Middle Ages
Zhaozhou Bridge: The World's Oldest Open-Spandrel Stone Arch
A segmental stone arch of about 37 m span with open spandrels, still standing after more than 1,400 years.
All Articles
Every Chronicle article on world history, newest first: battles, empires, disasters, discoveries and revolutions.
Middle Ages
Battle of Badr (624): First Victory of the Early Muslims
Decisive Muslim victory; several leading men of the Quraysh, including Abu Jahl, were killed and Muhammad's standing in Arabia rose sharply.
Middle Ages
Walk to Canossa (1077): Henry IV Humbled Before Pope Gregory
Gregory VII absolved Henry IV of excommunication, but the conflict between empire and papacy soon resumed and lasted until the Concordat of Worms in 1122.
Middle Ages
Mausoleum of Theodoric in Ravenna (c. 520): An Ostrogothic Tomb
The tomb survived the fall of the Ostrogothic kingdom, was converted into a church and is now part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Middle Ages
Code of Justinian: The Corpus Juris Civilis and Roman Law
Roman law was compiled into the Code, Digest, Institutes and later Novels, which became the foundation of the civil-law tradition of continental Europe.
Early Modern
Battle of Edgehill (1642): First Pitched Battle of the Civil War
Indecisive; both armies held the field, but the king kept the road to London open and the war continued.
Early Modern
Afonso I of Kongo: Christian King and Critic of the Slave Trade
Afonso made Catholicism the state religion of Kongo and tried to regulate the slave trade, but Portuguese demand for captives continued to grow during and after his reign.
Early Modern
Potosí Silver Mines (1545): Cerro Rico and Spain's Treasure
Potosí became the largest silver mine in the world, a major source of Spanish royal income and of the silver that flowed into Europe and China, at a heavy cost to Indigenous forced labourers.
Early Modern
Francis Xavier in Japan (1549): The First Christian Mission
Xavier founded small Christian communities in Kyushu and western Honshu and opened a Jesuit mission that grew to well over 100,000 converts by the end of the century.
Early Modern
Ottoman Conquest of Egypt (1517): Selim I Ends the Mamluks
The Mamluk Sultanate was destroyed; Syria, Egypt and the Hejaz became Ottoman provinces.
Early Modern
Paracelsus at Basel (1527): A Revolt Against Galenic Medicine
Paracelsus's challenge to ancient authority caused a scandal and he fled Basel within a year, but his chemical approach to medicine later shaped iatrochemistry and pharmacology.
Early Modern
Election of Charles V as Holy Roman Emperor (1519)
Charles of Habsburg was unanimously elected King of the Romans and emperor-elect, uniting Spain, the Low Countries and the Habsburg lands under one ruler.