Middle Ages
Tomb of Askia in Gao (c. 1495): Songhai's Pyramid of Mud
The tomb became the burial place of Askia Muhammad and a landmark of Sudano-Sahelian mud architecture, inscribed by UNESCO in 2004.
All Articles
Every Chronicle article on world history, newest first: battles, empires, disasters, discoveries and revolutions.
Middle Ages
Fall of Vijaya (1471): Le Thanh Tong Conquers Champa
Dai Viet captured Vijaya and annexed northern Champa; a much smaller Cham state survived in the far south until the 19th century.
Middle Ages
Su Song's Astronomical Clock Tower in Kaifeng (1088-1092)
A working water-powered astronomical clock about 12 metres tall, described in Su Song's illustrated treatise and later carried off by the Jurchen Jin in 1127.
Middle Ages
Seljuk Capture of Baghdad (1055): Tughril Beg as Sultan
The Seljuks replaced the Buyids as masters of Baghdad and the Abbasid caliph, creating the partnership of caliph and sultan.
Middle Ages
Battle on the Marchfeld (1278): The Rise of the Habsburgs
Victory for Rudolf I and his Hungarian allies; Ottokar II was killed and the Habsburgs gained the Austrian duchies.
Middle Ages
Plan of Saint Gall (c. 820): A Carolingian Ideal Monastery
A detailed parchment plan of an ideal Benedictine monastery survived; it is the only major architectural drawing to survive from the early Middle Ages.
Middle Ages
Tale of Igor's Campaign: The 1185 Raid and the Epic It Inspired
Igor's force was destroyed by the Cumans and he was captured, though he later escaped; the defeat became the subject of the most famous work of early East Slavic literature.
Early Modern
Battle of Leuthen (1757): Frederick the Great's Masterpiece
Decisive Prussian victory; the Austrian army lost about a third of its strength and Prussia regained most of Silesia.
Early Modern
William Wilberforce's 1789 Speech Against the Slave Trade
The speech won wide praise, but the Commons postponed any decision to hear more evidence; the trade was abolished only in 1807.
Early Modern
Intolerable Acts (1774): Britain's Punishment of Massachusetts
Intended to isolate Boston, the acts united the colonies in protest and led directly to the First Continental Congress.
Early Modern
The Forty-Seven Ronin (1701-1703): Japan's Famous Revenge Story
The ronin killed Kira in January 1703 and were ordered to commit seppuku; their act became Japan's most famous story of loyalty, retold as Chūshingura.
Early Modern
Aurangzeb: The Last Great Mughal Emperor and His Legacy
Aurangzeb expanded the Mughal Empire to its greatest size, but decades of war in the Deccan and rising revolts left it weakened at his death in 1707.