Ancient World
Collapse of the Akkadian Empire: Drought and the Gutians
The Akkadian state shrank to a small kingdom and disappeared; southern Mesopotamia fragmented until the Third Dynasty of Ur reunited it c. 2112 BC.
All Articles
Every Chronicle article on world history, newest first: battles, empires, disasters, discoveries and revolutions.
Prehistory
Kuk Swamp: Early Agriculture in the Highlands of New Guinea
Recognised as one of the few places where agriculture developed independently; inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008.
Prehistory
Nevalı Çori: Neolithic Cult Building on the Euphrates
Excavated in 1983–1991, the site revealed early monumental sculpture and T-shaped pillars before it was submerged by the Atatürk Dam reservoir in 1992.
Prehistory
Kostenki: Early Upper Palaeolithic Sites on the River Don
The sites showed that modern humans lived on the East European Plain by about 45,000-42,000 years ago and later built large mammoth-bone structures there.
Prehistory
Homo erectus: The First Human Species to Leave Africa
Homo erectus became the first hominin known to spread widely across Africa and Asia and survived for more than 1.5 million years before its extinction.
Prehistory
Smilodon: The Sabre-Toothed Cat of the Ice Age Americas
Smilodon became one of the top predators of the Americas before dying out at the end of the last Ice Age, around 10,000 years ago.
Prehistory
Nuvvuagittuq Belt: The Debated Oldest Fossils in Quebec
A Canadian rock belt whose age and possible microfossils remain among the most debated claims for Earth's earliest life.
Modern Era
Great Chicago Fire (1871): How the City Burned and Rebuilt
About 3.3 square miles of the city burned, some 300 people died and around 100,000 were left homeless; Chicago was rapidly rebuilt.
Modern Era
Dunkirk Evacuation (1940): Operation Dynamo and the Little Ships
About 338,000 Allied troops were evacuated to Britain, but the British Expeditionary Force lost almost all its heavy equipment.
Modern Era
Gallipoli Campaign (1915-1916): Allied Failure at the Dardanelles
Ottoman victory; the Allies failed to force the Dardanelles and evacuated the peninsula by 9 January 1916.
Modern Era
Battle of Blood River (1838): Voortrekkers Against the Zulu
Decisive Voortrekker victory; the Zulu army suffered heavy losses and Dingane's power began to collapse.
Modern Era
Battle of New Orleans (1815): Andrew Jackson's Famous Victory
Decisive American victory; the British assault failed with about 2,000 casualties and the expedition withdrew.