1494: Treaty of Tordesillas: Spain and Portugal divide the new world along a meridian 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde islands, off the west coast of Africa 1628: English King Charles I ratifies the Petition of Rights 1654: Louis XIV crowned King of France 1753: British Museum founded by an Act of Parliament with royal assent from King George II (opens in 1759) […]
1523: Gustav Vasa is elected King of Sweden, marking the end of the Kalmar Union 1716: French transport the 1st African slaves to Louisiana 1916: The death of Yuan Shikai, ruler of much of China since 1912, causes the central government to virtually collapse in the face of warlords, including Sun Yat-sen 1944: Operation Overlord: D-Day begins as the 156,000-strong Allied Expeditionary Force lands […]
1873: Sultan Bargash bin Said under British pressure closes the infamous slave market of Zanzibar in modern day Tanzania 1947: US Secretary of State George Marshall outlines the “Marshall Plan” to rebuild Western Europe 1963: State of siege proclaimed in Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini arrested 1967: Six-Day War begins between Israel and the neighboring Arab states of Egypt, Jordan and Syria 1968: Palestinian Sirhan Sirhan shoots Robert F. Kennedy three […]
1760: Great Upheaval: New England planters arrive to claim land in Nova Scotia, Canada taken from the Acadians 1940: British complete the “Miracle of Dunkirk” by evacuating 338,226 allied troops from France via a flotilla of over 800 vessels including Royal Navy destroyers, merchant marine boats, fishing boats, pleasure craft and even lifeboats 1945: US, Soviet Union, Britain […]
1621: Dutch West India Company (WIC) receives charter for The West Indies (The Americas, Caribbean and West Africa) 1929: Chile and Peru sign the Treaty of Lima, finally resolving their border dispute from the War of the Pacific (1879–83). Chile keeps Arica and Peru regains Tacna. 1943: A mob of 60 from the Los Angeles Naval Reserve Armory […]
455: King Gaiseric and the Vandals sack Rome – Rome looted for 14 days 1862: Robert E. Lee takes command of Confederate armies of North Virginia during the American Civil War 1896: Italian engineer and inventor Guglielmo Marconi applies for the first ever patent for a system of wireless telegraphy in the United Kingdom 1953: Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Abbey, London, […]
4000 BC: Approximate domestication of the horse in the Eurasian steppes near Dereivka, central Ukraine (hypothesis only) 1215: Peking [Beijing], then a city of over one million, under control of Jurchen ruler Emperor Xuanzong of Jin, is captured and looted for a month by the Mongols under Genghis Khan 1676: Battle of Öland: allied Danish-Dutch forces defeat the Swedish […]
1279 BC: Ramesses II, also known as Ramesses the Great becomes Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt (19th Dynasty) 1578: Martin Frobisher sails from Harwich, England, to Frobisher Bay, Canada. Eventually mines fools gold, famously used to pave the streets of London. 1902: Boer War Ends; Treaty of Unity signed, Britain annexes Transvaal 1910: Union of South Africa declares its independence […]
1431: Hundred Years’ War: 19 year old Joan of Arc is burned at the stake by an English-dominated tribunal in Rouen, France 1539: Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto’s expedition of 10 ships and 700 men lands in Florida 1848: Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo between US and Mexico comes into force, giving New Mexico, California and parts of Nevada, Utah, Arizona and […]
1453: Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman Empire falls to the Turks under Mehmed II; ends the Byzantine Empire 1592: Battle of Sacheon: Korean navy led by Admiral Yi Sun Shin repels a Japanese fleet – first use of Korean Turtle ship 1660: On his 30th birthday Charles II returns to London from exile in the Netherlands to claim the English […]
