240 BC: First recorded perihelion passage of Halley’s Comet 1856: The Russian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, Great Britain, France and the Kingdom of Sardinia sign the Treaty 1867: The United States buys Alaska from Russia for $7,200,000 (109 million in 2018 dollars), roughly 2 cents an acre 1870: The 15th Amendment to the US Constitution […]
845: Paris is sacked by Viking raiders, probably under Ragnar Lodbrok, who collects a huge ransom in exchange for leaving 1516: Venice compels Jews to live in a specific area, establishing the first Jewish ghetto, in the city’s the Cannaregio district. 1549: The city of Salvador da Bahia, the first capital of Brazil, is founded […]
364: Roman Emperor Valentinian I appoints his brother Flavius Valens co-emperor 1854: Great Britain and France declare war on Russia, expanding the Crimean War 1910: First seaplane takes off from water under its own power, piloted by Henri Fabre from the Étang de Berre lagoon in Martigues, France 1939: Spanish Civil War ends as Madrid […]
1027: Pope John XIX crowns Conrad II as Holy Roman Emperor, founding the Salian dynasty 1812: Earthquake measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale destroys 90% of Caracas, Venezuela, and kills an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 people 1871: Municipal elections bring revolutionaries to power in Paris who form the short lived Paris Commune government 1909: Russian […]
31: Christians celebrate the first Easter, according to calendar maker Dionysius Exiguus 1436: Florence Cathedral (Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore), started in 1296, is consecrated by Pope Eugene IV. Designed by Filippo Brunelleschi with support from Cosimo de’ Medici, it features the largest dome in the world at the time. 1807: British Parliament abolishes the […]
1603: Scottish King James VI, son of Mary, Queen of Scots, becomes King James I of England in succession to Elizabeth I, uniting the English and Scottish crowns 1837: Canada grants its Black citizens the right to vote 1882: German scientist Robert Koch discovers and describes the tubercle bacillus, which causes tuberculosis (Mycobacterium tuberculosis), establishing […]
1490: First dated edition of Maimonides’ “Mishneh Torah” is published, a code of Jewish religious law 1775: Patrick Henry proclaims “Give me liberty or give me death” in a speech encouraging Virginia troops to join the American Revolutionary War 1919: 8th Congress of the Russian Communist Party re-establishes a five-member Politburo, which becomes the center […]
1622: First American Indian (Powhatan) massacre of Europeans around Jamestown, Virginia, 347 killed 1765: First direct British tax on American colonists, the Stamp Act, is passed by the British Parliament led by Prime Minister George Grenville 1784: The Emerald Buddha is moved with great ceremony to its current place in Wat Phra Kaew, Thailand 1832: […]
1123: First Council of the Lateran (9th ecumenical council) opens in Rome, agreements of the Concordat of Worms are ratified 1314: Jacques de Molay, the 23rd and last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, is burned at the stake by King Philip IV of France 1325: According to legend, Tenochtitlan is founded on this date […]
432: Saint Patrick, aged about 16, is captured by Irish pirates from his home in Great Britain and taken as a slave to Ireland (traditional date) 1861: Italy is unified into a single kingdom under Victor Emmanuel II following the campaigns led by Giuseppe Garibaldi 1905: Albert Einstein finishes his scientific paper detailing his quantum […]
