1451: Sultan Mehmed II, the Conqueror inherits the throne of the Ottoman Empire 1509: Battle of Diu: Portuguese Armada defeats a Mamluk Egyptian fleet in a naval battle at the port of Diu, India, establishing Portuguese trading control in the Indian Ocean 1870: Iowa ratifies the 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution, allowing suffrage for […]
1653: New Amsterdam becomes a city, later renamed New York City 1848: Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends the Mexican–American War. Mexico loses 55 percent of its territory to the US, including California, Nevada and Utah in exchange for $15 million. 1901: Queen Victoria’s funeral takes place in St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, England 1922: James […]
1587: Queen Elizabeth I of England signs the death warrant for her cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots 1843: Oldest continuous writer of insurance in America opens, the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York (MONY) 1884: First volume of the Oxford English Dictionary, A-Ant, is published 1908: King Carlos I of Portugal and his heir, […]
1865: Congress passes, by a vote of 121-24, the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution, abolishing slavery in the United States except as punishment for a crime 1934: FDR devalues the US dollar relative to gold to $35 per ounce 1943: German Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus surrenders to Soviet troops at Stalingrad 1950: US President […]
1661: Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England is ritually executed after having been dead for two years 1815: Burned US Library of Congress re-established with Thomas Jefferson’s 6,500 volumes 1889: Archduke Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria, heir to the Austro-Hungarian crown, is found dead with his mistress Baroness Mary Vetsera in Mayerling […]
474: Zeno is crowned co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire with his son Leo II (age 6 or 7) 661: Rashidun Caliphate, then the largest empire in history, ends with the death of its leader, Ali. Succeeded by the Umayyad Caliphate. 1595: William Shakespeare’s play “Romeo and Juliet” is thought to have been first performed; officially […]
1521: Holy Roman Emperor Charles V opens the Diet of Worms in Worms, Germany, which lasts until May 25 and produces the “Edict of Worms” denouncing Martin Luther 1807: London’s Pall Mall becomes the first street lit by gaslight 1813: Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” is published by Thomas Egerton in the United Kingdom 1819: […]
1820: Russian Antarctic expedition led by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev discover the continent of Antarctica 1825: US President James Monroe urges Congress to approve creation of Indian Territory, west of the Mississippi River, for the relocation of Eastern Indian tribes to ‘promote their welfare and happiness” 1924: Vladimir Lenin is placed in […]
1482: “Pentateuch” the Jewish Bible is 1st printed as a book in Bologna, Italy 1531: Lisbon hit by Earthquake; about 30,000 die 1564: The Council of Trent issued its conclusions in the Tridentinum, establishing a distinction between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism 1788: Captain Arthur Phillip and British colonists hoist the Union Flag at Sydney Cove, […]
1554: City of São Paulo founded in Brazil 1565: Battle of Talikota: The Deccan Sultanates destroy Vijayanagar’s army and the last Hindu kingdom of Southern India 1840: American naval expedition under Charles Wilkes is first to identify Antarctica as a new continent 1949: First Israeli election won by David Ben-Gurion’s Mapai party 1971: Military coup […]
