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: […]
1513: Spaniard Juan Ponce de León and his expedition first sight Florida 1625: Charles I, King of England, Scotland and Ireland ascends the English throne 1914: 1st successful non-direct blood transfusion is performed by Dr. Albert Hustin in Brussels 1958: Nikita Khrushchev becomes Soviet Premier as well as First Secretary of the Communist Party 1977: 583 die in aviation’s worst ever disaster when […]
1603 Scottish King James VI son of Mary Queen of Scots, becomes King James I of England in succession to Elizabeth I, thus joining the English and Scottish crowns 1837 Canada gives its black citizens the right to vote 1882 German scientist Robert Koch discovers and describes the tubercle bacillus which causes tuberculosis (Mycobacterium tuberculosis), and establishes germ theory 1976 Argentine President Isabel Martínez […]
