Modern Era
Panthay Rebellion (1856-1873): Du Wenxiu's Sultanate in Yunnan
The Qing retook Dali in late 1872 and the last rebel strongholds in 1873, after years of war that sharply reduced Yunnan's population.
All Articles
Every Chronicle article on world history, newest first: battles, empires, disasters, discoveries and revolutions.
Modern Era
Trail of Tears: Forced Removal of Native Nations, 1830s
Around 60,000 people of the Five Tribes were forced west of the Mississippi; thousands died on the journeys and in the camps.
Modern Era
Discovery of Neptune (1846): The Planet Found by Mathematics
Neptune became the first planet found by mathematical prediction rather than by chance, a striking confirmation of Newtonian gravitation.
Modern Era
Napoleon and Josephine: Their Marriage and 1809 Divorce
The marriage was dissolved by a ceremony and a Senate decree in December 1809, and Napoleon married Marie Louise of Austria in 1810.
Middle Ages
Spiro Mounds: Mississippian Treasure and Its 1930s Looting
One of the richest Mississippian sites in North America; its main burial mound was largely destroyed by commercial looters in the 1930s.
Middle Ages
Gedi Ruins: Lost Swahili Town in the Kenyan Forest
Gedi grew into a prosperous walled Swahili town, was abandoned in the early 17th century, and survives as one of the best-preserved medieval sites of the East African coast.
Middle Ages
Polonnaruwa and Parakramabahu I: Sri Lanka's Medieval Capital
Parakramabahu I reunited Sri Lanka under one ruler and made Polonnaruwa a magnificent capital, but the kingdom fragmented within a few decades of his death.
Middle Ages
Wu Zetian: China's Only Reigning Empress (690-705)
Wu ruled as emperor of her own Zhou dynasty for 15 years until a palace coup in 705 restored the Tang; she remains the only woman to reign in China in her own name.
Middle Ages
Umayyad Conquest of Hispania (711): The Birth of al-Andalus
The Visigothic kingdom collapsed and most of the Iberian Peninsula became al-Andalus, a province of the Umayyad Caliphate, except for small Christian territories in the north.
Middle Ages
Treaty of Zamora (1143): Portugal Becomes a Kingdom
Alfonso VII recognised Afonso Henriques's royal title, making Portugal a kingdom in its own right; full papal recognition followed in 1179.
Middle Ages
Church of San Juan de Baños (661): Visigothic Architecture
A small basilica that survives as the oldest securely dated church in Spain and a key example of Visigothic architecture.
Middle Ages
Rurik (862): The Varangian Prince and the Founding of Rus
According to tradition, Rurik became ruler of Novgorod and founded the Rurikid dynasty, which ruled Rus and later Muscovy until 1598.