slug: messenia

label: Messenia

description: regional unit in the southwestern part of the Peloponnese, Greece

year_label: 715 BCE

section: Conflict & Security

text: c. 715 BC—Conquest of Messenia by Sparta ends.

title: 710s BC

section: Events and trends

year_label: 648 BCE

text: Messenians in the Peloponnese revolt against Sparta under the leadership of king Aristomenes, beginning a struggle that will continue until 631 BC.

title: 648 BC

section: Events › Greece

year_label: 464 BCE

section: Climate & Environment

text: When the Messenian helots (serfs) revolt against their Spartan masters following the severe earthquake, King Archidamus II organises the defence of Sparta. The helots fortify themselves at Mount Ithome.

title: 464 BC

section: Events › By place › Greece

year_label: 462 BCE

text: The Spartans try to conquer the mountain stronghold of Mt Ithome in Messenia, where a large force of rebellious helots have taken refuge. They ask their allies from the Persian Wars, including the Athenians, to help.

title: 462 BC

year_label: 369 BCE

text: Epaminondas briefly returns to Arcadia, then marches south to Messenia, a territory which the Spartans had conquered some 200 years before. There, Epaminondas starts the rebuilding of the ancient city of Messene on Mount Ithome, with fortifications that are among the strongest in Greece. He then issues a call to Messenian exiles all over Greece to return and rebuild their homeland. The loss of Messenia is particularly damaging to the Spartans, since the territory comprises one-third of Sparta's territory and contains half of their helot population.

title: 369 BC

year_label: 302 BCE

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

text: Antigonus' son Demetrius Poliorcetes attacks Cassander's forces in Thessaly. Cassander loses his possessions south of Thessaly to Demetrius. Antigonus and Demetrius crown their success by renewing the pan-Hellenic league. Ambassadors from all the Hellenic states (with the exception of Sparta, Messenia and Thessaly) meet at Corinth to elect Antigonus and Demetrius protectors of the new league.

title: 302 BC

year_label: 241 BCE

section: Crime & Justice

text: Archidamus V, son of the Spartan King, Eudamidas II, and grandson of Archidamus IV, flees to Messenia after the murder of his brother Agis IV.

title: 241 BC

year_label: 220 BCE

text: Together with fellow Illyrian, Scerdilaidas, Demetrius of Pharos attacks Illyrian cities under Roman protection and leads a piratical squadron into Greek waters. They unsuccessfully attack Pylos, an Achaean town on the Messenian coast, in the Peloponnesus of Greece.

title: 220 BC

year_label: 32 BCE

text: Zacynthus is held by Gaius Sosius, and Methone (Messenia) by Bogud of the royal house of Mauretania, driven into exile by his brother Bocchus II.

title: 32 BC

section: Events › By place › Roman Republic

year_label: 25 CE

text: Emperor Tiberius settles a dispute between Messenia and Sparta over the Ager Dentheliales on Mount Taygetus, awarding the land to Messenia.

title: 20s

section: Events › 25 AD › Roman Empire


slug: messina

label: Messina

description: Italian comune in Sicily

year_label: 269 BCE

text: The Mamertines, a body of Campanian mercenaries who have been employed by Agathocles, the former tyrant of Syracuse, capture the stronghold of Messana (Messina in north-eastern Sicily), from which they harass the Syracusans. The Syracusan military leader, Hieron, defeats them in a pitched battle at the Longanus River near Mylae, but Carthaginian forces intervene to prevent him from capturing Messana. His grateful countrymen then choose Hieron as their king and tyrant, to be known as Hieron II.

title: 269 BC

section: Events › By place › Sicily

year_label: 264 BCE

text: Appius Claudius Caudex leads his forces to Messina, and as the Mamertines have convinced the Carthaginians to withdraw, he meets with only minimal resistance. The Mamertines hand the city over to Appius Claudius, but the Carthaginians return to set up a blockade. The Syracusans, meanwhile, are also stationed outside the city.

title: 264 BC

date: March

text: March – Abu Abbas Abdallah resumes his Aghlabid campaign against the Byzantine enclaves of Sicily. He dispatches his fleet towards Messina, while bombarding the town walls of Damona.

title: 901

section: Events › By place › Europe

text: Summer – Norman forces led by Duke Robert Guiscard and his brother Roger I invade Sicily. They land unseen during the night and surprise the Saracen army. Guiscard conquers Messina and marches into central Sicily.

title: 1061

text: Summer – King Roger II lands with a Sicilian expeditionary force in Salerno. He splits his army, and conquers the cities of Aversa and Alife. Roger besieges Naples – but despite poor health conditions within the city, he is not able to take it, and returns again to Messina.

title: 1135

section: Deaths

date: September 28

text: September 28 – Henry VI dies of malaria at Messina (also possibly poisoned), while preparing an expedition against the Byzantine usurper Alexios III Angelos.

title: 1197

date: September

text: September – Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos, facing a possible siege of Constantinople by Ottoman-Turkish forces, seeks support from the European kingdoms. He makes Roger de Flor, Italian military adventurer and nobleman, an offer of service. Roger with his fleet and army (some 7,000 men), now known as the Catalan Company, departs from Messina with 36 ships (including 18 galleys), and arrives in Constantinople. He is adopted into the imperial family, Andronikos appoints him as grand duke (megas doux) and commander-in-chief of the Byzantine army and fleet.

title: 1303

section: Events › July–September

section: Disasters & Accidents

date: October

text: October – Ships arrive in the Sicilian city of Messina, carrying people afflicted by the Black Death onboard.

title: 1347

section: Events › January–December

date: July 27

text: July 27 – Frederick the Simple, who has reigned as King Federico III of Sicily since 1355, dies in Messina at the age of 35 and is succeeded by his 14-year-old daughter, Maria of Aragon, who becomes the Queen of Sicily. The kingdom is administered by a regency of four "vicars", led by Artale I d'Alagona.

title: 1377


slug: metz

label: Metz

description: city in Grand Est, France

date: April 7

text: April 7 – Attila's forces invade Gaul and sack Metz. The major cities of Strasbourg, Worms, Mainz, Trier, Cologne, Reims, Tournai, Cambrai, Amiens and Beauvais are destroyed by the Huns.

title: 451

date: November 27

text: November 27 – King Clovis I dies at Paris (Lutetia) at age 45, and is buried in the Abbey of St. Genevieve. The Merovingian dynasty is continued by his four sons (Theuderic I, Chlodomer, Childebert I and Chlothar I), who divide the Frankish Kingdom and rule from the capitals at Metz, Orléans, Paris and Soissons, respectively.

title: 511

text: King Chlothar I annexes the Frankish territories of Metz and Reims, after the death of his great-nephew Theudebald.

title: 555

text: King Sigebert I repels an attack on Austrasia by the Avars at Regensburg (Germany). He moves his capital from Reims to Metz (approximate date).

title: 562

section: Culture & Society

text: A poet from Italy named Venantius Fortunatus arrives at the Merovingian court at Metz. With a strong grasp of traditional Roman poetry, Fortunatus impresses and entertains the Frankish royalty and aristocracy. The success of a Latin poet in Francia suggests that Roman culture persisted well after the Roman Empire disintegrated in Gaul in the late 5th century.

title: 566

section: Events › By place › Francia

section: Religion & Belief

text: Egidius, bishop of Reims, is tried at Metz before a council of bishops for a conspiracy against King Childebert II; he is found guilty and exiled to Strasbourg.

title: 590

section: Events › By topic › Religion

text: King Theuderic II dies of dysentery in the Austrasian capital of Metz, while preparing a campaign against his longtime enemy, Chlothar II. His grandmother Brunhilda attempts to establish a third regency for her illegitimate great-grandson Sigebert II.

title: 613

text: King Clothar II gives Austrasia to his son Dagobert I, age 20, effectively granting the kingdom semi-autonomy in repayment for the support of its nobles, most notably Pepin of Landen (Mayor of the Palace), and in recognition of calls from the Austrasians for a king of their own. Arnulf, bishop of Metz, becomes advisor to Dagobert.

title: 623

text: Dagobert III dies of an illness and is succeeded by Chilperic II, son of Childeric II, as king of Neustria. Charles Martel is freed from prison at Cologne, and is proclaimed Mayor of the Palace of Austrasia at the capital Metz.

title: 715

text: Pope Nicholas I sends archbishops Gunther and Theotgaud to a synod of Metz, which confirms the permission given to King Lothair II of Lotharingia to remarry.

title: 863

text: King Charles the Bald meets his brother Louis the German at Metz. They agree to a partition of Lotharingia, which belonged to former emperor Lothair I (now in possession of his sons Lothair II and Louis II).

title: 868

text: Summer – The Hungarians plunder the surroundings of Laon, Reims, Chalon, Metz, and Gorze. After that, they return to Burgundy. In Provence, the Hungarians battle with the Moors from the Muslim enclave of Fraxinet.

title: 954

date: June

text: June – Members of the People's Crusade under Emicho set out up the Main towards Hungary. Some followers break off from Emicho's army at Mainz and travel to Metz – where many Jews are persecuted and murdered. They proceed down the Rhine, massacring the Jews at Neuss, Wevelinghofen, and Xanten.

title: 1096

section: Events › By place › First Crusade

section: Exploration & Expansion

text: June – A French expeditionary force (some 18,000 men) led by King Louis VII departs from Metz and travels through Bavaria. Louis is accompanied by the French nobility and his wife, Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, heiress of France. At Regensburg, where the force arrives on June 29, the Crusaders journey peaceably for fifteen days through Hungary and reach the Byzantine frontier at the end of August.

title: 1147

section: Events › By place › Second Crusade

date: August 25

text: August 25 – War of Metz: In Western Europe, the "Four Lords", King John of Bohemia ("the Blind"), his uncle Baldwin, Archbishop of Trier, Count Edward I, Count of Bar and Frederick IV, Duke of Lorraine ("the Fighter") meet at Remich (in modern-day Luxembourg) and make plans to work jointly on besieging the city of Metz (in modern-day France).

title: 1324

section: Events › July – September

date: September 15

text: September 15 – War of Metz: The armies of Bohemia, Luxembourg, Bar and Lorraine under the "Four Lords" begin their siege of the walled city of Metz, capital of the Messin Republic. The attackers use a new weapon, the cannon, to fire projectiles at high speed against the city walls in order to destroy the city. The group withdraws at the end of the month after plundering the surrounding area.

title: 1324

section: Science & Discovery

date: May 8

text: May 8 – A solar eclipse observed in Metz.

title: 1491

section: Events › April–June

date: April 18

text: April 18 – King Henry II of France enters the city of Metz, ceded to France by Saxony by the January 15 Treaty of Chambord.

title: 1552

date: April 3

text: April 3 – Peace of Cateau Cambrésis: After two days of negotiations, France makes peace with England and Spain, ending the Italian War of 1551–59. France gives up most of its gains in Italy (including Savoy), retaining only Saluzzo, but keeps the three Lorraine bishoprics of Metz, Toul, and Verdun, and the formerly English town of Calais.

title: 1559

date: December 3

text: December 3 – The French Duke of Anjou, recently elected as King Henry of Poland, departs from Metz with an entourage of 1,200 people, arriving at Kraków on February 18.

title: 1573

section: Events › October–December

date: January 17

text: January 17 – Raphael Levy, a Jewish resident of the city of Metz in France, is burned at the stake after being accused of the September 25 abduction and ritual murder of a child who had disappeared from the village of Glatigny. The prosecutor applies to King Louis XIV for an order expelling all 95 Jewish families from Metz, but the king refuses.

title: 1670

section: Events › January–March

date: January 3

text: January 3 – War of the Sixth Coalition – Siege of Metz: Allied armies lay siege to the French city and fortress of Metz.

title: 1814

section: Events › January


slug: mexican-revolution

label: Mexican Revolution

description: nationwide armed struggle in Mexico (1910–1920)

section: Conflict & Security

date: November 20

text: November 20 – The Mexican Revolution begins, when Francisco I. Madero proclaims the elections of 1910 null and void, and calls for an armed revolution against the illegitimate presidency/dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz.

title: 1910

section: Events › November

date: April 13

text: April 13 – Mexican Revolution: Rebels take Agua Prieta on the Sonora–Arizona border; government troops take the town back April 17, when the rebel leader "Red" López gets drunk.

title: 1911

section: Events › April

date: April 19

text: April 19 – Mexican Revolution: Francisco I. Madero's troops besiege Ciudad Juárez, but General Juan J. Navarro refuses his surrender demand.

title: 1911

section: Climate & Environment

date: June 7

text: June 7 – Mexican Revolution: Francisco Madero arrives in Mexico City, just after the 1911 Michoacán earthquake.

title: 1911

section: Events › June

date: May 13

text: May 13–15 – Mexican Revolution: Torreón massacre – Over 300 Chinese residents are massacred by the revolutionary forces of Francisco I. Madero, in the Mexican city of Torreón.

title: 1911

section: Events › May

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

date: May 21

text: May 21 – Mexican Revolution: In Ciudad Juárez, a peace treaty is signed between Madero's rebels and government troops.

title: 1911

date: May 24

text: May 24 – Mexican Revolution: Government troops fire at anti-Diaz demonstrators in Mexico City, killing about 200 (officials claim only 40).

title: 1911

date: May 25

text: May 25 – Mexican Revolution: Porfirio Díaz signs his resignation and leaves for Veracruz; on May 31 he leaves for exile in France.

title: 1911

text: May 8 – Mexican Revolution: Pancho Villa launches an attack against government troops in Ciudad Juárez without Madero's permission; the government troops surrender on May 10.

title: 1911

date: October 16

text: October 16 – Mexican Revolution: Felix Diaz, nephew of Porfirio Díaz, occupies the port of Veracruz, as a sign of rebellion against Madero.

title: 1911

section: Events › October

date: February 9

text: February 9 – Mexican Revolution: "La Decena Trágica", the rebellion of some military chiefs against the President Francisco I. Madero, begins.

title: 1913

section: Events › February

date: March 13

text: March 13 – Mexican Revolution: Pancho Villa returns to Mexico from his self-imposed exile in the United States.

title: 1913

section: Events › March

date: March 26

text: March 26 – Mexican Revolution: Venustiano Carranza announces his Plan of Guadalupe, and begins his rebellion against Victoriano Huerta's government, as head of the Constitutionals.

title: 1913

date: October 1

text: October 1 – Mexican Revolution: Pancho Villa's troops take Torreón after a 3-day battle, when government troops retreat.

title: 1913

date: July 15

text: July 15 – Mexican Revolution: Victoriano Huerta resigns from the presidency of Mexico.

title: 1914

section: Events › July

date: November 23

text: November 23 – Mexican Revolution: The last U.S. forces withdraw from Veracruz, occupied seven months earlier in response to the Tampico Affair; Venustiano Carranza's troops take over, and Carranza makes the town his headquarters.

title: 1914

date: June 3

text: June 3 – Mexican Revolution: Troops of Álvaro Obregón and Pancho Villa clash at León; Obregón loses his right arm in a grenade attack, but Villa is decisively defeated.

title: 1915

date: October 19

text: October 19 – Mexican Revolution: The U.S. recognizes the Mexican government of Venustiano Carranza de facto (not de jure until 1917).

title: 1915

date: March 16

text: March 16 – Mexican Revolution: The U.S. 7th and 10th Cavalry regiments under John J. Pershing cross the border, to join the hunt for Villa.

title: 1916

date: March 8

text: March 8–9 – Mexican Revolution: Pancho Villa leads about 500 Mexican raiders in an attack against Columbus, New Mexico, killing 12 U.S. soldiers. A garrison of the U.S. 13th Cavalry Regiment fights back and drives them away.

title: 1916

date: March 11

text: March 11 – Mexican Revolution: Venustiano Carranza is elected president of Mexico; the United States gives de jure recognition of his government.

title: 1917

section: Crime & Justice

date: April 10

text: April 10 – Mexican Revolution leader Emiliano Zapata is ambushed and shot dead in Morelos.

title: 1919

date: April 11

text: April 11 – Mexican Revolution: Álvaro Obregón flees from Mexico City (during a trial intended to ruin his reputation) to Guerrero, where he joins Fortunato Maycotte.

title: 1920

date: May 7

text: May 7 – Mexican Revolution: Venustiano Carranza leaves Mexico City in a large train.

title: 1920


slug: mexican-war-of-independence

label: Mexican War of Independence

description: armed conflict which ended the rule of Spain in the territory of New Spain

section: Births

date: September 30

text: September 30 – José María Morelos, leader of Mexican War of Independence (d. 1815)

title: 1765

date: September 16

text: September 16 – Grito de Dolores: Miguel Hidalgo, a Catholic priest from Guanajuato, incites the revolt that becomes the Mexican War of Independence.

title: 1810

section: Events › July–September

date: January 17

text: January 17 – Mexican War of Independence – Battle of Calderón Bridge: A heavily outnumbered Spanish force of 6,000 troops defeats nearly 100,000 Mexican revolutionaries.

title: 1811

date: July 30

text: July 30 – Mexican War of Independence: Priest and military leader Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla is executed as a rebel, by the Spanish government of New Spain.

title: 1811

section: Deaths

text: July 30 – Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, leader of the Mexican War of Independence (b. 1753)

title: 1811

date: September 13

text: September 13 – Leonardo Bravo, Mexican general who fought in the Mexican War of Independence, father of Nicolas Bravo, executed (b. 1764)

title: 1812

date: March 29

text: March 29 – Mexican War of Independence: Battle of Rosillo Creek – The Republican Army of the North defeats the Spanish Royalist Army in modern-day Bexar County, Texas.

title: 1813

date: December 22

text: December 22 – José María Morelos, leader of Mexican War of Independence, executed (b. 1765)

title: 1815

section: Deaths › July–December

date: August 24

text: August 24 – The Treaty of Córdoba is signed in Córdoba, Veracruz, Mexico, ratifying the Plan of Iguala of February 24 for Mexico's independence from Spain and, although not recognised by the latter, effectively concludes the Mexican War of Independence.

title: 1821

date: September 27

text: September 27 – The Army of the Three Guarantees enters Mexico City, and the following day the Declaration of Independence of the Mexican Empire from Spain is proclaimed, following the Mexican War of Independence.

title: 1821

date: February 2

text: February 2 – Ignacio López Rayón, leader of the Mexican War of Independence (b. 1773)

title: 1832

section: Deaths › January–June

text: August 24 – Leona Vicario, leader of Mexican War of Independence and wife of Andrés Quintana Roo (b. 1789)

title: 1842


slug: mexico-city

label: Mexico City

description: capital and largest city of Mexico

section: Exploration & Expansion

date: March 13

text: March 13 – (approximate date) – Tenochtitlan, the predecessor of Mexico City, is founded by the Mexica, led by Tenoch, on an island in Lake Texcoco.

title: 1325

section: Events › January – March

section: Technology & Infrastructure

text: Templo Mayor, the main temple of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan (now Mexico City), is built.

title: 1390

section: Events › Date unknown

section: Culture & Society

date: May 24

text: May 24 – The coronation of Moctezuma II as ruler of the Aztec Empire takes place at the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, part of modern-day Mexico City.

title: 1503

section: Events › April–June

text: The first printing press in North America is set up in Mexico City.

title: 1539

section: Events › Undated

date: March 12

text: March 12 – Acapulco is founded by 30 families sent from Mexico City.

title: 1550

section: Events › January–March

date: September 21

text: September 21 – The Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico is founded in Mexico City (Mexico), being the second officially established university in the Americas.

title: 1551

section: Conflict & Security

date: November 3

text: November 3 – Rodrigo Pacheco becomes the Viceroy of New Spain after arriving in Mexico City.

title: 1624

section: Events › October–December

section: Religion & Belief

text: September 16 – Juan Francisco Leiva y de la Cerda arrives in Mexico City as the new Viceroy of New Spain.

title: 1660

date: June 8

text: June 8 – During a famine in Mexico City, an angry mob torches the Viceroy's palace and ignites the archives; most of the documents and some paintings are saved by royal geographer Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora.

title: 1692

text: Our Lady of Guadalupe is designated the patron saint of Mexico City.

title: 1737

title: 1821

date: August 22

text: August 22 – The National Mexican Rite is created in Mexico City.

title: 1825

date: January 3

text: January 3 – The government of Mexico imprisons Stephen F. Austin in Mexico City.

title: 1834

date: April 7

text: April 7 – An earthquake destroys part of Mexico City, along with the nearby towns of Tlalpan and Xochimilco.

title: 1845

date: June 19

text: June 19 – A six-minute earthquake destroys much of Mexico City and devastates Texcoco.

title: 1858

date: May 29

text: May 29 – Sports stadium Estadio Azteca officially opens in Mexico City in advance of the 1968 Summer Olympics.

title: 1966

section: Science & Discovery

date: October 18

text: October 18 – U.S. athlete Bob Beamon breaks the long jump world record by 55 cm / 21 ins at the Olympics in Mexico City. His record stands for 23 years, and remains the second longest jump in history.

title: 1968

section: Events › September–October

date: June 29

text: June 29 – Argentina defeats West Germany 3–2 in the final to win the 1986 World Cup at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City.

title: 1986

section: Disasters & Accidents

date: September 10

text: September 10 – A liquid petroleum gas truck overturns and explodes at an overpass in Iztapalapa, Mexico City, killing 32 people and injuring 90 others.

title: 2025

section: Events › September


slug: mexico

label: Mexico

description: country in North America

text: c. 1900 BC: The Mokaya along the Pacific coast of present-day Chiapas, Mexico were preparing cacao beverages.

title: 19th century BC

section: Events

year_label: 500 BCE

section: Health & Medicine

text: The world population reaches 100,000,000—85,000,000 in the Eastern Hemisphere and 15,000,000 in the Western Hemisphere, primarily Mesoamerica and northern South America (Mexico, Central America, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela).

title: 500 BC

section: Events › By topic › Demographics

text: Teotihuacan, a major city at the centre of modern-day Mexico, reaches a population of around 60,000–80,000.

title: AD 100

section: Events › By place › Americas

text: The Mayan civilization reaches its most prolific period, the classic period, in what is now Guatemala, Belize and parts of southern Mexico adjacent to the former two. During most of this period, Tikal dominates the Mayan world.

title: 300

section: Events › By place › Mesoamerica

text: In Mexico, the civilization of Teotihuacan flourishes.

title: 303

section: Events › By place › America

date: May 4

text: May 4 – Spearthrower Owl ascends to the throne and becomes ruler of Teotihuacan (Mexico).

title: 374

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

date: March 10

text: March 10 – Kʼukʼ Bahlam I, the first known ruler of the Mayan city-state of Palenque (the modern-day state of Chiapas in southern Mexico) comes to power and reigns until his death four years later.

title: 431

section: Events › By place › Central America

date: August 10

text: August 10 – A figure known to Mayanist scholars as "Casper" begins a 52-year reign in the Mayan city-state of Palenque what is now the state of Chiapas in southern Mexico, and reigns until his death in 487.

title: 435

date: July 28

text: July 28 – Bʼutz Aj Sak Chiik becomes the new ruler of the Mayan city-state of Palenque, in what is now the state of Chiapas in southern Mexico, and reigns until his death in 501.

title: 487

date: February 25

text: February 25 – Kʼan Joy Chitam I becomes the new ruler of the Mayan city-state of Palenque what is now the state of Chiapas in southern Mexico, ending an interregnum of a little over four years, and reigns until his death in 565.

title: 529

text: Tulum, Maya walled city, on the Yucatán Peninsula (modern Mexico) is first mentioned on a stele inscription.

title: 564

section: Deaths

date: February 6

text: February 6 – Kʼan Joy Chitam I, ruler of the Mayan city-state of Palenque, in what is now the state of Chiapas in southern Mexico, dies after a reign of exactly 36 years.

title: 565

date: September 2

text: September 2 – Uneh Chan becomes the ruler of the Mayan city state of Calakmul in southern Mexico and reigns until 611.

title: 579

date: May 21

text: May 21 – A Mesoamerican ballgame court is dedicated at the Mayan city of Chinkultic (Mexico).

title: 591

section: Crime & Justice

text: The Maya city of Palenque (southern Mexico) is plundered by King Scroll Serpent of Calakmul (approximate date).

title: 599

text: 600-900 - Palace and Temple of the Inscriptions (tomb-pyramid of K'inich Janaab' Pakal), Palenque, Mexico, are built. Maya culture.

title: 600

section: Events › By topic › Arts and sciences

text: 600-750 - Maguey Bloodletting Ritual, fragment of a fresco from Teotihuacan, Mexico, is made. Teotihuacan culture. It is now kept at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

title: 600

date: November 4

text: November 4 – Yohl Ik'nal, female ruler of Palenque (Mexico)

title: 604

text: Aj Ne' Yohl Mat becomes ruler (ajaw) of the Maya city of Palenque (Mexico). During his reign his kingdom is invaded by people from Calakmul.

title: 605

text: The town of Cholula is founded in central Mexico (later said to be the oldest continuously occupied town in all of North America).

title: 620

date: March 28

text: March 28 – Tajoom Ukʼab Kʼahkʼ becomes the ruler of the Mayan city state of Calakmul in southern Mexico and reigns until 630.

title: 622

date: October 1

text: October 1 – Tajoom Ukʼab Kʼahkʼ, the ruler of the Mayan city state of Calakmul in southern Mexico dies after a reign of eight years and is succeeded by Cauac, who reigns until 636.

title: 630

date: April 28

text: April 28 – Yuknoom Chʼeen II becomes the ruler of the Mayan city state of Calakmul in southern Mexico and reigns for 50 years until his death in 686.

title: 636

text: Approximate date – The sarcophagus lid in the tomb of K'inich Janaab' Pakal (Shield 2), Temple of the Inscriptions, Palenque, Mexico (Maya culture) is made.

title: 683

section: Events › By topic › Art

text: K'inich Janaab' Pakal ("Pacal the Great"), ruler (ajaw) of the Maya state of Palenque (Mexico), dies after a 68-year reign. He is buried in the Temple of the Inscriptions. He is the longest-reigning monarch in the world until Louis XIV breaks that record in 1711, almost 1028 years later and remains the longest-reigning monarch in the Americas until Elizabeth II breaks that record in 2020, almost 1337 years later

title: 683

section: Births

text: Yaxun B'alam IV, king of Yaxchilan (Mexico) (d. 768)

title: 709

text: Yik'in Chan K'awiil, ruler (ajaw) of the leading Maya city state of Tikal (modern-day Guatemala), conquers rival Calakmul, within the northern Petén region of the Yucatán region (Southern Mexico).

title: 736

text: The city of Teotihuacan (modern Mexico) is destroyed and left in ruins, its palaces burned to the ground.

title: 750

section: Events › America

text: Yaxun B'alam IV becomes king (ajaw) of the Maya city of Yaxchilan (modern Mexico), after a 10-year struggle for the throne.

title: 752

text: Uxmal becomes the capital of a large state in the Puuk hills region of northern Yucatán (modern Mexico). The city is connected by causeways (sakbe) to other important Puuk sites, such as K'abah, Sayil, and Labna (approximate date).

title: 850

section: Events › Middle East › Mesoamerica

text: The Mesoamerican ballgame court is dedicated by the Maya ruler Chan Chak K'ak'nal Ajaw (also known as Lord Chac) at Uxmal (modern Mexico).

title: 901

text: The last Long Count date is inscribed on a monument at the Mayan site of Toniná (modern-day Chiapas, Mexico), marking the end of the Classic Maya Period.

title: 909

date: January 4

text: January 4 – The Aztecs migrate from Aztlán to the southern lands in central Mexico.

title: 1064

text: The Mixtec ruler Eight Deer Jaguar Claw is defeated in battle and sacrificed by a coalition of city-states, led by his brother-in law Four Wind, at Tilantongo in the Mixteca Alta region (modern Mexico).

title: 1115

text: Xicotencatl I, ruler of Tizatlan (in modern-day Mexico) (d. 1522)

title: 1425

date: April 8

text: April 8 – Spanish conquistador Juan de Grijalva embarks from Cuba on a mission to explore and conquer Mexico, departing from Matanzas with four ships and 170 people.

title: 1518

date: February 10

text: February 10 – The Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés and his conquistadores depart from Cuba toward the island of Cozumel in Mexico to begin a mission of conquest.

title: 1519

date: May 15

text: May 15 – At Coyoacán in Mexico (at the time, the colony of New Spain) Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés sends his third report to the Emperor Carlos V, describing the events of the last two years, including the conquest of Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec Empire.

title: 1522

date: December 21

text: December 21 (Feast of St Thomas the Apostle) – Hernando de Grijalva and his crew become the first persons discover the uninhabited Revillagigedo Islands, off the Pacific coast of Mexico, reporting the finding of what Grijalva names Isla Santo Tomé, probably Socorro Island.

title: 1533

date: November 14

text: November 14 – Spanish colonial administrator Antonio de Mendoza is appointed as the first Viceroy of New Spain, with jurisdiction on behalf of King Carlos of Spain over a large area of what is now Mexico and the southwestern United States, from California to Louisiana, the state of Florida, most of Central America and the Caribbean, the northern parts of South America, the Philippines and Guam.

title: 1535

text: In the territory of New Spain in modern-day Mexico, the Cocoliztli Epidemic of 1545–1548 begins.

title: 1545

text: November 8 – (5 Cimi 19 Xul, Mayan calendar) An uprising by the Maya civilization against the Spanish colonial administrators of New Spain begins in the Yucatan area of Mexico, with simultaneous attacks at Mérida, Valladolid, and Bacalar. The attack comes from seven Mayan provinces on the Gulf of Mexico, Cupul, Cochuah, Sotuta, Tases, Uaymil, Chetumal, and Chikinchel. The rebellion is suppressed by March and the instigators are arrested and executed.

title: 1546

text: Approximate date – The discovery of silver at Guanajuato in Mexico stimulates silver rushes.

title: 1550

title: 1551

text: November 21 – Spanish Conquistador Miguel López de Legazpi sails from Mexico. Later, he will conquer the Philippine Islands, founding Manila.

title: 1564

text: The 1576 Cocoliztli epidemic causes millions of deaths in the territory of New Spain, in modern-day Mexico.

title: 1576

text: September 20 – Diego de Montemayor founds the city of Monterrey, Mexico.

title: 1596

text: 12 million pesos of silver cross the Pacific. Although it is unknown just how much silver flowed from the Spanish base of Manila in the Philippines to the Ming Dynasty of China, it is known that the main port for the Mexican silver trade—Acapulco—shipped out 150,000 to 345,000 kg (4 to 9 million taels) of silver annually from this year to 1602.

title: 1597

text: April 30 – In Mexico, on the day of the Feast of the Ascension, Juan de Oñate, dispatched by the Viceroy of New Spain to expand the Spanish colony's territory, assembles his group on the south side of the Rio Grande and formally claims all territory north of the river (near what is now the U.S. city of El Paso, Texas) as a colony of the Spanish Empire.

title: 1598

text: November 30 – Melchor Portocarrero, 3rd Count of Monclova becomes the new Viceroy of New Spain (encompassing what is now Mexico and much of the southwestern United States) as he arrives in Mexico City to take over at the end of the term of Tomás de la Cerda, 3rd Marquess of la Laguna.

title: 1686

text: July 20 – Lord Anson captures the Philippine galleon Nuestra Señora de Covadonga and its treasure of 1,313,843 Spanish dollars at Manila along with a treasure of 2 1/2 million dollars, and proceeds back toward Mexico, then returns to Britain in 1744

title: 1743

text: February 10 – In Mexico, the Embrace of Acatempan takes place between Agustín de Iturbide and Vicente Guerrero, which seals the peace between the viceroyalty troops and the insurgents.

title: 1821

title: 1834

text: December 20 – The Texas Declaration of Independence is signed by American residents rebelling against Mexico at Goliad, Texas.

title: 1835

text: January 1 – The Philippines began reckoning Asian dates by hopping the International Date Line through skipping Tuesday, December 31, 1844. That time zone shift was a reform made by Governor–General Narciso Claveria on August 16, 1844, in order to align the local calendars in the country with the rest of Asia as trade interests with Imperial China, Dutch East Indies and neighboring countries increased, after Mexico became independent in 1821. The reform also applied to Caroline Islands, Guam, Marianas Islands, Marshall Islands, and Palau as part of the Captaincy General of the Philippines.

title: 1845

text: March 6 – An ammunition warehouse explosion in San Andres Chalchicomula, Mexico, kills between 1,400 and 2,280 during the Second French intervention in Mexico.

title: 1862

text: In Mexico, the Veracruz–Mexico City railroad is completed.

title: 1873

text: July 1 – Hundreds of people die in the flooding of Guanajuato in Mexico.

title: 1905

text: September 26 – 1933 Tampico hurricane: A hurricane destroys the town of Tampico, Mexico.

title: 1933

text: March 31 – The Barroterán coal mine disaster kills 153 coal miners in Mexico.

title: 1969

text: May 31 – The 1970 FIFA World Cup in association football is inaugurated in Mexico. Tactical substitutes are first permitted.

title: 1970

text: July 24 – In Acapulco, Mexico, Margaret Gardiner of South Africa is crowned Miss Universe.

title: 1978

text: February 9 – U.S. drug agent Kiki Camarena is kidnapped and murdered in Mexico by drug traffickers; his body is later discovered on March 5.

title: 1985

text: July 11 – A solar eclipse of record totality occurs in the Northern hemisphere and is witnessed by hundreds of millions of people in Hawaii, Mexico, Colombia and Brazil.

title: 1991

text: March 23 – Mexican presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio is assassinated at a campaign rally in Tijuana.

title: 1994

text: January 1 – Japan, Mexico, Turkey and Uganda assume their seats on the United Nations Security Council.

title: 2009

text: April 15 – The Mexican town of Cherán is taken over by vigilantes in response to abuses from the local drug cartel. The new government is strongly focused on crime reduction and preserving the local environment.

title: 2011

text: December 21 – 2012 phenomenon: End of 13th b'ak'tun in the Mayan calendar, supposed end of the world according to new age beliefs. Festivities took place to commemorate the event in the countries that were part of the Maya civilization (Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador), with main events at Chichén Itzá in Mexico and Tikal in Guatemala.

title: 2012

text: June 13 – FIFA awards hosting rights for the 2026 World Cup to a joint bid from Canada, Mexico and the United States.

title: 2018

text: May 31 – The U.S. announces that it will extend its tariffs on imported steel (25%) and aluminium (10%) to include the EU, Mexico and Canada, starting at midnight.

title: 2018

text: October 17 – Shootouts erupt in Culiacán, Mexico, after the arrest of El Chapo's son, Ovidio Guzmán López, on an arrest warrant for drug dealing in the United States. Eight people are killed and 56 convicts escape from prison; 7 are recaptured by October 18. Guzmán López is released in an effort to restore peace and to prevent more bloodshed.

title: 2019

text: December 9 – A truck crash in Chiapas, Mexico, kills 55 migrants who were being smuggled in it from Guatemala through Mexico to its border with the United States.

title: 2021

text: October 25 – Hurricane Otis, an eastern Pacific tropical cyclone, makes landfall in Mexico near Acapulco, leaving at least 80 dead. It is the most powerful Eastern Pacific hurricane to make landfall in Mexico, with the highest winds reaching 165 mph, surpassing Hurricane Patricia's landfall in 2015.

title: 2023


slug: miami

label: Miami

description: city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States

section: Climate & Environment

date: September 18

text: September 18 – Great Miami Hurricane: A strong hurricane devastates Miami, leaving over 100 dead and causing several hundred million dollars in damage (equal to nearly $100 billion in the modern day).

title: 1926

section: Conflict & Security

date: February 15

text: February 15 – In Miami, Giuseppe Zangara attempts to assassinate President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt, but instead fatally wounds the Mayor of Chicago, Anton Cermak. Zangara is executed on March 20 by the electric chair.

title: 1933

section: Events › February

section: Technology & Infrastructure

date: December 4

text: December 4 – The first Burger King opens in Miami, Florida.

title: 1954

section: Events › December

section: Disasters & Accidents

date: March 16

text: March 16 – Viasa Flight 742 crashes into a neighborhood in Maracaibo, Venezuela, shortly after taking off for Miami; all 84 people on board the DC-9 jet are killed along with 71 people on the ground.

title: 1969

section: Events › March

date: April 9

text: April 9 – A jury in Miami, Florida, convicts former Panamanian ruler Manuel Noriega of assisting Colombia's cocaine cartel.

title: 1992

section: Events › April

date: July 10

text: July 10 – In Miami, former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega is sentenced to 40 years in prison for participating in the illegal drug trade and racketeering.

title: 1992

section: Events › July

date: May 11

text: May 11 – After takeoff from Miami, a fire started by improperly handled oxygen canisters in the cargo hold of Atlanta-bound ValuJet Flight 592 causes the Douglas DC-9 to crash in the Florida Everglades, killing all 110 people on board.

title: 1996

section: Events › May

date: May 12

text: May 12 – An F1-rated tornado strikes downtown Miami, causing $525,000 in damages. Pictures and videos of this tornado made news headlines around the world.

title: 1997

date: September 12

text: September 12 – The Cuban Five intelligence agents are arrested in Miami, and later convicted of espionage. The agents claim they were not spying against the United States Government but against the Cuban exile community in Miami.

title: 1998


slug: michael-ii

label: Michael II

description: Byzantine emperor

text: Michael II, emperor of the Byzantine Empire (d. 829)

title: 770

text: Summer – Bardanes Tourkos, Byzantine general (strategos), is proclaimed emperor by the troops of the Anatolic, Opsikion, Thracian and Bucellarian themes. The 'rebel' army marches to Chrysopolis, a suburb of Constantinople. After the defection of two of his trusted aides, future emperors Leo the Armenian and Michael the Amorian, Bardanes negotiates peace.

title: 803

section: Events › By place › Byzantine Empire

section: Deaths

date: December 25

text: December 25 – Emperor Leo V (the Armenian) is assassinated by conspirators in the Hagia Sophia, at Constantinople. Though unarmed, he fights back fiercely but dies of his wounds. He is succeeded by Michael II, the commander of the palace guard (excubitores). Leo's family (including his mother and his wife Theodosia) are exiled to monasteries in Princes' Islands.

title: 820

section: Religion & Belief

text: Byzantine general Thomas the Slav leads a revolt, and secures control over most of the Byzantine themes (provinces) in Anatolia. He gets recognition from the Abbasid Caliphate, and concludes a peace treaty with Caliph al-Ma'mun. Thomas crosses with his fleet from Abydos to Thrace, and blockades Emperor Michael II in Constantinople; but Thomas' first attack on the capital fails.

title: 821

text: Byzantine general and usurper Thomas the Slav continues his revolt against Emperor Michael II. He unsuccessfully besieges Constantinople, while his fleet is destroyed by Michael's fleet, using Greek fire.

title: 822

text: Emperor Michael II defeats the rebel forces under Thomas the Slav in Thrace. He and his supporters are forced to seek refuge in Arkadiopolis (modern Turkey). After five months of blockade, Thomas surrenders and is delivered to Michael, seated on a donkey and bound in chains. He pleads for clemency and prostrates before Michael, but is executed.

title: 823

date: February

text: February – A major earthquake strikes Byzantium in Asia Minor (now part of western Turkey) and part of Greece, damaging the city walls of Theodosiopolis (now Barbaros in Turkey) and Heraclea Perinthus at the same time that the forces of Byzantine Emperor Michael II the Amorian are suppressing the rebellion by Thomas the Slav. Both cities surrender after the natural event.

title: 824

section: Events › By date

date: May

text: May – Euphemius, Byzantine admiral, organises an uprising in Sicily against Emperor Michael II. He proclaims himself Emperor (with the title of basileus) in Syracuse, independent from Constantinople. In turn, Euphemius is defeated by Byzantine troops (reinforcements from the East), and is driven out to North Africa.

title: 826

date: October 2

text: October 2 – Michael II, emperor of the Byzantine Empire (b. 770)

title: 829

text: October 2 – Emperor Michael II dies after an 8-year reign in Constantinople, and is succeeded by his 16-year-old son Theophilos, as sole emperor of the Byzantine Empire. He continues his father's ideology of iconoclasm.

title: 829


slug: michael-iii

label: Michael III

description: Byzantine emperor from 842 to 867

section: Births

date: January

text: January – Michael III, Byzantine emperor (d. 867) (most probable date: 839 is also possible)

title: 840

date: January 20

text: January 20 – Emperor Theophilos dies of dysentery at Constantinople, after a 12-year reign in which he expended much effort defending the eastern frontier against the invading Muslim Arabs. Theophilos is succeeded by his 2-year-old son Michael III, with his mother Theodora as regent and the 'temporary' sole ruler of the Byzantine Empire.

title: 842

section: Crime & Justice

date: November 20

text: November 20 – Theoktistos, co-regent of the Empire on behalf of 15-year old Emperor Michael III, is murdered on the orders of Michael.

title: 855

date: March 15

text: March 15 – Emperor Michael III overthrows the regency of his mother Theodora. He appoints his uncle Bardas as the de facto regent and co-ruler of the Byzantine Empire.

title: 856

text: Emperor Michael III, under the influence of his uncle Bardas, banishes his mother Theodora to the Gastria Monastery. Bardas, the de facto regent, becomes the most powerful person in the Byzantine Empire.

title: 857

date: October 23

text: October 23 – Ignatios I, patriarch of Constantinople, is imprisoned by orders of Emperor Michael III, and replaced by the layman Photius I.

title: 858

section: Events › By topic › Religion

date: September 24

text: September 24 – Emperor Michael III is murdered, by order of his co-emperor Basil I. Basil becomes sole ruler (basileus) of the Byzantine Empire, and founds the Macedonian Dynasty (until 1056). Basil rebuilds the Byzantine army and navy, in an effort to restore the empire.

title: 867

date: August 29

text: August 29 – Emperor Basil I the Macedonian dies from a fever, contracted after a hunting accident. He is succeeded by the 19-year-old Leo VI, officially Basil's son, but reputedly a son of former emperor Michael III, as sole ruler (basileus) of the Byzantine Empire. After his coronation Leo reburies the remains of his reputed father Michael, with great ceremony in the imperial mausoleum, within the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople.

title: 886


slug: michael-viii-palaiologos

label: Michael VIII Palaiologos

description: founder of the Palaiologan dynasty (1224–1282)

text: Michael VIII (Palaiologos), Byzantine emperor (d. 1282)

title: 1223

date: August 25

text: August 25 – George Mouzalon is assassinated in Magnesia ad Sipylum, as part of a conspiracy led by Byzantine nobles, under future Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos.

title: 1258

section: Events › By place › Europe

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

date: March 13

text: March 13 – Treaty of Nymphaeum: Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos signs a trade and defense agreement with the Republic of Genoa, to counterweight the Venetian presence in the region. Genoa agrees to ally with the Empire of Nicaea, by providing a fleet of up to 50 galleys during the projected Nicaean siege of Constantinople, while 16 galleys are to be immediately sent against the Latin Empire.

title: 1261

text: Summer – Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos sends a Byzantine expeditionary force (some 3,500 men) led by his half-brother, Constantine Palaiologos, to the Peloponnese in southern Greece. The army is transported to Monemvasia on Genoese ships, while a small Byzantine fleet is sent to harass the Latin island holdings in Euboea and the Cyclades. After arriving at Monemvasia, Constantine lays siege to Sparta, while the Byzantine fleet seizes the southern coast of Laconia.

title: 1263

date: June 18

text: June 18 – A draft Byzantine–Venetian treaty is concluded between Venetian envoys and Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos, but is not ratified by Doge Reniero Zeno

title: 1265

date: April 4

text: April 4 – A five-year Byzantine–Venetian peace treaty is concluded between Venetian envoys and Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos. It is ratified by the Doge of Venice Reniero Zeno on June 30.

title: 1268

section: Events › By topic › War and politics

date: March 19

text: March 19 – Byzantine–Venetian Treaty: Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos concludes an agreement with the Republic of Venice. Stipulating a two-year truce, and renewing Venetian commercial privileges in the Byzantine Empire. Michael keeps the Venetians and their fleet from participating in the attempts of Charles I, king of Sicily, to organize an anti-Byzantine crusade, while the Venetians can retain their access to the Byzantine market.

title: 1277

section: Exploration & Expansion

date: October 18

text: October 18 – Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos is excommunicated by Pope Martin IV without any warning or provocation. Martin authorizes Charles I, king of Sicily, to make a Crusade against Michael, who has re-established his rule in Constantinople. Charles prepares an expedition in Sicily and assembles a fleet of 100 ships, and 300 more in Naples, Provence, and the Greek territories, which carry some 8,000 cavalrymen.

title: 1281


slug: michelangelo

label: Michelangelo

description: Italian artist and architect (1475-1564)

section: Culture & Society

text: Michelangelo returns to his native Florence, to begin work on the statue David.

title: 1501

section: Events › Date unknown

text: The Signoria of Florence commissions both Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo to paint the walls of the Grand Council Chamber in the Palazzo Vecchio.

title: 1504

date: September 8

text: September 8 – Michelangelo's sculpture of David is unveiled in Florence.

title: 1504

section: Events › July–September

date: January 14

text: January 14 – The classical statue of Laocoön and His Sons is unearthed in Rome. On the recommendation of Giuliano da Sangallo and Michelangelo, Pope Julius II purchases it, and places it on public display in the Vatican a month later.

title: 1506

section: Events › January–March

date: December

text: December – Michelangelo begins painting the Sistine Chapel ceiling in the Holy See of Rome, on a commission by Pope Julius II (signed May 10).

title: 1508

section: Events › October–December

date: July 27

text: July 27 – The process of removing the former layers of paint on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel is completed, and Michelangelo begins the next phase of marking the surface for painting.

title: 1508

date: May 8

text: May 8 – Italian renaissance artist Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni of Florence signs a contract with the Vatican to paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling, in return for a promised fee of 3,000 gold ducats (equivalent in 2023 to more than U.S. $600,000).

title: 1508

section: Events › April–June

date: August 14

text: August 14 – In Rome, the completed first half of Michelangelo's painting of Biblical scenes on the Sistine Chapel ceiling is unveiled for a select group of patrons and church officials. The viewing is open to the public the next day.

title: 1511

date: November 1

text: November 1 – The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, painted by Michelangelo, is exhibited to the public for the first time.

title: 1512

text: Michelangelo starts work on the Piazza del Campidoglio on the Capitoline Hill in Rome.

title: 1538

text: Michelangelo is made chief architect of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

title: 1546

date: May 21

text: May 21 – In St. Peter's Basilica (Vatican City), Laszlo Toth attacks Michelangelo's Pietà statue with a geologist's hammer, shouting that he is Jesus Christ.

title: 1972


slug: michigan

label: Michigan

description: state of the United States of America

date: January 26

text: January 26 – Michigan becomes the 26th state admitted to the United States.

title: 1837

date: March 1

text: March 1 – The state of Michigan formally abolishes the death penalty.

title: 1847

date: November 7

text: November 7 – 1848 United States presidential election: Whig Zachary Taylor of Louisiana defeats Democrat Lewis Cass of Michigan, in the first U.S. presidential election held in every state on the same day.

title: 1848

section: Technology & Infrastructure

text: At Fountain Point, Michigan, an artesian water spring, begins to gush continuously.

title: 1867

section: Disasters & Accidents

date: September 5

text: September 5 – The Thumb Fire in the U.S. state of Michigan destroys over a million acres (4,000 km 2 ) and kills 282 people.

title: 1881

section: Events › September

date: August 5

text: August 5 – Automotive mechanic Henry Ford incorporates the Detroit Automobile Company. While the company failed, it establishes Detroit, Michigan, as the site for U.S. car manufacturing and provided a model for the Ford Motor Company.

title: 1899

section: Events › August

date: October 24

text: October 24 – Michigan schoolteacher Annie Edson Taylor goes over Niagara Falls in a barrel and survives.

title: 1901

section: Events › October

date: October 1

text: October 1 – Official launch of Henry Ford's Ford Model T automobile, the first having left the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant in Detroit, Michigan, on September 27. The initial price is set at US$850.

title: 1908

section: Climate & Environment

date: May 9

text: May 9 – Southeastern Michigan receives a record 15 cm in of snow, after temperatures plummeted from 17 °F °C to 1 °F °C between 1 and 6 pm on the previous day.

title: 1923

section: Events › May–June

section: Health & Medicine

date: May 20

text: May 20–21 – A tornado outbreak tears through Port Huron, Michigan and Sarnia, Ontario, leaving eight people dead and 123 people injured.

title: 1953

section: Events › May

text: November 1 – The Mackinac Bridge, the world's longest suspension bridge between anchorages at this time, opens in the United States, to connect Michigan's two peninsulas.

title: 1957

section: Events › November

date: February 11

text: February 11 – The Emergency Alert Systems of five different television stations across the U.S. states of Montana, Michigan, Wisconsin, and New Mexico are hijacked, airing a false "Zombie apocalypse" hoax. It is amongst one of the largest cybersecurity breaches in EAS history.

title: 2013

section: Events › February


slug: microsoft

label: Microsoft

description: American multinational technology corporation

section: Births

date: January 21

text: January 21 – Paul Allen, American entrepreneur, co-founder of Microsoft (d. 2018)

title: 1953

section: Births › January

date: October 28

text: October 28 – Bill Gates, American businessman and co-founder of Microsoft

title: 1955

section: Births › October

section: Economy & Finance

date: April 4

text: April 4 – Bill Gates and Paul Allen found Microsoft (at this time known as Micro-Soft) in Albuquerque, New Mexico and release their Altair BASIC interpreter. (Microsoft becomes a registered trademark on November 26, 1976.)

title: 1975

section: Events › April

date: November 26

text: November 26 – Microsoft is officially registered with the Office of the Secretary of the State of New Mexico.

title: 1976

date: March 13

text: March 13 – Microsoft Corporation holds its initial public offering of stock shares.

title: 1986

section: Events › March

date: April 6

text: April 6 – Windows 3.1 is released to manufacturers by Microsoft.

title: 1992

date: May 18

text: May 18 – The Department of Justice files an antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft, alleging its Windows operating system unfairly takes market share from Netscape's Navigator.

title: 1998

date: February 17

text: February 17 – Microsoft releases Windows 2000.

title: 2000

section: Science & Discovery

date: September 14

text: September 14 – Microsoft releases Windows Me.

title: 2000

date: November 15

text: November 15 – Microsoft enters the gaming console market with the release of the Xbox, a sixth-generation gaming console, in the United States.

title: 2001

date: November 22

text: November 22 – Microsoft releases the Xbox 360.

title: 2005

date: November 3

text: November 3 – Microsoft releases Office 2007 for manufacturing.

title: 2006

date: January 30

text: January 30 – Windows Vista is released to consumers by Microsoft.

title: 2007

section: Events › January

date: October 22

text: October 22 – Microsoft releases Windows 7 to all computers and laptops, including an edition for ATMs.

title: 2009

date: July 13

text: July 13 – Microsoft ends extended support for Windows 2000.

title: 2010

section: Events › July

date: October 26

text: October 26 – Microsoft releases Windows 8 to the general public.

title: 2012

date: October 17

text: October 17 – Microsoft releases Windows 8.1.

title: 2013

date: July 29

text: July 29 – Microsoft releases the desktop operating system Windows 10.

title: 2015

date: September 21

text: September 21 – Microsoft agrees to buy video game holding company ZeniMax Media, including Bethesda Softworks and their following subsidiaries for US$7.5 billion, in what was the biggest and most expensive takeover in the history of the video game industry.

title: 2020

date: October 5

text: October 5 – Microsoft releases the desktop operating system Windows 11.

title: 2021

date: October 13

text: October 13 – After British regulators' approval, Microsoft closes its US$68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

title: 2023

date: October 14

text: October 14 – Microsoft ends support for Windows 10 that started in 2015.

title: 2025


slug: middle-ages

label: Middle Ages

description: period of European history from the 5th to the late 15th-century

section: Religion & Belief

date: December 7

text: December 7 – The people of Milan astonish Ambrosius, governor of Aemilia-Liguria, by acclaiming him bishop. He is the second son of the former praetorian prefect of Gaul, and becomes a creative thinker whose ideas will provide the paradigm for medieval church-state relations.

title: 374

section: Events › By topic › Religion

section: Conflict & Security

date: September 4

text: September 4 – Romulus Augustulus, Roman usurper of the Western Roman Empire, is deposed by Odoacer at Ravenna. Odoacer spares the boy's life and gives him a pension of 6,000 solidi, but exiles him to the "Castellum Lucullanum" (Castel dell'Ovo), on the island of Megaride in the Gulf of Naples. This event will later be romanticized in Western literature and history as the Fall of Western Rome, and is traditionally used by historians to mark the beginning of the European Middle Ages.

title: 476

section: Events › By place › Roman Empire

text: Priscian, Latin grammarian, writes the Institutiones Grammaticae ("Grammatical Foundations"). In Constantinople, he codifies this manuscript in 18 volumes, which will be widely used through the Middle Ages. It provides the raw material for the field of speculative grammar.

title: 520

section: Events › By place › Byzantine Empire

text: Xuanzang completes his book Great Tang Records on the Western Regions, which later becomes one of the primary sources for the study of medieval Central Asia and India.

title: 646

section: Technology & Infrastructure

text: European writings make the first known mention of a three-field system in use in medieval Europe. The crop rotation is the practice of growing a series of different types of crops in the same area in sequential seasons. Under this system, the land of an estate or village is divided into three large fields, and makes a given section of land productive 2 years out of 3, instead of every other year (approximate date).

title: 765

section: Events › By topic › Agriculture

date: August 15

text: August 15 – Battle of Roncevaux Pass (Pyrenees): Charlemagne is defeated by the Basques. Among those killed is Roland, governor of the Breton March, who will be immortalized in the 11th century epic The Song of Roland. This marks the beginning of medieval French literature.

title: 778

section: Events › By place › Europe

section: Culture & Society

text: Spring – King Lothair of France marries Princess Emma of Italy (the only daughter of Adelaide of Burgundy—second wife of Emperor Otto the Great, from her first marriage with King Lothair II, member of the Bosonid dynasty). Lothair strengthens his ties with the Holy Roman Empire. He temporarily remains in control of the cities of Arras and Douai. The latter becomes a flourishing textile market centre during the Middle Ages.

title: 966

section: Events › Europe

text: The city of Rheims emits the first recorded public life annuity in Medieval Europe. This type of instrument had been mostly issued by religious institutions. The emission by Rheims is the first evidence of a consolidation of public debt that is to become common in the Langue d'Oïl, the Low Countries and Germany.

title: 1218

section: Events › By topic › Markets

text: Robert Grosseteste translates Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics from Greek into Latin, which marks the true start of the rediscovery of the philosopher by Medieval Europe.

title: 1246

section: Events › By topic › Arts

text: The Venice Senate starts consolidating all of the Republic's outstanding debt into a single fund, later known as the Monte Vecchio. The holders of the newly created prestiti are promised a 5% annual coupon. These claims can be sold, and quickly (before 1320) give rise to the first recorded secondary market for financial assets, in Medieval Europe.

title: 1262

text: Dante Alighieri begins work on his Divine Comedy, comprising Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso. It is one of the most influential works of the European Middle Ages (approximate date).

title: 1308

section: Events › By topic › Literature

date: September 25

text: September 25 – Battle of Nicopolis: The Ottomans defeat a joint crusade by Hungary, France, the Holy Roman Empire, and Wallachia, led by King Sigismund of Hungary. This is the last large-scale crusade of the Middle Ages.

title: 1396

section: Events › July–September

date: December 25

text: December 25 – "Father Christmas" is a main character of Christmas, His Masque, written by Ben Jonson and presented at the court of King James I of England. Father Christmas is considered a papist symbol by Puritans, and later banished from England until the English Restoration. The traditional, comical costume for this jolly figure, as well as regional names, indicate that he is descended from the presenter of the medieval Feast of Fools.

title: 1616

section: Events › November-December


slug: middle-east

label: Middle East

description: geopolitical region encompassing Egypt and most of Western Asia, including Iran

year_label: 246 BCE

section: Deaths

text: Antiochus II Theos, king of the Seleucid dominions in the Middle East from 261 BC. He has spent much of his reign at war with Egypt, recovering much of the territory in Anatolia lost in earlier wars between the Ptolemaic and Seleucid dynasties (b. c. 287 BC)

title: 246 BC

section: Health & Medicine

text: Plague of Justinian: Bubonic plague appears suddenly in the Egyptian port of Pelusium, spreading to Alexandria and, the following year, to Constantinople. This is the beginning of a 200-year-long pandemic that will devastate Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.

title: 541

section: Climate & Environment

text: An earthquake strikes the Middle East from northern Egypt to northwestern Mesopotamia, destroying many remnants of Byzantine culture (approximate date).

title: 748

section: Events › By place › Asia

section: Exploration & Expansion

text: The number 0 is introduced to the city of Baghdad, which will be developed in the Middle East by Arabian mathematicians, who will base their numbers on the Indian system (long after the Maya culture developed the concept, cf. Maya numerals).

title: 773

section: Events › By place › Abbasid Caliphate

date: March 5

text: March 5 – Nasir Khusraw begins his 7-year Middle Eastern (19,000-kilometre) journey, which he later describes in the book Safarnāmé.

title: 1046

section: Events › By topic › Exploration

date: November 19

text: November 19 – Sultan Malik-Shah I dies after a 20-year reign while hunting. The Seljuk Empire falls into chaos: his brother Tutush I and rival successors carve up their own independent sultanates in the Middle East. Malik-Shah is succeeded by his son Mahmud I, but he does not gain control of the empire.

title: 1092

section: Events › By place › Seljuk Empire

date: July 22

text: July 22 – The Kingdom of Jerusalem is established in the Middle East. Godfrey of Bouillon is named king (but refuses to be crowned) and takes the title Advocatus Sancti Sepulchri.

title: 1099

section: Events › By place › First Crusade

date: July 12

text: July 12 – Siege of Tripoli: After a 7-year siege (supported by the Genoese fleet), Tripoli falls to the Crusaders. Fakhr al-Mulk ibn Ammar, qadi of Tripoli, submits to Bertrand of Toulouse (the eldest son of Raymond IV). He establishes the County of Tripoli, the fourth Crusader state in the Middle East. Raymond's nephew William II Jordan dies of an arrow wound sustained during the siege, leaving Bertrand as its sole ruler.

title: 1109

section: Events › By place › Levant

date: November 29

text: November 29 – A large earthquake damages the areas of the Crusaders in the Middle East. From Antioch and Mamistra to Marash and Edessa are hit by the shocks.

title: 1114

section: Events › By topic › Earthquake

date: April

text: April–May – The bulk of the Crusader army gathers at Venice, although with far smaller numbers than expected: about 12,000 men (4–5,000 knights and 8,000 soldiers) instead of 33,500 men. Several contingents decide to make their own way to the Holy Land by different routes. A Crusader fleet, sailing from Flanders, carrying supplies for the Counts Baldwin IX and his brother Henry of Flanders, winters in Marseille, but is slowed by adverse weather. Later it sails on to the Middle East, along with other contingents from southern France.

title: 1202

section: Events › By place › Fourth Crusade

text: Pope Gregory IX condemns the links that both the Knights Templer and Knights Hospitaller have with the Assassin fighters in the Middle East. He issues a bull (a formal papal proclamation) preventing further contact with the Assassins.

title: 1236

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

date: January 3

text: January 3 – The Faisal–Weizmann Agreement is signed by Emir Faisal (representing the Arab Kingdom of Hejaz) and Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann, for Arab–Jewish cooperation in the development of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, and an Arab nation in a large part of the Middle East.

title: 1919

section: Events › January

date: April 16

text: April 16 – 2024 Persian Gulf floods: At least 32 people are killed when heavy rainfall strikes the Middle East, causing flash flooding. This caused many disruptions for the airline Emirates at Dubai International Airport.

title: 2024

section: Events › April


slug: mieszko-i

label: Mieszko I

description: Duke of Poland

section: Births

text: Mieszko I, prince of Poland (approximate date) (d. 992)

title: 930

text: Mieszko I, a duke of the Piast Dynasty, becomes prince (de facto ruler) of Poland on the death of his father Siemomysł. Mieszko continues to subdue the neighbouring tribes under his control. Two obstacles to this plan are the Western Slav tribal group, the Veleti (also known as the Wilzi or "Wolf people") who are raiding Mieszko's lands for plunder; and the Saxon border dukes, who are pushing eastwards in search of new lands to conquer.

title: 960

section: Events › By place › Europe

text: Gero I, margrave of Merseburg, campaigns against the Slavs. He forces Prince Mieszko I of the Polans in Poland to pay tribute to Emperor Otto I ( the Great). He expands his territory, the Marca Geronis (March of Gero), to the mouth of the Oder River.

title: 963

section: Conflict & Security

text: Boleslaus I (the Cruel), duke of Bohemia, expands his territory into the Polish territories of Upper Silesia and Lesser Poland. By occupying the city of Kraków, he controls important trade routes from Prague to Kiev and Lviv. Prince Mieszko I of Poland makes an alliance with Boleslaus and marries his daughter Dobrawa.

title: 965

section: Culture & Society

date: April 14

text: April 14 – Mieszko I, first duke and prince of Poland, is baptized a Christian, which is usually considered the foundation of the Polish state. Mieszko's baptism, under the influence of his wife Doubravka of Bohemia, brings his territories into the community of Christian countries. The lands ruled by Mieszko cover about 250,000 km², and are inhabited by about 1.2 million people around this time.

title: 966

section: Events › Europe

section: Religion & Belief

text: Mieszko I, duke and prince of Poland, constructs Poznań Cathedral within the fortified stronghold (gord) of Poznań. The settlement becomes a bishopric, Mieszko appoints Jordan as the first bishop.

title: 968

section: Events › By topic › Religion

date: June 24

text: June 24 – Battle of Cedynia: The Polans under prince (or Duke) Mieszko I, defeat the German forces of the Saxon count Odo I at their stronghold in Cedynia (with the help of hidden reinforcements). The battle – one of the first in Polish history – strengthens Mieszko's hold over Western Pomerania.

title: 972

text: Fall – Mieszko I, duke and prince (de facto ruler) of Poland, abducts Oda of Haldensleben from the monastery of Kalbe (Saxony-Anhalt) and marries her. She becomes Mieszko's second wife and Duchess of the Polans.

title: 978

text: Mieszko I, duke (de facto) ruler of Poland, pledges his allegiance to Otto III and the Holy Roman Empire. He promises assistance in Otto's war against the Slavs.

title: 986

text: The Dagome iudex, a document which enumerates the possessions of Mieszko I, is written and entrusted to Pope John XV, who places the Polish territories under papal protection.

title: 991

section: Events › Unknown dates

date: May 25

text: May 25 – Mieszko I, prince (duke) of Poland

title: 992

text: May 25 – Mieszko I, prince (duke) of the Polans, dies after a reign of more than 30 years at Poznań. He is succeeded by his son Bolesław I the Brave who becomes ruler of Poland. Having inherited the principality (located between the Oder and the Warta rivers), Bolesław forms an alliance with the Holy Roman Empire.

title: 992


slug: mieszko-iii-the-old

label: Mieszko III the Old

text: Mieszko III the Old, duke of Greater Poland (d. 1202)

title: 1126

text: Mieszko III the Old proclaims a Prussian crusade against the pagans and pressures the collaboration of Frederick I. He leaves Greater Poland in the hands of his younger brother Casimir II the Just.

title: 1166

section: Deaths

date: January 5

text: January 5 – Bolesław IV the Curly, High Duke of Poland, dies after a 27-year reign. He is succeeded by his half-brother Mieszko III the Old, and as duke of Sandomierz in Lesser Poland by Casimir II the Just.

title: 1173

text: Casimir II overthrows his brother Mieszko III the Old, to become High Duke of Poland.

title: 1177

section: Events › Date unknown

section: Crime & Justice

text: Mieszko III (the Old), duke of Poland, travels to Germany to ask Frederick I to offer help in his restoration of the Polish throne, but Frederick demands a payment of 10,000 silver.

title: 1179

text: Mieszko III (the Old), duke of Greater Poland, agrees with his son Odon of Poznań to divide the territories between them: Mieszko hold his western lands and Odon receives the eastern lands south of the River Obra.

title: 1182

text: Spring – Casimir II the Just, High Duke of Poland, organizes an expedition against the Baltic Yotvingians. The expedition ends with full success, and Casimir has a triumphant return in Kraków. On May 5, after a banquet, which is held to celebrate his return, Casimir dies unexpectedly (possibly poisoned). He is succeeded by his eldest surviving son Leszek the White, who has to face strong opposition from his uncle Mieszko III the Old.

title: 1194

date: March 13

text: March 13 – Mieszko III the Old, duke of Poland (b. 1126)

title: 1202


slug: mikhail-gorbachev

label: Mikhail Gorbachev

description: leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991 (1931–2022)

date: March 2

text: March 2 – Mikhail Gorbachev, the 8th and final leader of the Soviet Union, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 2022)

title: 1931

section: Births › March

date: March 11

text: March 11 – Mikhail Gorbachev becomes General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party and de facto leader of the Soviet Union.

title: 1985

section: Events › March

text: November 19 – Cold War: In Geneva, U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet for the first time.

title: 1985

section: Events › November

section: Technology & Infrastructure

date: February 25

text: February 25 – The 27th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union opens in Moscow. The General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev introduces the keywords of his mandate to the audience: Glasnost and Perestroika.

title: 1986

section: Events › February

date: October 11

text: October 11–12 – Cold War: Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet in Reykjavík, Iceland, to continue discussions about scaling back their intermediate missile arsenals in Europe, which end in failure.

title: 1986

section: Events › October

date: December 8

text: December 8 – The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty is signed in Washington, D.C. by U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. It expired in 2019.

title: 1987

section: Events › December

date: June 12

text: June 12 – During a visit to Berlin, Germany, U.S. President Ronald Reagan challenges Soviet general secretary Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall.

title: 1987

section: Events › June

date: January 1

text: January 1 – The Soviet Union begins its program of economic restructuring (perestroika) with legislation initiated by Premier Mikhail Gorbachev (though Gorbachev had begun minor restructuring in 1985).

title: 1988

date: May 29

text: May 29–June 3 – The Moscow Summit meeting between U.S. President Ronald Reagan and General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev takes place, where the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) was finalized.

title: 1988

section: Events › May

date: December 1

text: December 1 – In a meeting with Pope John Paul II, General Secretary of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev pledges greater religious freedom for citizens of the Soviet Union.

title: 1989

section: Exploration & Expansion

date: May 14

text: May 14 – Mikhail Gorbachev visits China, the first Soviet leader to do so since Nikita Khrushchev in the 1960s, ending the Sino-Soviet split.

title: 1989

date: January 20

text: January 20 – Cold War: Black January – Soviet troops occupy Baku, Azerbaijan SSR, under the state of emergency decree issued by General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev, and kill over 130 protesters who were demonstrating for independence. The Nakhichevan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic declares its independence from the USSR.

title: 1990

date: June 1

text: June 1 – Cold War: U.S. President George H. W. Bush and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev sign a treaty to end chemical weapon production and begin destroying their respective stocks.

title: 1990

section: Science & Discovery

text: May 29 – Mikhail Gorbachev arrives in Ottawa for a 29-hour visit.

title: 1990

text: April 16–18 – General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev begins the first ever visit of a Soviet leader to Japan, but fails to resolve the two countries' dispute over ownership of the Kuril Islands.

title: 1991

date: August 30

text: August 30 – Mikhail Gorbachev, the final leader of the Soviet Union, dies at the age of 91.

title: 2022

section: Events › August


slug: milan

label: Milan

description: Italian commune and capital city of Lombardy

year_label: 222 BCE

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

text: After taking Acerrae Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus marches on Mediolanum (modern Milan), another stronghold of the Insubres, which also falls into Roman hands, upon which the chieftains of the Insubres lose all hope and surrendered unconditionally. Thus the Romans succeeded in conquering the largest independent Celtic tribe in Italy and firmly established their hegemony over the Po Valley, then the most productive agricultural region in the peninsula.

title: 222 BC

section: Events › By place › Roman Republic

section: Conflict & Security

text: The Franks cross the Rhine; the Alemanni reach Mediolanum (Milan) (disputed date).

title: 256

section: Events › By place › Roman Empire

text: Battle of Mediolanum: A Germanic confederation, the Alamanni (300,000 warriors), who crossed the Alps, are defeated by Roman legions under Gallienus, near Mediolanum (modern Milan).

title: 259

text: Gallienus establishes himself at Mediolanum (modern Milan); he reorganizes the army, supported by elite cavalry, and dispatches troops to the Rhine frontier.

title: 260

text: Emperor Gallienus crushes the Alemanni at Milan (approximate date).

title: 261

text: Gallienus gives the order to fortify Milan and Verona.

title: 265

text: Gallienus is killed by his senior officers at Mediolanum (Milan) while besieging his rival Aureolus. Aureolus is murdered in turn by the Praetorian guard.

title: 268

text: Winter: The emperors Diocletian and Maximian convene in Milan.

title: 291

section: Religion & Belief

date: February

text: February: Emperors Constantine I and Licinius convene in Mediolanum (modern Milan). Licinius marries Constantine's half-sister Constantia, and they issue the Edict of Milan. This edict ends the Great Persecution against the Christians and is the first piece of legislation in western history to decree freedom of religion. It also returns property confiscated from Christians. The edict is posted in Nicomedia on June 13.

title: 313

date: February 3

text: February 3 – Edict of Milan: Constantine the Great and co-emperor Licinius meet at a conference in Mediolanum (modern Milan). They proclaim a policy of religious freedom for all, ending the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire and returning property confiscated from Christians. The edict is posted in Nicomedia on June 13.

title: 313

section: Events › By topic › Religion

text: Bishop Eustorgius I brings relics of the Three Magi from Constantinople to Milan, according to a 12th century legend.

title: 344

text: Constans orders the Basilica di Santa Tecla to be constructed in Milan.

title: 345

section: Events › By place › Italy

text: By the end of the year Constantius enters Milan.

title: 352

text: Pope Liberius refuses to sign a condemnation of Athanasius, Patriarch of Alexandria, imposed at Milan by Constantius II. Liberius is exiled to Beroea (Greece) and replaced by Felix II. He becomes an antipope and bishop of Rome.

title: 355

text: Emperor Gratian moves the capital to Mediolanum (modern-day Milan). Because of his Christian beliefs, he eliminates Pontifex Maximus as Imperial title. Gratian also refuses the robe of office, insulting the pagan aristocrats of Rome.

title: 381

text: Ambrosius refuses the request of Empress Justina for a church in Milan, where she can worship according to her Arian belief.

title: 384

date: April

text: April – Massacre of Thessalonica: Resentment among the citizens of Thessalonica (Macedonia) breaks out into violence after the arrest of a popular charioteer. Butheric, military commander of Illyricum, is murdered. Emperor Theodosius I orders vengeance, despite the pleas for mercy by Ambrose, bishop of Milan; more than 7,000 inhabitants are massacred by the Roman army.

title: 390

date: January 17

text: January 17 – Emperor Theodosius I, age 48, dies of a disease involving severe edema in Milan. The Roman Empire is divided for the final time into an eastern and a western half. The Eastern Roman Empire is centered in Constantinople under Arcadius, son of Theodosius, and the Western Roman Empire in Mediolanum under his brother Honorius.

title: 395

text: Resurrection and "Two Marys with Angel near the Empty Tomb", panel of a diptych, found in Rome, is made. It is now kept at Castello Sforzesco, Milan (approximate date).

title: 400

section: Events › By topic › Art

text: The Visigoths advance on Mediolanum (modern Milan) and besiege Asti in Liguria. King Alaric I sends envoys to negotiate a peace, but the Roman government refuses to make deals with "barbarians."

title: 402

text: The Huns under Attila invade Northern Italy. Emperor Valentinian III flees from Ravenna to Rome, and sends Pope Leo I to persuade Attila to return to the Hungarian Plain. The cities of Aquileia, Padua and Verona are destroyed by the Huns. Milan is saved because Attila is offered a huge amount of gold. Flavius Aetius (magister militum) is unable to raise a new army against him.

title: 452

section: Events › By place › Europe

text: The Ostrogoths capture the cities Pavia and Milan. The majority of Odoacer's army, including his magister militum Tufa, surrenders to Theodoric.

title: 489

date: August 11

text: August 11 – Battle of the Adda River: Theodoric and his ally Alaric II defeat the forces of Odoacer, on the Adda River, near Milan.

title: 490

text: April – Belisarius secures Liguria, Mediolanum (modern Milan) and Ariminum, but disagreements, especially with Narses, leads to disunity in the Byzantine army.

title: 538

section: Events › By place › Byzantine Empire

date: March

text: March – Gothic War: The Goths and the Burgundians recapture Mediolanum (modern Milan), after many months of siege, the city reaching the point of starvation. The Byzantine garrison (1,000 men) surrenders and is spared, but the inhabitants are massacred (according to Procopius 300,000 people are murdered), and the city itself is destroyed.

title: 539

date: May

text: May – Gothic War: Belisarius conquers Mediolanum (modern-day Milan) and the Gothic capital Ravenna. Vitiges and his wife Matasuntha are taken as captives to Constantinople.

title: 540

date: September

text: September – The Lombards conquer Forum Iulii (Cividale del Friuli) in northeastern Italy. Later in the year, the Lombards conquer Milan.

title: 569

text: The Franks and Burgundians under King Guntram invade Italy. They capture the cities Milan and Verona, but are forced to leave by a plague outbreak in the Po Valley.

title: 590

section: Culture & Society

text: Agilulf, cousin of Authari (called "the Thuringian"), is raised on the shield (a ceremonial investment) by Lombard warriors in Milan. He becomes king of the Lombards, on advice of the Lombard dukes (dux). Agilulf marries widowed queen Theodelinda and is baptized to please her.

title: 591

text: King Agilulf of the Lombards and Queen Theodelinda build a palace complex at Monza, northeast of Milan.

title: 600

text: Perctarit and Godepert become co-rulers of the Lombards, following the death of their father Aripert I. They split the kingdom, and establish their capitals in Milan and Pavia (northern Italy).

title: 661

text: Perctarit returns to Lombardy from exile and reclaims his realm, which is being ruled on behalf of Garibald, since his father King Grimoald I died. He deposes the young king, and becomes the new ruler of the Lombard Kingdom in Italy. During his reign Perctarit makes Catholicism the official religion, but does not recognize papal authority. Grimoald is buried in the St. Ambrogio Church (Milan).

title: 671

text: King Ratchis of the Lombards besieges Perugia, but is convinced to lift the siege by Pope Zachary. His decision to lift the siege of Perugia undermines his authority among the Lombard nobility, and ultimately results in the nobility deposing him at a council in Milan. King Ratchis is forced to retire with his family to the monastery at Monte Cassino.

title: 749

date: August 12

text: August 12 – Emperor Louis II dies in Brescia, after having named his cousin Carloman, son of King Louis the German, as his successor. Louis is buried in the Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio in Milan.

title: 875

text: Spring – King Arnulf of Carinthia invades Italy at the head of an East Frankish expeditionary army, joining up with the deposed king Berengar I at Verona. He conquers Brescia after little resistance, and sacks Bergamo after a one-month siege. The cities of Milan and Pavia open their doors to Arnulf. Emperor Guy III escapes from Pavia, to hide in the mountains of Spoleto (Umbria).

title: 894

text: Fall – Hugh of Provence, king of Italy, leads a fourth expedition to Rome to dislodge Alberic II. He proceeds to Lazio, preparing a campaign to capture the papal capital. Again the attacks fail and Hugh retreats to Milan.

title: 941

text: Spring – Berengar of Ivrea invades Italy with hired Lombard troops and takes up residence in Milan. Berengar proceeds to Verona, where he is joined by forces of Count Milo and other partisans.

title: 945

text: Spring – King Conrad II, "the Elder", assembles an army of thousands of armored knights for an expedition into Italy. He besieges Pavia and marches to Milan, where he is crowned with the Iron Crown by Archbishop Aribert as king of the Lombards. Duke William V ("the Great") of Aquitaine, who is already en route for Italy, decides to renounce his claim to the Lombard throne and turns back.

title: 1026

section: Events › Asia › Europe

text: The economic competition between Milan and Como drives the two cities to war.

title: 1118

text: The Humiliati retreat to a monastery in Milan.

title: 1134

date: January 11

text: January 11 – Vladislav II becomes king of Bohemia. He is crowned by Frederick Barbarossa, Holy Roman Emperor, with a diadem (called by the chroniclers a diadema or circulus). Vladislaus is also invested with Upper Lusatia, and accompanies Frederick to Milan to suppress the rebellion in Lombardy (northern Italy).

title: 1158

date: March 6

text: March 6 – German forces led by Frederick Barbarossa, Holy Roman Emperor, capture Milan; much of the city is destroyed three weeks later on the emperor's orders. The fortifications are demolished and the churches are destroyed. The population is dispersed, and the commune abolished. The fate of Milan leads to the submission of Brescia, Piacenza, and many other northern Italian cities.

title: 1162

text: Rainald of Dassel brings relics of the Three Magi from Milan to Cologne as a gift for Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa.

title: 1164

text: April 7 – Oath of Pontida: Supported by Pope Alexander III, the Lombard League is founded, a military alliance between the municipalities of Milan, Lodi, Ferrara, Piacenza and Parma, against the German invading forces of Emperor Frederick I (Barbarossa) in Northern Italy. The League (with other Italian cities) openly challenges Frederick's claim to power (Honor Imperii).

title: 1167

text: November 11 – Otto IV is elected by the German nobles as king of Germany at Frankfurt. He is engaged to Beatrice and travels to Milan where he receives the Iron Crown and the title of King of Italy, which continues until the end of World War I in 1918.

title: 1208

text: July 11 – Siege of Brescia: Emperor Frederick II begins the siege of Brescia. He rejects the negotiations of the Lombard League and insists on unconditional surrender to the imperial forces in northern Italy. This blocks all possibilities of a peaceful settlement. Milan and five other Lombard cities are attacked. In early October, after a successful sortie by the city's defenders, Frederick is forced to lift the siege.

title: 1238

text: January 21 – Battle of Desio: Lombard forces under Archbishop Ottone Visconti defeat the Della Torre family troops for the rule of Milan. Later, Ottone enters the city in triumph, and imprisons Napoleone della Torre in the Castello Baradello at Como (Northern Italy).

title: 1277

text: January 6 – Henry VII, the future Holy Roman Emperor, is crowned King of Italy in Milan with a mock-up of the Iron crown of Lombardy. The Tuscan Guelphs refuse to attend the ceremony and begin preparing for resistance against Henry's rule. Henry approves the despotic regimes of Matteo I Visconti in Milan and Cangrande I della Scala in Verona. The cities of Piedmont and Lombardy submit to Henry – in accordance with the proclaimed program of peace and justice. Florence and their Guelph (anti-imperialist) allies in Tuscany and Romagna move to defend themselves against Henry's accession.

title: 1311

text: June 11 – Bertrand du Pouget, French papal legate, commanding a military campaign against the Ghibellines besieges Milan – but abandons the siege when Louis IV of Bavaria, King of the Romans, sends a relief army to Italy to aid the city and to protect his domains against the Kingdom of Naples, which is together with France the strongest ally of the Papal States.

title: 1323

text: August 16 – In Italy, Pagano della Torre, Patriarch of Aquileia, is defeated in battle at Vaprio d'Agogna in Piedmont in his attempt to reclaim Milan from the Visconti family, and abandons further crusades.

title: 1324

text: July 4 – During a banquet given by Galeazzo I Visconti in Milan, an attempt is apparently made to poison the guest of honor, Louis IV, newly crowned as King of Italy. Galeazzo's brother, Stefano Visconti, becomes ill after tasting food and drink intended for Louis and dies suddenly at home. Stefano's brothers Galeazzo, Giovanni, and Luchino, along with his nephew Azzone Visconti, are all imprisoned on orders of the Holy Roman Emperor based on accusations of a fourth brother, Marco Visconti.

title: 1327

text: August 4 – Gian Galeazzo Visconti succeeds his father, Galeazzo II Visconti, as ruler of Milan.

title: 1378

text: December 19 – Bernabò Visconti, Lord of Milan (b. 1319)

title: 1385

text: May 16 – Gian Maria Visconti, the Duke of Milan since 1402, is assassinated in front of the church of San Gottardo in Milan by a party of Milanese Ghibellines on the orders of his terminally ill rival, Facino Cane. Visconti is stabbed in the leg and then in his head. Filippo Maria Visconti, Gian Maria's son, becomes the new Duke of Milan.

title: 1412

text: August 23 – Beatrice Lascaris di Tenda, Duchess of Milan as the wife of the Duke Filippo Maria Visconti, is secretly arrested for adultery and removed from the walled city of Milan while its gates are locked. On her husband's orders, she is transferred to the Castello Visconteo in nearby Binasco, where she, two of her maidens, and her lover, the troubadour Michele Orombelli, are tortured. Beatrice is beheaded on September 13, and her three accomplices are put to death on the same day.

title: 1418

text: July 6 – The Ambrosian Republic of Milan defeats the armies of the Swiss canton of Uri at the Battle of Castione in what is now Switzerland.

title: 1449

text: February 26 – Francesco Sforza enters Milan after a siege, becoming Duke of the city-state, and founding a dynasty that will rule Milan for a century.

title: 1450

text: February 12 – The first complete inside edition of Avicenna's The Canon of Medicine (Latin translation) is published in Milan.

title: 1473

text: November 3 – Ludovico Sforza succeeds his sister-in-law, Bona of Savoy, as regent of Milan for his 12-year-old nephew Gian Galeazzo Sforza, Bona's son and the Duke of Milan.

title: 1480

text: February 9 – Leonardo da Vinci completes his painting The Last Supper, on the refectory wall of Milan's Santa Maria delle Grazie Convent. Because the location is a thin exterior wall, the effects of humidity and moisture-retaining rock behind the wall begin to cause the painting to deteriorate.

title: 1498

text: October 26 – King Louis XII of France and his troops seize Milan, driving out Duke Ludovico Sforza, and Leonardo da Vinci flees to Venice.

title: 1499

text: February 5 – Ludovico Sforza's Swiss mercenary army retakes the city of Milan from the French during the Second Italian War.

title: 1500

text: January 5 – Duke Ludovico Sforza recaptures Milan, but is soon driven out again by the French.

title: 1500

text: May 14 – In Italy, King Louis XII of France departs from Genoa and makes a triumphant entry into Milan on May 24.

title: 1507

text: October 1 – The siege of Padua ends with Venetian victory, causing the retreat of HRE and French forces back to Tyrol and Milan.

title: 1509

text: August 13 – The Treaty of Noyon is signed. King François I of France recognizes Charles I of Spain's claim to Naples, and Charles recognizes Francis's claim to Milan. The treaty also promised Louise of France to Charles.

title: 1516

text: November 29 – The "Treaty of Perpetual Peace" is signed in the city of Fribourg in Switzerland, between representatives of the Thirteen Cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy, and King Francis of the Kingdom of France, confirming the French victory in the 1515 Battle of Marignano. The Swiss Confederacy renounces all claims to the French protectorate of Milan in Italy, in for 700,000 gold crowns in compensation.

title: 1516

text: November 23 – Spanish–German–Papal forces under Prospero Colonna force French Marshal Odet de Lautrec to abandon Milan.

title: 1521

text: April 27 – In the Battle of Bicocca, French and Swiss forces under Odet de Lautrec are defeated by the Spanish in their attempt to retake Milan, and are forced to withdraw into Venetian territory.

title: 1522

text: In northern Italy, a French army under Guillaume Gouffier tries to recover Milan but fails due to an offensive by Spanish, Imperial and English troops and they retreat in mid-November.

title: 1523

text: August 4 – The "Peace of St. Ambrose" is signed in Milan at the Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio, bringing an end to the civil strife between the Milanese nobility and the local merchants.

title: 1528

text: December 8 – One of the first public libraries, the Biblioteca Ambrosiana, is opened in the Italian city of Milan, founded by Cardinal Federico Borromeo. Unlike other reading rooms, the library houses its collection on shelves along the walls, rather than chained to reading tables.

title: 1609

text: September 20 – 1629–1631 Italian plague: the plague arrives in the nation-state of Milan as German soldiers are granted a stay at the Forte di Fuentes.

title: 1629

text: May 17 – The first case of plague is reported in Milan. By the end of 1631, the city of 250,000 suffers 186,000 deaths, losing almost three-quarters of its population to plague.

title: 1630

text: January 24 – Milan's Court Theater is destroyed in a fire.

title: 1695

text: October 17 – The opera Ascanio in Alba by Wolfgang Mozart, age 15, premieres in Milan.

title: 1771

text: August 3 – The La Scala Opera House opens in Milan, with the première of Antonio Salieri's Europa riconosciuta.

title: 1778

text: April 27 – French Revolutionary Wars: The Battle of Cassano takes place outside of Milan, as Russian and Austrian troops commanded by General Alexander Suvorov rout the French Army under the command of General Jean Moreau.

title: 1799

text: November 17 – Giuseppe Verdi's first opera, Oberto, conte di San Bonifacio, opens in Milan.

title: 1839

text: March 9 – Giuseppe Verdi's third opera Nabucco premieres at La Scala in Milan; its success establishes Verdi as one of Italy's foremost operatic composers.

title: 1842

text: February 11 – Giuseppe Verdi's opera I Lombardi alla prima crociata premieres at La Scala in Milan.

title: 1843

text: June 28 – In Milan, Italy, the first central European electricity power station is inaugurated.

title: 1883

text: May 7–9 – Bava Beccaris massacre: Hundreds of demonstrators are killed, when General Fiorenzo Bava Beccaris orders troops to fire on a rally in Milan, Italy.

title: 1898

text: April 11 – Tenor Enrico Caruso makes the first million-selling recording, for the Gramophone Company in Milan.

title: 1902

text: February 17 – Puccini's opera Madama Butterfly debuts at La Scala in Milan, to no great acclaim. On May 28 a revised version opens in Brescia, to huge success.

title: 1904

text: March 9 – Football Club Internazionale is founded in Milan, Italy.

title: 1908

text: March 20 – The first clinic for treatment of occupational diseases is opened in Milan (Italy).

title: 1910

text: Prada is established as a leather goods dealer in Milan, by Mario Prada and his brother.

title: 1913

text: March 23 – Benito Mussolini founds his Italian Fascist political movement in Milan.

title: 1919

text: September 19 – Giuseppe Meazza (San Siro) Stadium, well known among sports venues in Italy, officially opens in Milan.

title: 1926

text: April 28 – The bodies of Benito Mussolini, his mistress, Clara Petacci, and other followers are hung by their heels at a gas station in the public square of Milan, Piazzale Loreto, following their execution by Italian partisans after an attempt to flee the country.

title: 1945

text: May 27 – Internazionale beats Benfica 1–0 at the San Siro, Milan and wins the 1964–65 European Cup in Association football.

title: 1965

text: December 12 – The Piazza Fontana bombing in Milan, Italy, kills 17 people and injures 88.

title: 1969

text: May 28 – After 22 years of restoration work, Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper is placed back on display in Milan, Italy.

title: 1999

text: October 8 – 2001 Linate Airport runway collision: A twin-engine Cessna and Scandinavian Airlines jetliner collide in heavy fog during takeoff from Milan, Italy, killing 118 people.

title: 2001

text: February 6 – Livraga derailment: A Frecciarossa high-speed train traveling from Milan to Salerno derailed in Livraga, Lombardy, Italy. Two people were killed, and 31 were injured.

title: 2020