1180: Manuel I Komnenos, last Emperor of the Komnenian restoration dies. The Byzantine Empire slips into terminal decline. 1493: Christopher Columbus embarks on his second expedition to the New World, setting sail with a fleet of 17 ships 1789: US Federal Judiciary Act passes, creating a six-person Supreme Court 1869: Black Friday; Wall St panic after Gould & Fisk attempt […]
1122: Concordat of Worms agreed between Pope Calixtus II and Holy Roman Emperor Henry V 1821: Fall of Tripolitsa, Greek forces massacre 30,000 Turks during Greek War of Independence 1862: Otto von Bismarck appointed Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Prussia by King Wilhelm I 1884: American Herman Hollerith patents his mechanical tabulating machine, the beginning of data processing 1889: Nintendo […]
1692: Last people hanged for witchcraft (8) in the US, 19 hanged overall, with six other deaths during Salem Witch Trials 1792: French First Republic formed by the National Convention, stripping the French king of his powers 1862: US President Abraham Lincoln issues preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, threatening to free all enslaved people in the rebel southern states if those states fail […]
1621: King James I of England gives Sir William Alexander a royal charter for colonisation of Nova Scotia 1792: French Revolution: The National Convention passes a proclamation announcing the formal abolition of the French monarchy 1898: Empress Dowager Cixi seizes power and ends the Hundred Days’ Reform in China, imprisoning the Guangxu Emperor 1915: Cecil Chubb buys English prehistoric monument Stonehenge for […]
622: Islamic Prophet Muhammed/Abu Bakr arrives in Jathrib (Medina) 1519: Spanish expedition led by Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan sets off on the 1st successful circumnavigation of the globe (Magellan killed on route) 1854: Battle of the Alma: British, French and Ottoman alliance defeat the Russian Empire in the 1st major battle of the Crimean War 1990: Both East and West Germany […]
1356: English forces under Edward the Black Prince defeat French at the Battle of Poitiers and capture the French King John II during the Hundred Years’ War 1870: Siege of Paris by Prussian Forces begins (lasts until January 28 1871) 1893: New Zealand becomes the first country to grant all women the right to vote 1985: 8.1 earthquake in Mexico City kills […]
1811: British East India Company force led by Baron Minto conquers Java, part of the Dutch East Indies, Stamford Raffles appointed lieutenant governor 1812: Great Fire of Moscow burns out after 5 days, 75% of the city destroyed and 12,000 killed 1873: Government bond agent Jay Cooke & Co collapses, causing panic on Wall St, the start of the panic of […]
642: Arab forces under Amr ibn al-‘As conquer Alexandria 1683: Dutch scientist Antonie van Leeuwenhoek is the first to report the existence of bacteria 1787: The US Constitution is signed by delegates at the Philadelphia Convention 1862: Battle of Antietam [Battle of Sharpsburg], bloodiest day in the American Civil War: 22,000 dead, wounded or missing in first battle on Union soil […]
1620: The Mayflower departs Plymouth, England, with 102 Pilgrims and about 30 crew for the New World (O.S. 6 Sept) 1795: British capture Capetown, South Africa, from the Dutch 1810: Mexico issues Grito de Dolores, calling for the end of Spanish rule (Mexican Independence Day) 1848: Slavery abolished in all French territories 1906: Douglas Mawson, Edgeworth David and Alistair Mackay […]
1616: First non-aristocratic, free public school in Europe is opened in Frascati, Italy 1821: Act of Independence of Central America: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras & Nicaragua declare their independence from the Spanish Empire 1835: HMS Beagle with Charles Darwin on board reaches the Galapagos Islands 1916: first use of tanks in warfare, “Little Willies” at Battle of Flers-Courcelette, part of […]
