1577: Francis Drake sets sail from England on an epic three year circumnavigation of the world aboard the ‘Pelican’ (later renamed the ‘Golden Hind’) 1636: The Massachusetts Bay Colony organizes three militia regiments to defend the colony against the Pequot Indians. Recognized today as the founding of the United States National Guard. 1642: Dutch explorer […]
627: Battle at Nineveh: Byzantine Emperor Heraclius beats Sassanid forces during Byzantine-Sassanid War 1901: Guglielmo Marconi sends the first transatlantic radio signal, from Poldhu in Cornwall to Newfoundland, Canada 1925: Last Qajar Shah of Iran is deposed; Reza Shah Pahlavi takes over 1946: The United Nations accepts six Manhattan blocks as a gift from John […]
1282: Llywelyn ab Gruffydd the last native and independent Prince of Wales is killed at the Battle of Orewin Bridge at Cilmeri, near Builth Wells, south Wales by forces of Edward I of England. Reigned from 1259 and is known as Llywelyn the Last. 1620: Mayflower Pilgrims come ashore in Plymouth Bay, traditionally thought to be […]
1520: Martin Luther publicly burns papal edict demanding he recant 1684: Isaac Newton’s derivation of Kepler’s laws from his theory of gravity, contained in the paper “De motu corporum in gyrum” (On the motion of bodies in an orbit), is read to the Royal Society by Edmond Halley. 1799: Metric system first adopted in France […]
536: Byzantine General Belisarius enters Rome while the Ostrogothic garrison peacefully leaves the city, returning the old capital to its empire 1212: Frederick II (later also Holy Roman Emperor) crowned King of Germany in Mainz 1968: In “The Mother of All Demos” Douglas Engelbart demonstrates the computer system NLS (oN-Line System) to a live audience […]
1863: Abraham Lincoln issues his Amnesty Proclamation and plan for Reconstruction of the South 1941: US and Britain declare war on Japan, US enters World War II 1941: US President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivers his famous “Day of Infamy” speech to a joint session of Congress a day after the bombing of Pearl Harbor 1965: […]
43 BC: Marcus Tullius Cicero, Roman orator and politician is assassinated in Formiae by soldiers under the command of Marc Antony 1909: Inventor Leo Baekeland patents the first thermo-setting plastic, Bakelite, sparking the birth of the plastics industry 1941: Imperial Japanese Navy with 353 planes attack the US fleet at Pearl Harbor Naval Base, Hawaii, […]
1240: Mongols led by Batu Khan occupy and destroy Kyiv after an 8 day siege; out of 50,000 people in the city only 2,000 survive 1865: 13th Amendment of the United States Constitution is ratified, abolishing slavery (except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted) 1877: Thomas Edison enters […]
771: Charlemagne becomes the sole King of the Franks after the death of his brother Carloman 1349: 500 Jews of Nuremberg massacred during Black Death riots 1456: Earthquake strikes Naples, killing an estimated 35,000 people 1848: US President James K. Polk triggers gold rush of 1849 by confirming a gold discovery in California 1933: Prohibition […]
1534: Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent occupies Baghdad 1563: Council of Trent holds its last session, after 18 years. Last ecumenical council for more than 300 years. 1619: 38 colonists from Berkeley Parish, England disembark in Virginia and give thanks to God. Considered by many The First Thanksgiving in the Americas. 1791: Britain’s “The Observer” is […]
