slug: black-sea

label: Black Sea

description: sea between Europe and Asia

section: Exploration & Expansion

text: c. 1200 BC: The proto-Scythian Srubna (Timber-grave) culture expands from the lower Volga region to cover the whole of the North Pontic area.

title: 1200s BC (decade)

section: Events and trends

year_label: 670 BCE

text: Miletus begins establishing colonies in the Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea.

title: 670 BC

year_label: 437 BCE

text: Pericles, concerned for Athenian trade with Greek settlements to the East, and in order to counteract a new and possibly threatening Thracian–Scythian alliance, leads Athens' fleet to Pontus on the Black Sea and establishes friendly relations with the Greek cities of the region.

title: 437 BC

section: Events › By place › Greece

year_label: 436 BCE

text: Following Pericles' visit to the Black Sea, a large Athenian colony is founded at Amphipolis. This is disconcertingly close to an outpost of Corinthian influence at Potidaea in the Chalcidice. Corinth feels it is being indirectly pressured by Athens.

title: 436 BC

year_label: 409 BCE

text: Alcibiades recaptures Byzantium, ending the city's rebellion from Athens. This action completes Athenian control of the Bosporus which secures the Athenian supply route for grain from the Bosporan Kingdom in the Black Sea region.

title: 409 BC

year_label: 376 BCE

text: The Athenian admiral Chabrias wins a naval victory for Athens over the Spartan fleet, off the island of Naxos (the Battle of Naxos). The battle is brought on by the Athenians to break the Spartans' blockade of Athens' corn-ships from the Black Sea.

title: 376 BC

year_label: 353 BCE

text: Clearchus, the tyrant of Heraclea, a Greek city on the Black Sea, is murdered by some of the city's citizens led by Chion after a reign of twelve years. Most of the conspirators are killed by the tyrant's body-guards upon the spot, while others are captured and put to death. Within a short time, the city falls under the rule of the new tyrant Satyrus, Clearchus' brother.

title: 353 BC

year_label: 244 BCE

text: The war in Asia Minor and the Aegean Sea intensifies as the Achaean League allies itself to Ptolemy III Euergetes of Egypt, while Seleucus II secures two allies in the Black Sea region. Ptolemy III's armies reach as far as Bactria and the borders of India in their attacks on the Seleucid Empire.

title: 244 BC

year_label: 8 CE

section: Religion & Belief

text: AD 8 – Roman poet Ovid is banished from Rome and exiled to the Black Sea near Tomis (modern-day Constanța).

title: 0s

section: Events › Roman Empire

text: The Germans of the east move south, into the Carpathians and Black Sea area.

title: AD 150

section: Events › By place › Roman Empire

text: The Goths reach the banks of the Black Sea.

title: AD 180

section: Events › By place › Europe

text: The great pandemic of the Roman world strikes violently in Pontus on the Black Sea, and causes enormous loss of life in Alexandria, encouraging thousands to embrace Christianity.

title: 256

section: Events › By topic › Medicine

text: The Goths build a fleet on the Black Sea.

title: 257

text: The Heruls accompany the Goths, ravaging the coasts of the Black Sea and the Aegean.

title: 262

text: The Heruli invade the Black Sea coast; they unsuccessfully attack Byzantium and Cyzicus. The Roman fleet defeats the Herulian fleet (500 ships) but allows them to escape into the Aegean Sea, where they raid the islands of Lemnos and Skyros.

title: 267

text: Second Gothic invasion: The Goths and other German tribes attack Bosphorean towns on the coast of the Black Sea. Some 2,000 ships and 320,000 men from the Danube enter Roman territory. Emperor Claudius II defeats the invaders and receives the title Gothicus for his triumph. Many of the prisoners will serve in the Roman legions and settle in vacant lands in the Danubian provinces.

title: 269

text: The Huns of Central Asia begin their great drive westwards with an advance into Scythia (modern Ukraine). They overcome and absorb the Alans, a nomadic and warlike horse breeding people from the steppes northeast of the Black Sea.

title: 355

section: Events › By place › Asia

text: The Chronicon Pachale (Paschal Chronicle) reports that the Black Sea is completely frozen.

title: 401

section: Events › By place › Black Sea

text: Winter – Olympiodorus, historical writer, is sent on an embassy by Honorius, and sails in stormy weather around Greece up the Black Sea, to meet the Huns who are located on the middle Danube (modern Bulgaria).

title: 412

section: Technology & Infrastructure

text: Emperor Anastasius I completes the strategic fortress at Dara (Northern Mesopotamia). He raises the city walls to 30 feet (10 m), disregarding Persian protests. Alarmed by the depredations of Slavs and Bulgars in Thrace, he builds the Anastasian Wall from the Black Sea to Propontis, across the narrow peninsula near Constantinople (modern Turkey).

title: 507

text: Anastasius I constructs a wall from the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara, to protect Constantinople from raiding Bulgars and Slavs.

title: 512

text: Vitalian defeats the Byzantines at Acris (Bulgaria), on the Black Sea coast. He attacks their fortified Laager in darkness, and in a crushing defeat kills a large part of the imperial army.

title: 513

text: Vitalian, Byzantine general, marches again to Constantinople. A fleet of 200 vessels sails from the Black Sea ports and blockades the entrance of the harbor capital. Emperor Anastasius I is disquieted by riots in the city, which cost many casualties, and decides to negotiate with Vitalian.

title: 514

text: Lazic War: King Khosrau I intervenes in Lazica (modern Georgia), and supports the weakened king Gubazes II against a full-scale uprising. He sends an expeditionary force under Mermeroes and captures the Byzantine stronghold of Petra, located on the coast of the Black Sea, which provides the Persians a strategic port.

title: 541

section: Events › By place › Persia

text: Gubazes II besieges the fortress of Petra, located on the Black Sea. The Persian army under Mermeroes defeats a small Byzantine force guarding the mountain passes, and relieves Petra.

title: 548

text: Spring – Lazic War - Siege of Petra (550–551): The Byzantine army and their Sabir allies (some 6,000 men) under Bessas recapture the strategic Byzantine fortress of Petra, located on the coast of the Black Sea. He orders the city walls razed to the ground.

title: 551

text: The Avars arrive in the northern region of the Caucasus, between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. They send envoys to the Byzantines in Lazica (modern Georgia). Like the Huns, the Avars are the former elite of a central Asian federation, which has been forced to flee westwards.

title: 557

text: The Göktürks under Taspar Qaghan besiege the city of Chersonesos Taurica (modern Ukraine), located at the Black Sea; their cavalry keep plundering the steppes of the Crimean Peninsula until 590.

title: 581

text: Autumn – Balkan Campaign: The Avars, strengthened by the tribute of the Franks, resume their campaign along the Danube River, and besiege the Byzantine fortress city of Tomis (modern Romania) on the Black Sea coast.

title: 597

text: Byzantine–Persian War: Heraclius, his army reduced by campaigning to less than 30,000 men, is on the defensive in Pontus. Apparently he leaves a strong Byzantine garrison in Trapezus, and withdraws north-eastward along the Black Sea into Colchis, where he halts the Persians by aggressive defensive-offensive operations along the Phasis River. By attracting the Persian army under Shahin Vahmanzadegan in Anatolia, he provides Theodore with the opportunity to defeat them. By the end of the summer he threatens the communication of the Persians at Chalcedon (modern Turkey).

title: 626

section: Deaths

date: August 13

text: August 13 – Maximus the Confessor, Byzantine monk and theologian, dies in exile in Lazica (modern Georgia), on the southeastern shore of the Black Sea.

title: 662

section: Events › By topic › Religion

text: Kubrat, ruler (khagan) of Great Bulgaria, dies after a 33-year reign. He is succeeded by his son Batbayan, who rules from Poltava (modern Ukraine), the lands north of the Black Sea, and the Sea of Azov.

title: 665

date: August 15

text: August 15 – Siege of Constantinople: Maslama begins a combined land and sea effort to capture Constantinople. The capital controls the Bosporus, access between the Mediterranean and Black Sea, and is defended by a garrison of roughly 25,000 men. Leo III orders the granaries be restocked and siege engines installed. The Arab besiegers are suffering immense losses due to disease, and from attrition of siege warfare.

title: 717

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

text: The Khazars, a nation of the Black Sea steppe, though not ethnically Jewish, voluntarily convert to Judaism.

title: 740

text: According to the historian Theophanes the Confessor, icebergs float past Constantinople from the Black Sea (approximate date).

title: 764

section: Events › By topic › Geography

text: Byzantine–Bulgarian War: The Bulgars, led by Krum, ruler (khan) of the Bulgarian Empire, launch an invasion against the Byzantines. They capture the fortress cities of Develt and Mesembria, near the Black Sea.

title: 812

text: Byzantine–Bulgarian Treaty: Emperor Leo V the Armenian signs a 30-year peace agreement in Constantinople with Omurtag, ruler (khan) of the Bulgarian Empire. The Rhodope Mountains become the Byzantine border again, and Leo regains its lost Black Sea cities, after the Bulgars have them demolished.

title: 815

date: September 3

text: September 3 – Battle of Lalakaon: A Byzantine army confronts an invasion by Muslim forces, led by Umar al-Aqta, Emir of Malatya. The Muslims raid deep into Byzantine territory, reaching the Black Sea coast at the port city of Amisos. Petronas annihilates the Arabs near the River Lalakaon, in Paphlagonia (modern Turkey).

title: 863

text: August 20 – Battle of Achelous: A Byzantine expeditionary force (62,000 men) under General Leo Phokas (the Elder) is routed by the Bulgarians at the Achelous River near the fortress of Anchialos (modern Pomorie) on the Black Sea coast. Phokas flees to Mesembria (modern Nesebar) and escapes by boarding a ship. Tsar Simeon I (the Great) becomes de facto ruler of the whole Balkan Peninsula, except the well-protected Byzantine capital of Constantinople and the Peloponnese.

title: 917

text: September 9 – After pillaging the suburbs of Constantinople, Tsar Simeon I of Bulgaria meets with the Byzantine Emperor Romanos I Lekapenos on the Golden Horn to arrange a truce, according to which Byzantium will pay the Bulgarians an annual tribute in exchangefor the return of some cities on the Black Sea coast.

title: 924

section: Events › July—September

date: November 1

text: November 1 – Siege of Sinope: The Seljuk Turks under Sultan Kaykaus I capture the strategic Black Sea port city of Sinope – at the time held by the Empire of Trebizond (one of the Byzantine successor states formed after the Fourth Crusade). Emperor Alexios I of Trebizond leads an army to break the siege, but he is defeated and captured. His capture forces the Byzantines to accept tributary status to Kaykaus.

title: 1214

text: Late April – The Russian and Polovtsian armies march down the west bank of the Dnieper River. Within a few days of the march beginning, a second group of Mongol ambassadors appear in the Russian camp and again offer peace. When their offers are rebuffed, the ambassadors are allowed to leave unharmed. Meanwhile, Russian forces from Galicia arrive by boat or cart-loads of equipment and food, along the Black Sea coast and up the Dnieper River, screened by Mongol forces on the east bank.

title: 1223

section: Events › Other events, by place › Mongol Empire

text: March 5 – Alexios IV becomes the new Emperor of Trebizond (located in what is now Turkey along the Black Sea) upon the death of his father, Manuel III.

title: 1417

text: February 26 – Ibrahim II becomes the Bey of Candar, a monarchy on the Black Sea that encompasses 10 modern-day Turkish provinces, upon the death of his father, Mubariz al-Din Isfendiyar, in the capital, Sinop.

title: 1440

text: November 14 – Great Storm of 1854 in the Black Sea: 19 British transport and other ships (plus 2 French) supporting the Crimean War are wrecked with the loss of at least 287 men.

title: 1854

text: May 19 – Mustafa Kemal Atatürk lands at Samsun on the Anatolian Black Sea coast, marking the start of the Turkish War of Independence. The anniversary of this event is also an official day of Turkish Youth.

title: 1919

text: July 20 – The United Kingdom cedes its brief control of the key Black Sea port of Batum to the Democratic Republic of Georgia.

title: 1920

text: February 24 – Struma disaster: , carrying Jewish refugees from Axis-allied Romania to British-administered Palestine, is torpedoed and sunk by Soviet submarine Shch-213 in the Black Sea, killing about 791 men, women and children, with only 1 survivor.

title: 1942

text: June 1 – Navigation opens on the Volga–Don Canal, connecting the Caspian Sea basin with that of the Black Sea.

title: 1952

text: August 31 – The Soviet passenger liner collides with the bulk carrier Pyotr Vasev in the Black Sea and sinks almost immediately, killing 398.

title: 1986

text: December 25 – 2016 Russian Defence Ministry Tupolev Tu-154 crash: A Tupolev Tu-154 jetliner of the Russian Defence Ministry crashes into the Black Sea shortly after taking off from Sochi International Airport, Russia, while en route to Khmeimim Air Base, Syria. All 92 people on board, including 64 members of the Alexandrov Ensemble choir of the Russian Armed Forces, are killed.

title: 2016

text: November 27 – Kerch Strait incident: Ukraine declares martial law after an armed incident in which the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) coast guard fired upon and captured three Ukrainian Navy vessels attempting to pass from the Black Sea into the Sea of Azov through the Kerch Strait.

title: 2018


slug: blue-horde

label: Blue Horde

description: Mongol horde of the 13th-14th centuries, controlling the eastern territories of the Golden Horde

text: The Blue Horde unseats Ghazan II as the ruler of the Il-Khanate, and appoints their own governor.

title: 1357

section: Events › Date unknown

text: Jani Beg, Khan of the Blue Horde

title: 1357

date: July 22

text: July 22 – On the death of Jani Beg, he is succeeded as Khan of the Blue Horde by his son Berdi Beg who orders the death of at least 12 of his close kinsmen to secure his position.

title: 1357

section: Events › January–December

section: Conflict & Security

text: Mubariz al-Din Muhammad, leader of the Arab Muzaffarid tribe, expels the Blue Horde from Ilkhanate territory in Persia. The Muzaffarid then release control of the Il-Khanate, after being marched on by the Mongol Jalayirid tribe, ruled by Shaikh Uvais. Shaikh Uvais becomes the new Il-Khan. The Ilkhanate is effectively now disbanded, and replaced by the Jalayirid dynasty of Persia.

title: 1358

date: August

text: August – Qulpa becomes Khan of the Blue Horde after the death of Berdi Beg.

title: 1359

text: Nawruz Beg overthrows his brother Qulpa as Khan of the Blue Horde.

title: 1360

text: Great Troubles: the Blue Horde descends into anarchy. Between 1361 and 1378, over 20 khans succeed each other in different parts of the Blue Horde's territory.

title: 1361

text: Moscow attacks Tver, which counter-attacks with the aid of Lithuania and the Blue Horde.

title: 1368

text: The Grand Duchy of Moscow and Tver sign a truce. Tver agrees to help Moscow fight the Blue Horde.

title: 1375

date: March 31

text: March 31 – In the Principality of Nizhny Novgorod-Suzdal (now part of Russia), the Grand Prince Dmitry of Suzdal oversees the massacre of the Tatar prisoners of war who had been captured during the Blue Horde's unsuccessful attempt by Sary-Aka to incite a rebellion against the principality's domination by Moscow.

title: 1375

section: Events › January–March

date: August 11

text: August 11 – Battle of the Vozha River: Prince Dmitri Ivanovich of Moscow resists a small invasion by the Mongol Blue Horde under Mamai.

title: 1378

section: Events › July–September

text: Khan Tokhtamysh of the White Horde dethrones Mamai of the Blue Horde. The two hordes unite to form the Golden Horde.

title: 1380

date: September 8

text: September 8 – At the Battle of Kulikovo, Russian forces under Grand Prince Dmitry Donskoy of Moscow resist a large invasion, led by Mamai Khan, commander of the Blue Horde of Lithuania and Ryazan, stopping their advance.

title: 1380

text: Khan Tokhtamysh of the Golden Horde overruns Muscovy, as punishment for Grand Prince Dmitry Donskoy's resistance to Khan Mamai of the Blue Horde in the 1370s. Dmitry Donskoy pledges his loyalty to Tokhtamysh, and is allowed to remain as ruler of Moscow and Vladimir.

title: 1382


label: Boeing 707

description: 1957 airliner family

date: July 15

text: July 15 – The Boeing 367-80 (or Dash 80), prototype of the Boeing 707 series, makes its maiden flight.

title: 1954

section: Events › July

date: May 14

text: May 14 – The Boeing 367-80, prototype for the later Boeing 707 jetliner, is rolled out in the United States, after about 2 years of development.

title: 1954

section: Events › May

date: December 20

text: December 20 – The Boeing 707 airliner flies for the first time.

title: 1957

section: Events › December

date: October 26

text: October 26 – A Pan American World Airways Boeing 707 makes its first transatlantic flight.

title: 1958

section: Events › October

date: January 25

text: January 25 – American Airlines begins the first U.S. domestic jet service with a Boeing 707 airliner flight between New York and Los Angeles.

title: 1959

section: Events › January

section: Disasters & Accidents

date: June 22

text: June 22 – Air France Flight 117 (a Boeing 707 jet) crashes into terrain during bad weather in Guadeloupe in the West Indies, killing all 113 on board, the airline's second fatal accident in just 3 weeks, and the third fatal 707 crash of the year.

title: 1962

section: Events › June

date: June 3

text: June 3 – Air France Flight 007 (a Boeing 707) crashes on take-off at Orly Airport in Paris; 130 of 132 people on board are killed, 2 flight attendants survive. Most victims are cultural and civic leaders of Atlanta.

title: 1962

date: March 1

text: March 1 – American Airlines Flight 1 (a Boeing 707) crashes on takeoff at New York International Airport, after a rudder malfunction causes an uncontrolled roll, resulting in the loss of control of the aircraft, with the loss of all 95 on board.

title: 1962

section: Events › March

date: April 20

text: April 20 – South African Airways Flight 228 a Boeing 707 crashed shortly after take-off killing 123 people on board.

title: 1968

section: Events › March–April

date: March 3

text: March 3 – Air France Flight 212, a Boeing 707, crashes in Guadeloupe while approaching an airport. As a result, 63 people die.

title: 1968

date: December 3

text: December 3 – Air France Flight 212, a Boeing 707 registered as F-BHSZ, crashed shortly after takeoff from Venezuela killing all 62 occupants on board. The cause of the accident is not yet known since the Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA) did not publish an investigation report. It will not be released until 2029, sixty years after the accident.

title: 1969

date: January 22

text: January 22 – A Royal Jordanian Boeing 707 flight from Jeddah crashes in Kano, Nigeria; 176 people are killed.

title: 1973

date: November 3

text: November 3 – Pan Am flight 160, a Boeing 707-321C, crashes at Logan International Airport, Boston, killing three people.

title: 1973

section: Events › November


slug: boeotia

label: Boeotia

description: regional unit in Central Greece, Greece

year_label: 480 BCE

text: Phocis and the coasts of Euboea are devastated by the Persians. Thebes and most of Boeotia join Xerxes.

title: 480 BC

section: Events › By place › Greece

year_label: 479 BCE

date: August 27

text: August 27 – The Battle of Plataea in Boeotia ends the Persian invasions of Greece as the Persian general Mardonius is routed by the Greeks under Pausanias, nephew of the former Spartan King, Leonidas I. The Athenian contingent is led by the repatriated Aristides. Mardonius is killed in the battle and the Greeks capture enormous amounts of loot. Thebes is captured shortly thereafter and the Theban collaborators executed by Pausanias.

title: 479 BC

year_label: 461 BCE

section: Crime & Justice

text: Ephialtes is murdered by Aristodicus of Tanagra in Boeotia, who is said to have acted on behalf of members of the Athenian oligarchy.

title: 461 BC

year_label: 457 BCE

text: Athens, the leader of the Delian League, comes into conflict with Corinth and its ally Sparta (leader of the Peloponnesian League) over Megara. Nicomedes of Sparta, regent for King Pleistoanax, leads an army of 11,500 hoplites into Boeotia to help Thebes put down a rebellion by Phocis.

title: 457 BC

year_label: 447 BCE

text: A revolt breaks out in Boeotia as the oligarchs of Thebes conspire against the democratic faction in the city. The Athenians, under their general Tolmides, with 1000 hoplites plus other troops from their allies, march into Boeotia to take back the towns revolting against Athenian control. They capture Chaeronea, but are attacked and defeated by the Boeotians at Coronea. As a result, the Athenians are forced to give up control of Boeotia as well as Phocis and Locris, which all fall under the control of hostile oligarchs who quit the Delian League.

title: 447 BC

year_label: 431 BCE

text: A Theban raid on Plataea, the only pro-Athenian city in Boeotia, is a failure and the Plataeans take 180 prisoners and put them to death. Athens supports Plataea while Sparta aligns itself with Thebes. Sparta enlists the help of the Greek cities in Italy and Sicily. Both Sparta and Athens appeal to Persia, but without result.

title: 431 BC

year_label: 424 BCE

text: Demosthenes and Hippocrates attempt to capture Megara, but they are defeated by the Spartans under their general Brasidas. Demosthenes then marches to Naupactus to assist in a democratic revolution, and to gather troops for an invasion of Boeotia. However, Demosthenes and Hippocrates are unable to coordinate their attacks and Hippocrates is defeated at the Battle of Delium by Pagondas of Thebes. During the battle, Socrates is said to have saved the life of Alcibiades. Demosthenes attacks Sicyon and is defeated as well.

title: 424 BC

year_label: 420 BCE

text: The young and popular Alcibiades is elected "Strategos" (one of a board of ten generals) and begins to dominate Athenian life and politics. A Quadruple Alliance of Athens, Argos, Mantineia and Elis, which has been organised by Alcibiades (in opposition to Nicias) confronts a Spartan-Boeotian alliance.

title: 420 BC

year_label: 395 BCE

text: The Spartans arrange for two armies, one under the Spartan general Lysander and the other under the Spartan King Pausanias, to rendezvous at and attack the Boeotian city of Haliartus. Lysander, arriving before Pausanias, persuades the city of Orchomenus to revolt from the Boeotian confederacy, and then advances to Haliartus with his troops. There, he is killed after bringing his forces too near the walls of the city.

title: 395 BC

year_label: 393 BCE

text: Fighting breaks out in Corinth between the democratic and oligarchic parties. The democrats, supported by Argos, launch an attack on their opponents, and the oligarchs are driven from the city. These exiles go to the Spartans, based at this time at Sicyon, for support, while the Athenians and Boeotians support the democrats.

title: 393 BC

year_label: 382 BCE

text: The Spartan commander Phoebidas, who is passing through Boeotia on campaign, takes advantage of civil strife within Thebes to gain entrance to the city for his troops. Once inside, he seizes the Cadmeia (the citadel of Thebes), and forces the anti-Spartan party to flee the city. The government of Thebes is placed in the hands of the pro-Spartan party, backed by a Spartan garrison based in the Cadmeia. Many of the previous leaders of Thebes are driven into exile. Epaminondas, although associated with the anti-Spartan faction, is allowed to remain.

title: 382 BC

year_label: 379 BCE

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

text: The Thebans are able to reconstitute their old Boeotian confederacy in a new, democratic form. The cities of Boeotia unite as a federation with an executive body composed of seven generals, or Boeotarchs, elected from seven districts throughout Boeotia.

title: 379 BC

year_label: 378 BCE

text: Athens allies itself with Thebes and forms the Second Athenian League. The confederacy includes most of the Boeotian cities and some of the Ionian islands.

title: 378 BC

year_label: 371 BCE

text: A fresh peace congress is summoned at Sparta. At the peace conference, the Spartan King Agesilaus II (with the support of Athens) refuses to allow the Thebans to sign the treaty on behalf of all Boeotia. The Theban statesman Epaminondas, who is boeotarch (one of the five magistrates of the Boeotian federation), maintains Thebes' position, even when it leads to the exclusion of Thebes from the peace treaty.

title: 371 BC

year_label: 364 BCE

text: On the advice of the city's military leader, Epaminondas, Thebes builds a fleet of 100 triremes to help combat Athens. Thebes destroys its Boeotian rival Orchomenus.

title: 364 BC

year_label: 363 BCE

text: The Theban general, Epaminondas, makes a bold attempt to challenge Athens' naval empire. With a new Boeotian fleet, he sails to Byzantium, with the result that a number of cities in the Athenian Empire rebel against their now threatened masters.

title: 363 BC

year_label: 356 BCE

text: The Phocians capture and sack Delphi in whose territory the famous temple and oracle stand. A sacred war is declared against them by the other members of the Great Amphictyonic League. The Phocians, led by two capable generals, Philomelus and Onomarchus, use Delphi's riches to hire a mercenary army to carry the war into Boeotia and Thessaly.

title: 356 BC

year_label: 338 BCE

text: Athens arranges an alliance with Euboea, Megara, Achaea, Corinth, Acarnania and some other states in the Peloponnesus. However, the most desirable ally for Athens is Thebes. Therefore, the Athenian leader, Demosthenes, goes to the Boeotian city and secures an alliance with Thebes despite the efforts of a Macedonian deputation to persuade Thebes to join with Macedonia. In return, Athens agrees to Thebes controlling Boeotia, Thebes being in command solely on land and jointly at sea, and Athens paying two thirds of the campaign's cost.

title: 338 BC

section: Events › By place › Macedonia

year_label: 312 BCE

text: Cassander abandons the siege of Oreus, concentrating his forces at Chalcis to counter Ptolemy who has landed at Bathys in Boeotia and has been reinforced by the Boeotian League with 2,200 infantry and 1,300 cavalry.

title: 312 BC

section: Events › By place › Greece/Macedon/Thrace

year_label: 292 BCE

text: While Demetrius Poliorcetes is campaigning in Boeotia, he receives news that Lysimachus, the ruler of Thrace, has been taken prisoner by Dromichaetes. Hoping to seize Lysimachus's territories in Thrace, Demetrius delegates command of his forces in Boeotia to his son, Antigonus and immediately marches north. However, while he is away, the Boeotians rise in rebellion, but are defeated by Antigonus, who bottles them up in the city of Thebes and puts them under siege.

title: 292 BC

year_label: 223 BCE

text: The king of Macedonia, Antigonus III Doson, restores Macedonian influence in the Peloponnese for the first time in almost two decades. After signing alliances with the Achaeans, Boeotians, Thessalians and the Acarnanians, Antigonus invades the Peloponnese and drives the Spartans out of Argos, taking Orchomenus and Mantineia in the process.

title: 223 BC

date: March 15

text: March 15 – The Battle of Halmyros is fought in Greece as the mercenaries of the Catalan Company defeat the Latin forces (some 15,000 men), and their allies under Walter V at Halmyros (southern Thessaly). After the battle, they take control of the Duchy of Athens. Later, Catalan forces peacefully occupy all of Attica and Boeotia, which they rule as part of Greece (until the 1380s).

title: 1311

section: Events › January – March


slug: bogota

label: Bogotá

description: capital city of Colombia

date: August 6

text: August 6 – Bogotá, Colombia is founded by Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada.

title: 1538

section: Events › July–September

date: May 27

text: May 27 – Spain creates the Viceroyalty of New Granada in South America from the northern section of the Viceroyalty of Peru. The viceroyalty, with a capital at Bogotá, later declares independence and splits up into what become the nations of Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela.

title: 1717

section: Events › April–June

date: July 20

text: July 20 – First Republic of New Granada: Patria Boba: A junta of seven patriots, led by José Acevedo y Gómez, assemble in Bogotá in the Viceroyalty of New Granada (modern-day Colombia), to declare its independence from the Spanish Empire, the first South American nation to break away from Spain as the third oldest independent republic state after Haiti.

title: 1810

section: Conflict & Security

date: March 18

text: March 18 – Simón Bolívar, President of Colombia (and former President of Venezuela, Peru and Bolivia), departs from the capital at Bogotá in order to help his ally, General José Antonio Páez, suppress an uprising near the Venezuelan border, but is sidetracked by another rebellion in Cartagena.

title: 1828

section: Events › January–March

section: Culture & Society

date: November 16

text: November 16 – The University of the Andes (Universidad de los Andes) is founded in Bogotá, Colombia.

title: 1948

date: July 23

text: July 23 – The Avianca Building in Bogotá, Colombia, suffers a serious fire, in which four people are killed.

title: 1973

date: November 6

text: November 6 – Palace of Justice siege: Members of the 19th of April Movement (M-19) Marxist guerrilla group take over the Palace of Justice of Colombia in Bogotá and hold the Supreme Court hostage. Hours later, after a military raid, the incident leaves almost half of the 25 Supreme Court Justices dead.

title: 1985

date: May 29

text: May 29 – An attempted assassination of Miguel Maza Marquez, director of the Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad (DAS) in Bogotá, Colombia is committed by members of the Medellín Cartel, who kill four and injure 37.

title: 1989


slug: bohemia

label: Bohemia

description: historical region in the Czech Republic

year_label: 8 BCE

text: King Maroboduus becomes ruler of the Marcomanni and fights against the Roman Empire's expansion in Bohemia.

title: 0s BC

section: Events › 8 BC › Roman Empire

section: Religion & Belief

text: Heraclius invites the Croats, a Slavic tribe living in Galicia, Silesia, and Bohemia, to settle in Illyricum. They are given the land between the Drava River and the Adriatic Sea for ridding of Avars. The Serbs are allowed to move from their homeland north of the Carpathians to a territory east of the Croats. Heraclius asks Pope Honorius I to send missionaries to both groups.

title: 626

section: Events › By place › Byzantine Empire

text: The sovereignty of Svatopluk I, ruler (knyaz) of Moravia, is confirmed in Bohemia. Lusatia becomes a part of his kingdom (approximate date).

title: 890

section: Events › By place › Europe

section: Births

text: Wenceslaus I, duke of Bohemia (approximate date) (k. 935)

title: 907

date: September 15

text: September 15 – Ludmila, Bohemian duchess and widow of Bořivoj I, is murdered by her daughter-in-law Drahomíra at Tetín (modern Czech Republic). Ludmila will be canonised and become the patron saint of Bohemia and is venerated in the Orthodox and the Catholic Churches.

title: 921

section: Technology & Infrastructure

text: Intense urban activity in north and central Europe: Kalmar (Kungälv) and Varberg (Sweden) are chartered; The cities of Aach (southern Germany) and Nakléřov in Bohemia are created. The castle of Burg Eppstein is built in central Germany.

title: 1100

section: Deaths

date: September 1

text: September 1 – Świętosława of Poland, queen of Bohemia

title: 1126

text: Klenová Castle is constructed in southern Bohemia near the town of Klatovy (modern Czech Republic) as part of a frontier defense system.

title: 1291

text: Jan IV of Dražic, Bishop of Prague, founds a friary and builds a stone bridge at Roudnice in Bohemia.

title: 1333

section: Events › Date unknown

date: October 28

text: October 28 – The "False Olaf", a Bohemian immigrant who bore a resemblance to the late King Olaf of Denmark and Norway and impersonated the late monarch earlier in the year, is burned at the stake as punishment.

title: 1402

section: Events › October–December

date: March 10

text: March 10 – In Bohemia, Johannes Cardinalis von Bergreichenstein, rector of the University of Prague issues a proclamation declaring that the theological teachings of the late Jan Hus are doctrine confirmed for all Christians, leading to eventual condemnation by the Roman Catholic Church and the Pope for heresy.

title: 1417

date: March 25

text: March 25 – Hussite Wars After their offer of a surrender is refused, the outnumbered Hussites of Bohemia, led by Jan Zizka, defeat the invading Holy Roman Imperial forces at the Battle of Sudoměř fought near modern-day Čejetice in the Czech Republic.

title: 1420

date: April 24

text: April 24 – The Sedlec Abbey, a monastery for the Cistercians order in Bohemia, is looted and burned by Hussites led by Jan Žižka, and several of the monks inside are killed.

title: 1421

date: November 11

text: November 11 – The Battle of Kratzau takes place in Bohemia in what is now the city of Chrastava in the Czech Republic, as the Silesian troops of the Bohemian Crown Lands under of the Holy Roman Empire

title: 1428

date: January 4

text: January 4 – Prokop the Great, leader of the Hussites of Bohemia, appears at the Council of Basel with his envoys in order to negotiate and end to the anti-Hussite Crusade started by the Holy Roman Empire and the Pope.

title: 1433

date: May 1

text: May 1 – In Bohemia, Sion Castle near Kutná Hora in the modern-day Czech Republic is besieged by royal forces sent by the Emperor Sigismund of Luxembourg and commanded by his Hofmeister, Hynce Ptáček of Pirkštejn. The siege, defended by the Taborite Hussite Jan Roháč of Dubá, lasts for four months before succeeding.

title: 1437

date: September 20

text: September 20 – The siege of Sion Castle in Bohemia by the armies of the Emperor Sigismund of Luxembourg is successful.

title: 1437

date: September 3

text: September 3 – Prince George of Poděbrady, leader of the Hussites in Bohemia (now the Czech Republic) captures Prague after leading 9,000 of his troops from Kutná Hora.

title: 1448

date: November 26

text: November 26 – In Bohemia, Count Jaroslav Lev of Rožmitál departs from Prague along with 40 other Bohemian lords as part of King George's project of Establishment of Peace throughout Christendom.

title: 1465

text: The Bible of Kralice begins publication. The first complete translation of the Bible into the Czech language (with notes), it is prepared by the Unity of the Brethren, and published at Kralice nad Oslavou, Bohemia.

title: 1579

section: Climate & Environment

text: September 15 – The estimated 6.0 magnitude Neulengbach earthquake causes significant damage and some loss of life, in Lower Austria and Vienna; the effects are felt as far as Bohemia and Silesia.

title: 1590

date: July 9

text: July 9 – Bohemia is granted freedom of religion by a 'Letter of Majesty'.

title: 1609

date: August 5

text: August 5 – Thirty Years' War: Battle of Věstonice – Bohemian forces defeat the Austrians.

title: 1619

date: November 15

text: November 15 – King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden takes possession of Prague, capital of Bohemia.

title: 1631

date: April 14

text: April 14 – In the Battle of Chemnitz, Swedish forces under Johan Banér inflict a crushing defeat on the army of the Holy Roman Empire, prolonging the Thirty Years' War and allowing the Swedes to occupy Pirna and advance into Bohemia.

title: 1639

date: August 22

text: August 22 – Battle of Triebl: Imperial forces defeat the Swedes in a surprise attack in Bohemia.

title: 1647

date: July 19

text: July 19 – The last major battle of the Thirty Years' War, the Battle of Prague ends in a Swedish victory after three days of fighting over the army of Bohemia. The troops loot the Prague Castle and steal many of Bohemia's most valuable artifacts.

title: 1648

date: March 19

text: March 19 – John of Nepomuk (Jan Nepomucký) of Bohemia is canonized by Pope Benedict XIII more than 300 years after being tortured and drowned in 1393 by order of King Wenceslaus IV; John becomes patron saint of Roman Catholics in the Czech Republic.

title: 1729

date: December 18

text: December 18 – Queen Maria Theresa of Austria issues a proclamation to rid Bohemia of its Jewish residents, with the Jews to leave Prague over the next two weeks, and then to depart from Bohemia entirely in 1745.

title: 1744

date: April 21

text: April 21 – Battle of Reichenberg: Marshal Augustus William von Bevern enters Bohemia with a Prussian army (some 15,000 men). In Reichenberg he encounters the Austrians under the command of General Christian Moritz von Königsegg. Von Bevern defeats the Austrian troops and captures large quantities of supplies. He continues his advance on Prague.

title: 1757

date: June 18

text: June 18 – Seven Years' War: Battle of Kolín – Frederick is defeated by an Austrian army under Marshal Daun, forcing him to evacuate Bohemia.

title: 1757

section: Exploration & Expansion

text: July 19 – Beethoven and Goethe meet each other in Teplice, Bohemia.

title: 1812

date: October 5

text: October 5 – Josef Groll brews the first pilsner light lager beer in the city of Pilsen, Bohemia (the modern-day Czech Republic).

title: 1842

text: March 15 – German troops occupy the remaining part of Bohemia and Moravia; Czechoslovakia ceases to exist. The Ruthenian region of Czechoslovakia declares independence as Carpatho-Ukraine.

title: 1939


slug: bohemond-i-of-antioch

label: Bohemond I of Antioch

description: Prince of Taranto and Prince of Antioch

text: Bohemond I of Antioch, Italo-Norman nobleman (approximate date)

title: 1054

text: Spring – The Normans under Duke Robert Guiscard take Dyrrhachium (modern-day Durrës) in Illyria and advance inland, capturing most of Macedonia and Thessaly. Robert is forced to leave Greece to deal with an uprising in Italy. He leaves his son Bohemond in charge of the army, who lays siege to the city of Larissa. Emperor Alexios I Komnenos mobilizes a new army, and with the support of 7,000 Seljuk Turks he clears Thessaly from the Normans.

title: 1082

date: October

text: October – Bohemond I, Italo-Norman prince of Taranto (the son of Duke Robert Guiscard), departs to join the First Crusade. He crosses the Adriatic Sea from Brindisi with his army (some 4,000 men), and arrives in Vorë. While traveling, Bohemond gives strict orders not to plunder Byzantine villages.

title: 1096

section: Events › By place › First Crusade

text: Spring – The Crusaders under Godfrey of Bouillon attack the Byzantine imperial palace at Blachernae. Norman forces led by Bohemond I join the Crusaders – he is not welcome in Constantinople because his father, Robert Guiscard, has invaded Illyria (territory belonging to the Byzantine Empire), and captured the cities of Dyrrhachium and Corfu (see 1084).

title: 1097

date: February 9

text: February 9 – Battle of the Lake of Antioch: The Crusaders under Bohemond I defeat a Seljuk relief force (some 12,000 men) led by Sultan Fakhr al-Mulk Radwan of Aleppo. Bohemond gathers 700 knights, and marches in the night to ambush the Seljuk Turks at the Lake of Antioch (modern Turkey). After several successful cavalry charges the Crusaders rout the Seljuk army, forcing Radwan to retreat back to Aleppo.

title: 1098

date: January 16

text: January 16 – The Crusaders, under Raymond IV, count of Toulouse (Raymond of Saint-Gilles), leave Antioch, and head south towards Jerusalem. They are joined by forces of Tancred (a nephew of Bohemond I) and Robert II, duke of Normandy. Raymond is given free passage and supplies, and accepts guides from the Emir of Shaizar (modern Syria), who conducts the army (6,000 men) across the Orontes River (between Shaizar and Hama).

title: 1099

date: August

text: August – Battle of Melitene: Bohemond I of Antioch is captured by the Danishmends, leaving Tancred as regent of the Principality of Antioch for two years.

title: 1100

section: Events › By place › Levant

text: Summer – The Byzantine fleet under Admiral Eustathios recaptures the ports of western Cilicia, Seleucia and Corycus. Eustathios extends his power over Cilician territory (belonging to Bohemond I) further east – occupying Tarsus, Adana and Mamistra.

title: 1101

section: Crime & Justice

text: Raymond IV is imprisoned by Tancred, nephew of Bohemond I, and regent of the Principality of Antioch (he is later released after promising to denounce any claims).

title: 1102

text: Spring – Bohemond I, Norman prince of Antioch, is released from Seljuk imprisonment at Niksar, after a ransom is paid of 100,000 gold pieces. During his absence, Tancred (Bohemond's nephew) attacks the Byzantines, and re-captures the cities of Tarsus, Adana and Mamistra in Cilicia. Tancred is deprived of his lordship by Bohemond's return, and is rewarded with a small fief within the Principality of Antioch.

title: 1103

text: Summer – The Byzantines re-occupy the Cilician cities of Tarsus, Adana and Mamistra. A naval squadron, under Admiral Cantacuzenus, pursues in Cypriot waters a Genoese raiding fleet, and sails on to Latakia, where they capture the harbour and the lower city. Bohemond I reinforces the garrison in the citadel.

title: 1104

text: Bohemond I, Norman prince of Antioch, arrives in Apulia (Southern Italy) after an absence of 9 years. He travels to Rome and meets Pope Paschal II. His cousin, Roger II becomes count of Sicily.

title: 1105

text: Spring – Bohemond I, prince of Antioch, marries Constance of France (daughter of King Philip I) in the cathedral of Chartres. Philip agrees to marry his second daughter, the 9-year-old Cecile of France, to Tancred (nephew of Bohemond). Meanwhile, Bohemond mobilises an expeditionary force (some 30,000 men) to begin a campaign against Emperor Alexios I.

title: 1106

date: October 9

text: October 9 – Bohemond I, prince of Antioch, lands with his army (some 34,000 men) in Epirus near Avlona. He plunders the countryside and marches to Dyrrhachium (modern Albania).

title: 1107

date: September

text: September – Siege of Dyrrhachium: Italo-Norman forces under Bohemond I lift the siege due to illness and lack of supplies. Bohemond becomes a vassal of the Byzantine Empire by signing the Treaty of Devol.

title: 1108


slug: bolesaw-i-the-brave

label: Bolesław I the Brave

description: first King of Poland (967–1025)

date: May 25

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

date: April 23

text: April 23 – Adalbert, exiled bishop of Prague, organises a mission to convert the Old Prussians in north-east Poland. On his way, Adalbert is murdered by pagans on the Baltic coast. His body is bought back for its weight in gold by Duke Bolesław I (the Brave).

title: 997

section: Events › By topic › Religion

text: In continental Europe, the Holy Roman Empire established itself as the most powerful state. The Holy Roman Emperor Otto III made a pilgrimage from Rome to Aachen and Gniezno (Gnesen), stopping at Regensburg, Meissen, Magdeburg, and Gniezno. The Congress of Gniezno (with Bolesław I the Brave) was part of his pilgrimage. In Rome, he built the basilica of San Bartolomeo all'Isola, to host the relics of St. Bartholomew.

title: AD 1000

section: Events › Christendom

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

text: Bolesław I the Brave begins ruling parts of Slovakia.

title: 1001

section: Conflict & Security

text: February 9 – Boleslaus III is restored to authority with armed support from Duke Bolesław I (the Brave) of Poland. The following months, Boleslaus' brothers Jaromír and Oldřich flee to Germany and place themselves under the protection of King Henry II, while Boleslaus orders the massacre of his Bohemian leading nobles at Vyšehrad.

title: 1003

text: German–Polish War: Duke Bolesław I of Poland loses Bohemia. With German support, Jaromír occupies Prague and proclaims himself the new duke. At Merseburg, he promises to hold Bohemia as a vassal of Henry II.

title: 1004

text: King Henry II of Germany signs a peace treaty at Merseburg with Duke Bolesław I the Brave) of Poland. As part of the treaty, Bolesław pays homage and recognizes Henry as his overlord in exchange for receiving the March of Lusatia (including the town of Bautzen) and the March of Meissen as fiefs. To seal their peace, Bolesław's son Mieszko II marries Richeza of Lotharingia (granddaughter of the late Emperor Otto II).

title: 1013

text: Emperor Henry II launches a German expedition against Duke Bolesław I the Brave. He invades Poland, but is stopped by Bolesław's forces at Krosno, on the Oder River.

title: 1015

date: January 30

text: January 30 – The Peace of Bautzen: Emperor Henry II signs a peace treaty with Bolesław I the Brave, Duke of Poland, ending the German–Polish War. Poland keeps Lusatia – the Holy Roman Empire keeps Bohemia. With this peace agreement, Bolesław redirects his forces on an offensive against the Kievan Rus'.

title: 1018

date: April 18

text: April 18 – Bolesław I the Brave is crowned in Gniezno as the first King of Poland. He takes advantage of the interregnum in Germany (see 1024) and receives permission for his coronation from Pope John XIX; however, he dies 60 days later.

title: 1025

section: Events

date: June 17

text: June 17 – Mieszko II Lambert becomes the second King of Poland after the sudden death of his father, King Bolesław I the Brave

title: 1025


slug: bolesaw-iii-wrymouth

label: Bolesław III Wrymouth

description: duke of Poland between 1107 and 1138

date: August 20

text: August 20 – Bolesław III Wrymouth, duke of Poland (d. 1138)

title: 1086

date: June 4

text: June 4 – Władysław I Herman, duke of Poland, dies at Płock (possibly poisoned by his enemies) after a 23-year reign. He leaves the succession to be disputed between his sons Zbigniew and Bolesław III Wrymouth.

title: 1102

text: Bolesław III, duke of Poland, begins a civil war against his half-brother Zbigniew, for control over Lesser Poland and Silesia.

title: 1106

text: Spring – Duke Bolesław III along with his ally King Coloman of Hungary, invades Bohemia in order to aid Duke Svatopluk in gaining the Bohemian throne. The Polish expedition is a complete success: on May 14 Svatopluk is installed as Duke of Bohemia in Prague. King Henry V demands tribute from Svatopluk as his overlord and vassal of the Holy Roman Empire.

title: 1107

date: August 10

text: August 10 – Battle of Nakło: Bolesław III leads an expedition into Pomerania. He besieges the castle of Nakło and defeats a Pomeranian relief force.

title: 1109

section: Religion & Belief

text: Duke Bolesław III Wrymouth of Poland has his half-brother Zbigniew blinded and thrown into a dungeon in Tyniec Abbey. Archbishop Martin I excommunicates Bolesław for committing this terrible crime.

title: 1112

section: Culture & Society

date: August 15

text: August 15 – Emperor Lothair III receives homage from Eric II, and makes him an imperial prince at the Reichstag. His diplomatic missions to Hungary and Poland result in a tribute payment. Duke Bolesław III Wrymouth is given Pomerania and Rügen as German fiefs.

title: 1135

date: October 20

text: October 20 – Bolesław III Wrymouth dies after a 31-year reign. He divides Poland among his sons: Władysław II the Exile receives Silesia and the Senioral territories – which include the Kraków and Łęczyca regions, as well as parts of Kujawy and Greater Poland (Wielkopolska). Bolesław IV the Curly receives Masovia and Mieszko III the Old receives the newly established Duchy of Greater Poland. The 7-year-old Henry becomes duke of Sandomierz. Bolesław's last son, Casimir II the Just], receives nothing, as he is born 8 days after his father's death.

title: 1138

date: October 28

text: October 28 – Bolesław III (Wrymouth), duke of Poland (b. 1086)

title: 1138

text: The Teutonic Knights undertake a new Crusade, attempting to subdue the pagan Prussians, who occupy a part of the Baltic coast. They are invited to Poland by High Duke Konrad I of Masovia, a grandson of Bolesław III Wrymouth. Their task is to defend Masovia against raids of the Prussians. After defeating them, the German knights set up their own state, which they named after the pagan people they have all but annihilated – Prussia.

title: 1226


slug: bolivia

label: Bolivia

description: sovereign state in South America

year_label: 200 BCE

text: The city of Tiwanaku is founded as a village near Lake Titicaca in modern Bolivia (approximate date).

title: 200 BC

section: Events › By place › South America

date: April 1

text: April 1 – Potosí is founded by the Spanish as a mining town after the discovery of huge silver deposits in this area of modern-day Bolivia. Silver mined from Huayna Potosí Mountain provides most of the wealth on which the Spanish Empire is based until its fall in the early 19th century.

title: 1545

section: Events › April–June

text: October 20 – The city of La Paz, Bolivia, is founded.

title: 1548

text: The first Spanish galleon, laden with silver for the porcelain and silk trade with the Ming Dynasty of China, lands at Manila in the Philippines. This occasion marks the beginning of the Spanish silver trade to China, that will trump that of the Portuguese, the latter of whom acted as an intermediary between the silver mines of Japan, and the luxury items in China to be purchased with that silver. Most of the silver entering China comes from what is now Mexico, Bolivia, and Peru in the New World.

title: 1573

date: April 2

text: April 2 – 1582 Ancuancu earthquake: Ancuancu (in modern-day La Paz Department, Bolivia) is struck by an earthquake that reportedly buries all of the inhabitants, except for one chief, who reportedly loses the ability to speak. On the place where the village had stood, the Jacha Kalla (Achocalla) valley is formed as a result of the earthquake.

title: 1582

date: April 15

text: April 15 – The University of Saint Francis Xavier is founded in Bolivia.

title: 1624

date: July 16

text: July 16 – The city of La Paz (in modern-day Bolivia) declares its independence from the Spanish Crown and forms the Junta Tuitiva, the first independent government in Spanish America, led by Pedro Domingo Murillo.

title: 1809

section: Events › July–September

date: July 9

text: July 9 – The United Provinces of South America (today Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia and southern Brazil) declares independence from Spain.

title: 1816

date: August 6

text: August 6 – Bolivia gains its independence from Spain as a republic, at the instigation of Simón Bolívar.

title: 1825

date: March 18

text: March 18 – Simón Bolívar, President of Colombia (and former President of Venezuela, Peru and Bolivia), departs from the capital at Bogotá in order to help his ally, General José Antonio Páez, suppress an uprising near the Venezuelan border, but is sidetracked by another rebellion in Cartagena.

title: 1828

section: Events › January–March

date: March 24

text: March 24 – A Chilean prospecting party led by José Díaz Gana discovers the silver ores of Caracoles in the Bolivian portion of Atacama Desert, leading to the last of Chilean silver rushes and a diplomatic dispute over its taxation between Chile and Bolivia.

title: 1870

section: Events › March

date: April 4

text: April 4 – The Treaty of Valparaiso, an armistice between Chile and Bolivia, ends the War of the Pacific; Bolivia is obliged to cede Antofagasta to Chile, leaving Bolivia as a landlocked country.

title: 1884

section: Events › April

date: November 6

text: November 6 – Western bandits Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid are supposedly killed in Bolivia, after being surrounded by a large group of soldiers. There are many rumors to the contrary however, and their grave sites are unmarked.

title: 1908

section: Events › November

date: September 9

text: September 9 – Beginning of the Chaco War between Paraguay and Bolivia because of delimitation problems and others.

title: 1932

section: Events › September

date: May 10

text: May 10 – Chaco War: Paraguay formally declares war on Bolivia.

title: 1933

section: Events › May

date: June 12

text: June 12 – The Chaco War between Paraguay and Bolivia ends.

title: 1935

section: Events › June

date: May 15

text: May 15 – A military coup occurs in Bolivia.

title: 1951

text: April 18 – Bolivia National Revolution: A universal vote enables indigenous peoples and women to vote, nationalizes mines and enacts agrarian reform.

title: 1952

section: Events › March–April

date: September 24

text: September 24 – The Cochabamba–Santa Cruz highway connecting western and eastern Bolivia is inaugurated.

title: 1954

date: November 17

text: November 17 – French author Régis Debray is sentenced to 30 years imprisonment in Bolivia. (He will be released in 1970 after less than three years imprisonment.)

title: 1967

date: October 8

text: October 8 – Guerrilla leader Che Guevara and his men are captured in Bolivia; they are executed the following day.

title: 1967

section: Events › October

date: December 23

text: December 23 – The Bolivian government releases Régis Debray.

title: 1970

section: Events › December

date: November 9

text: November 9 – Gen. Hugo Banzer, president of the military government of Bolivia, announces that the constitutional democracy will be restored in 1978 instead of 1980 as previously provided.

title: 1977

section: Economy & Finance

date: January 1

text: January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency.

title: 1987

section: Events › January

date: April 21

text: April 21 – The Supreme Court in La Paz, Bolivia, sentences former dictator Luis Garcia Meza to 30 years in jail without parole for murder, theft, fraud and violating the constitution.

title: 1993

date: July 13

text: July 13 – The remains of Che Guevara are returned to Cuba for burial, alongside some of his comrades. Guevara and his comrades were executed on October 9 1967 in Bolivia.

title: 1997

section: Events › July

date: August 3

text: August 3 – Bolivia becomes the first South American country to declare the right of indigenous people to govern themselves.

title: 2009

section: Events › August


slug: bologna

label: Bologna

description: city and commune in Emilia-Romagna, Italy

year_label: 534 BCE

section: Exploration & Expansion

text: The Etruscan founded the city of Felsina, that later will become the modern city of Bologna.

title: 534 BC

section: Events › By place › Europe

year_label: 43 BCE

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

date: November 26

text: November 26 – Octavian meets Antony and Lepidus in Bononia and the three enter into an official five-year autocratic pact, the Second Triumvirate (see lex Titia). To cement their reconciliation Octavian agrees to marry Claudia, a daughter of Antony's wife Fulvia by her former husband Publius Clodius Pulcher.

title: 43 BC

section: Events › By place › Roman Republic

section: Conflict & Security

text: King Liutprand takes advantage of the anti-imperial turmoil. He conquers Bologna and other cities beyond the Po River (Northern Italy). The Lombards take "Classis", the strategic seaport of Ravenna, and overrun the Pentapolis.

title: AD 727

text: Arnulf of Carinthia crosses the Po River and divides his army in two: one corps (Swabian) proceeds to Florence (via Bologna), while the other corps (Franks) moves through the Lunigiana to the precincts of Rome.

title: 895

section: Culture & Society

text: The Two Towers in Bologna are completed.

title: 1119

section: Events › By topic › Technology

text: Confronted with internal strife, the commune of Bologna is the first Italian republic to turn to the rule of a podestà, Guido di Ranieri da Sasso (it ends in 1155).

title: 1151

section: Events

date: May 26

text: May 26 – Battle of Fossalta: King Enzo of Sardinia, an illegitimate son of Emperor Frederick II, is captured and imprisoned by Lombard forces, in a clash between the Guelphs and Ghibellines. Enzo is put in golden chains and paraded around Bologna on a horse. He becomes a prisoner in a palace, named Palazzo Re Enzo.

title: 1249

section: Religion & Belief

date: August 25

text: August 25 – In Bologna, slavery and serfdom are abolished; this event is recorded in the document called Liber Paradisus (or Heaven Book).

title: 1256

section: Events › By topic › Religion

section: Technology & Infrastructure

text: The technology of watermarks is introduced by paper manufacturers of Bologna, Italy.

title: 1282

date: October 29

text: October 29 – Archbishop Cassone della Torre of Milan is exiled to Bologna by his cousin Guido, who is later excommunicated.

title: 1309

section: Events › October – December

section: Crime & Justice

date: July 8

text: July 8 – In Italy, Francesco I Pico, Lord of Mirandola, is captured at Baggiovara by Guelph rebels in Bologna, while on his way home to Mirandola after being invested by the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry VII as imperial vicar. Pico is imprisoned for the next nine months before being released to resume his Lordship.

title: 1312

section: Events › July – September

date: November 15

text: November 15 – War of the Bucket: At the Battle of Zappolino in northern Italy, the 7,000-man Ghibelline forces backed by the Holy Roman Empire defeat the much stronger (32,000-men) Guelph army under sent by Pope John XXII near Bologna. After the battle, Ghibelline influence in the region is consolidated.

title: 1325

date: August 21

text: August 21 – Pope Gregory XI agrees to acknowledge the right of existence of the Bolognese Republic as autonomous within, and separate from, the other Papal States.

title: 1377

date: June 7

text: June 7 – Construction begins on San Petronio Basilica in Bologna.

title: 1390

section: Deaths

date: June 26

text: June 26 – Battle of Casalecchio: Gian Galeazzo Visconti, the Duke of Milan, crushes the forces of Bologna and Florence. He dies from a fever less than three months later.

title: 1402

date: March 14

text: March 14 – Braccio da Montone is awarded Governorship of Bologna by Pope Martin V in recognition of his ouster of Antongaleazzo Bentivoglio.

title: 1419

date: July 11

text: July 11 – In Italy, a group of about 100 Romani people, described as "Gypsies" arrive in Bologna with a stated intention of traveling to Rome to meet the Pope. Their leader, calling himself "Duke Andrea", shows to local officials a decree allegedly signed by the King of Hungary that is said to grant them the right to commit robberies "without penalty or penance" wherever they travel, as a reward for 4,000 gypsies being re-baptized into the Christian faith.

title: 1422

date: June 24

text: June 24 – Annibale I Bentivoglio, the ruler of the semi-independent Lordship of Bologna since 1443, is assassinated by the rival Canneschi family, with the support of Pope Eugene IV.

title: 1445

date: November 13

text: November 13 – In Italy, Sante Bentivoglio, who had recently been "working in the wool industry in Florence under another name" becomes the ruler of Bologna at age 20 when he is named as guardian of the young child of the recently-assassinated Annibale I Bentivoglio

title: 1446

section: Events › October–December

date: January 25

text: January 25 – (5 Adar 5242) The first printing of the Torah by movable type, in the original Hebrew language, is made in Bologna, marking the first use of the Hebrew alphabet rather than the Roman alphabet in printing.

title: 1482

text: November 6 – Pope Julius II personally leads his troops into Bologna, retaking the city from the excommunicated tyrant Giovanni II Bentivoglio.

title: 1506

date: October 7

text: October 7 – Pope Julius II issues a bull excommunicating Giovanni II Bentivoglio from the Roman Catholic Church, who had dominated the Italian city state of Bologna.

title: 1506

date: May 23

text: May 23 – French troops capture the Italian city of Bologna after a two-day battle.

title: 1511

date: December 18

text: December 18 – King Francis I of France, victorious in the battle of Marignano in Italy and the new ruler of Milan, begins four days of meetings in Bologna with Pope Leo X. King Francis agrees to ensure the Pope's authority over the Catholic Church in France, and Leo promises to support Francis' claim to the throne of Naples.

title: 1515

date: February 18

text: February 18 – After two months in Bologna, part of the Papal States in Italy, Pope Leo X concludes two months of negotiation with King François I of France. Their talks result in the abrogation of the French Pragmatic Sanction, and the conclusion of a new Concordat between the Papacy and France.

title: 1516

section: Science & Discovery

text: Jacopo Berengario da Carpi publishes Commentaria cum amplissimus additionibus super anatomiam Mundini in Bologna, including observation of the vermiform appendix.

title: 1521

section: Events › Date unknown

date: February 24

text: February 24 – Charles V is crowned emperor in Bologna, by Pope Clement VII.

title: 1530

date: January 21

text: January 21 – Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, issues letters from his winter residence in Bologna, inviting members of the Imperial Diet to convene at Augsburg on April 8 to discuss various theological questions.

title: 1530

date: December 26

text: December 26 – Pope Julius III issues a papal brief revoking resolutions passed by the colegii Papal State of Bologna in Italy.

title: 1552

text: November 13 – Italian artist Guido Reni's famous Pietà, commissioned by the Senate of Bologna, is placed on the greater altar of the church of Santa Maria della Pietà.

title: 1616

section: Events › November-December

date: June 9

text: June 9 – Maria Dalle Donne, Bolognese physician (b. 1778)

title: 1842

section: Deaths › January–June

text: June 24 – The Permanent Peoples' Tribunal, an international opinion tribunal, is founded in Bologna at the initiative of Senator Lelio Basso.

title: 1979


slug: bombay

label: Bombay

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

text: Gautamiputra Satakarni, a king of the Andhra dynasty, conquers the Konkan near Bombay. He then controls central India from coast to coast.

title: AD 125

section: Events › By place › Asia

section: Exploration & Expansion

date: March 27

text: March 27 – King Charles II of England signs an agreement with representatives of the English East India Company to lease the Indian city of Bombay (modern-day Mumbai) to the company for a rent of 10 pounds sterling per year, with transfer taking effect on September 21.

title: 1668

section: Events › January–March

date: October 3

text: October 3 – In India, Chhatrapati Shivaji maharaj, the ruler of the Maratha Empire, leads an attack on the British settlement at Surat near Bombay. British Governor Gerald Aungier secures the British fortress at Surat and saves the lives and property of British citizens.

title: 1670

date: March 6

text: March 6 – Raghunathrao, Peshwa of the Maratha Empire in India, signs the Treaty of Surat with the British Governor-General Warren Hastings in Bombay ceding the territories of Salsette and Bassein to the British East India Company along with part of the revenues from Surat and Bharuch districts in return for military assistance. This leads to the First Anglo-Maratha War fought between the British and the Marathas, ending with the Treaty of Salbai in 1782.

title: 1775

section: Events › January–June

date: October 17

text: October 17 – The frigate is launched in Bombay for the British Royal Navy. She will still be afloat two centuries later.

title: 1817

text: October 17 – The first Parsi-Muslim riot begins in Bombay, India.

title: 1851

date: April 16

text: April 16 – Indian Railways: The first passenger railway in India opens from Bombay to Thana, Maharashtra, 22 mi km.

title: 1853

section: Events › April–June

section: Climate & Environment

date: June 6

text: June 6 – Supposedly, the Bombay Cyclone of 1882 in the Arabian Sea causes flooding in Bombay harbor, leaving about 100,000 dead; this alleged event has, however, been proved a hoax.

title: 1882

section: Events › June

date: December 28

text: December 28 – 72 Indian lawyers, academics and journalists gather in Bombay to form the Congress Party.

title: 1885

section: Events › December

date: September 4

text: September 4 – Mohandas Gandhi embarks on the SS Clyde from Bombay for London.

title: 1888

section: Events › September

date: December 16

text: December 16 – The Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Bombay (now Mumbai), India opens.

title: 1903

section: Disasters & Accidents

text: February 24 – The Austrian Lloyd steamship Imperatrix, from Trieste to Bombay, is wrecked on Cape of Crete and sinks; 137 lives are lost.

title: 1907

section: Events › February

date: March 10

text: March 10 – Mahatma Gandhi is arrested in Bombay for sedition.

title: 1922

section: Events › March

date: August 9

text: August 9 – Indian leader Mohandas Gandhi is arrested in Bombay, by British forces.

title: 1942

section: Events › August

date: April 14

text: April 14 – Bombay Explosion: Freighter SS Fort Stikine, carrying a mixed cargo of ammunition, cotton bales and gold, explodes in harbour at Bombay (India), sinking surrounding ships and killing around 1,300 people.

title: 1944

section: Events › April

text: September 4 – Street violence between Muslims and Hindus erupts in Bombay.

title: 1946

date: January 1

text: January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213.

title: 1978

section: Events › January


slug: bordeaux

label: Bordeaux

description: city and commune in Gironde, New Aquitaine, France

section: Religion & Belief

text: A synod is held in Bordeaux (France).

title: 384

section: Events › By topic › Religion

section: Conflict & Security

text: The Visigoths, led by King Ataulf, conquer the towns of Toulouse and Bordeaux by force of arms. After a successful siege of Valence, he captures the usurper Jovinus and his brother Sebastianus. In Narbonne they are executed and their heads are sent to Honorius' court at Ravenna.

title: 413

section: Events › By place › Roman Empire

text: Priscus Attalus is proclaimed rival emperor by the Visigoths for a second time at Bordeaux, in order to impose their terms on Honorius, who has his residence in Ravenna.

title: 414

text: Charles Martel, Merovingian mayor of the palace, invades Burgundy. Duke Hunald I of Aquitaine refuses to recognise the authority of the Franks, whereupon Charles marches south of the River Loire, seizing the cities of Bordeaux and Blaye. Within 4 years he will have subdued all the Burgundian chieftains, while continuing to fight off Moorish advances into Gaul.

title: 735

section: Events › By place › Europe

text: The Franks, under King Pepin III ("the Short"), destroy resistance in central Aquitaine. They conquer the capital of Bordeaux, and devastate the whole region.

title: AD 767

text: King Charlemagne (Charles "the Great") begins a military campaign against the Duchy of Aquitaine and the Duchy of Gascony. He leads a Frankish army to the city of Bordeaux, where he sets up a fort at Fronsac. His younger brother Carloman I refuses to help his brother fight the rebels, and returns to Burgundy. Hunald, duke of Aquitaine, is forced to flee to the court of Gascony. Lupus II, fearing Charlemagne, turns Hunald over in exchange for peace, and is put in a monastery. Aquitaine and Gascony are subdued into the Frankish Kingdom.

title: 769

text: Summer – Bordeaux, capital of Aquitaine, falls into the hands of Viking raiders. King Charles the Bald sends a Frankish fleet to lift the siege. Despite destroying some Viking longships on the Dordogne River, they fail to save the city. The Abbey of Saint-Pierre in Brantôme is sacked.

title: 848

date: July 25

text: July 25 – Louis VI sends his 16-year-old son Louis Capet with an escort of 500 knights to Bordeaux, along with Abbot Suger in charge of the wedding arrangements. Louis and Eleanor are married in the Cathedral of Saint-André. France unites Aquitaine and its territories to the Pyrenees.

title: 1137

date: August 25

text: August 25 – Eager to make peace with Aymer Taillefer, count of Angoulême, John marries 15-year-old Isabella of Angoulême at Bordeaux. In order to remarry, John needs to abandon his first wife, Isabella of Gloucester. John accomplishes this by arguing that he has failed to get the necessary papal dispensation to marry Isabella of Gloucester.

title: 1200

date: March 23

text: March 23 – Prince Richard of Cornwall, brother of King Henry III of England, and his uncle William Longsword, Earl of Salisbury, depart England on with 77 warriors on an expedition to fight in Aquitaine in France, and soon land at Bordeaux, then on to capture La Rochelle. As the expedition progresses, Richard's expedition captures La Réole and Bergerac by November.

title: 1225

section: Events › January – March

date: July 21

text: July 21–22 – Battle of Taillebourg: French forces (some 25,000 men) under King Louis IX (the Saint) defeat King Henry III at the bridge over the Charente River near Taillebourg. After the battle, Louis continues to pursue the English troops, capturing many prisoners. Henry retreats with the remnants of his army to Bordeaux, where he spends the winter.

title: 1242

date: May 20

text: May 20 – Treaty of Paris: King Philip the Fair of France signs a peace treaty with Edward Longshanks, King of England. According to the terms of the treaty, Gascony is restored to England – as well as the cities of Bordeaux and Bayonne. In return, Edward swears allegiance to Philip as his vassal and agrees that Philipp's daughter, Isabella of France, be married to his son Edward of Caernarfon, until she is old enough.

title: 1303

date: October 5

text: October 5–December 2 – Hundred Years' War: Black Prince's chevauchée of 1355 – A large mounted Anglo-Gascon force under the command of Edward the Black Prince marches from Bordeaux in English-held Gascony 300 miles (480 km) south to Narbonne and back, devastating a wide swathe of French territory.

title: 1355

section: Events

date: January 25

text: January 25 – King Charles of France sends a summons to Edward the Black Prince, who is residing at Bordeaux, demanding that Edward appear before the King in Paris to answer for Edward's assessment of taxes on the people of Aquitaine. The Black Prince reportedly responds with the threat "We will willingly attend at Paris on the day appointed since the King of France sends for us, but it shall be with our helmet on our head and 60,000 men in our company".

title: 1369

section: Health & Medicine

date: June 27

text: June 27 – Hundred Years' War: The English, weakened by the plague, lose so much ground to the French that they agree to sign the Treaty of Bruges, leaving them with only the coastal towns of Calais, Bordeaux and Bayonne.

title: 1375

date: March 21

text: March 21 – John Minsterworth, who had plotted a French invasion of the Kingdom of England in conjunction with France's King Charles V, is arrested in Pamplona, and letters to him regarding the proposed invasion are discovered. Minsterworth is taken first to Bordeaux in France and then returned for imprisonment in the Tower of London, where he reveals plans for a May 1378 invasion by the French Navy. Convicted of treason, he is executed on April 12 and his body is drawn and quartered.

title: 1377

date: June 7

text: June 7 – The University of Bordeaux is established by Pope Eugene IV while Bordeaux is under the control of France. Closed in 1793 during the French Revolution, it will reopen in 1896 and continue to be in existence 280 years later.

title: 1441

date: June 30

text: June 30 – French troops under Jean de Dunois invade Guyenne, and capture Bordeaux.

title: 1451

date: October 23

text: October 23 – The Earl of Shrewsbury and his army capture Bordeaux, capital of Gascony, after having taken back most of the province without resistance.

title: 1452

section: Events › October–December

date: May 15

text: May 15 – King Henri II of France makes a triumphant return to Paris after suppressing the Revolt of the Pitauds in Bordeaux.

title: 1549

date: April 10

text: April 10 – France's Minister of the Navy Nicolas René Berryer finally receives permission to send ships to assist French forces at Quebec, and a fleet of six ships under the command of Captain François Chenard de la Giraudais of the departs Bordeaux, albeit too late to prevent the loss of New France to the British.

title: 1760

section: Crime & Justice

date: July 1

text: July 1 – The comic ballet La fille mal gardée, choreographed by Jean Dauberval, is first presented under the title Le ballet de la paille, at the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux, at Bordeaux, France.

title: 1789

section: Events › July–September

date: February 8

text: February 8 – 1871 French legislative election elects the first legislature of the French Third Republic; monarchists (Legitimists and Orleanists) favourable to peace with the German Empire gain a large majority. The National Assembly meets in Bordeaux.

title: 1871

section: Technology & Infrastructure

date: September 24

text: September 24–October 3 – the Automobile Club de France sponsors the longest race to date, a 1710 km mi event, from Bordeaux to Agen and back. Because it is held in ten stages, it can be considered the first rally. The first three places are taken by two Panhards and a three-wheeler De Dion-Bouton.

title: 1895

date: May 24

text: May 24 – The Paris–Madrid race for automobiles begins, during which at least eight people are killed; the French government stops the event at Bordeaux and impounds all of the competitors' cars.

title: 1903

section: Events › May


slug: boris-i-of-bulgaria

label: Boris I of Bulgaria

description: Bulgarian ruler

section: Deaths

text: Presian I, ruler (khan) of the Bulgarian Empire, dies after a 23-year reign in which the Bulgarians have expanded into Upper Macedonia and Serbia. He is succeeded by his son Boris I, as monarch of Bulgaria.

title: 852

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

text: King Charles the Bald bribes Boris I, ruler (khan) of the Bulgarian Empire, to form an alliance against his brother Louis the German, with Rastislav of Moravia.

title: 853

text: Croatian–Bulgarian battle: Bulgarian Khan (later Knyaz) Boris I, attacks the Duchy of Littoral Croatia, ruled by Duke Trpimir I during the First Croatian-Bulgarian War. It is fought on the Croatian territory in the vicinity of the Croatian–Bulgarian border in present-day northeastern Bosnia and Herzegovina. None of the warring sides emerges victorious, Bulgarian forces retreat and finally both parties subsequently conclude a peace treaty.

title: 854

text: The Byzantine Empire invades Bulgaria in order to impose Orthodox Christianity on Boris I.

title: 863

text: The Christianization of Bulgaria begins: Boris I, Knyaz of the Bulgarian Empire, is converted to Orthodox Christianity. His family and high-ranking dignitaries accept the Orthodox faith at the capital, Pliska - from this point onwards the rulers of the Bulgarian Empire are known as ‘Tsars’ rather than ‘Khans’.

title: 864

text: Boris I, ruler (knyaz) of the Bulgarian Empire, suppresses a revolt, and orders the execution of 52 leading boyars, along with their whole families.

title: 865

text: Boris I, ruler (knyaz) of the Bulgarian Empire, sends a diplomatic mission, led by the Bulgarian nobleman Peter, to Rome, in an effort to renew ties with the West.

title: 866

date: April 16

text: April 16 – The city of Belgrade is first mentioned in a papal letter to Boris I, ruler (khan) of the Bulgarian Empire.

title: 878

section: Culture & Society

text: Boris I, ruler (khan) of the Bulgarian Empire, establishes the Preslav and Ohrid Literary Schools.

title: 886

text: Boris I, ruler (khan) of the Bulgarian Empire, abdicates the throne after a 37-year reign, and retires to a monastery. He is succeeded by his eldest son Vladimir, as monarch of Bulgaria. Vladimir falls under the influence of the old boyars; many remain anti-Christian and anti-Byzantine. He attempts to restore the former Frankish alliance, and to reestablish paganism.

title: 889

text: Vladimir, ruler (khan) of the Bulgarian Empire, is dethroned by his father Boris I, with help from loyal boyars. He is blinded, and succeeded by his brother Simeon I, as prince of Bulgaria; the capital is moved from Pliska to Preslav. Simeon makes an alliance with the Pechenegs (or Patzinaks), a semi-nomad Turkic tribe from the Central Asian steppes.

title: 893

date: May 2

text: May 2 – Boris I, ruler (knyaz) of the Bulgarian Empire

title: 907


slug: bosnia-and-herzegovina

label: Bosnia and Herzegovina

description: country in Southeast Europe

section: Exploration & Expansion

text: Winter – Hun and Roman envoys meet at Margum (modern Bosnia and Herzegovina), an important market town on the Sava River. After negotiations, Attila and his brother Bleda, who are present, accept a four-point peace plan. Trading rights between the two states are confirmed and emperor Theodosius II pays an annual tribute of 700 pounds of gold.

title: 439

section: Events › By place › Byzantium

text: The Balkans are freely overrun by the Slavs, who settle in large numbers in what is now Bulgaria, Serbia, North Macedonia and parts of Greece. The western territories of modern-day Yugoslavia (Bosnia, Croatia and Dalmatia) suffer raids from the Avars, who settle in this region.

title: 615

title: 854

text: Battle of the Bosnian Highlands: Bulgarian forces under Duke Alogobotur are ambushed and defeated by a Croatian army of King Tomislav, in the mountainous area of Eastern Bosnia. Tsar Simeon I meets his first defeat against Croatia, but overruns the Western Balkans several times.

title: 926

text: Croatian–Bulgarian War: Emperor Samuel launches a military campaign against the Kingdom of Croatia to prevent an alliance between the Serbian principality and the Byzantines. He seizes Dyrrachium (modern-day Durrës in Albania) and advances along the Dalmatian coast. The Bulgarian army is forced to withdraw into Croatian hinterlands (now part of Bosnia and Herzegovina), after the Siege of Zadar.

title: 998

section: Births

text: Ban Kulin, ruler of Bosnia (d. 1204)

title: 1163

date: August 29

text: August 29 – Ban Kulin, Bosnian ruler, writes the Charter of Ban Kulin, which becomes a symbolic "birth certificate" of Bosnian language and statehood.

title: 1189

section: Events › By place › Continental Europe

date: November

text: November – Ban Kulin, ruler of Bosnia (b. 1163)

title: 1204

text: Sarajevo, capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is founded by the Ottomans.

title: 1461

section: Events › Date unknown

date: October 6

text: October 6 – The Bosnian crisis begins, after the Austro-Hungarian Empire annexes Bosnia and Herzegovina from the Ottoman Empire.

title: 1908

section: Events › October

date: March 31

text: March 31 – Serbia accepts Austrian control over Bosnia and Herzegovina.

title: 1909

section: Events › March–April

date: June 28

text: June 28 – Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria: Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip, 19, assassinates Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife, Duchess Sophie, in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, triggering the July Crisis overnight and eventually World War I. Anti-Serb riots in Sarajevo and Zagreb break out.

title: 1914

section: Events › June

date: August 16

text: August 16 – WWI: The Allies promise the Kingdom of Serbia, should victory be achieved over Austria-Hungary and its allied Central Powers, the territories of Baranja, Srem and Slavonia from the Cisleithanian part of the Dual Monarchy, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and eastern Dalmatia (from the river of Krka to Bar).

title: 1915

section: Events › August

date: May 13

text: May 13 – WWII: Yugoslav General Draža Mihailović and a group of 80 soldiers and officers cross the Drina river in Bosnia and Herzegovina, arrive at Ravna Gora, in western Nazi-occupied Serbia and start fighting with German occupation troops.

title: 1941

date: November 29

text: November 29 – The second session of AVNOJ, the Anti-Fascist Council of National Liberation of Yugoslavia, is held in Jajce, Bosnia and Herzegovina, to determine the post-war ordering of the country.

title: 1943

section: Events › November

date: May 6

text: May 6 – Cazin rebellion in Bosnia against Communist agrarian reforms.

title: 1950

section: Disasters & Accidents

date: January 18

text: January 18 – SFR Yugoslavia Prime minister Džemal Bijedić, his wife and 6 others are killed in a plane crash in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

title: 1977

section: Events › January

date: April 30

text: April 30 – Brčko bridge massacre: around 100 Croat and Bosniak civilians are blown up while crossing the bridge across the Sava in Brčko, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

title: 1992

section: Events › April

date: November 9

text: November 9 – Bosnian Croat forces destroy the Stari Most, or Old Bridge of Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, by tank fire.

title: 1993

date: February 28

text: February 28 – Four United States F-16s shoot down four Serbian J-21s over Bosnia and Herzegovina for violation of the Operation Deny Flight and its no-fly zone.

title: 1994

section: Events › February

date: February 9

text: February 9 – The Vance–Owen peace plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina is announced.

title: 1994

date: August 30

text: August 30 – Operation Deliberate Force, the NATO bombing campaign against Bosnian Serb artillery positions, begins in Bosnia and Herzegovina, continuing into September. At the same time, ARBiH forces begin an offensive against the Bosnian Serb Army around Sarajevo, central Bosnia and Bosnian Krajina.

title: 1995

date: June 2

text: June 2 – A United States Air Force F-16 piloted by Captain Scott O'Grady is shot down over Bosnia and Herzegovina while patrolling the NATO no-fly zone. O'Grady is rescued by U.S. Marines six days later.

title: 1995

date: February 10

text: February 10 – Bosnian Serbs break off contact with the Bosnian government and with representatives of IFOR, the NATO localised force, in reaction to the arrest of several Bosnian Serb war criminals.

title: 1996

date: September 13

text: September 13 – Alija Izetbegović is elected President of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the country's first election since the Bosnian War.

title: 1996

section: Events › September

date: September 18

text: September 18 – Al-Qaeda carries out a terrorist attack in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

title: 1997

section: Science & Discovery

date: June 25

text: June 25 – Bosnia and Herzegovina gets a new national anthem.

title: 1999

date: December 2

text: December 2 – EUFOR takes over peacekeeping duties in Bosnia and Herzegovina from the United Nations.

title: 2004

section: Events › December


slug: bosnian-war

label: Bosnian War

description: 1992–1995 armed conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina

section: Conflict & Security

date: April 5

text: April 5 – Bosnian War: Serb troops, following a mass rebellion of Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina against the Bosnian declaration of independence from Yugoslavia, besiege the city of Sarajevo.

title: 1992

date: May 16

text: May 16–17 – Bosnian War: U.N. peacekeepers withdraw from Sarajevo.

title: 1992

section: Events › May

date: April 16

text: April 16 – Bosnian War: the enclave of Srebrenica is declared a UN-protected "safe area". Also members of the Jokeri unit of the HVO entered the village of Ahmići and killed 120 Muslim residents.

title: 1993

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

date: December 14

text: December 14 – The Dayton Agreement is signed in Paris, officially ending the Bosnian War.

title: 1995

section: Crime & Justice

date: November 16

text: November 16 – A United Nations tribunal charges Radovan Karadžić and Ratko Mladić with genocide during the Bosnian War.

title: 1995

date: November 21

text: November 21 – The Dayton Agreement to end the Bosnian War is reached at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio, United States (signed December 14).

title: 1995

title: 1996

date: October

text: The Croatian cargo ship Borak, sailing from Koromačno to Solin and transporting cement, sank near Sestrica Vela after its cargo shifted because of bad weather. Two crew members (Valter Cimera and Stjepan Španić) lost their lives, while the other three (Ante Jureško, owner and captain of the ship, his son Slavko, as well as Muhamed Čeliković) were rescued by Damir Badžim (from Šibenik) and Slaviša Malešević (refugee from Bosnia and Herzegovina).

title: 1999

date: February 27

text: February 27 – Former Bosnian Serb leader Biljana Plavšić is sentenced by the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia to 11 years in prison for war crimes committed during the Bosnian War.

title: 2003

date: March 24

text: March 24 – Ex-Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadžić is sentenced to 40 years in prison after being found guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity committed during the Bosnian War.

title: 2016

section: Events › March

date: November 22

text: November 22 – The International Court of Justice finds Ratko Mladić guilty of genocide committed in Srebrenica during the 1990s Bosnian War, the worst massacre in Europe since World War II. He is sentenced to life in prison.

title: 2017


slug: bosphorus

label: Bosphorus

year_label: 47 BCE

date: August 2

text: August 2 – Caesar defeats Pharnaces II of Pontus, king of the Bosphorus, in the Battle of Zela (the war Caesar tersely describes as veni, vidi, vici).

title: 47 BC

section: Events › By place › Anatolia

text: Second Gothic invasion: The Goths and other German tribes attack Bosphorean towns on the coast of the Black Sea. Some 2,000 ships and 320,000 men from the Danube enter Roman territory. Emperor Claudius II defeats the invaders and receives the title Gothicus for his triumph. Many of the prisoners will serve in the Roman legions and settle in vacant lands in the Danubian provinces.

title: 269

section: Events › By place › Roman Empire

text: Florianus becomes Roman Emperor with the support of the Senate, but a general in the east, Marcus Aurelius Probus, usurps power against him. Florianus breaks off his campaign against the Goths and marches east from the Bosporus with support from the Roman legions in Britain, Gaul, Spain and Italy.

title: 276

text: Emperor Maximinus Daza crosses the Bosphorus with an army of 70,000 men and lays siege to Heraclea in Thrace. He captures the city after eight days.

title: 313

date: July

text: July – Battle of the Hellespont: Flavius Julius Crispus, the designated heir of his father Constantine, destroys the naval fleet of Licinius in the Dardanelles, allowing Constantine to cross over the Bosphorus into Asian provinces. Byzantium is besieged and Licinius assembles a second military force, under his newly elevated co-emperor Martinian at Lampsacus (modern-day Lapseki).

title: 324

section: Events › Roman Empire

text: Gainas, a Gothic leader, is made magister militum and forms an alliance with deserters of Tribigild along the Bosphorus. He proclaims himself co-regent (usurper), and installs his forces in Constantinople. Gainas deposes anti-Gothic officials and has Eutropius, imperial advisor (cubicularius), executed.

title: 399

date: August 15

text: August 15 – Siege of Constantinople: Maslama begins a combined land and sea effort to capture Constantinople. The capital controls the Bosporus, access between the Mediterranean and Black Sea, and is defended by a garrison of roughly 25,000 men. Leo III orders the granaries be restocked and siege engines installed. The Arab besiegers are suffering immense losses due to disease, and from attrition of siege warfare.

title: 717

section: Events › By place › Byzantine Empire

text: August 15 – Siege of Constantinople: A Bulgar relief force attacks the siege lines at Constantinople, on the west side of the Bosporus. Contemporary chroniclers report that at least 22,000–32,000 Arabs are killed during the Bulgarian attacks. Caliph Umar II is forced to lift the siege after 13 months; the Muslim army attempts to withdraw back through Anatolia, while the rest escapes by sea in the remaining vessels. The Arab fleet suffers further casualties to storms, and an eruption of the volcano of Thera. According to Arab sources 150,000 Muslims perish during the campaign.

title: 718

text: Summer – Harun al-Rashid reaches as far as Chrysopolis, across the Bosporus Straits from the Byzantine capital, Constantinople. After the defection of the Armenian general Tatzates, Empress Irene accepts a three-year truce, including the annual payment of a tribute of 70,000 or 90,000 gold dinars, and the handing over of 10,000 silk garments. Harun releases all his captives (5,600 men), including chief minister Staurakios and other hostages.

title: 782

section: Events › By place › Abbasid Empire

date: June 18

text: June 18 – Byzantine–Rus' War: A fleet of about 200 Rus' vessels sails into the Bosphorus, and starts pillaging the suburbs of Constantinople. The raiders set homes on fire, and drown and kill the citizens. Unable to do anything to repel the invaders, Patriarch Photios I urges his flock to implore the Theotokos to save the Byzantine capital. Having devastated the suburbs, the Rus' Vikings pass into the Sea of Marmara and attack the Isles of the Princes, plundering the local monasteries.

title: 860

date: July 2

text: July 2 – Nikephoros II Phokas is proclaimed emperor by his troops in Caesarea. He sends a fleet to secure the Bosphorus Strait against his enemies. Chief minister Joseph Bringas gathers support and closes the gates of Constantinople. General Marianos Argyros is killed in a riot, forcing Bringas to flee.

title: 963

text: Fall – Emperor Basil II, supported by a contingent of 6,000 Varangians (the future Varangian Guard), organizes the defences of Constantinople to meet a threat from the insurgents, Bardas Phokas the Younger and Bardas Skleros. Basil crosses the Bosphorus, and leads a surprise attack on the rebel camp of Kalokyros Delphinas, at Chrysopolis. Delphinas is captured and executed, either by crucifixion or by impalement (approximate date).

title: 988

date: March

text: Constantinople Agreement: Britain, France and the Russian Empire agree to give Constantinople (Istanbul) and the Bosphorus to Russia in case of victory (the treaty is later nullified by the Bolshevik Revolution).

title: 1915

date: July 20

text: July 20 – The Montreux Convention Regarding the Regime of the Straits is signed in Montreux, allowing Turkey to fortify the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus, but guaranteeing free passage to ships of all nations in peacetime.

title: 1936

section: Events › July–August

section: Technology & Infrastructure

date: July 3

text: July 3 – The Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey, is completed, providing the second connection between the continents of Europe and Asia over the Bosphorus.

title: 1988

section: Events › July


slug: bosporan-kingdom

label: Bosporan Kingdom

description: Greco-Scythian state near Sea of Azov (c.438 BC–c.527 AD)

year_label: 409 BCE

text: Alcibiades recaptures Byzantium, ending the city's rebellion from Athens. This action completes Athenian control of the Bosporus which secures the Athenian supply route for grain from the Bosporan Kingdom in the Black Sea region.

title: 409 BC

section: Events › By place › Greece

year_label: 150 BCE

section: Deaths

text: Paerisades III, king of the Bosporan Kingdom

title: 150 BC

year_label: 110 BCE

section: Births

text: Asander, king of the Bosporan Kingdom (d. 17 BC)

title: 110 BC

year_label: 109 BCE

text: Paerisades V, king of the Bosporan Kingdom (approximate date)

title: 109 BC

year_label: 107 BCE

text: The uprising of Saumachus against Mithridates VI in the Bosporan Kingdom.

title: 107 BC

section: Events › By place › Crimea

text: Pharnaces II of Pontus, king of the Bosporan Kingdom (b. c. 97 BC)

title: 47 BC

year_label: 17 BCE

text: Asander, Roman client king of the Bosporan Kingdom (b. 110 BC)

title: 17 BC

year_label: 16 BCE

text: Scribonius, Roman client king of the Bosporan Kingdom

title: 16 BC

text: Polemon I, Roman client king of the Bosporan Kingdom

title: 0s BC

section: Deaths › 8 BC

year_label: 74 CE

text: Polemon II, prince of the Bosporan Kingdom, Pontus, Cilicia and Cappadocia

title: AD 74

text: King Eupator of Bosphorus pays tribute to Rome, due to the threat posed by the Alani.

title: AD 154

text: Gordian III evacuates the Cimmerian cities in the Bosphorus (Crimea), as the territory is now controlled by the Goths.

title: 242


slug: bosporus

label: Bosporus

description: narrow strait in northwestern Turkey

year_label: 476 BCE

text: Cimon of Athens increases his power at the expense of Themistocles. He ousts Pausanias and the Spartans from the area around the Bosporus. The Spartans, hearing that Pausanias is intriguing with the Persians, recall him and he is "disciplined".

title: 476 BC

section: Conflict & Security

title: 409 BC

date: May 11

text: May 11 – Emperor Constantine the Great dedicates the Column of Constantine and Constantinople, or Nova Roma (modern-day Istanbul). He had spent four years expanding the city of Byzantium, having chosen the site for its strategic location on the Bosporus. The city became the capital of the Byzantine Empire.

title: 330

text: Byzantine-Sassanid War: The Persian army under Shahin Vahmanzadegan conquers Chalcedon in Anatolia, and reaches the Bosporus, threatening Constantinople. Emperor Heraclius begins peace negotiations, promising an annual tribute of 1,000 talents of gold and silver. Shahin withdraws with his army to Syria, to focus on the invasion of Egypt.

title: 617

section: Climate & Environment

text: Spring – Arab forces that have taken Chalcedon, on the Asian shore of the Bosporus, threaten the Byzantine capital Constantinople. The Muslim-Arabs are decimated by famine and disease. Yazid, the Arab commander, retreats to the island of Cyzicus (modern Turkey).

title: 669

text: Spring – Pecheneg Revolt: Emperor Constantine IX decides to transfer 15,000 Pecheneg warriors from their positions in the Balkans to the eastern front. Upon approaching the Bosporus, the Pechenegs decide to turn back, and march through Bulgaria, until they reach the Byzantine city of Serdia. Later, joined by followers, the Pecheneg tribes raise the banner of revolt in Thrace.

title: 1049

text: August 2–6 – The People's Crusade reorganize their forces and gather supplies. Alexios I advises Peter the Hermit to wait for reinforcements but he ignores the advice. The People's army (some 30,000 men) is transported across the Bosporus – by the Byzantine fleet to Civetot (modern Turkey).

title: 1096

section: Events › By place › First Crusade

section: Exploration & Expansion

date: September 10

text: September 10 – The German crusaders under Conrad III reach Constantinople, where there is a frosty exchange of letters between Conrad and Manuel I. The German forces make camp at Galata on the northern shore of the Golden Horn. Manuel orders that a full-scale effort must be made to transport the Germans, who are causing troubles by sacking the Philopatium, across the Bosporus.

title: 1147

section: Events › By place › Second Crusade

date: June 23

text: June 23 – The Crusader fleet comes within sight of Constantinople, and enters the Bosporus. The Byzantine capital is defended by a garrison of 15,000 soldiers (including 5,000 men of the Varangian Guard), and a fleet of 20 galleys. On June 26, the Byzantine troops skirmish with the Crusader forces, who attack, without success, the cities of Chalcedon and Chrysopolis.

title: 1203

section: Events › By place › Fourth Crusade

date: July 27

text: July 27 – Battle of Bapheus: To counter the Turkish threat at Nicomedia, Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos sends a Byzantine force (some 2,000 men) to cross over the Bosporus to relieve the city. On the plain, Turkish forces (some 5,000 light cavalry) led by Sultan Osman I defeat the Byzantines, who are forced to withdraw to Nicomedia. After the battle, Andronikos loses control of the countryside of Bithynia, withdrawing to the forts. Meanwhile, Turkish forces capture Byzantine settlements, such as the coastal city of Gemlik.

title: 1302

section: Events › July–September

text: Süleyman Pasha (son of Orhan) is probably granted control of Çimpe Castle on the Gallipoli peninsula by Emperor John VI Kantakouzenos, the first territory west of the Bosporus held by the Ottoman Empire.

title: 1352

section: Events › Date unknown