6000 BC – Evidence of goats and sheep being sheared for wool and hair and then spun and woven.
1480 BC – Evidence of Egyptian fresco of handloom (discovered in 1953).
464 BC – A Pazyryk rug was first woven (discovered in ice filled tomb in outer Mongolia in 1960). The rug has all the characteristics of a modern Persian rug with pile and Ghiordes knots.
1000 AD – Marco Polo confirms rug making in Central Anatolia.
1550 – Carpet knotting techniques were first exhibited.
1580's – Verularn carpet was made for Queen Elizabeth I. Aubusson carpet center was set up in Beauvair.
1596 – Pierre DuPont first weaves carpets in Palace Royal Pans.
1655 - Carpet factory built in Wilton, England.
1749 – Dufossy family developed method to cut loops of Brussels weave to make a nap in Wilton, England.
1770 - 1795 – Royal Society of Arts presented premiums for the finest carpet. Handmade carpet making flourished and attracted designers across England, France, and the rest of Europe.
1791 – The first United States carpet factory opens in Philadelphia.
1801 – Jacquard invents a method of presenting different colored yams to weaving face. This revolutionizes patterned making, a system that is still in use today.
1810 – A decline in hand made carpets occurs due to the Napoleonic War and competition from machine-made carpet manufacturers. More looms are introduced in England and Scotland.
1825 – The second US carpet mill opens in Massachusetts.
1832 – Mr. A Whytock invents a method to print yarn and then weave it into a flat fabric with the design incorporated. This was the beginning of the Tapestry Carpet Loom.
1839 – Erasmus Bigelow of the United States invented a power loom to make double ingrain and large, seamless patterned carpets at a more economic price. Later, it was powered by steam and sold to Scottish and English manufacturers.
1905 – Britons begin to produce carpet from the first power driven wide loom manufacturing carpet in widths of fifteen feet for the first time.
1940 - 1950 – Tufted carpets are developed in the United States from candle-wick weaving techniques.