Prehistory
Ghost Ranch Coelophysis Quarry: The 1947 Triassic Bonebed
The quarry yielded hundreds of skeletons of the early dinosaur Coelophysis, making it one of the best-known Triassic dinosaurs.
All Articles
Every Chronicle article on world history, newest first: battles, empires, disasters, discoveries and revolutions.
Prehistory
Gondwana: The Great Southern Supercontinent and Its Breakup
Gondwana assembled by about 500 million years ago, joined Pangaea, and broke apart from about 180 million years ago into today's southern continents.
Modern Era
Okeechobee Hurricane (1928): Lake Okeechobee Floods Florida
At least 2,500 people died in Florida, most in the flooded farm towns south of the lake; the disaster led to the building of the Herbert Hoover Dike.
Modern Era
Atlantic Charter (1941): Churchill and Roosevelt's War Aims
Britain and the United States published eight common principles for the post-war world, later endorsed by the Allies and written into the 1942 Declaration by United Nations.
Modern Era
Battle of Vimy Ridge (1917): Canada's Defining Moment in the War
Canadian Corps victory; the ridge was taken within four days and held for the rest of the war.
Modern Era
Iwakura Mission (1871-1873): Japan's Embassy to the West
The mission failed to revise the unequal treaties but gave Japan's leaders first-hand knowledge of Western states that shaped the Meiji reforms.
Modern Era
Bleeding Kansas (1854-1861): The Violent Prelude to Civil War
After years of violence and disputed votes, Kansas entered the Union as a free state on 29 January 1861, while the conflict hardened sectional divisions nationwide.
Modern Era
Mendel's Pea Experiments (1865): Founding the Science of Genetics
Mendel described regular patterns of inheritance carried by discrete factors; his work was largely ignored until its rediscovery in 1900 founded modern genetics.
Modern Era
Napoleon's Hundred Days (1815): Escape From Elba to Paris
Napoleon briefly restored the French Empire but was defeated at Waterloo, abdicated again and was exiled to Saint Helena; Louis XVIII returned.
Middle Ages
Thule Migration: Ancestors of the Inuit Cross the Arctic
Within a few generations the Thule settled the whole North American Arctic and became the ancestors of all modern Inuit, while the Dorset culture disappeared.
Middle Ages
Mansa Musa's Hajj (1324): Mali's Gold Pilgrimage to Mecca
Mansa Musa's lavish pilgrimage made Mali famous across the Islamic world and Europe and brought scholars and an architect back to West Africa.
Middle Ages
Battle of Ngasaunggyan (1277): Mongols Against Pagan
Yuan victory; the Pagan army was driven back, opening a decade of Mongol campaigns that broke the Pagan kingdom.