1497: Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci leaves for his first voyage to the New World (disputed) 1775: Second Continental Congress convenes in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and issues paper currency for 1st time 1801: First Barbary War: The Barbary pirates of Tripoli declare war on the United States of America (1st US foreign war) 1857: Indian mutiny against rule by the British East India Company […]
1386: Treaty of Windsor between Portugal and England is ratified at Windsor cementing and strengthening ties between the two kingdoms (oldest diplomatic alliance still in force). The treaty guarantees the mutual security of both nations and strengthens commercial ties. 1865: President Andrew Johnson issues a proclamation declaring armed resistance in the South is virtually at an end; this is […]
1660: English Parliament proclaims Charles II, King of England and invites him to return 1835: 1st installment of Hans Christian Andersen “Fairy Tales” published by C. A. Reitzel in Copenhagen, Denmark 1895: China cedes Taiwan to Japan under Treaty of Shimonoseki 1902: Mount Pelée on the French overseas island of Martinique erupts, wiping out the city of Saint-Pierre, killing 30,000 and leaving […]
1429: English siege of Orleans broken by Joan of Arc and the French army 1867: Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel patents dynamite in England, the first of three patents he would receive for the explosive material 1912: Columbia University approves plans for awarding the Pulitzer Prize in several categories, after established by Joseph Pulitzer 1915: RMS Lusitania sunk by German submarine off the southern coast of Ireland; […]
1527: Spanish and German Imperial troops sack Rome, ending the Renaissance. Charles III is killed in the assault removing any restraint for the victorious soldiers. 1626: Dutch colonist Peter Minuit organizes the purchase of Manhattan Island from Native Americans for 60 guilders worth of goods, believed to have been Canarsee Indians of the Lenape 1889: Exposition Universelle (World’s Fair) in […]
1260: Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, becomes ruler of the Mongol Empire 1893: Panic of 1893 causes a large crash on the NY Stock Exchange 1941: Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie returns to Addis Ababa 1955: West Germany is granted full sovereignty by its three occupying powers 1965: First large-scale US Army ground units arrive in South Vietnam 1980: Siege at Iranian Embassy in […]
1471: Battle of Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, final battle between the Houses of Lancaster and York: Prince of Wales, Edward of Westminster killed and King Edward IV returns to his throne, restoring political stability to England until his death in 1483 1814: King Ferdinand VII of Spain signs the Decree of the 4th of May, returning Spain to absolutism 1904: Construction begins by the […]
1791: Constitution of May 3 is proclaimed by the Great Sejm (Parliament) of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, becoming the 1st modern constitution in Europe 1926: Britain’s Trade Union Congress calls for the country’s first ever general strike, begins at 1 minute to midnight in support striking coal miners, lasts 9 days 1937: Margaret Mitchell wins Pulitzer Prize for “Gone With […]
1945: More than 1,000,000 German soldiers officially surrender to the Western Allies in Italy and Austria 1945: World War II: Battle of Berlin ends as Soviet army takes Berlin forcing German commander of the city general Helmuth Weidling to surrender 1949: Arthur Miller wins Pulitzer Prize for “Death of a Salesman” 1982: Falklands War: Argentine cruiser General Belgrano sunk by British submarine […]
1707: Acts of Union comes into force, uniting England and Scotland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain 1753: Publication of “Species Plantarum” by Carl Linnaeus – the formal start date of plant taxonomy adopted by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature 1840: “Penny Black”, the world’s first adhesive postage stamp issued by Great Britain 1886: US general strike for […]
