Middle Ages
Walls of Benin: The Great Earthworks of the Benin Kingdom
A network of earthworks, estimated at many thousands of kilometres, defined the communities of the Benin region and protected its capital until the British conquest of 1897.
All Articles
Every Chronicle article on world history, newest first: battles, empires, disasters, discoveries and revolutions.
Middle Ages
Prambanan: Java's Great Hindu Temple Compound
The Mataram kingdom built the largest Hindu temple compound in Indonesia, a complex of 240 shrines centred on a 47-metre temple to Shiva.
Middle Ages
Battle of Salsu (612): Eulji Mundeok Defeats the Sui Army
Decisive Goguryeo victory; according to the Book of Sui only 2,700 of a 305,000-strong Sui expeditionary force returned, and the 612 invasion was abandoned.
Middle Ages
Rashidun Caliphate (632-661): The First Four Caliphs
The early Muslim state expanded from Arabia to an empire from Libya to eastern Iran, then fell into civil war, ending with the rise of the Umayyads in 661.
Middle Ages
Durham Cathedral: Norman Romanesque Masterpiece of England
A great Norman cathedral and Benedictine priory church was built around St Cuthbert's shrine, with some of the earliest high rib vaults in Europe.
Middle Ages
Gregory of Tours and the History of the Franks (c. 576-594)
Gregory's Histories became the chief narrative source for the Franks from Clovis to the late sixth century.
Middle Ages
Plague of Justinian (541): The First Recorded Plague Pandemic
The first known pandemic of bubonic plague killed a large but disputed share of the Mediterranean population and recurred in waves for about two centuries.
Early Modern
Execution of Charles I (1649): The Trial and Death of a King
Charles I was beheaded; the monarchy and House of Lords were abolished and England became a republic until 1660.
Early Modern
Triangular Trade: How Europe, Africa and the Americas Were Linked
A system of Atlantic commerce forcibly transported millions of Africans to American plantations and helped enrich European ports and merchants.
Early Modern
Founding of Quebec City (1608): Champlain and New France
Quebec became the first permanent French settlement in the St. Lawrence valley and the capital of New France until the British conquest of 1759-1763.
Early Modern
Founding of Spanish Manila (1571): Legazpi Claims the Philippines
Legazpi established a Spanish city council at Manila, which became the capital of the Spanish Philippines and the Asian end of the Manila galleon trade.
Early Modern
Siege of Rhodes (1522): Suleiman Expels the Knights
Ottoman victory; the Knights Hospitaller surrendered Rhodes on negotiated terms and left the island on 1 January 1523.