46 BC: Julius Caesar defeats Caecilius Metellus Scipio and Marcus Porcius Cato (Cato the Younger) in the battle of Thapsus. 1652: Cape Colony, the 1st European settlement in South Africa, established by Dutch East India Company under Jan van Riebeeck 1917: US declares war on Germany, enters World War I 1994: Plane carrying Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian President Cyprien Ntaryamira is […]
1242: Alexander Nevsky of Novgorod defeats Teutonic Knights in the Battle of the Ice 1722: Dutch navigator Jacob Roggeveen discovers Easter Island / Rapa Nui in the southeastern Pacific 1818: In the Battle of Maipú, Chile’s independence movement – led by Bernardo O’Higgins and José de San Martín – win a decisive victory over Spain, leaving 2,000 Spaniards and 1,000 Chilean patriots dead. […]
1581: Francis Drake knighted by Queen Elizabeth I aboard Golden Hind at Deptford 1655: Battle at Postage Farina, Tunis: English fleet beats Barbary pirates 1789: 1st US Congress begins regular sessions during George Washington‘s presidency at Federal Hall, NYC (ending 1791) 1949: North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) treaty signed in Washington, D.C. 1968: US civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated by James Earl Ray at […]
1645: English Long Parliament passes the Self-Denying Ordinance, limiting regional armies, significant step toward New Model Army 1922: Joseph Stalin is appointed General Secretary of the Russian Communist Party by an ailing Vladimir Lenin 1948: US President Harry Truman signs Marshall Plan ($5B aid to 16 European countries) 1973: 1st mobile phone call is made in downtown Manhattan, NYC by Motorola employee Martin […]
1453: Turkish forces under Sultan Mehmed II begin the siege of Constantinople (İstanbul), which falls May 29 1513: Explorer Juan Ponce de León claims Florida for Spain as the first known European to reach Florida 1792: The Coinage Act is passed establishing the United States Mint and authorizing the $10 Eagle, $5 half-Eagle & 2.50 quarter-Eagle gold coins & silver dollar, ½ […]
527: Byzantine Emperor Justin I names his nephew Justinian I as co-ruler and successor to the throne 1748: Ruins of Pompeii rediscovered by Spaniard Rocque Joaquin de Alcubierre 1952: Big Bang theory proposed in Physical Review by Alpher, Bethe & Gamow 1974: Ayatollah Khomeini calls for an Islamic Republic in Iran 1976: Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs found Apple Computer in the garage of Jobs’ parents house in Cupertino, […]
1146: Bernard of Clairvaux preaches his famous sermon in a field at Vézelay, urging the necessity of a Second Crusade. Louis VII and Eleanor of Aquitaine are present and join the Crusade 1492: Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon issue the Alhambra Decree which expels Jews from their kingdoms 1657: English Parliament makes the Humble Petition to Lord Protector Oliver […]
240: BC 1st recorded perihelion passage of Halley’s Comet 1856: Russia signs the Treaty of Paris, ending the Crimean War 1867: Alaska Purchase: US buys Alaska from Russia for $7,200,000 ($109 million in 2018), roughly 2 cents an acre 1870: 15th Amendment to the US constitution is adopted, guarantees right to vote regardless of race 1959: Dalai Lama flees China and is […]
845: Paris is sacked by Viking raiders, probably under Ragnar Lodbrok, who collects a huge ransom in exchange for leaving 1549: The city of Salvador da Bahia, the first capital of Brazil, is founded 1901: Edmund Barton is elected Prime Minister in Australia’s first parliamentary election 1912: Captain Robert Scott, storm-bound in a tent near South Pole, makes last entry in […]
364: Roman Emperor Valentinian I appoints his brother Flavius Valens co-emperor 1854: Britain and France declare war on Russia during the Crimean War 1939: Spanish Civil War ends, Madrid falls to the Nationalists headed by Francisco Franco 1946: Cold War: The United States State Department releases the Acheson-Lilienthal Report, outlining a plan for the international control of nuclear power. Source: […]
