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2125 matches.
United States1877Tech launches
Thomas Edison's first practical audio recording machine astonished the world and initiated the era of recorded sound, transforming entertainment and communication forever.
Location: Menlo Park, New Jersey laboratory - key fact
Mexico1867Wars
Austrian archduke's death in Mexico City ended the Second Empire and reasserted republican sovereignty across the continent.
The Execution of Emperor Maximilian is a series of paintings by Édouard Manet from 1867 to 1869, depicting the execution by firing squad of Emperor Maximilian I of the short-lived Second Mexican Empire. - summary
Canada1866Wars
Irish-American veterans invaded Canada from the US, hastening Confederation and cementing Anglo-American borders.
The Fenian raids were a series of incursions carried out by the Fenian Brotherhood, an Irish republican organization based in the United States, on military fortifications, customs posts, and other targets in Canada i… - summary
United States1865Wars
John Wilkes Booth's assassination of President Lincoln just days after Lee's surrender deepened national tragedy and upended hopes for smooth Reconstruction.
On April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, was shot at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., one month into his second term and towards the conclusion of the American Civil War. - summary
New Zealand1840Wars
On February 6, 1840, William Hobson, the newly appointed Lieutenant-Governor of New Zealand, sat down with Māori chiefs at Waitangi to sign a treaty that would, in theory, settle Britain's relationship with the indige… - summary
United States1834Tech launches
Cyrus McCormick didn't invent the reaper from scratch-several predecessors had tinkered with mechanical grain-cutting designs-but he engineered the first truly practical version and, more importantly, he figured out h… - summary
France1804Elections
Napoleon's self-coronation as Emperor formalized his seizure of absolute power and triggered decades of European warfare.
Napoleon wanted to establish the legitimacy of his imperial reign with its new dynasty and nobility. - summary
Iraq1800Disasters
Sumerian flood myths preserved in cuneiform literature possibly reference actual catastrophic inundation events in Mesopotamian river valleys.
Many scholars believe that the Gilgamesh flood myth was added to Tablet XI in the "standard version" of the Gilgamesh Epic by an editor who used the flood story, which is described in the Epic of Atra-Hasis. - summary
France1783Wars
Treaty of Paris (1783)
The Treaty of Paris, signed by representatives of King George III of Great Britain and representatives of the United States on September 3, 1783, officially ended the War of American Independence and recognized the Th… - summary
United States1776Wars
The Declaration of Independence articulated Enlightenment ideals of popular sovereignty and triggered the first modern democratic revolution.
The movement began as a rebellion and evolved into a revolution resulting in the sovereign United States. - summary
United Kingdom1776Tech launches
Practical steam engine patent unleashed industrialization and transformed global manufacturing, transportation, and economic organization.
According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, it was "the first truly efficient steam engine". - summary
Global1701Wars
This multinational conflict reshaped European power balances and established Britain as a dominant global force through the Treaty of Utrecht.
The death of Charles II of Spain in November 1700 without children led to a contest for the succession between two candidates. - summary
United Kingdom1689Elections
Parliament's declaration of rights after the Glorious Revolution established constitutional limits on monarchy and foundational protections that influenced democratic movements worldwide.
The Bill of Rights 1689 is an act of the Parliament of England that set out certain basic civil rights and changed the succession to the English Crown. - summary
England1666Disasters
Great Fire of London
The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that occurred in central London from Sunday 2 September to Wednesday 5 September 1666, gutting the medieval City of London inside the old Roman city wall, while also … - summary
Spain1522Launches
Magellan's expedition proved Earth's sphericity and established the first recorded global voyage, transforming geographical knowledge and trade.
Its purpose was to secure a maritime trade route with the Moluccas, or Spice Islands, in present-day Indonesia. - summary
Global1492Launches
Columbus's Atlantic crossing initiated sustained European contact with the Americas, reshaping global politics, commerce, and demography.
The human history of the Americas is thought to begin with people migrating to these areas from Asia during the height of an ice age. - summary
Spain1492Revolutions
Expulsion of Jews from Spain
On 31 March 1492, the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile, issued the Alhambra Decree, ordering all unconverted Jews to leave their kingdoms and territories by the e… - summary
Germany1440Tech launches
Gutenberg's movable-type printing press democratized knowledge and catalyzed the Renaissance, Reformation, and the modern world.
Movable type is the system and technology of printing and typography that uses movable components to reproduce the elements of a document usually on the medium of paper. - summary
Mongolia1206Wars
Temüjin's unification of Mongol tribes launched the largest contiguous land empire in history, reshaping Eurasian trade and conquest.
Number of major Mongol tribes: Approximately 12-15 prior to unification - key fact
Egypt1279 BCELaunches
Ramesses II's temple reliefs documented the Battle of Kadesh and divine kingship claims, preserving the era's most vivid pictorial military record.
In 1279 BCE, Pharaoh Ramesses II commissioned the Temple of Abydos as a mortuary shrine dedicated to his father Seti I. - summary