HISTORY

1066: Battle of Hastings: William, Duke of Normandy and his Norman army defeat the English forces of Harold II who is killed in the battle 1322: Robert the Bruce of Scotland defeats King Edward II of England at Byland, forcing Edward to accept Scotland’s independence 1774: 1st Continental Congress makes Declaration of Colonial Rights in […]

54: Nero succeeds Claudius as Roman Emperor 1307: French King Philip IV has Grand Master Jacques de Molay and Knights Templar arrested and charged with idolatry and corruption 1884: International Meridian Conference in Washington DC establishes Greenwich in London, England as the universal time meridian of longitude 1924: Mecca falls without struggle to Saudi forces […]

539: BC The army of Cyrus the Great of Persia takes Babylon 1279: Nichiren, a Japanese Buddhist monk, founder of Nichiren Buddhism, inscribes the Dai-Gohonzon 1492: Christopher Columbus’s expedition makes landfall on a Caribbean island he names San Salvador (likely Watling Island, Bahamas). The explorer believes he has reached East Asia (OS 21 Oct) 1864: […]

1138: Earthquake in Aleppo, Syria, kills an estimated 230,000 1634: Burchardi flood – “the second Grote Mandrenke” kills about 15,000 in North Friesland, Denmark and Germany 1737: Earthquake reported to have killed 300,000 and destroyed half of Calcutta in India. Now thought to have been an exaggerated account of a hurricane which claimed 3,000 of […]

680: Al-Hussein (Al-Ḥusayn ibn) and his followers killed at Karbala by army of Yazid, the Umayyad caliph, on the way to Kufa 1780: Great Hurricane of 1780 kills 20,000 to 30,000 in the Caribbean, hitting Barbados first. Atlantic’s deadliest recorded hurricane. 1871: The Great Chicago Fire is finally extinguished after 3 days, leaving approximately 300 […]

768: Charlemagne and his brother Carloman I are crowned Kings of The Franks 1000: Leif Ericson reaches “Vinland” (possibly L’Anse aux Meadows, Canada) reputedly becoming first European to reach North America 1446: The Hangul (Korean) alphabet is first published in Korea by King Sejong the Great 1831: Ioannis Kapodistrias, first Head of State of modern Greece, assassinated in Nafplion 1941: US […]

1480: Great Stand on the Ugra river: Standoff between forces of Akhmat Khan, Khan of the Great Horde and Ivan III, Grand Prince of all Rus. Ends with a Tatar-Mongol retreat, leading to the disintegration of the Horde. 1769: Captain James Cook lands in New Zealand at Poverty Bay on the East Coast of the North Island 1856: The Second Opium […]

1571: Battle of Lepanto: Holy League of southern European nations formed by Pope Pius V destroy an Ottoman fleet in a significant loss off Western Greece 1737: A cyclone causes 40 foot waves that are believed to have killed 300,000 in Calcutta, India 1763: George III of Great Britain issues Proclamation of 1763, closing lands in North America north and west […]