OnThisDay

On This Day…

1373 - Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of Alliance (world's oldest extant) signed in London 1866 - US House of representatives passes 14th Amendment (Civil rights) 1878 - Congress of Berlin begins, determines the territories of…

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1381 - Peasants' Revolt: in England, rebels arrive at Blackheath 1830 - Beginning of the French colonization of Algeria: 34,000 French soldiers land 27 kilometers west of Algiers, at Sidi Ferruch 1864 -…

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1184 BC - Trojan War: Troy is sacked and burned, according to calculations by Eratosthenes 631 - Emperor Taizong of Tang of China, sends envoys to the Xueyantuo bearing gold and silk…

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CDE News Views – This Day in Photos

Today's salient news in pictures as taken by the pool of photographers of EPA/EFE for CDE News. Stay informed daily with www.cde.news, for local perspective with a global outlook.

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1494 - Treaty of Tordesillas: Spain and Portugal divide the new world along a meridian 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde islands, off the west coast of Africa 1628 - English…

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1873 - Sultan Bargash bin Said under British pressure closes the infamous slave market of Zanzibar in modern day Tanzania 1947 - US Secretary of State George Marshall outlines the "Marshall Plan" to rebuild…

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1621 - Dutch West India Company (WIC) receives charter for The West Indies (The Americas, Caribbean and West Africa) 1929 - Chile and Peru sign the Treaty of Lima, finally resolving their…

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On This Day …

1902 - Boer War Ends; Treaty of Unity signed, Britain annexes Transvaal 1910 - Union of South Africa declares its independence from the United Kingdom 1916 - Battle of Jutland: Largest naval battle…

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1660 - On his 30th birthday Charles II returns to London from exile in the Netherlands to claim the English throne after the Puritan Commonwealth comes to an end 1851 - Sojourner Truth addresses 1st…

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28th May 585 BC - Solar eclipse, as predicted by Greek philosopher Thales, while Lydians at war with the Medes leads to a truce. One of the cardinal dates from which…

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On This Day…

1679 - Habeaus Corpus Act (strengthening person's right to challenge unlawful arrest & imprisonment) passes in England 1703 - Saint Petersburg (Leningrad) founded by Russian Tsar Peter the Great 1873 - Heinrich Schliemann discovers "Priam's…

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On This Day…

1595 - Nomenclator of Leiden University Library appears, the first printed catalog of an institutional library 1738 - John Wesley is converted, launching the Methodist movement; celebrated annually by Methodists as Aldersgate Day…

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1618 - Second Defenestration of Prague: Two Catholic Lords Regent and their secretary are thrown out of a window and amazingly are not seriously injured by the 70 foot (21m) fall.…

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334 BC - The Macedonian army of Alexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia in the Battle of the Granicus 1570 - 1st atlas 'Theatrum Orbis Terrarum' (Theatre of the World), published by Abraham…

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1792 - Mount Unzen on Japan's Shimabara Peninsula, erupts creating a tsunami, killing about 15,000; Japan's deadliest volcanic eruption 1832 - 1st Democratic National Convention (Baltimore) 1881 - Clara Barton founded the American…

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1498 - Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama arrives at Calicut, India becoming the first European to reach India by sea 1784 - The Netherlands yielded to Great Britain some of its holdings in India and Indonesia in a…

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1643 - Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Connecticut and New Harbor form the United Colonies of New England 1649 - England is declared a Commonwealth by an act of the Rump Parliament making England…

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1291 - After 100 years of Crusader control, Acre is the last Crusader stronghold reconquered and destroyed by the Mamluks under Sultan al-Ashraf Khalil 1804 - Napoleon Bonaparte proclaimed Emperor of France by…

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1527 - Pánfilo de Narváez departs Spain to explore Florida with 600 men - by 1536 only 4 survive 1792 - 24 merchants form New York Stock Exchange at 70 Wall Street…

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1252 - Pope Innocent IV issues the papal bull ad exstirpanda, which authorizes, but also limits, the torture of heretics in the Medieval Inquisition 1618 - German astronomer Johannes Kepler discovers the third of…

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1787 - Delegates gather in Philadelphia to draw up US Constitution 1796 - English country doctor Edward Jenner administers the first inoculation against smallpox, using cowpox pus, in Berkeley, Gloucestershire 1804 - Meriwether Lewis and William Clark's expedition…

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1787 - Arthur Phillip sets sails with 11 ships of criminals to Botany Bay, Australia 1830 - Republic of Ecuador is founded, with Juan Jose Flores as president 1934 - Great dustbowl storm sweeps…

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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…

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330 - Constantinople (Byzantium) becomes the capital of the 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.…

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1497 - Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci leaves for his first voyage to the New World (disputed) 1775 - Second Continental Congress convenes in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and issues paper currency for 1st time 1801 - First…

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1386 - Treaty of Windsor between Portugal and England (oldest diplomatic alliance in the world still in force) 1865 - President Andrew Johnson issues a proclamation declaring armed resistance in the South is virtually…

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1660 - English parliament declares Charles Stuart to be King Charles II of England 1835 - 1st installment of Hans Christian Andersen "Fairy Tales" published by C. A. Reitzel in Copenhagen, Denmark 1895 - China cedes Taiwan…

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1611 - Establishment of the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, The Catholic University of the Philippines, oldest existing university in Asia and largest Catholic university in the world 1770 -…

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1660 - English Convention Parliament meets and votes to restore Charles II 1792 - Guillotine first used in France, executes highwayman Nicolas Pelletier 1846 - Thornton Affair: Open conflict begins over the disputed border…

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1479 BC - Thutmose III ascends to the throne of Egypt, although power effectively shifts to Hatshepsut (according to the Low Chronology of the 18th Dynasty) 1184 BC - The Greeks enter…

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1500 - Pedro Álvares Cabral is the first european to discover Brazil, landing near Monte Pascoal, claims it for Portugal 1915 - 1st military use of poison gas (chlorine, by Germany) in WW I1930 British…

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753 BC - Romulus and Remus found Rome (traditional date) 1526 - First Battle of Panipat: Central Asian conqueror Babur defeats Sultan Ibrahim Lodi, establishing the Mughal Empire in India 1792 - Brazilian revolutionary Tiradentes, is…

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1862 - First pasteurization test completed by Frenchmen Louis Pasteur and Claude Bernard 1902 - Marie and Pierre Curie isolate the radioactive compound radium chloride 1920 - Balfour Declaration recognized, makes Palestine a British Mandate 1968 - British…

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1770 - British explorer Captain James Cook first sights Australia 1775 - American Revolution begins in Lexington, Massachusetts. The "Shot Heard Round the World" took place in Concord later that day 1909 - Joan of Arc receives…

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1025 - Bolesław Chrobry is crowned in Gniezno, becoming the first King of Poland 1506 - The cornerstone of the current St. Peter's Basilica is laid in the Vatican by Pope Julius II 1775 - Paul…

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1387 - Geoffrey Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" characters begin their pilgrimage to Canterbury (according to scholars) 1492 - Christopher Columbus signs a contract with the Spanish monarchs to find the "Indies" with the stated…

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On This Day…

1755 - Samuel Johnson's "A Dictionary of the English Language" published in London 1877 - Boston-Somerville installs the world's 1st telephone in Massachusetts 1912 - RMS Titanic sinks at 2:27 AM off Newfoundland as the…

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1204 - 4th Crusade occupies & plunders Constantinople 1811 - 1st US colonists on Pacific coast arrive at Cape Disappointment, Washington 1872 - Jesse James gang robs bank in Columbia, Kentucky (1 dead/$1,500) 1927 -…

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1512 - Battle of Ravenna: French forces under Gaston de Foix defeat the Holy League in a major battle of the Italian Wars 1783 - Hostilities formally cease in the American Revolutionary…

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1407 - Lama Deshin Shekpa visits the Ming Dynasty capital at Nanjing and is awarded the title Great Treasure Prince of Dharma 1516 - 1st Jewish ghetto established: Venice compels Jews to…

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1581 - Francis Drake knighted by Queen Elizabeth I aboard Golden Hind at Deptford. 1655 - Battle at Postage Farina, Tunis: English fleet beats Barbary pirates. 1789 - 1st US Congress begins regular sessions during George Washington's…

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1645 - English Long Parliament passes the Self-Denying Ordinance, limiting regional armies, significant step toward New Model Army. 1922 - Joseph Stalin is appointed General Secretary of the Russian Communist Party by an…

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1453 - Mehmed II begins his siege of Constantinople (İstanbul), which falls May 29 1513 - Explorer Juan Ponce de León claims Florida for Spain as the first known European to reach Florida 1792 -…

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527 - Byzantine Emperor Justin I names his nephew Justinian I as co-ruler and successor to the throne. 1748 - Ruins of Pompeii rediscovered by Spaniard Rocque Joaquin de Alcubierre. 1918 - the Royal Air…

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240 BC - 1st recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet. 1856 - Russia signs the Treaty of Paris, ending the Crimean War. 1867 - Alaska Purchase: US buys Alaska from Russia for $7,200,000 ($109…

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On This Day…

845 - Paris is sacked by Viking raiders, probably under Ragnar Lodbrok, who collects a huge ransom in exchange for leaving 1549 - The city of Salvador da Bahia, the first capital of…

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1513 - Spaniard Juan Ponce de León and his expedition first sight Florida 1625 - Charles I, King of England, Scotland and Ireland ascends the English throne 1914 - 1st successful non-direct blood transfusion is…

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On This Day…

31 - 1st Easter, according to calendar-maker Dionysius Exiguus 1436 - Florentine cathedral Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore with then the largest dome in the world by Filippo Brunelleschi, consecrated by…

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On This Day…

1603 - Scottish King James VI son of Mary Queen of Scots, becomes King James I of England in succession to Elizabeth I, thus joining the English and Scottish crowns 1837 - Canada gives its…

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1349 - Between 100 and 3,000 Jews are killed in Black Death riots in Erfurt, Germany 1804 - Napoleonic Code adopted in France, stresses clearly written and accessible law 1871 - Journalist Henry Morton…

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1345 - According to scholars at the University of Paris, the Black Death, from what they call “a triple conjunction of Saturn, Jupiter and Mars in the 40th degree of Aquarius,…

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1279 - A Mongolian victory at the naval Battle of Yamen ends the Song Dynasty in China 1644 - 200 members of Peking imperial family and court commit suicide in loyalty to…

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1123 -1st Latern Council (9th ecumenical council) opens in Rome, agreements of the Concordat of Worms ratified 1314 - Jacques de Molay, the 23rd and the last Grand Master of the Knights…

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On This Day…

44 BC - Julius Caesar is stabbed to death by Brutus, Cassius and several other Roman senators on the Ides of March in Rome.221 - Liu Bei, a Chinese warlord…

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843 - Icon veneration officially re-instated in Hagia Sophia Cathedral in Constantinople 1502 - Ismail I, founder of the Safavid dynasty, crowned Shah of Persia (rules till 1524) 1918 - Moscow becomes capital of revolutionary…

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1531 - Henry VIII recognised as supreme head of Church in England by the Convocation of Canterbury 1702 - Anne became the last Stuart monarch of Great Britain, having earlier acquiesced to the Act of Settlement of 1701,…

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161 - Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius dies and is succeeded by co-Emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, an unprecedented political arrangement in the Roman Empire 1530 - English King Henry VIII's divorce request is denied by the…

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