Prehistory
Cosquer Cave: The Underwater Painted Cave near Marseille
The cave revealed a rich Mediterranean tradition of Ice Age art, but most of it has been lost to rising seas and the rest is under threat.
All Articles
Every Chronicle article on world history, newest first: battles, empires, disasters, discoveries and revolutions.
Prehistory
Sima de los Huesos: The Pit of Bones at Atapuerca, Spain
The site produced the largest collection of Middle Pleistocene human fossils in the world and DNA showing these people were early relatives of the Neanderthals.
Prehistory
Mary Anning and the Lyme Regis Ichthyosaur Discovery of 1811
The Annings' ichthyosaur, followed by Mary Anning's plesiosaur and pterosaur finds, gave early geologists some of the first complete skeletons of extinct marine reptiles.
Prehistory
Columbia (Nuna) Supercontinent: Assembly and Breakup
Most of Earth's continental blocks joined into one landmass, which fragmented gradually between about 1.5 and 1.3 billion years ago.
Modern Era
Hamburg Cholera Epidemic (1892): Robert Koch and Clean Water
About 16,900 people fell ill and some 8,600 died; Hamburg built a sand-filtration plant and reformed its public health system.
Modern Era
Bombing of Rotterdam (1940): The Raid That Forced Dutch Surrender
The historic centre of Rotterdam was destroyed by bombing and fire, and the Netherlands capitulated the same evening.
Modern Era
Execution of Edith Cavell (1915): The Nurse Shot by the Germans
Cavell and Philippe Baucq were executed; the case became a powerful symbol in Allied propaganda and recruitment.
Modern Era
Second Opium War (1856-1860): Britain, France and the Qing Empire
Anglo-French victory; the Treaties of Tianjin and the Convention of Peking opened more ports, legalised the opium trade, placed envoys in Beijing and ceded Kowloon to Britain.
Modern Era
Battle of Ayacucho (1824): End of Spanish Rule in South America
Decisive patriot victory; the viceroy of Peru was captured and the royalist army capitulated, ending Spanish power in mainland South America.
Modern Era
Joule's Paddle-Wheel Experiment (1845): Heat as Energy
Joule showed that a fixed amount of mechanical work always produces the same amount of heat, undermining the caloric theory and supporting the law of conservation of energy.
Modern Era
Battle of Aspern-Essling (1809): Napoleon's First Defeat
Austrian victory; Napoleon withdrew to Lobau island, and Marshal Lannes was mortally wounded.
Middle Ages
Chimu Kingdom and Chan Chan: Adobe Capital of Peru
The Chimu built the largest state on the Peruvian coast before being conquered by the Inca around 1470; Chan Chan became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986.