8000 B.C.	Cave dwellers make copper axes, weapons, tools, and jewelry, and use copper minerals for paint
3800 B.C.	Men melt and alloy copper
3500 B.C.	Men learn to smelt copper
3000 B.C.	Copper plumbing system installed in the pyramid of Cheops in Egypt (found in 20th century, in serviceable condition after more than 5000 years).
2500 B.C.	Bronze Age begins with man's ability to alloy tin and copper
1600-1050 B.C.	Cyprus provides much needed copper to Mediterranean area for weapons and household items
2000 B.C. – 600 A.D.	Bobbin-shaped copper earrings are made in North America
130 A.D.	One of the famous Dead Sea Scrolls is made of copper instead of animal skins
800 A.D.	Charlemagne, the first European king, revives mining, contributing to the end of the Dark Ages
1492	Columbus's ships have copper-clad hulls
1525-1775	Renaissance artists paint on thin copper sheets
1843	First mining boom occurs in the U.S. with copper deposits in the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan and Mesabi Iron Range of northern Minnesota
1888	Nikola Tesla develops alternating electric current allowing long-distance transmission of electricity starting a copper boom in the U.S.
1915-1945	World War I and II increase world demand for copper
1963	Solvent Extraction/Electrowinning process developed in Arizona as a means of obtaining copper from oxide ore
1997 +	World copper consumption continues to increase to more than 14,000,000 tons per year