Modern Era
Orient Express (1883): First Journey from Paris to Constantinople
The inaugural run launched a luxury international train service linking Western Europe with the Ottoman capital, which became a symbol of glamorous travel.
All Articles
Every Chronicle article on world history, newest first: battles, empires, disasters, discoveries and revolutions.
Modern Era
Tolpuddle Martyrs (1834): Dorset Farm Workers Transported
The six men were sentenced to seven years' transportation; after mass protests they were pardoned in 1836 and returned to England between 1837 and 1839.
Middle Ages
Pachacuti and the Rise of the Inca Empire (c. 1438)
Pachacuti's victory over the Chanka and his seizure of power launched the expansion and reorganisation that created the Inca Empire, Tawantinsuyu.
Middle Ages
Sunni Ali Seizes Timbuktu (1468): Rise of the Songhai Empire
Sunni Ali drove the Tuareg from Timbuktu, went on to take Djenne and turned the kingdom of Gao into the Songhai Empire, the largest state in West African history.
Middle Ages
Founding of the Malacca Sultanate (c. 1400): Parameswara
Malacca became the main entrepot of the Strait of Malacca and a centre for the spread of Islam until the Portuguese conquest of 1511.
Middle Ages
Byodo-in Phoenix Hall (1053): Fujiwara Splendour in Uji
The Fujiwara regent's Amida hall became the finest surviving building of the Heian period and an enduring symbol of Japanese Pure Land Buddhism.
Middle Ages
Avicenna and The Canon of Medicine: Ibn Sina's Legacy
The Canon of Medicine became the standard medical textbook of the Islamic world and of European universities, used in teaching into the seventeenth century.
Middle Ages
Battle of Montaperti (1260): Guelphs and Ghibellines at War
Decisive Sienese and Ghibelline victory; the Florentine Guelphs fled into exile and Ghibellines took control of Florence until 1266–1267.
Middle Ages
Abul-Abbas: Charlemagne's Elephant from Harun al-Rashid (802)
The elephant reached Charlemagne's court as a diplomatic gift and became a lasting symbol of contacts between the Frankish and Abbasid worlds.
Middle Ages
Stefan Nemanja: Founder of Serbia's Nemanjić Dynasty, c. 1166
Nemanja made Serbia an independent regional power and founded the Nemanjić dynasty, which ruled Serbia until 1371.
Early Modern
Lisbon Earthquake (1755): Quake, Tsunami and Fire on All Saints
Lisbon was largely destroyed and an estimated 30,000-50,000 people died there; the city was rebuilt on a new plan and the disaster shook European thought.
Early Modern
Province of Freedom (1787): The Sierra Leone Resettlement Scheme
The first settlement, Granville Town, failed, but the scheme led to the Sierra Leone Company and the founding of Freetown by Black Loyalists from Nova Scotia in 1792.