1621: King James I of England gives Scottish courtier and poet William Alexander a royal charter to colonize Nova Scotia 1792: French Revolution: The National Convention unanimously abolishes the French monarchy, stripping him of his powers and forms the First Republic 1898: Empress Dowager Cixi seizes power and ends the Hundred Days’ Reform in China, […]
622: Prophet Muhammad arrives in Yathrib (Medina) 1519: Spanish expedition led by Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan sets off on the first successful circumnavigation of the globe (Magellan is killed en route) 1604: Siege of Ostend ends after Dutch and English forces surrender the city, allowing Ambrosio Spinola’s Spanish army to recapture the devastated city and […]
1356: English forces under Edward the Black Prince defeat the French at the Battle of Poitiers and capture French King John II during the Hundred Years’ War 1870: Siege of Paris by Prussian forces begins (lasts until January 28, 1871) 1893: New Zealand becomes the first country to grant all women the right to vote […]
1811: British East India Company force led by Baron Minto conquers Java, then part of the Dutch East Indies. Stamford Raffles is appointed lieutenant-governor. 1812: Great Fire of Moscow burns out after five days, destroys 75% of the city and kills 12,000 people 1873: Government bond agent Jay Cooke & Co collapses, causing panic on […]
642: Arab forces under Amr ibn al-‘As conquer Alexandria 1683: Dutch scientist Antonie van Leeuwenhoek is the first to report the existence of bacteria 1787: US Constitution is signed by delegates at the Philadelphia Convention 1862: Battle of Antietam [Battle of Sharpsburg]: Bloodiest day in the American Civil War with 22,000 dead, wounded, or missing […]
1620: The Mayflower departs Plymouth, England, with 102 Pilgrims and about 30 crew for the New World [O.S. Sep 6] 1795: British capture Cape Town, South Africa, from the Dutch 1810: Priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla rings the church bells in Dolores, Mexico, issuing a call to arms known as the “Grito de Dolores” (Cry […]
1616: First non-aristocratic, free public school in Europe is opened in Frascati, Italy 1821: Act of Independence of Central America: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua declare their independence from the Spanish Empire 1835: HMS Beagle, with Charles Darwin on board, reaches the Galápagos Islands 1916First Use of Tanks in War 1916: First use […]
1752: Britain and the British Empire, including the American colonies, adopt the Gregorian Calendar after skipping 11 days between September 3 and September 13 1922: Burning of Smyrna, the Asia Minor Catastrophe to Greeks: Ottoman army expels Greeks and other non-Turks from Asia Minor, destroying much of the port city of Smyrna (August 13 OS) […]
509 BC: Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on Rome’s Capitoline Hill is dedicated on the Ides of September 335: Church of the Holy Sepulchre is consecrated in Jerusalem 1224: Francis of Assisi is afflicted with stigmata after a vision while praying on Mount La Verna 1501: Michelangelo begins work on his statue of David, a […]
1624: The first submarine is publicly tested in London on the Thames for King James I 1758: French astronomer Charles Messier mistakes the Crab Nebula for a comet while searching for Halley’s Comet, leading him to begin his Messier Catalogue 1909: World’s first patent for synthetic rubber is granted to German chemist Fritz Hofmann 1940: […]
