1773: Captain James Cook becomes 1st to cross Antarctic Circle (66° 33′ S) 1873: A group of Modoc warriors defeats the United States Army in the First Battle of the Stronghold, a part of the Modoc War 1912: Captain Robert Scott’s expedition arrives at the South Pole, one month after Roald Amundsen 1946: United Nations Security Council holds its 1st meeting 1991: Operation […]
27: BC The title Augustus is bestowed upon Gaius Julius Caesar Octavian by the Roman Senate 1412: The Medici family is appointed official banker of the Papacy 1547: Ivan IV the Terrible, aged 17, crowns himself the 1st tsar of Moscow 1793: French King Louis XVI sentenced to death by the National Convention during the French Revolution 1913: British House of Commons accepts Home Rule […]
588 BC: Nebuchadrezzar II of Babylon lays siege to Jerusalem under Zedekiah’s reign. The siege lasts until July 23, 586 BC. 1535: King Henry VIII declares himself head of the Church in England 1559: Elizabeth I crowned Queen of England in Westminster Abbey 1759: British Museum opens in Montague House, London 1902: Abdulaziz Ibn Saud leads 40 men over the walls of Riyadh and takes the […]
1526: Charles V and Francis I sign the Treaty of Madrid, forcing Francis to give up claims to Burgundy, Italy and Flanders 1641: Dutch East India Company conquers the city of Malacca, 7,000 killed 1724: Spanish King Philip V abdicates throne 1761: Third Battle of Panipat: In one of the largest battles of the century, the mostly Muslim Afghani Durrani Empire defeats […]
532: Nika riots begin in Constantinople, a revolt against Byzantine Emperor Justinian I that leaves half the city burned and thousands dead. The riots were prompted by the failed execution of chariot racing supporters and only stopped after Empress Theodora refused to flee, forcing her husband to act decisively. 1908: Henri Farman becomes the first person to fly an observed circuit […]
1528: Gustav I of Sweden crowned King of Sweden, rules for 37 years and becomes known as the “father of the nation” 1554: Bayinnaung crowned King of Burma, goes on to assemble the largest empire in the history of Southeast Asia 1872: Yohannes IV is crowned Emperor of Ethiopia in Axum, 1st imperial coronation in Axum in over […]
1599: Jacob van Neck’s fleet leaves Bantam, Java in modern day Indonesia with 1 million pounds of pepper and cloves and a further half a ship full of nutmeg, mace and cinnamon 1838: First public demonstration of telegraph messages sent using dots and dashes at Speedwell Ironworks in Morristown, New Jersey by Samuel Morse and […]
49 BC: Julius Caesar defies the Roman Senate and crosses the Rubicon, uttering “alea iacta est” (the die is cast), signaling the start of civil war which would lead to his appointment as Roman dictator for life 1430: Catholic Order of the Golden Fleece founded in Bruges in celebration of the prosperous and wealthy domains of Philip the […]
1431: Judges’ investigations for the trial of Joan of Arc begin in Rouen, France, the seat of the English occupation government 1760: Afghans defeat Marathas in battle of Barari Ghat 1839: Daguerreotype photo process announced at French Academy of Science 1909: Ernest Shackleton as part of the British Nimrod Expedition reaches a record farthest South latitude (88°23′ south) 1941: 6,000 Jews murdered in a […]
1656: Oldest surviving commercial newspaper begins (Haarlem, Netherlands) 1790: 1st US President George Washington delivers 1st state of the union address 1835: US national debt is $0 for the first and only time in history 1912: Chiefs, representatives of people’s and church organisations, and other prominent individuals form the African National Congress and declare its aim to bring all Africans together […]
