474: Zeno crowned as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire together with his son Leo II (age 6 or 7) 661: Rashidun Caliphate, then the largest empire in history, ends with the death of its leader, Ali. Succeeded by the Umayyad Caliphate. 1595: William Shakespeare’s play “Romeo and Juliet” is thought to have been first performed. […]
1521: Holy Roman Emperor Charles V opens the Diet of Worms in Worms, Germany which lasts until May 25. Produced the “Edict of Worms” which denounced Martin Luther. 1807: London’s Pall Mall becomes the first street lit by gaslight 1813: Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” is published by Thomas Egerton in the United Kingdom 1819: […]
1820: Russian Antarctic Expedition led by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev discover the continent of Antarctica 1825: US Congress approves Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma), clearing the way for the forced relocation of the Eastern Indian tribes via the “Trail of Tears” 1924: Vladimir Lenin is placed in a Mausoleum in Red Square, Moscow […]
1482: “Pentateuch” the Jewish Bible is 1st printed as a book in Bologna, Italy 1531: Lisbon hit by Earthquake; about 30,000 die 1564: The Council of Trent issued its conclusions in the Tridentinum, establishing a distinction between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism 1788: Captain Arthur Phillip and British colonists hoist the Union Flag at Sydney Cove, […]
1554: City of São Paulo founded in Brazil 1565: Battle at Talikota, India: Deccan sultanate destroys Vijayanagar’s army and the last Hindu kingdom of Southern India 1840: American naval expedition under Charles Wilkes is first to identify Antarctica as a new continent 1949: First Israeli election won by David Ben-Gurion’s Mapai party 1971: Military coup […]
41: Claudius succeeds his nephew Caligula as Roman Emperor after the latter’s assassination by officers of the Praetorian Guard 1848: James Marshall finds gold in Sutter’s Mill in Coloma, California 1857: University of Calcutta founded as the first full-fledged university in South Asia 1899: Rubber heel for boots or shoes patented by American Humphrey O’Sullivan […]
971: War elephant corps of the Southern Han defeated at Shao by crossbow fire from Song Dynasty troops forcing the Southern Han state to submit to the Song Dynasty. First regular war elephant corps in the Chinese army. 1368: In a coronation ceremony, Zhu Yuanzhang, aged 40, ascends to the throne of China as the […]
1689: Prince William of Orange (future King William III of Britain), summons Convention Parliament to discuss ruling jointly with his wife Mary (daughter of exiled King James II) 1879: Battle of Rorke’s Drift: British garrison of 150 holds off 3,000-4,000 Zulu warriors. Eleven Victoria Crosses and a number of other decorations were awarded to the […]
1525: Swiss Anabaptist Movement is born when Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, George Blaurock, and a dozen others baptize each other in the home of Manz’s mother in Zürich, breaking a thousand-year tradition of church-state union 1789: The 1st American novel, William Hill Brown’s “The Power of Sympathy” is published by Isaiah Thomas 1793: Louis XVI […]
1265: First English Parliament summoned other than by royal command, in this instance by Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester. Meets in Westminster Hall. 1841: China cedes Hong Kong to the British during the First Opium War 1921: Republic of Turkey declared out of remnants of the Ottoman Empire 1942: Nazi officials hold the notorious […]
