On This Day…

On This Day…

406 - 80,000 Vandals, Alans and Suebians cross the Rhine at Mainz, beginning invasion of Gallia 1744 - English astronomer James Bradley announces discovery of Earth's nutation motion (wobble) 1775 - Battle of Quebec in…
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On This Day…

On This Day…

1460 - Wars of the Roses: Battle of Wakefield (Northern England), Duke of York killed and his forces soundly defeated by forces for King Henry VI 1703 - Tokyo hit by Earthquake;…
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On This Day…

On This Day…

1835 - Treaty of New Echota is signed between the US government and representatives of a minority Cherokee political faction to cede all lands of the Cherokee east of the Mississippi River…
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On This Day…

1065 - Westminster Abbey in London consecrated 1612 - First observation of Neptune - Galileo observes and records a "fixed star" without realising it is a planet 1767 - King Taksin crowned King of Thailand and…
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On This Day…

1512 - Spanish Crown issues the Laws of Burgos, governing the conduct of settlers with regards to native Indians in the New World 1657 - "Flushing Remonstrance" petition signed in the Dutch…
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On This Day…

1492 - 1st Spanish settlement La Navidad in the New World is founded by Christopher Columbus (modern Môle-Saint-Nicolas in Haiti) 1792 - Trial of French King Louis XVI, court hears the kings defense brought by…
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On This Day…

On This Day…

Though the precise origin of the date is unclear, Christmas, commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, is celebrated on this day, having been first identified as the date of Jesus' birth by Sextus…
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On This Day…

On This Day…

1565 - Compromise of the Nobles in Habsburg Netherlands closes against inquisition 1814 - Treaty of Ghent signed, ending the War of 1812 between the United States, the United Kingdom and their allies…
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On This Day…

On This Day…

962 - Byzantine-Arab Wars: Under the future Emperor Nicephorus Phocas, Byzantine troops storm the city of Aleppo, recovering the tattered tunic of John the Baptist 1688 - King James II, the last…
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On This Day…

On This Day…

218 BC - Second Punic War: Battle of the Trebia - Hannibal's Carthaginian army heavily defeat Roman forces on Italian soil 1271 - Kublai Khan renames his empire "Yuan" (元 yuán), marking the…
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On This Day…

On This Day…

755 - An Lushan revolts against Chancellor Yang Guozhong at Fanyang, initiating the An Shi Rebellion during Chinese Tang Dynasty 1598 - Seven Year War: Battle of Noryang Point - in the…
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On This Day…

On This Day…

644 - Uthman ibn Affan, companion of Muhammad, appointed 3rd Caliph of Islam 1287 - During St. Lucia's Flood in Northwest Netherlands the Zuiderzee seawall collapses with loss of over 50,000 lives.…
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On This Day…

On This Day…

1577 - Sir Francis Drake sets sail from England on a circumnavigation of the world 1642 -  Dutch navigator Abel Tasman sighted South Island, New Zealand, and later, mistaking the strait north of the island for a…
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On This Day…

On This Day…

627 - Battle at Nineveh: Byzantine Emperor Heraclius beats Sassanid forces during Byzantine-Sassanid War 1408 - Order of the Dragon: The Order of the Dragon was first created by Emperor Sigismund, then…
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On This Day…

On This Day…

1620 - Mayflower Pilgrims come ashore at in Plymouth Bay, traditionally thought to be at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts [NS, Dec 21] 1792 - France's King Louis XVI goes on trial, accused of high treason…
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On This Day…

On This Day…

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,…
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On This Day…

On This Day…

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…
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On This Day…

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.…
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On This Day…

On This Day…

43 BC - Marcus Tullius Cicero, Roman orator and politician is assassinated in Formiae 1909 - Inventor Leo Baekeland patents the first thermo-setting plastic, Bakelite, sparking the birth of the plastics industry 1941 - Imperial…
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On This Day…

On This Day…

1240 - Mongols under Batu Khan occupy and destroy Kiev; out of 50,000 people in the city only 2,000 survive 1865 - 13th Amendment of the United States Constitution is ratified, abolishing…
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On This Day…

On This Day…

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; about 35,000 die…
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On This Day…

On This Day…

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…
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On This Day…

On This Day…

1586 - Sir Thomas Herriot introduces potatoes to England from Colombia 1854 - Eureka Stockade: In what is claimed by many to be the birth of Australian democracy, more than 20 goldminers…
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On This Day…

On This Day…

526 - A possible date for the Antioch earthquake in present-day Syria (then the Byzantine Empire) which killed 200,000 people.1745 - Bonnie Prince Charlie's army moves into Manchester & occupies…
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On This Day…

On This Day…

1520 - Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan begins crossing the Pacific Ocean 1814 - The Times of London first printed by automatic, steam powered presses built by German inventors Friedrich Koenig and Andreas Friedrich Bauer…
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On This Day…

On This Day…

1095 - Pope Urban II preaches 1st Crusade 1295 - English King Edward I calls what later became known as "The Model Parliament" extending the authorities of its representatives 1493 - Christopher Columbus returns to La…
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On This Day…

On This Day…

43 BC - Second Triumvirate alliance of Roman leader Octavian (later Caesar Augustus), Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, and Mark Antony formed 1778 - British explorer Captain James Cook is the first European to visit Maui in the Sandwich…
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On This Day…

On This Day…

1177 - Battle of Montgisard: Baldwin IV of Jerusalem defeats Saladin and a larger Ayyubid force 1783 - Britain evacuates New York city, its last military position in the United States 1839 - Cyclone slams…
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On This Day…

On This Day…

380 - Theodosius I makes his adventus, or first formal entry, into Constantinople 1639 - 1st observation of transit of Venus by Jeremiah Horrocks and William Crabtree - helped establish size of…
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On This Day…

On This Day…

1248 - Conquest of Seville by Christian troops under King Ferdinand III of Castile after the city capitulates 1644 - "Areopagitica", a pamphlet by John Milton decrying censorship, is published 1863 - The Battle of…
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On This Day…

On This Day…

1497 - Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama rounds Cape of Good Hope on way to first voyage from Europe to reach India 1926 - Imperial Conference ends, giving autonomy inside British Commonwealth 1935 - Flying…
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On This Day…

On This Day…

164 BC - During Maccabbean revolt Judas Maccabaeus recaptures Jersusalem and rededicates the Second Temple, commemorated since as Jewish festival Hanukkah 1620 - Mayflower Compact signed by Pilgrims at Cape Cod [O.S.…
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On This Day…

On This Day…

284 - Roman soldier Diocletian proclaimed Emperor by the army 762 - Bögü, Khan of the Uyghurs, conquers Lo-Yang, capital of the Chinese Empire 1695 - Zumbi, the last King of the Quilombo dos Palmares…
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On This Day…

On This Day…

1530 - The Recess document resulting from the Diet of Augsburg signed by Charles V and catholic princes 1620 - The Mayflower reaches Cape Cod and explores the coast 1805 -Lewis and Clark Expedition, led…
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On This Day…

On This Day…

1789 - Benjamin Franklin writes "Nothing . . . certain but death & taxes" 1918 - Egyptian patriot Saad Zaghloul formed Al-Wafd al-Miṣrī (Arabic: “Egyptian Delegation”), the nationalist political party that was instrumental in gaining Egyptian independence from…
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On This Day…

On This Day…

764 - Tibetan troops occupy Chang'an for 15 days, capital of the Chinese Tang Dynasty 1927 - Leon Trotsky is expelled from the Soviet Communist Party, paving the way for Joseph Stalin to consolidate complete…
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On This Day…

On This Day…

1675 - German mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz demonstrates integral calculus for the - first time to find the area under the graph of y = f(x) function 1745 - Bonnie Prince Charlie's army enters…
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On This Day…

On This Day…

1619 - René Descartes has the dream that inspires his "Meditations on First Philosophy" 1674 - Dutch formally cede New Netherlands (New York) to the English 1871 -  According to his journal, explorer Henry…
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On This Day…

On This Day…

1494 - Piero the Unfortunate of the de' Medici family, ruler of Florence, loses his power and flees the state 1799 - Napoleon Bonaparte pulls off a coup and becomes the dictator of…
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On This Day…

On This Day…

392 - Roman Emperor Theodosius declares Christian religion the state religion 1519 - 1st meeting of Aztec Emperor Moctezuma II and Spanish Conquistador Hernán Cortés in Tenochtitlan, Mexico 1701 - William Penn presents Charter of Privileges 1734 - Vincent…
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On This Day…

On This Day…

1492 - Ensisheim Meteorite strikes a wheat field near the village of Ensisheim in Alsace, France. Oldest meteorite with a known date of impact. 1872 - Cargo ship Mary Celeste sails from…
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On This Day…

On This Day…

1813 - Chilpancingo congress declares Mexico independent of Spain 1860 - Abraham Lincoln (Rep-R-Ill) elected 16th American President 1913 - Mahatma Gandhi arrested for leading Indian miners' march in South Africa 1917 - The second…
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On This Day…

On This Day…

1492 - Christopher Columbus 1st learns about growing and harvesting maize (corn) from Cuba's indigenous population 1556 - Second Battle of Panipat: Hindu Emperor of north India Hem Chandra Vikramaditya defeated by forces…
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On This Day…

On This Day…

1576 - Eighty Years' War: In Flanders, Spanish defeat Walloon and capture Antwerp 1841 - First wagon train arrives in California 1862 - Dr Richard Gatling patents Gatling machine gun in Indianapolis 1879 -…
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On This Day…

On This Day…

644 - Umar ibn al-Khattab, second Muslim caliph, is killed by a Persian slave in Medina 1534 - English parliament passes Act of Supremacy: Henry VIII and subsequent monarchs become Head of Church of…
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On This Day…

On This Day…

1875 - Verney Cameroon reaches Benguela in Angola, from Africa's east coast, 1st European to cross equatorial Africa 1917 - Balfour Declaration proclaims support for a Jewish state in Palestine 1930 - Coronation of…
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On This Day…

On This Day…

1755 - Lisbon earthquake kills more than 50,000 in Portugal 1814 - Congress of Vienna opens to re-draw the European political map after the defeat of France, in the Napoleonic Wars 1848 - WHSmith…
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On This Day…

On This Day…

Today - Although Halloween, celebrated this day, is now observed largely as a secular holiday, it is, as the eve of All Saints' Day, also a religious holiday among some Christians. 1517 -…
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On This Day…

On This Day…

1492 - Christopher Columbus sights Cuba and claims it for Spain under the name "Juana" 1538 - The first university in the New World, the Universidad Santo Tomás de Aquino, is established on…
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On This Day…

On This Day…

312 - Roman Emperor Constantine the Great is said to have received his famous Vision of the Cross 1795 - Pinckney's Treaty [Treaty of San Lorenzo] signed by Spain and US, establishing the southern boundary…
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On This Day…

On This Day…

1850 - Robert McClure sights the fabled Northwest Passage for the first time (from Banks Island towards Melville Island) 1861 - Pony Express (Missouri to California) ends after 19 months 1863 -International conference begins…
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On This Day…

On This Day…

1415 - Battle of Agincourt: Henry V's forces defeat larger French army and the longbow defeats the armoured knight 1854 - The infamous "Charge of the Light Brigade" during the Battle of…
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On This Day…

On This Day…

1260 - Qutuz, Mamluk Sultans of Egypt (1259-60), is assassinated by Baibars, a fellow Mamluk leader, who seizes power for himself 1648 - Treaty of Westphalia ends The Thirty Years' War in…
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On This Day…

On This Day…

42 BC - Roman Republican civil wars: Second Battle of Philippi - Brutus's army is decisively defeated by Mark Antony and Octavian. Brutus commits suicide. 1911 - 1st aerial reconnaissance mission is flown by an Italian pilot over…
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On This Day…

On This Day…

1633 - Battle of Liaoluo Bay: Dutch East India Company defeated by Chinese Ming naval forces in southern Fujian sea 1721 - Tsar Peter the Great becomes "All-Russian Imperator" 1879 - Thomas Edison perfects carbonized cotton…
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On This Day…

On This Day…

1520 - Ferdinand Magellan and his fleet reach Cape Virgenes and become the first Europeans to sail into the Pacific Ocean 1805 - Battle of Trafalgar: British Admiral Horatio Nelson defeats combined French and…
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On This Day…

On This Day…

1097 - 1st Crusaders arrive in Antioch during the First Crusade 1603 - Chinese uprising in the Philippines fails after 23,000 killed 1803 - US Senate ratifies the Louisiana Purchase 1864 - US President Abraham…
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