1258: Baghdad, then a city of 1 million, falls to the Mongols as the Abbasid Caliphate is destroyed, tens of thousands slaughtered, ending the Islamic Golden Age 1601: Fleet of five British East India Company vessels departs on their 1st voyage from London, led by Sir James John Lancaster commanding the “Red Dragon”; journey takes […]
1700: The Great Northern War begins in Northern Europe between Denmark–Norway, Saxony and Russia and the Swedish Empire. 1912: The last Qing Emperor of China, Puyi (age 6) abdicates after losing the support of the Chinese people and thus the “mandate of heaven” 1947: French fashion designer Christian Dior presents his first influential collection, named […]
660 BC: Traditional date for the foundation of Japan by Emperor Jimmu 1858: First vision of the Virgin Mary to 14-year-old Bernadette of Lourdes, France 1929: Vatican City, the world’s smallest country, is made an enclave of Rome 1975: Margaret Thatcher defeats Edward Heath for leadership of the British Conservative Party 1990: Nelson Mandela is […]
60: St Paul thought to have been shipwrecked at Malta 1720: Edmond Halley appointed as the second Astronomer Royal at the Greenwich Observatory 1763: Treaty of Paris ends French-Indian War, France surrenders Canada to Great Britain 1824: Simón Bolívar named dictator by the Congress of Peru 1906: British battleship HMS Dreadnought launches after only 100 […]
1775: British Parliament declares Massachusetts colony in rebellion 1897: Invasion of Benin City by British Expedition force, the city is burnt and looted, marks the end of the Nigerian Kingdom of Benin formed in the 11th century 1904: Japanese torpedo boats make a surprise attack on Russian ships Port Arthur naval base, Manchuria, beginning the […]
1587: Mary, Queen of Scots, is beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle aged 44 after being convicted of plotting to assassinate Elizabeth I in the Babington Plot 1672: Isaac Newton reads first optics paper before the Royal Society in London 1807: Battle of Eylau ends inconclusively between Napoleon’s forces and the Russian Empire, first battle Napoleon isn’t […]
1301: Edward of Caernarfon (later Edward II) becomes the first English Prince of Wales 1842: Battle of Debre Tabor: Ras Ali Alula, Regent of the Emperor of Ethiopia defeats warlord Wube Haile Maryam of Semien 1856: Colonial Tasmanian Parliament passes the 1st piece of legislation (the Electoral Act of 1856) anywhere in the world providing […]
1508: Maximilian I proclaimed Holy Roman Emperor, first Emperor in centuries not crowned by the Pope 1778: Treaty of Amity and Commerce and the Treaty of Alliance signed in Paris, between the United States and France, the first negotiated by the United States. The first established formal diplomatic and commercial relations and the second formed […]
1576: Henry of Navarre (later Henry IV of France) abjures Catholicism at Tours 1597: A group of early Japanese Christians, known as the 26 Martyrs, are killed by the new government of Japan for being seen as a threat to Japanese society 1885: King Leopold II of Belgium establishes the Congo as a personal colonial […]
211: Roman Emperor Septimius Severus dies in Eboracum (York) in England, leaving the Roman Empire in the hands of his two quarrelsome sons, Caracalla and Geta 960: Coronation of Zhao Kuangyin as Emperor Taizu of the Song, initiating three centuries of Song Dynasty dominance in southern China 1789: 1st US electoral college chooses George Washington […]
