Early Modern
Tobacco Comes to Europe (1560s): Jean Nicot and Early Use
Tobacco became established in Europe first as a medicine and then as a popular habit, and grew into a major colonial cash crop.
All Articles
Every Chronicle article on world history, newest first: battles, empires, disasters, discoveries and revolutions.
Contemporary
2010 Pakistan Floods: The Indus Inundation That Hit 20 Million
About 1,700-2,000 people died, some 20 million were affected and damage was estimated at around 10 billion US dollars.
Contemporary
1980 Moscow Olympics Boycott: The US-Led Protest Over Afghanistan
About 65 invited nations stayed away, only 80 took part, and the Soviet bloc retaliated by boycotting the 1984 Los Angeles Games.
Contemporary
CRISPR-Cas9 Gene Editing (2012): Doudna and Charpentier
CRISPR-Cas9 became the most widely used tool for editing genes, earning Doudna and Charpentier the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Contemporary
Zimbabwe Independence 1980: From Rhodesia to Majority Rule
Rhodesia became the independent Republic of Zimbabwe under majority rule, with Robert Mugabe as prime minister and Canaan Banana as president.
Contemporary
Cambodian Campaign (1970): The US Incursion Into Cambodia
Allied forces captured large supply caches and disrupted communist bases, but the operation widened the war in Cambodia and triggered mass protests in the United States.
Ancient World
Wulfila's Gothic Bible: Christianity Among the Goths (c. 350)
The Goths gained a written language and a Bible in their own tongue, and Homoian ('Arian') Christianity spread among Germanic peoples.
Ancient World
Roman Embassy to Han China (166): Daqin Envoys Reach the Court
The first recorded arrival in China of people claiming to represent the Roman Empire, probably merchants rather than official envoys.
Ancient World
Second Triumvirate (43 BC): Octavian, Antony and Lepidus
The three men took legal supreme power for five years, proscribed hundreds of opponents including Cicero, and prepared war against Caesar's assassins.
Ancient World
Trial of Socrates (399 BC): Athens Condemns Its Philosopher
Socrates was convicted of impiety and corrupting the young, sentenced to death and executed by drinking hemlock.
Ancient World
Merneptah Stele: Earliest Mention of Israel (c. 1208 BC)
A royal victory hymn that preserved the oldest known reference to a people called Israel in Canaan.
Ancient World
Darius I Seizes the Persian Throne (522 BC): Gaumata Affair
Darius became king of Persia and, after a year of civil wars, secured control of the whole empire.