164 BC: Judas Maccabeus recaptures Jerusalem and rededicates the Second Temple during the Maccabean Revolt, commemorated since as the Jewish festival of Hanukkah 1906: China prohibits the opium trade 1970: General Hafez al-Assad becomes Prime Minister of Syria following a military coup known as the Corrective Revolution 1971: Battle of Garibpur: Indian troops aided by […]
284: Roman General Diocletian is proclaimed emperor by the armies of the East and West after the death of Carinus at the Battle of the Margus 762: Khan of the Uyghurs, Bögü Qaghan, conquers Luoyang, the capital of the Chinese Empire 1695: Zumbi, the last King of the Quilombo dos Palmares in early Brazil and […]
1530: Final decree of the Diet of Augsburg, “The Recess,” is signed by Charles V and the Catholic princes, reaffirming Catholic rites and principles after the departure of the Protestant princes 1620: The Mayflower reaches Cape Cod and explores the coast 1805: Lewis and Clark Expedition, led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, reaches the […]
1477: “The Dictes & Sayengis of the Philosophers,” the first dated printed book in England, is printed by William Caxton at his press in Westminster 1626: St. Peter’s Basilica is consecrated in Rome, replacing an earlier basilica on the same site and becoming the world’s largest Christian church 1916: British General Douglas Haig finally calls […]
1558: Elizabeth I, aged 25, ascends the English throne upon the death of her half-sister, Queen Mary I 1831: Ecuador and Venezuela separate from Gran Colombia 1855: David Livingstone becomes the first European to see Victoria Falls in what is now Zambia and Zimbabwe 1869: Suez Canal in Egypt opens, linking the Mediterranean and Red […]
534: Second and final revision of the Justinian Code is published, a codified set of imperial and classical laws initially begun in 528 1532: Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro captures Inca Emperor Atahualpa after a surprise ambush at Cajamarca in the Peruvian Andes 1945: Founding of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) 1960: […]
1492: Christopher Columbus notes in his journal the first recorded reference to tobacco 1884: European colonization and trade in Africa are officially regulated at the international Berlin Conference, formalizing the “Scramble for Africa” among European powers 1904: King C. Gillette patents the safety razor as the Gillette razor blade 1948: Mackenzie King retires after 21 years […]
1680: Gottfried Kirch discovers the Great Comet of 1680 (Kirch’s Comet/Newton’s Comet) 1856: American Gail Borden is issued a patent for technology related to his invention of condensed milk 1896: Power plant at Niagara Falls begins operation 1920: Russia’s Bolshevik army occupies Sevastopol, ending anti-communist attempts to regain control of the Russian government 1994: First […]
1789: In a letter to Jean-Baptiste Le Roy, Benjamin Franklin writes “in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes” 1933: First modern sit-down strike by Hormel meatpackers in Austin, Minnesota 1956: US Supreme Court rules racial segregation on buses in Alabama unconstitutional 1980: US spacecraft Voyager 1 sends back […]
764: Tibetan troops occupy Chang’an for 15 days, capital of the Chinese Tang Dynasty 1880: Best-selling American novel “Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ” by soldier Lew Wallace is published 1927: Leon Trotsky is expelled from the Soviet Communist Party, paving the way for Joseph Stalin to consolidate complete power 1942: Naval Battle of Guadalcanal […]
