1659: 1st known cheque written (£400), now on display at Westminster Abbey 1840: American Charles Wilkes discovers Shackleton Ice Shelf, Antarctica 1923: Howard Carter opens the inner burial chamber of Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun’s tomb and finds the sarcophagus 1959: Fidel Castro becomes the 16th Prime Minister of Cuba after overthrowing Fulgencio Batista 2005: The Kyoto Protocol comes into force following its ratification by Russia. […]
399 BC: Philosopher Socrates is sentenced to death by the city of Athens for corrupting the minds of the youth of the city and for impiety 590: Khosrau II, the last great Sasanian king is crowned King of Persia 1763: Austria, Prussia & Saxony sign the Treaty of Hubertusburg, marking the end of the French and Indian War and of […]
1014: Pope Benedict VIII crowns Henry II Holy Roman Emperor 1076: Pope Gregory VII excommunicates Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV (for the 1st time) 1797: The Battle of Cape St Vincent: British fleet under Admiral Sir John Jervis defeats larger Spanish fleet under Admiral Don José de Córdoba y Ramos near Cape St. Vincent, Portugal. Captain Horatio Nelson distinguishes himself. 1876: Alexander G. […]
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: 1st British East India Company voyage departs from London, lead by John Lancaster 1689: Parliament of England adopts the Bill of Rights which establishes the rights of parliament and places limits on […]
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 the “New Look” 1999: US President Bill […]
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 released after 27 years imprisonment in South Africa 2011: Egyptian Revolution culminates in the resignation of Hosni Mubarak and the transfer of power to […]
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, surrendering Canada to Britain 1824: Simón Bolívar named dictator by the Congress of Peru 1879: Henry Morton Stanley departs for the Congo 1906: British battleship HMS Dreadnought launches after only 100 days, renders all […]
1775: British Parliament declares Massachusetts colony in rebellion 1904:Japanese land troops at Chemulpo (Inchon), near Seoul, Korea; within the next three weeks they will have advanced to the Yalu River, the border of Manchuria 1943: Japanese troops evacuate Guadalcanal, ending the epic World War II battle on the Solomon Islands in the Pacific 1972: British government declares state […]
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 1st optics paper before Royal Society in London 1807: Battle of Eylau ends inconclusively between Napoleon’s forces and Russian Empire – 1st battle Napoleon isn’t victorious 1960: Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom issued an Order-in-Council, stating […]
1238: The Mongols burn the Russian city of Vladimir 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 […]
