240: BC 1st recorded perihelion passage of Halley’s Comet 1856: Russia signs the Treaty of Paris, ending the Crimean War 1867: Alaska Purchase: US buys Alaska from Russia for $7,200,000 ($109 million in 2018), roughly 2 cents an acre 1870: 15th Amendment to the US constitution is adopted, guarantees right to vote regardless of race 1959: Dalai Lama flees China and is […]
845: Paris is sacked by Viking raiders, probably under Ragnar Lodbrok, who collects a huge ransom in exchange for leaving 1549: The city of Salvador da Bahia, the first capital of Brazil, is founded 1901: Edmund Barton is elected Prime Minister in Australia’s first parliamentary election 1912: Captain Robert Scott, storm-bound in a tent near South Pole, makes last entry in […]
364: Roman Emperor Valentinian I appoints his brother Flavius Valens co-emperor 1854: Britain and France declare war on Russia during the Crimean War 1939: Spanish Civil War ends, Madrid falls to the Nationalists headed by Francisco Franco 1946: Cold War: The United States State Department releases the Acheson-Lilienthal Report, outlining a plan for the international control of nuclear power. Source: […]
1513: Spaniard Juan Ponce de León and his expedition first sight Florida 1625: Charles I, King of England, Scotland and Ireland ascends the English throne 1914: 1st successful non-direct blood transfusion is performed by Dr. Albert Hustin in Brussels 1958: Nikita Khrushchev becomes Soviet Premier as well as First Secretary of the Communist Party 1977: 583 die in aviation’s worst ever disaster when […]
1027: Pope John XIX crowns Conrad II Holy Roman Emperor, founder of the Salian dynasty 1812: Earthquake measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale destroys 90% of Caracas, Venezuela and kills an estimated 15,000–20,000 people 1871: Municipal elections bring revolutionaries to power in Paris to form Commune government 1909: In support of Mohammed Ali Shah’s coup d’etat against the constitutional government […]
1821: The Greek Revolution begins 31: Easter, according to calendar-maker Dionysius Exiguus 1436: Florentine cathedral Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore with then the largest dome in the world by Filippo Brunelleschi, consecrated by Pope Eugene IV (begun 1296) 1807: British Parliament abolishes slave trade throughout the British Empire; penalty of £120 per slave introduced for ship captains 1895: Italian […]
1603 Scottish King James VI son of Mary Queen of Scots, becomes King James I of England in succession to Elizabeth I, thus joining the English and Scottish crowns 1837 Canada gives its black citizens the right to vote 1882 German scientist Robert Koch discovers and describes the tubercle bacillus which causes tuberculosis (Mycobacterium tuberculosis), and establishes germ theory 1976 Argentine President Isabel Martínez […]
1490 1st dated edition of Maimonides “Mishneh Torah”, a code of Jewish religious law is published 1775 Patrick Henry proclaims “Give me liberty or give me death” in speech in favour of Virginian troops joining US Revolutionary war 1919 8th Congress of the Russian Communist Party re-establishes a five-member Politburo which becomes the center of political power in the […]
1622 First American Indian (Powhatan) massacre of Europeans in Jamestown Virginia, 347 killed 1765 Stamp Act passed; 1st direct British tax on American colonists, organized by Prime Minister George Grenville 1784 The Emerald Buddha is moved with great ceremony to its current place in Wat Phra Kaew, Thailand 1832 British Parliament, led by Charles Grey, passes the Reform Act, introducing wide-ranging changes to […]
1349 Between 100 and 3,000 Jews are killed in Black Death riots in Erfurt, Germany 1804 Napoleonic Code adopted in France, stresses clearly written and accessible law 1871 Journalist Henry Morton Stanley begins his famous expedition to Africa 1975 Ethiopia abolishes its monarchy after 3,000 years 2014 Russia formally annexes Crimea amid international condemnation Source: Onthisday.com
