1497: John Cabot claims parts of North America (what is now Eastern Canada) for England believing he has found Asia in Newfoundland 1509: Henry VIII is crowned King of England in Westminster Abbey, London 1793: 1st republican constitution in France adopted 1812: Napoleon Bonaparte’s Grand Armée numbering half a million begin their invasion of Russia by crossing the Nieman River 1853: US President Franklin […]
930: World’s oldest parliament, the Icelandic Parliament is established, the Alþingi (anglicised as Althing or Althingi) 1868: Christopher Latham Sholes patents the Sholes and Glidden typewriter, the first commercially successful of its kind 1960: 1st contraceptive pill is made available for purchase in the U.S. 1972: Hurricane Agnes becomes America’s costliest natural disaster, affecting 15 states, with 119 deaths and $3 billion in […]
1633: Galileo Galilei recants his “heretical” position that the Earth orbiting the Sun was at odds with the Bible and church teaching (Vatican apologizes in Oct 1992 for how it handled the case) 1675: Royal Greenwich Observatory established in England by Charles II 1772: Somerset v Stewart court case finds slavery unsupported by English common law, encouraging the abolitionist movement […]
1788: US Constitution comes into effect when New Hampshire is the 9th state to ratify it 1854: First Victoria Cross won during bombardment of Bomarsund in the Aland Islands (Crimean War) 1948: Lord Mountbatten resigns as Governor General of India (formerly the last Viceroy) 1990: 7.7 Manjil-Rudbar Earthquake with hundreds of aftershocks hits Iran; killing about 50,000 1993: English mathematician Andrew Wiles […]
451: Battle of the Catalaunian Plains: Roman and Visigoths forces defeat Attila the Hun in north east France, halting Hun invasion of Roman Gaul (exact date disputed) 1789: French Revolution: The Third Estate of the French Estates-General swears the Tennis Court Oath at the Palace of Versailles, swearing not to disband until a new constitution is formed 1840: American inventor Samuel Morse patents his […]
1306: The Earl of Pembroke’s army defeats Robert the Bruce’s Scottish army at the Battle of Methven 1829: Robert Peel introduces the Metropolitan Police Act 1829 into Parliament to establish a unified police force for London, the city’s 1st modern police force 1862: Slavery outlawed in US territories 1865: Union General Gordon Granger declares slaves are free in Texas, now the date the end of […]
618: Coronation of the Chinese governor Li Yuan as Emperor Gaozu of Tang, the new Emperor of China, initiating three centuries of the Tang Dynasty’s rule over China 1812: War of 1812 begins as US declares war against Britain 1815: Battle of Waterloo; Napoleon Bonaparte and France defeated by British forces under Duke of Wellington and Prussian troops under Field […]
656: Ali ibn Abu Talib elected the 4th Caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate 1527: Pánfilo de Narváez departs Spain to explore Florida with 5 ships and 600 men, by 1536 only 4 are still alive 1579: English navigator Francis Drake lands on the coast of California at Drakes Bay, names it “New Albion” 1631: Mumtaz Mahal dies during childbirth. Her husband, […]
1779: Spain declares war on Great Britain in support of France and the USA, starting the Great Siege of Gibraltar which goes on to last 3 years, 7 months and 2 weeks 1858: Abraham Lincoln says “A house divided against itself cannot stand” accepting Illinois Republican Party’s nomination for the Senate 1904: Bloomsday (date of events in James Joyce’s novel “Ulysses”) 1963: Soviet […]
763 BC: Assyrians record a solar eclipse that will be used to fix the chronology of Mesopotamian history 1215: English King John signs the Magna Carta at Runnymede, near Windsor in Surrey, places limits on royal authority and puts in writing the principle that the king and his government are not above the law 1775: George Washington appointed commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, […]
