1497: Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama rounds the Cape of Good Hope on the first voyage from Europe to reach India 1926: Imperial Conference ends, granting autonomy within the British Commonwealth 1935: Flying boat “China Clipper” takes off from Alameda, California, carrying 100,000 pieces of mail on the first trans-Pacific airmail flight 1963: US President […]
164 BC: During the Maccabean Revolt Judas Maccabeus recaptures Jerusalem and rededicates the Second Temple, commemorated since as Jewish festival Hanukkah 1818: Russia’s Tsar Alexander I petitions for a Jewish state in Palestine 1906: China prohibits the opium trade 1970: General Hafez al-Assad becomes Prime Minister of Syria following a military coup 1971: Battle of […]
284: Roman General Diocletian is proclaimed emperor by the armies of the East and West after the death of Carinus at the Battle of the Margus 762: Khan of the Uyghurs, Bögü Qaghan, conquers Luoyang, the capital of the Chinese Empire 1695: Zumbi, the last King of the Quilombo dos Palmares in early Brazil and […]
1530: The final decree of the Diet of Augsburg, “The Recess,” is signed by Charles V and Catholic princes, reaffirming Catholic rites and principles after the departure of Protestant princes 1620: The Mayflower reaches Cape Cod and explores the coast 1805: Lewis and Clark Expedition, led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, reaches the Pacific […]
1477: First English dated printed book “Dictes & Sayengis of the Phylosophers” by William Caxton is printed at his press in London 1626: St. Peter’s Basilica is consecrated in Rome, replacing an earlier basilica on the same site and becoming the world’s largest Christian church 1916: British General Douglas Haig finally calls off the First […]
1558: Elizabeth I, aged 25, ascends the English throne upon the death of her half-sister, Queen Mary I 1831: Ecuador and Venezuela separate from Gran Colombia 1855: David Livingstone becomes the first European to see Victoria Falls in what is now Zambia and Zimbabwe 1869: Suez Canal in Egypt opens, linking the Mediterranean and Red […]
534: Second and final revision of the Justinian Code is published, a codified set of imperial and classical laws initially begun in 528 1532: Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro captures Inca Emperor Atahualpa after a surprise ambush at Cajamarca in the Peruvian Andes 1776: British troops capture Fort Washington during the American Revolution 1945: Founding of […]
1492: Christopher Columbus notes in his journal the first recorded reference to tobacco 1884: European colonization and trade in Africa are officially regulated at the international Berlin Conference, formalizing the “Scramble for Africa” among European powers 1904: King C. Gillette patents the safety razor as the Gillette razor blade 1948: Mackenzie King retires after 21 […]
1680: Gottfried Kirch discovers the Great Comet of 1680 (Kirch’s Comet/Newton’s Comet) 1856: American Gail Borden is issued a patent for technology related to his invention of condensed milk 1896: Power plant at Niagara Falls begins operation 1920: Russia’s Bolshevik army occupies Sevastopol, ending anti-communist attempts to regain control of the Russian government 1994: First […]
1789: In a letter to Jean-Baptiste Le Roy, Benjamin Franklin writes “in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes” 1933: First modern sit-down strike by Hormel meatpackers in Austin, Minnesota 1956: US Supreme Court rules racial segregation on buses in Alabama unconstitutional 1980: US spacecraft Voyager 1 sends back […]
