Prehistory
Apidima Cave Skull: Homo sapiens in Greece 210,000 Years Ago?
A 2019 study proposed that the Apidima 1 skull is the oldest Homo sapiens fossil outside Africa; the claim remains contested.
All Articles
Every Chronicle article on world history, newest first: battles, empires, disasters, discoveries and revolutions.
Prehistory
Bernissart Iguanodons: The 1878 Belgian Coal Mine Discovery
At least 38 Iguanodon skeletons were recovered and taken to Brussels, giving the first complete picture of a dinosaur's skeleton and correcting earlier reconstructions.
Prehistory
Bangiomorpha: The Oldest Known Sexually Reproducing Organism
The fossil red alga provided the oldest widely accepted evidence of sexual reproduction, complex multicellularity and a eukaryote belonging to a living group.
Modern Era
Empress of Ireland Sinking (1914): Canada's Worst Sea Disaster
The Empress of Ireland sank after being struck by the collier Storstad; 1,012 of the 1,477 people on board died.
Modern Era
Siege of Leningrad (1941–1944): 872 Days of Blockade and Hunger
The city held out; the blockade was broken in January 1943 and fully lifted in January 1944, at a cost of hundreds of thousands of civilian lives.
Modern Era
Arab Revolt (1916-1918): Sharif Hussein and Lawrence of Arabia
Arab forces helped drive the Ottomans from Arabia and Syria, but Arab hopes of a single independent state were not fulfilled.
Modern Era
Burning of the Old Summer Palace (1860): Yuanmingyuan Destroyed
The imperial gardens were looted by British and French troops and burned by the British, and the Qing court signed the Convention of Peking days later.
Modern Era
Oregon Trail: The Great Overland Migration to the Northwest
Tens of thousands of settlers reached Oregon, helping the United States secure the Pacific Northwest, at heavy cost to Native nations along the route.
Modern Era
Transatlantic Telegraph Cable (1858-1866): Linking Two Continents
After a short-lived link in 1858, the 1866 cable laid by the Great Eastern gave Europe and North America permanent, near-instant communication.
Modern Era
Battle of Leipzig (1813): The Battle of the Nations
Decisive Coalition victory; Napoleon retreated across the Rhine and French power in Germany collapsed.
Middle Ages
Polynesian Settlement of Hawaii: First Arrivals in the Islands
Polynesian settlers founded a society that grew into some of the most complex chiefdoms in the Pacific by the time of European contact in 1778.
Middle Ages
Kanem Empire under Mai Dunama Dabbalemi: Lake Chad Power
Kanem became the dominant power of the central Sahara and Sudan, controlling routes to the Fezzan, but religious and dynastic tensions under Dunama foreshadowed later decline.