Wednesday, November 26, 2025
Today: 1716: The first lion to be exhibited in America went on display in Boston, Massachusetts. 1778: British explorer Captain James Cook became the first European to visit the island of Maui in Hawaii. 1789: United States President George Washington proclaimed the first national Thanksgiving Day to be observed in gratitude for the successful establishment […]
Tuesday, November 25, 2025
Today: 1715: Sybilla Thomas Masters became the first American to be granted an English patent for a machine that cleaned and cured Indian corn. 1758: During the French and Indian War, the British captured Fort Duquesne at what is now Pittsburgh. 1783: The British evacuated New York City, their last military position in the U.S., […]
Sunday, November 23, 2025
Today: 534 BC: Thespis of Icaria is recorded as the first actor to portray a character on stage, an event often cited in the history of Greek theatre. 1499: Perkin Warbeck, a Flemish pretender to the English throne, is executed for treason after attempting to escape the Tower of London. 1644: John Milton publishes his […]
Saturday, November 22, 2025
Today: 1542: Spain passed the “New Laws,” intended to protect Indigenous peoples in the Americas from enslavement. 1718: The pirate Edward Teach, known as Blackbeard, was killed off the coast of North Carolina by a British naval force. 1859: The first edition of Charles Darwin’s controversial and groundbreaking book, On the Origin of Species, was […]
Friday, November 21, 2025
Today: 1386: Timur (Tamerlane) of Samarkand captures and sacks the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, taking King Bagrat V of Georgia captive and forcing him to convert to Islam. 1620: The Pilgrims aboard the ship Mayflower, anchored off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, sign the Mayflower Compact, establishing a government for Plymouth Colony. 1783: Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier […]
Thursday, November 20, 2025
Today: 1789: New Jersey became the first state to ratify the Bill of Rights (the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution). 1820: The American whaling ship Essex was attacked and sunk by a large sperm whale in the Pacific Ocean, an event that later inspired Herman Melville’s novel, Moby-Dick. 1866: Pierre Lallement was granted […]
Wednesday, November 19, 2025
Today: 461: Libius Severus is declared emperor of the Western Roman Empire, although the true power rests with the military commander Ricimer. 1493: Christopher Columbus lands on an island in the Caribbean, naming it San Juan Bautista (later renamed Puerto Rico), during his second voyage to the New World. 1620: The English ship the Mayflower […]
Tuesday, November 18, 2025
Today: 326: The old St. Peter’s Basilica was consecrated in Rome. 1307: According to legend, William Tell shot an apple off his son’s head. 1477: William Caxton printed “The Dictes and Sayengis of the Philosophres,” the first dated book printed in England. 1803: The Battle of Vertières, the last major battle of the Haitian Revolution, […]
Monday, November 17, 2025
Today: 1292: John Balliol became King of Scotland. 1558: Elizabeth I ascended to the English throne upon the death of her half-sister, Queen Mary. 1777: The Articles of Confederation were submitted to the American states for ratification. 1800: The United States Congress held its first session in Washington, D.C. 1869: The Suez Canal in Egypt, […]
Sunday, November 16, 2025
Today: 1272: Prince Edward becomes King of England upon the death of his father, Henry III, while away on the Ninth Crusade. 1532: Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro and his men capture Inca Emperor Atahualpa at the Battle of Cajamarca. 1776: British and Hessian troops capture Fort Washington from the Patriots during the American Revolutionary War. […]