Ancient World
Greek Colonization (c. 750 BC): Cities Around the Mediterranean
Hundreds of Greek settlements spread Greek language, religion and city life across the Mediterranean and Black Sea coasts.
All Articles
Every Chronicle article on world history, newest first: battles, empires, disasters, discoveries and revolutions.
Ancient World
Mentuhotep II and the Reunification of Egypt (c. 2055 BC)
Mentuhotep II defeated the Herakleopolitan kingdom, reunited Egypt under Theban rule and is regarded as the founder of the Middle Kingdom.
Ancient World
Plimpton 322: The Babylonian Tablet of Pythagorean Triples
The tablet shows that Babylonian scribes understood the relationship behind Pythagorean triples more than a thousand years before Pythagoras.
Prehistory
Budj Bim: The Ancient Gunditjmara Eel Traps of Victoria
An extensive Aboriginal aquaculture system for trapping and holding eels, inscribed as the UNESCO World Heritage Site Budj Bim Cultural Landscape in 2019.
Prehistory
Vinča Culture: Balkan Neolithic Tells, Figurines and Symbols
A long-lived Neolithic and Copper Age culture whose villages, figurines, sign system and copper metallurgy made it one of the most advanced societies of prehistoric Europe.
Prehistory
Red Lady of Paviland: Britain's Oldest Ceremonial Burial
First thought to be a Roman-era woman, the skeleton is now recognised as a young man given an ochre burial about 33,000 years ago, the oldest known ceremonial burial in Britain.
Prehistory
Neanderthals: Life and Legacy of Europe's Ice Age Humans
Neanderthals died out about 40,000 years ago, but interbreeding left roughly 1-2 per cent Neanderthal DNA in the genomes of people with ancestry outside Africa.
Prehistory
Iguanodon: Gideon Mantell and the Discovery of the Sussex Teeth
Mantell named Iguanodon in 1825, making it the second dinosaur to be scientifically named and the first recognised as a plant-eater.
Prehistory
Vredefort Crater: The Largest Known Impact Structure on Earth
An asteroid impact left a structure originally an estimated 250-300 km wide, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Modern Era
Galveston Hurricane of 1900: Deadliest Disaster in US History
The storm surge destroyed much of Galveston and killed an estimated 6,000 to 12,000 people; the city built a seawall and raised its ground level.
Modern Era
Attack on Mers-el-Kébir (1940): Britain Strikes the French Fleet
The battleship Bretagne was sunk and other ships damaged, with about 1,300 French sailors killed; Anglo-French relations broke down.
Modern Era
Siege of Kut (1915-1916): Britain's Humiliation in Mesopotamia
Ottoman victory; about 13,000 British and Indian troops surrendered, and thousands died in captivity.