Ancient World
Edwin Smith Papyrus: Ancient Egypt's Surgical Textbook
A practical manual of 48 cases of injuries that is the oldest known surgical text and an early example of systematic medical observation.
All Articles
Every Chronicle article on world history, newest first: battles, empires, disasters, discoveries and revolutions.
Ancient World
Shutruk-Nakhunte's Sack of Babylon (1158 BC): Elam's Plunder
Elam plundered Babylonian cities, ended the Kassite dynasty and carried famous Mesopotamian monuments to Susa.
Prehistory
Xishuipo Dragon: Neolithic Shell Mosaic Burial of Puyang
The Xishuipo mosaics became one of the most famous early dragon images in China and a key piece of evidence in debates on prehistoric Chinese astronomy.
Prehistory
Domestication of the Donkey: From African Wild Ass to Pack Animal
The donkey became the first domestic pack animal of Africa and the Near East, transforming long-distance transport and trade.
Prehistory
Gargas Cave: Hundreds of Hand Stencils in the Pyrenees
Gargas became the best-known example of Ice Age hand stencils, and the puzzle of its 'mutilated' hands is still debated.
Prehistory
Denisovans: The Lost Human Species Revealed by Ancient DNA
Ancient DNA revealed a previously unknown branch of humans, sister to the Neanderthals, whose genes survive in many living people in Asia and Oceania.
Prehistory
Dippy the Diplodocus: Andrew Carnegie's Dinosaur and Its Casts
The skeleton was named Diplodocus carnegii, and Carnegie's plaster casts made it the most widely displayed dinosaur in the world.
Prehistory
Snowball Earth: The Cryogenian Global Glaciations Explained
Two long glaciations, the Sturtian and the Marinoan, covered much or all of the oceans in ice before greenhouse warming ended them, setting the stage for the Ediacaran Period.
Modern Era
Eastland Disaster (1915): The Ship That Capsized in Chicago
The Eastland capsized while still tied to the dock; 844 passengers and crew died, the greatest loss of life in a single shipwreck on the Great Lakes.
Modern Era
Attack on Pearl Harbor (1941): The Day the US Went to War
Japanese tactical success; eight US battleships damaged or sunk and 2,403 Americans killed, and the United States entered the Second World War.
Modern Era
Sykes-Picot Agreement (1916): Dividing the Ottoman Middle East
Britain and France secretly agreed spheres of control in the Arab Middle East; the plan was later revised but shaped the post-war mandates.
Modern Era
Self-Strengthening Movement (1861-1895): Qing China Modernises
China gained arsenals, shipyards, mines, telegraphs and a modern navy, but defeat by Japan in 1894-1895 exposed the limits of reform without deeper institutional change.