Sunday, December 7, 2025
Today: 1240: The Mongol invasion of Rus’ culminated in the fall of Kyiv, which was captured and destroyed by forces under Batu Khan. 1492: Explorer Christopher Columbus landed on an island he named Hispaniola, which is now divided between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. 1648: Pride’s Purge occurred in England, where soldiers under Colonel Thomas […]
Saturday, December 6, 2025
Today: 1240: The Mongol invasion of Rus’ culminated in the fall of Kyiv, which was captured and destroyed by forces under Batu Khan. 1492: Explorer Christopher Columbus landed on an island he named Hispaniola, which is now divided between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. 1648: Pride’s Purge occurred in England, where soldiers under Colonel Thomas […]
Friday, December 5, 2025
Today: 1492: Christopher Columbus became the first European to set foot on the island of Hispaniola (today Haiti and the Dominican Republic). 1766: Christie’s, the famous auction house, held its first sale in London. 1791: Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died in Vienna at the age of 35. 1776: The Phi Beta Kappa Society, the […]
Thursday, December 4, 2025
Today: 1110: The Crusaders capture the city of Sidon (in modern-day Lebanon) after a siege. 1619: Thirty-eight colonists arrive at Berkeley Hundred in Virginia, and their charter proclaims the day “be yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God.” 1783: US General George Washington bids farewell to his officers of […]
Wednesday, December 3, 2025
Today: 915: Pope John X crowns Berengar I of Italy as Holy Roman Emperor (probable date). 1609: Galileo Galilei builds an improved telescope after hearing of Hans Lippershey’s invention. 1775: The Continental sloop USS Alfred, on the day of its commissioning, raises the Grand Union Flag, the first American flag to fly over an American […]
Tuesday, December 2, 2025
Today: 1697: St Paul’s Cathedral in London, rebuilt after the Great Fire of 1666, was consecrated. 1766: The Swedish parliament passed the Swedish Freedom of the Press Act, making Sweden the first country in the world with freedom of speech. 1804: Napoleon Bonaparte crowned himself Emperor of the French at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. […]
Monday, December 1, 2025
Today: 1640: A nationalist revolution in Portugal led to the country’s independence from Spain after 60 years of Spanish rule. 1822: Dom Pedro, the founder of the Brazilian Empire, was crowned as the first Emperor of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro. 1865: Shaw University, the first historically black university in the Southern United States, was […]
Sunday, November 30, 2025
Today: 1609: Galileo Galilei first observed the Moon through his telescope, discovering its surface was rough with mountains and valleys, challenging the ancient belief that the Moon was a perfect sphere. 1700: In the Great Northern War, an 8,000-man Swedish army under King Charles XII decisively defeated a Russian force of at least 50,000 at […]
Saturday, November 29, 2025
Today: 1777: San Jose, California, is founded as Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe by José Joaquín Moraga, becoming the first civilian settlement in Alta California. 1781: The crew of the British slave ship Zong murders over 50 enslaved Africans by dumping them into the sea to claim insurance money, an event that became known […]
Thursday, November 27, 2025
Today: 1095: Pope Urban II declared the First Crusade at the Council of Clermont, appealing to Christians to retake the Holy Land. 1703: The Great Storm of 1703, one of the most severe storms to ever strike southern England, finally dissipated after two weeks, having caused massive damage and loss of life. 1779: The College […]