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Events 1850s – Florence Nightingale

19th Century, Events Decade, With Podcast

Crimean War (1853–56) fought between Imperial Russia and an alliance consisting of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Second French Empire, the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Ottoman Empire. The majority of the conflict takes place around Crimea, on the northern coasts of the Black Sea. On 8 October 1856 the Second Opium War between several western powers and China begins with the Arrow Incident on the Pearl River. The Indian Rebellion of 1857, a revolt against British colonial rule in India. Establishment of the South African Republic (Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek) and the Orange Free State, granting independence to the Voortrekkers by the British. Science and technology 1851 – the Great Exhibition is held at the Crystal Palace, London, considered to be the […]

Events 1830s – Darwin’s Beagle Voyage

19th Century, With Movie, With Podcast

Charles Darwin’s Beagle voyage tv series playlist July 17, 1830 – Barthélemy Thimonnier is granted a patent (#7454) for a sewing machine in France; it chains stitches at 200/minute. August 31, 1830 – Edwin Beard Budding is granted a patent for the invention of the lawnmower. February 25, 1836 – Samuel Colt receives a United States patent for the Colt revolver, the first revolving barrel multishot firearm. February 24, 1839 – William Otis receives a patent for the steam shovel. January 2, 1839 – First photo of the Moon taken by photographer Louis Daguerre May 1837 – Samuel Morse patents the telegraph. 1839 – Charles Goodyear vulcanizes rubber. 1834 – Thomas Davenport, the inventor of the first American DC electrical motor, installs his motor in a small model car, creating one of the first electric cars. Belgium August 25, 1830 – The Belgian Revolution begins. September 27, 1830 – The Belgian Revolution ends by liberating […]

Events 1520s – Sack of Rome 1527

16th Century, Events Decade, With Podcast

Events 1520s Ferdinand Magellan led the first expedition that circumnavigated the globe in 1519–1522. 1520–1566: The reign of Suleiman the Magnificent marks the zenith of the Ottoman Empire. 1520: The first European diplomatic mission to Ethiopia, sent by the Portuguese, arrives at Massawa 9 April, and reaches the imperial encampment of Emperor Dawit II in Shewa 9 October. 1520: Vijayanagara Empire forces under Krishnadevaraya defeat the Adil Shahi under at the Battle of Raichur 1520: Sultan Ali Mughayat Shah of Aceh begins an expansionist campaign capturing Daya on the west Sumatran coast (in present-day Indonesia), and the pepper and gold producing lands on the east coast. 1520: The Portuguese established a trading post in the village of Lamakera on the eastern side of Solor (in present-day Indonesia) as a transit harbour between Maluku and Malacca. 1521: Belgrade (in […]

1815 The Year Without Summer

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The year 1816 is known as the Year Without a Summer because of severe climate abnormalities that caused average global temperatures to decrease by 0.4–0.7 °C (0.7–1 °F). Summer temperatures in Europe were the coldest of any on record between 1766 and 2000, resulting in crop failures and major food shortages across the Northern Hemisphere. Evidence suggests that the anomaly was predominantly a volcanic winter event caused by the massive 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora in April in the Dutch East Indies (modern-day Indonesia). This eruption was the largest in at least 1,300 years (after the hypothesized eruption causing the volcanic winter of 536); its effect on the climate may have been exacerbated by the 1814 eruption […]

1595 Shakespeare writes Romeo and Juliet

Literature, With Movie, With Podcast

Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about two young Italian star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately reconcile their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare’s most popular plays during his lifetime and, along with Hamlet, is one of his most frequently performed plays. Today, the title characters are regarded as archetypal young lovers.

1592 Journey to the West

Culture, Literature, With Movie, With Podcast

Journey to the West (Chinese: 西遊記) is a Chinese novel published in the 16th century during the Ming dynasty and attributed to Wu Cheng’en. It is regarded as one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature, and has been described as arguably the most popular literary work in East Asia. Arthur Waley‘s abridged translation, Monkey, is known in English-speaking countries. The novel is an extended account of the legendary pilgrimage of the Tang dynasty Buddhist monk Xuanzang, who travelled to the “Western Regions” (Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent) to obtain Buddhist sacred texts (sūtras) and returned after many trials and much suffering. The monk is referred to as Tang Sanzang in the novel. The novel retains the […]

Lost African cities

13th Century, 14th Century, With Docu, With Podcast

Once, Sorotomo was a vast metropolis, a political centre of the Mali empire. Later, the city was abandoned in the wake of a violent attack. THE LONG-LOST metropolis at the heart of west Africa’s biggest-ever empire has been discovered by a British archaeologist. Investigations 200 miles south of the Sahara have revealed the existence of a vast city, which appears to have had a population of approximately 50,000 people and to have covered an area of 90 hectares. Researchers, led by Professor Kevin MacDonald of University College London’s Institute of Archaeology, believe that the archaeological site known as Sorotomo […]

1600 The East India Company founded

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The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia), and later with East Asia. The company seized control of large parts of the Indian subcontinent, colonised parts of Southeast Asia and Hong Kong, and kept trading posts and colonies in the Persian Gulf Residencies. At its peak, the company was the largest corporation in the world, competing with the Dutch East India Company, and had its own private army of around 260,000 soldiers, twice the size of the army of Britain.

Procopius’ Secret History

06th Century, Literature, With Docu, With Podcast

A trusted member of the Byzantine establishment, Procopius was the Empire’s official chronicler, and his “History of the Wars of Justinian” proclaimed the strength and wisdom of the Emperor’s reign. Yet all the while the dutiful scribe was working on a very different – and dangerous – history to be published only once its author was safely in his grave. “The Secret History” portrays the ‘great lawgiver’ Justinian as a rampant king of corruption and tyranny, the Empress Theodora as a sorceress and whore, and the brilliant general Belisarius as the pliable dupe of his scheming wife Antonina. Magnificently hyperbolic […]

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