1252: Pope Innocent IV issues the papal bull Ad Extirpanda, which authorizes but also limits the torture of heretics in the Medieval Inquisition 1618: German astronomer Johannes Kepler discovers the third of his three planetary laws, the “harmonic law” 1841: First emigrant wagon train to reach California leaves Independence, Missouri, on a 1,730-mile journey over […]
1787: Delegates gather in Philadelphia to draw up the Constitution of the United States 1796: English country doctor Edward Jenner administers his revolutionary cowpox-based vaccine for smallpox in Berkeley, Gloucestershire 1804: Meriwether Lewis and William Clark’s expedition sets out from St. Louis for the Pacific Coast, commissioned by Thomas Jefferson 1853: Land surveyor, newspaper publisher […]
1787: First Fleet headed by Arthur Phillip sets sails with 11 ships of convicts for Botany Bay, Australia [1] 1830: The Republic of Ecuador is founded with Juan José Flores as president 1940: Winston Churchill says “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat” in his first speech as Prime Minister to […]
1789: William Wilberforce makes his first major speech on abolition in the UK House of Commons, reasoning the slave trade morally reprehensible and an issue of natural justice 1940: Nazi blitzkrieg and conquest of France begins with German forces crossing the Muese River 1943: Axis forces in North Africa surrender 1949: USSR lifts blockade of […]
330: Newly built city of Constantinople (Byzantium) dedicated to Emperor Constantine the Great, becomes the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire 1189: Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa and 100,000 crusaders depart Regensburg for the Third Crusade 1751: Pennsylvania Hospital founded by Dr. Thomas Bond and Benjamin Franklin, in Philadelphia 1812: British Prime Minister Spencer […]
1497: Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci leaves for his first voyage to the New World (disputed) 1775: Second Continental Congress convenes in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, issuing paper currency for the first time 1801: First Barbary War: The Barbary pirates of Tripoli declare war on the United States of America (first US foreign war) 1857: Indian Mutiny against […]
1386: Treaty of Windsor between Portugal and England is ratified at Windsor, cementing and strengthening ties between the two kingdoms. The treaty guarantees the mutual security of both nations and strengthens commercial ties. It is the oldest diplomatic alliance still in force. 1865: President Andrew Johnson issues a proclamation declaring that armed resistance in the […]
1660: English Parliament proclaims Charles II King of England and invites him to return 1835: First installment of Hans Christian Andersen’s “Fairy Tales” is published by C. A. Reitzel in Copenhagen, Denmark 1895: China cedes Taiwan to Japan under the Treaty of Shimonoseki 1902: Mount Pelée on the French overseas island of Martinique erupts, wiping […]
1429: English siege of Orleans broken by Joan of Arc and the French army 1906: Advertisement for Nobel’s Dynamite in the German newspaper “Deutsch-Südwestafrikanische Zeitung”Nobel’s Dynamite 1867: Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel patents dynamite in England, the first of three patents he would receive for the explosive material 1912: Columbia University approves plans to award the […]
1527: Spanish and German Imperial troops sack Rome, ending the Renaissance. Charles III, Duke of Bourbon is killed in the assault removing any restraint for the victorious soldiers. 1626: Dutch colonist Peter Minuit organizes the purchase of Manhattan Island from Native Americans for 60 guilders worth of goods, believed to be the Canarsee Indians of […]
