Middle Ages
Invention of Gunpowder in China: From Elixir to Weapon
Gunpowder became a standard Chinese military material by the 11th century and, via the Mongol era, spread to the Islamic world and Europe.
All Articles
Every Chronicle article on world history, newest first: battles, empires, disasters, discoveries and revolutions.
Middle Ages
Banu Musa Brothers and the Book of Ingenious Devices
The brothers produced the earliest surviving Arabic treatise on mechanical devices and influential works on geometry, and became leading patrons of science in Baghdad.
Middle Ages
Francis of Assisi and the Founding of the Franciscan Order
Francis's brotherhood of poor preachers became the Order of Friars Minor, one of the largest and most influential religious orders of the Middle Ages.
Middle Ages
Ardagh Chalice: Treasure of Early Christian Ireland
The chalice became the best-known example of early medieval Irish church metalwork and is displayed in the National Museum of Ireland.
Middle Ages
Stephen I of Hungary (1000): The First King and His Crown
Stephen became the first crowned King of Hungary, founding a Christian kingdom that lasted for more than nine centuries.
Early Modern
Acts of Union 1707: England and Scotland Become Great Britain
The parliaments of England and Scotland were merged into a single Parliament of Great Britain, while Scotland kept its own law, church and education system.
Early Modern
Kimpa Vita and the Antonian Movement in Kongo (1704-1706)
Kimpa Vita was burned as a heretic in 1706, but her followers' reoccupation of São Salvador helped Pedro IV reunite Kongo by 1709.
Early Modern
New York Conspiracy of 1741: Fires, Panic and Executions
After months of trials, 30 Black men and 4 white people were executed and more than 70 Black people were transported out of the colony.
Early Modern
Sakoku (1633-1853): How Japan Closed Itself to the World
Japan limited foreign contact to a few controlled channels for over two centuries until American pressure forced it open in 1853–1854.
Early Modern
Shah Abbas the Great: Reviving the Safavid Empire (1588-1629)
Abbas restored Safavid power, recovered lost provinces and made Isfahan one of the great cities of the world.
Early Modern
John Locke's Two Treatises of Government (1689): Natural Rights
Locke's theory of natural rights, government by consent and the right of resistance became a cornerstone of liberal political thought.
Early Modern
Peace of Augsburg (1555): Cuius Regio, Eius Religio
Lutheranism became legal in the Holy Roman Empire, with each ruling prince choosing the religion of his territory, but Calvinists were excluded.