Middle Ages
Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv: Yaroslav's Great Church
Kyiv's cathedral became the religious centre of Rus and survives with much of its 11th-century mosaic and fresco decoration.
All Articles
Every Chronicle article on world history, newest first: battles, empires, disasters, discoveries and revolutions.
Early Modern
Treaty of Utrecht (1713): The Peace That Reshaped Europe
Philip V kept Spain and its American empire but renounced the French throne; Britain gained Gibraltar, Minorca and North American territory, and Austria received most of Spain's European lands.
Early Modern
Agojie: The Women Warriors of Dahomey (Dahomey Amazons)
The Agojie became a core part of Dahomey's army for over 150 years until the kingdom's defeat by France in 1892–1894.
Early Modern
Expulsion of the Acadians (1755): The Great Upheaval
Roughly 10,000-11,500 Acadians were deported and thousands died; survivors scattered across the British colonies, France and the Caribbean, and many later settled in Louisiana as the Cajuns.
Early Modern
Shimabara Rebellion (1637-1638): Japan's Christian Revolt
The rebels were wiped out at Hara Castle; the shogunate tightened its ban on Christianity and expelled the Portuguese in 1639.
Early Modern
New Julfa: Shah Abbas and the Armenians of Isfahan (1605)
Deported Armenians built a prosperous merchant suburb in Isfahan that became the hub of a worldwide trading network.
Early Modern
Newcomen Engine (1712): The First Practical Steam Engine
The atmospheric engine became the standard machine for pumping water from mines for most of the eighteenth century and paved the way for Watt's improved steam engine.
Early Modern
Scottish Reformation (1560): John Knox and the Kirk
The Scottish Parliament rejected papal authority, banned the Mass and adopted a Reformed Confession of Faith, founding the Protestant Church of Scotland.
Early Modern
Loaísa Expedition (1525-1536): Spain's Second Moluccas Voyage
The expedition failed to secure the Moluccas; most of its men died, and Spain gave up its claim in the Treaty of Zaragoza of 1529.
Contemporary
1995 Kobe Earthquake: The Great Hanshin-Awaji Disaster in Japan
The earthquake killed 6,434 people, destroyed or damaged about 250,000 buildings and caused around 10 trillion yen in losses, leading to reforms in disaster response and the rise of Japanese volunteer organisations.
Contemporary
Storming of the Stasi Headquarters (1990): Opening the Files
Citizens took control of the Stasi headquarters; the secret police was dissolved and its files were later opened to the people it had watched.
Contemporary
Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. (1968) in Memphis
King died about an hour after being shot; unrest broke out in more than 100 US cities, and James Earl Ray later pleaded guilty to the murder.