
Predynastic Period c.3500-c.3100 BC
Early Dynastic Period c.3100-2686 BC, 1-2 dynasties
Menes c. 3100 BC; also Narmer; united Upper and Lower Egypt; killed by
hippopotamus
Old Kingdom c.2686-2181 BC, 3-6 dynasties, capital at Memphis
Djoser c. 2600 BC; his architect Imhotep build Step Pyramid
Khufu 2551-2528 BC; also Cheops; built Great Pyramid at Giza
First Intermediate Period c.2181-2040 BC, 7-10 dynasties, capital at
Thebes and Herakleopolis
Middle Kingdom c.2040-1786 BC, 11-12 dynasties
Amenemhet I c. 1991 BC; controlled Nubia; capital at Itjtawy; began
Dynasty 12
Second Intermediate Period 1786-1567 BC, 13-17 dynasties (Hyksos ruled
during 15)
New Kingdom 1570-1085 BC, 18-20 dynasties
Ahmose I 1550-1525 BC; established New Kingdom; drove out Hyksos
Thutmose I 1504-1492 BC; defeated Nubians
Thutmose II 1492-1479 BC; husband of Hatshepsut
Hatshepsut 1473-1458 BC; daughter of Thutmose I;
Thutmose III 1479-1425 BC; ruled as coregent with stepmother Hatshepsut;
expanded empire; defeated Syria at Plain of Jezreel
Ahmenhotep III 1391-1353 BC; built palace at Thebes; encouraged arts
Ahmenhotep IV 1353-1335 BC; introduced monotheistic Aton religion;
changed
name to Akhenaton and built capital at Akhenaton
Tutankhamun 1333-1323 BC; restored Thebes and Amon worship; tomb
discovered
by Carter and Carnarvon in 1922
Ramses II 1290-1224 BC; fought Hittites at Kadesh
Ramses III 1194-1163; fought Lydians and Sea People; defeated Harem
conspiracy
Late Dynastic Period 1085-332 BC, 21-31 dynasties
Ptolemaic Dynasty 323 BC - 30 AD
Ptolemy I 323-283 BC; general of Alexander the Great; built library at
Alexandria
Cleopatra VII; committed suicide with Marc Antony at Actium; Rome took
Egypt
Ayyubid Family
Saladin 1169-1193; vizier of Egypt nominally under the Fatimids;
captured
Damascus and the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem from Crusaders; signed
armistice with Richard I (England) in Third Crusade, keeping Jerusalem
in Muslim control
Mamluks (Bahri and Burji sultans) 1250-1517
Modern
Mohammed Ali 1805-1848; Ottoman viceroy of Egypt but operated
independently
of Ottomans
Ibrahim Pasha 1848; general and son of Mohammed Ali
Ismail Pasha 1863-1879; opened Suez canal; westernized Egypt
Fuad I 1922-1936; king
Faruk I 1936-1952; king
Gamal Nasser 1954-1970; led coup ousting Faruk in 1952, then ousted
Naguib; built
Aswan High Dam; ended British occupation; Suez Crisis; lost Six Day
War; formed United Arab Republic with Syria 1958-1961
Anwar al-Sadat 1970-1981; lost Arab-Israeli War; signed Camp David
Accords;
encouraged foreign investment (infitah); assassinated by Islamic
extremists
Hosni Mubarak 1981-present
El
Salvador
Jose Napoleon Duarte 1979-1989; leader of Christian Democratic Party;
military, out of his
control, killed many during civil war
Alfredo Cristiani 1989-1994; leader of Nationalist Republican Alliance
(ARENA); negotiated
end to civil war
Francisco Flores 1999-present
Estonia
Lennart Meri 1992-present
Ethiopia
Menelik II 1889-1909; united tribes; made capital at Addis Ababa;
defeated Italians at Adowa
Haile Selassie I 1930-1974; last emperor
Gambia
Dawda Jawara 1970-1994; formed Senegambia with Senegal 1981-1989;
deposed by Jammeh
Georgia
Eduard Shevardnadze 1992-present; survived coup and two assassination
attempts
Ghana
Kwame Nkrumah 1957-1966; won independence for British Gold Coast;
became first prime
minister then president; overthrown by military coup; advocated forming
United
States of Africa
Jerry Rawlings 1982-2001
Guatemala
Jose Rafael Carrera 1840-1865; ended United Provinces of Central
America, liberating
Guatemala, by defeated Morazan
Manuel Estrada Cabrera 1898-1920; US United Fruit company exported many
bananas
Jorge Ubico 1931-1944; liked Hitler but joined US in WWII
Juan Jose Arevalo 1944-1951; began "Ten Years of Spring"
reforms
Alfonso Portillo Cabrera 2000-present
Gupta
Chandragupta 320-353; founded dynasty; capital at Patna on the Ganges
Samudragupta 353-375; conquered much of India; pillar at Allahabad
describes his exploits
Haiti
Toussaint L'Ouverture 1801-1802; had led 1791 slave revolt; established
republic but was
defeated by Leclerc, sent by Napoleon, and jailed
Jean-Jacques Dessalines 1804-1806; won independence from France;
proclaimed himself
emperor; called the Tiger
Henri Chrisophe 1806-1820; plotted assassination of Dessalines; ruled
north as Henri I;
committed suicide with silver bullet
Francois Duvalier 1957-1971; "Papa Doc"; used Tontons
Macoutes forces to intimidate
opposition
Jean-Claude Duvalier 1971-1986; "Baby Doc"
Jean-Bertrand Aristide 1991, 1994-1996; priest; ousted by coup led by
Cedras but restored with
US intervention
Rene Preval 1996-present
Honduras
Carlos Roberto Flores Facusse 1998-present; Hurricane Mitch killed
thousands in 1998
Huns
Balamir 300s; defeated Alans, conquering land between Volga and Don
Roas 400s; collected tribute from Roman Theodosius I
Attila 433-453; murdered brother Bleda; defeated Byzantine Theodosius
II; invaded Gaul but
lost to Romans at Chalons; ended advance on Rome after meeting with
Pope Leo I
Incan
Empire
Topa Inca to 1493
Huayna Capac 1493-1525
Atahualpa ~1525-1532; executed brother Huascar; conquered by Spanish
under Pizarro
India
Robert Clive 1750s; British governor of Bengal; won control of India at
Plassey in 1757
Warren Hastings 1772-1784; British colonial governor of Bengal; worked
for British East India
Company; tried by Francis, supported by Burke, in Parliament
Jawaharlal Nehru 1949-1964; led independence movement
Indira Gandhi 1966-77, 1980-84; ordered attack on Sikh's Golden Temple
at Amritsar;
assassinated by Sikh bodyguards
Rajiv Gandhi 1984-1989; son of Indira; assassinated by Tamil terrorist
Narasimha Rao 1991-1996
Atal Bihari Vajpayee 1996-present; member of Hindu nationalist
Bharatiya Janata Party
Indonesia
Sukarno 1950-1968; led independence from Netherlands; killed many
Communists after coup
Suharto 1968-1998
Jusuf Habibie 1998-1999
Abdurrahman Wahid 1999-2000; many East Timorese killed after voting for
independence
Megawati Sukarnoputri 2001-present
Iran
Reza Shah Pahlavi 1925-1941; ousted by Britain during WWII
Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi 1941-1979; Premier Mossadegh led oil
nationalization drive
Ayatollah Khomeini 1979-1989; led Islamic revolution
Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani 1989-1997
Mohamed Khatami 1997-present
Iraq
Faisal I 1921-1933; aided Britain in WWI; secured full independence for
Iraq in 1932
Faisal II 1939-1958; became king at age three; formed pro-Western Arab
Union with Jordan,
opposed by United Arab Republic, which supported a coup by Kassem in
which
Faisal II was assassinated
Saddam Hussein 1979-present; leader of Arab Baath Socialist Party;
fought Iran in Iran-Iraq
War and UN in Persian Gulf War after invading Kuwait; persecuted Kurds
Israel
United Kingdom
Saul 1020-1000 BC;
defeated Philistines and Ammonites; jealous of David
David 1000-961 BC; son of Jesse; anointed by Samuel; slew Goliath;
defeated Saul;
friends with Saul's son Jonathan and married Michal; committed adultery
with Uriah's wife Bathsheba, denounced by Nathan; son Absalom rebelled
and was killed by general Joab
Solomon 961-922 BC; son of David and Bathsheba; built Temple; wrote
Proverbs
Israel (capital at Samaria)
Jeroboam 922-901 BC; became king of the northern ten tribes
Ahab 869-850 BC; married Jezebel; worshipped Baal
Jehu 850-? BC; killed Jezebel; appointed king by Elijah
Hoshea ?-722 BC; Assyrians conquered Israel
Judah (capital at Jerusalem)
Rehoboam 922-? BC; northern tribes rebelled under Jeroboam, leaving
only Judah
and Benjamin
Asa 910-870 BC; defeated Egyptian invasion
Jehoshaphat
Josiah 648-609 BC; discovered Deuteronomy; slain by Egypt at Megiddo
Zedekiah 597-586 BC; defeated by Nebuchadnezzar II, and Babylon
conquered
Judah
Modern Israel
Chaim Weizmann 1949-1952; first president
David Ben-Gurion 1948-1953, 1955-1963; first prime minister; member of
Zionist
labor Mapai party; 1956 Suez Crisis
Golda Meir 1969-1974; resigned after Arab-Israeli War; leader of Labor
party
Menachem Begin 1977-1983; Likud party; sign