Bronze and Iron AgesGovernment & Law Zhou dynasty and the Mandate of Heaven 1,046 BCEMajor The Zhou justify overthrowing the Shang by claiming the Mandate of Heaven, a principle that legitimizes rulers for 3,000 years. ▲ MattersSaveShareTrace roots Longest chain: The Big Bang → First stars ignite → Supernovae seed heavy elements → The Sun forms → Earth forms → First oceans → First life → Photosynthesis evolves → Great Oxidation Event → Complex cells (eukaryotes) → Multicellular life → First animals → Cambrian Explosion → First vertebrates → Jawed fish → Fish walk onto land → The amniotic egg → The Great Dying → Dinosaurs appear → Asteroid ends the dinosaurs → Early primates → Apes split from monkeys → Human line splits from chimpanzees → Walking upright → First stone tools → Genus Homo appears → Homo erectus → Control of fire → First fired clay figures → First pottery → Copper smelting → Bronze Age begins → Shang dynasty → Zhou dynasty and the Mandate of Heaven Community notesLoading notes… Learn more ranked by votesDocumentbritannica.comZhou dynasty (Britannica) ↗Editor's pickDocumentworldhistory.orgMandate of Heaven (World History Encyclopedia) ↗Editor's pickBookLi FengEarly China: A Social and Cultural History ↗Editor's pickVideoSearch on YouTubeZhou dynasty Mandate of Heaven ↗Editor's pick