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World history timeline

Every story on WorldRewind, sorted by decade. Each one has its own page with photos, sources and a link to the spot on the globe.

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Stories from different places and decades, grouped by what they have in common.

240 stories so far, and more are added every day

The 1770s

  • The Revolution reaches Cherokee hunting lands, Upper Cumberland, Tennessee (then western North Carolina), United States, 1775 to 1779. While armies fought far to the east, the Revolution brought land sales, frontier raids and new settlers to the Cherokee…

The 1850s

The 1860s

  • Russia takes the lands north and east of Manchuria, Amur and Argun frontier, Manchu (Qing) Empire (now China and Russia), 1860 to 1864. In 1860 the Qing court signed the Convention of Peking, giving Russia the land east of the Ussuri River and confirming…

The 1870s

  • A child emperor and Cixi's grip on power, Beijing, Qing Empire (China), 1875 to 1879. In 1875 the Tongzhi Emperor died without a son, and Empress Dowager Cixi placed a small child on the throne as the…
  • Hawaii's sugar treaty with the United States, Honolulu, Kingdom of Hawaii (now Hawaii, United States), 1875 to 1879. In 1875 the Kingdom of Hawaii and the United States agreed a trade treaty that let Hawaiian sugar enter American ports…
  • Argentina pushes its frontier south, Buenos Aires and the Pampas frontier, Argentina, 1876 to 1879. Under President Avellaneda, Argentina moved to take over the southern plains from the Indigenous peoples who lived…
  • North China's great famine of 1876 to 1879, Northern China, Qing Empire (China), 1876 to 1879. A long drought left much of northern China without a harvest for several years. It was one of the deadliest famines of…
  • The first Test cricket match is played, Melbourne, Victoria (UK colony) (now Australia), 1877. In March 1877 an English touring side played a combined Australian eleven at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in a match…
  • Railway opens Riga's seaside to visitors, Riga and the Jūrmala coast, Russian Empire (now Latvia), 1877 to 1879. In 1877 a railway from Riga to Tukums reached the string of fishing villages along the Gulf of Riga. It put the coast…
  • Sofia freed and chosen as capital, Sofia, Ottoman Empire (now Bulgaria), 1877 to 1879. Sofia was taken from Ottoman forces by Russian troops in early January 1878, during the war that created a new…

The 1880s

  • Belgium's school war splits the nation, Brussels, Belgium, 1880 to 1884. A fierce fight over religion in schools divided Belgium between 1880 and 1884. It ended when Catholic voters swept the…
  • Kuala Lumpur becomes Selangor's capital, Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Malaya (Malaysia), 1880 to 1884. In 1880 British officials moved the seat of government of Selangor from Klang to the tin town of Kuala Lumpur. The move…
  • Detroit joins baseball's National League, Detroit, Michigan, United States of America, 1881 to 1884. In 1881 Detroit was admitted to baseball's National League and fielded a team called the Wolverines. The club gave a…
  • America closes its door to Chinese migrants, Guangzhou, Guangdong, Qing Empire (China), 1882 to 1884. In 1882 the United States Congress banned immigration from China for ten years. The law struck hard at Guangdong, the…
  • Auckland gets its own university college, Auckland, New Zealand, 1883. In 1883 a university college was founded in Auckland, giving the northern city its own place of higher learning. It…
  • Krakatoa erupts, Sunda Strait, Dutch East Indies, 1883. In August 1883 the volcanic island of Krakatoa tore itself apart in one of the most violent eruptions in recorded…
  • The Daphne capsizes at her Glasgow launch, Linthouse, Govan, Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom, 1883. On 3 July 1883 a new steamer called the Daphne rolled over as she was launched into the Clyde at Linthouse, and well…
  • German treaties near Dar es Salaam in 1884, Mainland coast and Usagara, Sultanate of Zanzibar (Tanzania), 1884. In late 1884 a small German group left Zanzibar for the mainland and signed treaties with local chiefs. These papers…
  • The Mahdi takes Khartoum, Khartoum, Sudan, 1884 to 1885. After a siege of nearly ten months, forces loyal to the Mahdi captured Khartoum from its Egyptian garrison on 26…
  • Cáceres takes Lima and Peru begins rebuilding, Lima, Peru, 1885 to 1889. After a short civil war, General Andrés Avelino Cáceres took control of Lima in late 1885 and became president in 1886.…
  • Taiwan becomes a province and begins to modernise, Taipei, Taiwan (Qing China), 1885 to 1889. In 1885 the Qing court made Taiwan a full province of China, after French attacks on the island's northern ports. Under…
  • Tanjung Priok gives Batavia a modern harbour, Batavia, Dutch East Indies (now Jakarta, Indonesia), 1885 to 1889. In the mid 1880s Batavia's new deep water port at Tanjung Priok came into use, linked to the city by rail. It moved the…
  • Western Australia moves toward self-government, Perth, Western Australia (UK) (now Australia), 1885 to 1889. In the late 1880s, Perth was the centre of a growing campaign for Western Australia to run its own affairs. The…
  • Houston taxes tested in Mellinger case, Houston, Texas, United States of America, 1887. In January 1887 the Texas Supreme Court decided Mellinger v. City of Houston, a dispute over a tax the city said a…
  • The Eiffel Tower and the 1889 World's Fair, Paris, France, 1887 to 1889. Paris marked the centenary of the French Revolution with the Exposition Universelle, and Gustave Eiffel's iron tower…
  • A German-backed railway is planned for Ankara, Ankara, Ottoman Empire (now Turkey), 1888 to 1889. In 1888 the Ottoman government gave a German-led group the right to run the railway east of Istanbul and push it toward…
  • Giordano Bruno statue unveiled in Rome, Rome, Italy, 1889. In June 1889 a bronze statue of the thinker Giordano Bruno was unveiled in Rome's Campo de' Fiori, close to where he…

The 1890s

  • Parnell's fall splits Irish politics, Dublin, Ireland (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland), 1890 to 1891. Charles Stewart Parnell, the leader of the Irish Home Rule movement, lost his party's support after a scandal in 1890.…
  • The Ghost Dance and Wounded Knee, Pine Ridge, South Dakota, United States, 1890 to 1891. A hopeful spiritual movement spread from a Paiute prophet to the Lakota, who were hungry and losing their land. Fear of…
  • Tansa water reaches thirsty Bombay, Bombay, Bombay Presidency, British India (now Mumbai, India), 1891 to 1892. In 1892 water from the new Tansa works began flowing to Bombay, adding a large new supply for a fast-growing port city.…
  • Cholera riot in Tashkent's Old City, Tashkent, Russian Turkestan (now Uzbekistan), 1892. In 1892 a cholera epidemic reached Tashkent, and the strict health rules imposed by Russian officials set off an angry…
  • Dhaka's Nawab family stages first recorded manned flight, Dhaka, British India (now Bangladesh), 1892. In 1892 the Nawab family of Dhaka arranged what is recorded as the first manned flight in the region. The flyer died…
  • Holmenkollen ski jump opens above Kristiania, Kristiania (now Oslo), Norway, then in union with Sweden, 1892 to 1894. In 1892 a ski jump was built on the hill of Holmenkollen above Kristiania. It became the home of one of the world's…
  • A German count reaches the king of Rwanda, Kingdom of Rwanda, German sphere of East Africa (Rwanda), 1893 to 1894. In 1894 the German explorer Count von Götzen crossed Rwanda and met King Rwabugiri. It was the first formal contact…
  • Liberal revolt brings Zelaya to power, Managua, Nicaragua, 1893 to 1894. In 1893 a Liberal uprising ended about three decades of Conservative rule in Nicaragua and put José Santos Zelaya in…
  • Alfaro's Liberal Revolution reaches Quito, Quito, Ecuador, 1895 to 1899. In 1895 the Liberal general Eloy Alfaro won power in Ecuador and took control of Quito, ending long Conservative rule.…
  • Prague tears down its old Jewish Town, Josefov, Prague, Bohemia, Austria Hungary (now Czech Republic), 1895 to 1899. In the late 1890s Prague pressed on with a city clearance scheme that flattened most of Josefov, the old Jewish…
  • Warsaw becomes a capital of Yiddish writing, Warsaw, Russian Empire (now Poland), 1895 to 1899. In the late 1890s Warsaw became the leading centre of Yiddish writing in eastern Europe. Isaac Leib Perets and a circle…
  • The first modern Olympic Games, Athens, Greece, 1896. Pierre de Coubertin's revived Olympics opened in Athens in April 1896, with 241 athletes from 14 nations competing in…
  • A railway camp becomes Nairobi, Nairobi, British East Africa (now Kenya), 1896 to 1899. As Britain pushed the Uganda Railway inland from Mombasa, its builders chose a cool, marshy spot by the Nairobi River…
  • Korea becomes an empire in Seoul, Seoul, Korea (now South Korea), 1897 to 1899. In October 1897 King Gojong declared Korea an empire and took the title of emperor, ruling from Deoksu Palace in Seoul.…
  • The Klondike gold rush reaches Seattle, Seattle, Washington, United States of America, 1897 to 1899. In July 1897 a steamship brought miners and two tons of Klondike gold to Seattle's docks. The city quickly became the…
  • Germany sets its sights on a Baghdad railway, Baghdad, Ottoman Empire (now Iraq), 1898 to 1899. In the late 1890s German businessmen and diplomats pushed the Ottoman government to allow a railway running across…

The 1900s

  • Kyiv's Moorish Revival Karaite prayer house is finished, Kyiv, Russian Empire (now Ukraine), 1900 to 1902. In 1902 Kyiv's Karaite community completed a striking new prayer house in the Moorish Revival style, designed by the…
  • Beirut's American college trains a new generation, Beirut, Ottoman Empire (now Lebanon), 1900 to 1904. In the early 1900s the Syrian Protestant College, founded in Beirut in 1866, was a leading centre of modern learning in…
  • Galveston hurricane drowns a Texas port, Galveston, Texas, United States, 1900 to 1904. On 8 September 1900 a powerful hurricane swept the sea over the low island city of Galveston, destroying most of it and…
  • Sarajevo's Ashkenazi synagogue is built, Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina (under Austro-Hungarian rule; now Bosnia and Herzegovina), 1901 to 1902. In the early 1900s a new synagogue rose in Sarajevo for the city's Ashkenazi Jews, who had arrived after…
  • France turns on the religious orders, Marseille, France, 1901 to 1904. Between 1901 and 1904 the French government tightened control over Catholic religious orders and their schools. The…
  • Buckley publishes his history of old Singapore, Singapore, Straits Settlements (now Singapore), 1902. In 1902 the columnist Charles Burton Buckley published a two-volume account of Singapore's early years, built from old…
  • Haiti's civil war of 1902 and a gunboat's last stand, Port-au-Prince, Haiti, 1902. In 1902 President Tirésias Simon Sam resigned and Haiti split into rival camps. The scholar Anténor Firmin lost the…
  • Dakar becomes capital of French West Africa, Dakar, Senegal (French West Africa), 1902 to 1904. In 1902 France moved the seat of its West African empire from Saint-Louis to Dakar. The change set a small port town on…
  • The Panama Canal opens, Panama Canal Zone, 1904 to 1914. After a failed French attempt in the 1880s, the United States took over construction in 1904. Ten years and tens of…
  • Baku's oil workers in revolutionary years, Baku, Russian Empire (now Azerbaijan), 1905 to 1909. Baku was a booming oil city under Russian rule, and during the 1905 revolution it became a centre of strikes, street…
  • Hamburg plans its first elevated railway, Hamburg, Germany, 1905 to 1909. As Hamburg's port and population grew fast, the city moved from planning to building a rapid transit railway, partly on…
  • Montreal Wanderers rule the Stanley Cup, Montreal, Canada, 1905 to 1909. In the late 1900s the Montreal Wanderers became the best-known hockey club in Canada, winning the Stanley Cup several…
  • The San Francisco earthquake and fire, San Francisco, USA, 1906. Before dawn on 18 April 1906 a magnitude 7.9 earthquake struck the northern California coast. Fires burned for days…
  • The Peking to Paris race crosses Mongolia, Urga (now Ulaanbaatar), Outer Mongolia, Manchu Empire (now Mongolia), 1907. In summer 1907 a handful of early motor cars set out from Peking for Paris and rolled across Mongolia. Many Mongols saw…
  • The Great Pyongyang Revival of 1907, Pyongyang, Korea (now North Korea), 1907 to 1908. In January 1907, a Bible study of Korean Christians and Western missionaries in Pyongyang turned into a wave of public…
  • Inter breaks away from Milan's football club, Milan, Italy, 1908. In 1908 a quarrel over foreign players split Milan's leading football club. The breakaway group founded Internazionale…
  • Siam trades four Malay states to Britain, Bangkok, Kingdom of Siam (Thailand), 1909. In March 1909 Siam signed a treaty in Bangkok with Britain, giving up its claim over four Malay states in the south. It…

The 1910s

  • Australia governs Papua from Port Moresby, Port Moresby, Territory of Papua (now Papua New Guinea), 1910 to 1914. Between 1910 and 1914 Port Moresby was the seat of Australian rule in Papua. Lieutenant-Governor Hubert Murray used…
  • Estrada Cabrera's iron rule in Guatemala City, Guatemala City, Guatemala, 1910 to 1914. From his capital, President Manuel Estrada Cabrera ruled Guatemala as a strongman in these years, silencing opponents…
  • Lourenço Marques, gateway to the Rand, Lourenço Marques, Portuguese East Africa (Maputo, Mozambique), 1910 to 1914. Between 1910 and 1914 Lourenço Marques thrived as the sea outlet for the gold-mining region of the Transvaal. Its port…
  • Nagasaki shipyards power Japan's industrial rise, Nagasaki, Empire of Japan (now Japan), 1910 to 1914. In the last years of the Meiji era, Nagasaki was a leading centre of Japanese shipbuilding and sea trade. Its…
  • Salisbury, a young settler town under company rule, Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia (now Harare, Zimbabwe), 1910 to 1914. Between 1910 and 1914 Salisbury was a small, new town run for a private company, not directly by the British…
  • Aeroplanes thrill the crowds of Kimberley, Kimberley, Union of South Africa (South Africa), 1911 to 1912. In the early 1910s the diamond city of Kimberley became a showcase for the new science of flight. Thousands came to…
  • Auto polo draws crowds to Comiskey Park, Chicago, United States of America, 1913. In June 1913 Chicago's Comiskey Park hosted four days of automobile polo, a noisy new game played in cars. It shows how…
  • The Senussi campaign on Egypt's western edge, Alexandria and the Western Desert, Egypt (British protectorate), 1915 to 1917. From late 1915 the Senussi, urged on by the Ottoman Empire, threatened British-held Egypt from the west. Alexandria…
  • Casablanca gets a plan for a modern city, Casablanca, French Morocco (Morocco), 1915 to 1919. While war raged in Europe, France's resident-general Hubert Lyautey pressed ahead with a plan to turn Casablanca into…
  • Hollywood becomes the home of American film, Los Angeles, California, United States, 1915 to 1919. In the late 1910s the Los Angeles area turned from a scattering of small film studios into the main centre of American…
  • The Battle of the Somme, Somme, France, 1916. British and French forces launched a vast offensive against German lines on 1 July 1916. The British Army suffered…
  • The Russian Revolution, Petrograd, Russia, 1917 to 1918. Food shortages and war losses brought crowds into the streets of Petrograd in February 1917 and forced Tsar Nicholas II…
  • Hanoi reopens its university for Indochina, Hanoi, French Indochina (now Vietnam), 1917 to 1919. In 1917 the French colonial government revived the University of Indochina in Hanoi, after an earlier attempt had faded…
  • New Orleans jazz begins to travel the nation, New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, 1917 to 1919. Jazz had grown up in the dance halls, parades and streets of New Orleans. In 1917 the first jazz record was released…
  • Novonikolayevsk caught in Siberia's civil war, Novonikolayevsk (now Novosibirsk), Russia, 1917 to 1919. The Siberian railway town of Novonikolayevsk, today's Novosibirsk, changed hands several times as revolution turned…
  • Tiflis becomes capital of independent Georgia, Tiflis (Tbilisi), Georgia, 1917 to 1919. After the Russian Empire collapsed in 1917, Tiflis became the capital of a short-lived independent Georgian republic…
  • Hungary's short-lived Soviet Republic, Budapest, Hungary, 1919. In March 1919 Hungarian socialists and communists set up a council republic inspired by the Bolsheviks in Russia. It…
  • Leguía's New Motherland governs Peru, Lima and the Peruvian highlands, Peru, 1919 to 1930. Through the late 1920s Peru was run by President Augusto B. Leguía, who took power in a coup in 1919 and called his…

The 1920s

  • Belgrade adopts the Vidovdan Constitution, Belgrade, Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (Serbia), 1920 to 1921. In June 1921 an assembly meeting in Belgrade approved the first constitution of the new South Slav kingdom. It created…
  • The Peace of Riga ends the Polish Soviet War, Riga, Latvia, 1920 to 1921. In March 1921 Poland, Soviet Russia and Soviet Ukraine signed a peace treaty in Riga. It ended a war and set a border…
  • Football takes hold in Madrid, Madrid, Spain, 1920 to 1924. In the early 1920s football became a mass pastime in Madrid. Real Madrid gained royal backing and a new ground, and…
  • Korea under Japan's cultural rule, Gangwon Province, Korea under Japanese rule (now South Korea), 1920 to 1924. After mass protests in 1919, Japan eased some of its harshest controls in Korea. Korean-language newspapers appeared…
  • The Vienna Circle begins to gather, Vienna, Austria, 1922 to 1924. In the early 1920s a group of scholars began meeting in Vienna to rethink philosophy in the light of modern science.…
  • WSB brings radio to Atlanta and the South, Atlanta, Georgia, United States, 1922 to 1924. In March 1922 the Atlanta Journal put WSB on the air, one of the first radio stations in the South. It let people…
  • Melbourne police strike and the riots of 1923, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 1923. In late 1923 hundreds of Melbourne police walked off the job, and the city centre was left to crowds who smashed…
  • Léopoldville becomes capital of the Belgian Congo, Léopoldville, Belgian Congo (now Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo), 1923 to 1924. In 1923 the Belgian colonial government moved the capital of the Congo from the coastal town of Boma to Léopoldville…
  • The Great Kanto earthquake destroys Tokyo, Tokyo and Yokohama, Japan, 1923 to 1924. On 1 September 1923 a huge earthquake struck the Tokyo and Yokohama region, and the fires that followed destroyed much…
  • The Golden Twenties, Berlin, Germany, 1924 to 1929. Once the hyperinflation of 1923 was tamed, Weimar Germany entered a brief boom. Berlin became one of the liveliest…
  • The Kakori train robbery shakes the Raj, Kakori, near Lucknow, United Provinces, British India (modern India), 1925 to 1927. In August 1925 young revolutionaries held up a government cash train near Lucknow. The trial that followed ended with…
  • Auckland goes to the pictures, Auckland, New Zealand, 1925 to 1929. In the late 1920s, going to the movies became Auckland's favourite night out, first with silent films and then with the…
  • Cotton shapes life around Kampala, Kampala, Buganda, Uganda Protectorate (now Uganda), 1925 to 1929. In the late 1920s cotton was the money crop that tied Kampala and the surrounding kingdom of Buganda to world markets.…
  • Hitler rebuilds the Nazi Party in Munich, Munich, Bavaria, Germany, 1925 to 1929. After leaving prison, Adolf Hitler refounded the Nazi Party in Munich in February 1925 and rebuilt it as a small but…
  • Mail planes cross the Spanish Sahara, Río de Oro and Cape Juby, Spanish Sahara (now Western Sahara and Morocco), 1925 to 1929. In the late 1920s French mail pilots flew the empty Saharan coast on the air route from Toulouse to Dakar, using small…
  • Manila's struggle over independence under Governor Wood, Manila, Philippine Islands (now the Philippines), 1925 to 1929. Manila was the seat of a tense contest between American governors and Filipino politicians over who really ran the…
  • Stalin outmaneuvers his rivals in Moscow, Moscow, USSR (now Russia), 1925 to 1929. After Lenin's death, a struggle for control of the Communist Party played out in Moscow. By 1929 Joseph Stalin had…
  • Tibet goes its own way as China fights itself, Lhasa, Tibet (now Tibet Autonomous Region, China), 1925 to 1929. While rival armies fought across China, the Dalai Lama's government in Lhasa ran Tibet on its own terms. It stayed…
  • Venezuela becomes a great oil exporter, Lake Maracaibo oil fields, Venezuela, 1925 to 1929. In the late 1920s, oil from wells around Lake Maracaibo turned Venezuela from a farming country into one of the world's…
  • Military coup ends Portugal's First Republic, Portugal, 1926 to 1928. On 28 May 1926 army officers overthrew Portugal's unstable republic and set up a military dictatorship. By 1928 General…
  • The Cristero War erupts in western Mexico, Jalisco, Mexico, 1926 to 1929. In 1926, Catholic villagers in western Mexico took up arms against a government that was strictly enforcing laws…
  • Askari Monument unveiled in Dar es Salaam, Dar es Salaam, Tanganyika Territory (now Tanzania), 1927. In 1927 a bronze statue of an African soldier was unveiled in the centre of Dar es Salaam. It honoured the Africans who…
  • Pittsburgh's Big Gorilla killing in the Prohibition years, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, 1927. On May 19, 1927, liquor racketeer Luigi Lamendola, known as "The Big Gorilla," was murdered in Pittsburgh. The killing…
  • The Wall Street Crash, New York City, USA, 1929. After years of speculation the New York Stock Exchange collapsed in late October 1929, with Black Thursday and Black…

The 1930s

  • Saya San rebellion shakes British Burma, Tharrawaddy and Lower Burma, British Burma (now Myanmar), 1930 to 1932. In late 1930 a former monk named Saya San led a farmers' uprising in the countryside north of Rangoon. It took British…
  • Ankara remakes the Turkish language and history, Ankara, Republic of Turkey, 1930 to 1934. In the early 1930s the young republic's new capital became the centre of a campaign to reshape how Turks spoke and…
  • Brazil writes its 1934 Constitution, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1930 to 1934. Between 1930 and 1934 Getúlio Vargas led a provisional government that reshaped Brazilian politics and labor rules.…
  • Depression and forced labour in French Madagascar, Antananarivo (Tananarive), Madagascar (France) [Madagascar], 1930 to 1934. The Great Depression hit Madagascar's export farming just as French rule leaned on forced labour and heavy taxes. In…
  • Lagos in the Depression: traders and drivers organise, Lagos, Colony of Nigeria (now Nigeria), 1930 to 1934. As the world slump reached Nigeria, Lagos was reshaped by new trading firms and by drivers who began forming early…
  • Stalingrad Tractor Plant starts building tractors, Stalingrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union (now Volgograd, Russia), 1930 to 1934. In 1930 the huge Stalingrad Tractor Plant began producing tractors on the Volga. It became one of the Soviet Union's…
  • The Dust Bowl, Southern Great Plains, USA, 1930 to 1936. Severe drought and decades of deep ploughing stripped the topsoil from the southern plains. Huge dust storms, the…
  • The Palestine Post is founded in Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Mandatory Palestine (now Israel), 1932 to 1934. On 1 December 1932 Jerusalem gained a new English-language daily, The Palestine Post. It went on to become the…
  • Western Australia votes to leave the Commonwealth, Perth, Western Australia, Australia, 1933 to 1934. In April 1933, about two thirds of Western Australians voted to secede from the Australian Commonwealth, angry at the…
  • Belgium fixes ethnic labels on identity cards, Ruanda-Urundi (Belgian mandate), Rwanda, 1935 to 1936. In the mid 1930s the Belgian colonial government made every person in Rwanda carry an identity card naming them Hutu…
  • Bengal's 1937 vote and the peasant premier, Dhaka, Bengal Presidency, British India (now Bangladesh), 1935 to 1939. After a new law gave Indian provinces more self-rule, Bengal voted in 1937 and ended up with a government led by Fazlul…
  • Bogota builds a modern university campus, Bogota, Colombia, 1935 to 1939. In the late 1930s Colombia's government backed a reform of higher education, and the Universidad Nacional in Bogota…
  • Ceylon's first socialist party is founded, Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), 1935 to 1939. In December 1935 a group of young, foreign-educated Ceylonese founded the Lanka Sama Samaja Party in Colombo. It…
  • The Popular Front brings paid holidays to France, France, 1936 to 1938. In 1936 a left-wing alliance led by Léon Blum won power in France. Under pressure from a huge wave of strikes, it gave…
  • The Barcelona May Days of 1937, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, 1937. In early May 1937, fighting broke out in the streets of Barcelona between rival groups on the Republican side of the…
  • The Graf Spee scuttled off Montevideo, Montevideo, Uruguay, 1939. In December 1939, weeks after World War II began, the damaged German warship Admiral Graf Spee took refuge in neutral…

The 1940s

  • The Lahore Resolution sets a new goal, Lahore, Punjab, British India (now Pakistan), 1940. In March 1940 the All India Muslim League met in Lahore and passed a resolution calling for independent states in the…
  • Aden under threat in the Red Sea war, Aden, British colony (now Yemen), 1940 to 1941. When Italy entered the Second World War in June 1940, the British port of Aden suddenly sat across the Red Sea from…
  • Rana rulers execute Nepal's first reform martyrs, Kathmandu, Nepal, 1940 to 1941. In 1940 and 1941 the Rana government in Kathmandu arrested members of a secret reform group, the Praja Parishad, and…
  • Rashid Ali's coup and the Anglo-Iraqi War, Baghdad, Kingdom of Iraq (Iraq), 1941. In April 1941 Rashid Ali al-Gaylani took power in Baghdad with a government hostile to Britain. British and…
  • Brazil joins the Allies in the Second World War, Brazil, 1942 to 1944. After German and Italian submarines sank Brazilian ships, Brazil declared war on the Axis in August 1942. By 1944 it…
  • The Glorious Revolution topples Ecuador's president, Quito, Ecuador, 1944. In May 1944 a popular uprising, centred on Quito and Guayaquil, forced President Carlos Arroyo del Río from office.…
  • Anti-Jewish riots shake British-run Tripoli, Tripoli, Tripolitania under British military administration, Libya, 1945. In November 1945, several days of mob violence in Tripoli and nearby towns killed well over a hundred Jews. It was one…
  • The atomic bombings, Hiroshima, Japan, 1945. On 6 August 1945 the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, followed three days later by a second on…
  • The 1946 crisis over Soviet troops in Iran, Tehran and northern Iran, Iran, 1945 to 1947. After the Second World War, Soviet troops stayed in northern Iran and backed breakaway governments there. Iranian…
  • Cambodia takes first steps toward self-rule, Phnom Penh, French Indochina (now Cambodia), 1945 to 1949. After Japan ended French control in 1945, Cambodia declared independence, then saw the French return. By 1949 it had a…
  • Saigon returns to French rule as war begins, Saigon, French Cochinchina (now Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam), 1945 to 1949. After Japan's surrender in 1945, Saigon became a flashpoint between Vietnamese nationalists and returning French…
  • Kazakhstan founds its own Academy of Sciences, Alma-Ata, Kazakh SSR, USSR (now Almaty, Kazakhstan), 1946 to 1949. In 1946 the Kazakh republic set up its own Academy of Sciences in Alma-Ata, with the geologist Kanysh Satpayev as its…
  • Independence and Partition, Delhi, India, 1947. British rule in India ended at midnight on 14 to 15 August 1947, when the subcontinent was divided into India and…
  • The great Dakar-Niger railway strike, Dakar and the Dakar-Niger railway, French West Africa (now Senegal and Mali), 1947 to 1948. In October 1947, African railway workers on the line from Dakar to the Niger River stopped work and stayed out for…
  • Communists take power in Czechoslovakia, Prague, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic), 1948. In February 1948 the Communist Party, backed by the Soviet Union, took full control of Czechoslovakia's government…
  • The People's Republic is proclaimed, Beijing, China, 1949. After victory in the Chinese Civil War, Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's Republic of China from Tiananmen Gate on 1…
  • Oil Rocks rises from the Caspian Sea, Neft Daşları, off Baku, Azerbaijan SSR, USSR (now Azerbaijan), 1949 to 1954. Soviet engineers turned a lonely patch of rock in the Caspian Sea into a working oil field and a town on stilts. It was…

The 1950s

The 1960s

  • Dubai dredges its creek and opens an airport, Dubai, Trucial States (now United Arab Emirates), 1960 to 1963. In the early 1960s, Dubai's ruler, Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, began to turn a small trading town into a…
  • Kádár's Hungary eases its grip after 1956, Budapest, Hungary, 1960 to 1964. After Soviet troops crushed the 1956 revolution, Hungary's leader János Kádár moved from harsh punishment toward a…
  • Tbilisi's eastern suburbs grow with irrigation works, Tbilisi, Georgian SSR, USSR (now Georgia), 1960 to 1964. In the early 1960s the dry plains east of Tbilisi were part of a Soviet water project. Planned workers' settlements…
  • Havana at the center of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Havana, Cuba, 1962. In October 1962, the discovery of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba set off thirteen tense days that brought the United…
  • Manchester switches on the Atlas computer, Manchester, England, United Kingdom, 1962. In 1962 the Atlas computer, built by Manchester University and Ferranti, went into service and was one of the most…
  • Dodger Stadium opens in Chavez Ravine, Los Angeles, California, United States, 1962 to 1963. In April 1962 the Dodgers opened their own new ballpark in Chavez Ravine, close to downtown Los Angeles. A year later…
  • Swinging London, London, United Kingdom, 1963 to 1969. In the mid-1960s London became the capital of youth culture. The Beatles and the Rolling Stones, Mary Quant's…
  • Khartoum protests end Sudan's first military rule, Khartoum, Sudan, 1964. In October 1964, a student meeting in Khartoum about the war in the south ended in a deadly police raid. The anger that…
  • Israeli spy Eli Cohen hanged in Damascus, Damascus, Syria, 1965. On 18 May 1965, Eli Cohen, an Egyptian-born Jew who had lived in Damascus under a false identity, was hanged for spying…
  • The Selma to Montgomery marches reach the capitol, Montgomery, Alabama, United States, 1965. In March 1965, thousands of people walked from Selma to the Alabama State Capitol in Montgomery to demand the right to…
  • Mobutu takes power in Kinshasa, Kinshasa (then Léopoldville), Congo-Kinshasa (now Democratic Republic of the Congo), 1965 to 1967. On 24 November 1965, army chief Joseph-Désiré Mobutu took control of the Congo in a bloodless coup. He went on to build…
  • Istanbul swells as villagers move in, Istanbul, Turkey, 1965 to 1969. In the late 1960s Istanbul was one of the fastest growing cities in the region, as families from the countryside…
  • Brazil creates the Manaus Free Trade Zone, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil, 1967 to 1969. In 1967 Brazil's military government set up a free trade zone at Manaus, offering tax breaks to draw industry deep into…
  • Real Madrid basketball conquers Europe, Madrid, Spain, 1967 to 1969. In the late 1960s Real Madrid's basketball team became the best in Europe, winning the European Cup in 1967 and 1968…
  • Apollo 11 launches to the Moon, Cape Canaveral, USA, 1969. On 16 July 1969 a Saturn V rocket lifted off from Kennedy Space Center carrying Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael…

The 1970s

  • Expo 70 opens in the hills above Osaka, Suita, Osaka Prefecture, Japan, 1970. In 1970 Osaka hosted the first world's fair ever held in Asia. It drew tens of millions of visitors and showed off…
  • Amsterdam elects the Kabouters, a playful green party, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 1970 to 1974. In 1970 a young, playful protest movement called the Kabouters won five seats on Amsterdam's city council. They tried…
  • Winnipeg joins its suburbs as Unicity, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, 1971 to 1974. In 1972 Winnipeg and its neighbouring municipalities were merged into a single city, nicknamed Unicity. The reform, led…
  • Idi Amin expels Uganda's Asian community, Kampala, Uganda, 1972 to 1973. In August 1972 Uganda's ruler, Idi Amin, ordered about 60,000 South Asians to leave the country within 90 days. The…
  • Marcos declares martial law in Manila, Manila, Philippines, 1972 to 1974. In September 1972 President Ferdinand Marcos placed the Philippines under martial law, ordering the arrest of critics…
  • Paraguay and Brazil agree to build Itaipu, Paraná River, near Asunción region, Paraguay, 1973 to 1974. In 1973 Paraguay and Brazil signed a treaty to build a huge hydroelectric dam on the Paraná River, and in 1974 they set…
  • Ford and Brezhnev meet near Vladivostok, Vladivostok, USSR (now Russia), 1974. In November 1974 the American president Gerald Ford and the Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev met near Vladivostok and…
  • The Derg removes Emperor Haile Selassie, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 1974. In 1974 a committee of Ethiopian army officers known as the Derg took power and deposed Emperor Haile Selassie, who had…
  • The Algiers Agreement ends a border feud, Algiers, Algeria, 1975. In March 1975, Iran and Iraq met in Algiers and agreed to settle their long border quarrel. The deal ended Iranian…
  • The Khmer Rouge take Phnom Penh, Phnom Penh, Khmer Republic (now Cambodia), 1975. On 17 April 1975 the Khmer Rouge entered Phnom Penh, the capital of the Khmer Republic, and ended the Cambodian Civil…
  • Student protests reach Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa, 1976 to 1977. In 1976 the school protests that began in Soweto spread to Cape Town, where Black and coloured students marched against…
  • The Soviet Union adopts a new constitution, Moscow, Soviet Union (now Russia), 1977. In October 1977 the Soviet Union adopted a new constitution to replace the one from 1936. It declared the country a…
  • Digging up Jenne-jeno, an ancient Niger city, Djenné region, Mali, 1977 to 1979. In 1977, seventeen years after Mali's independence, archaeologists began the first digs at Jenne-jeno, a long-abandoned…
  • Sadat comes to Jerusalem seeking peace, Jerusalem, Israel, 1977 to 1979. In November 1977 Egyptian President Anwar Sadat flew to Jerusalem and spoke to Israel's parliament, the first such…
  • The Saur Revolution topples Daoud Khan, Kabul, Afghanistan, 1978. On 27 and 28 April 1978, the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan overthrew President Mohammad Daoud Khan in a…
  • Iran's monarchy falls to a popular uprising, Tehran, Iran, 1978 to 1979. In 1978 and 1979, huge street protests brought down Iran's Shah and ended its monarchy. The country became an Islamic…
  • The United States and China recognise each other, China (People's Republic of China), with Beijing as the capital, 1978 to 1979. On 15 December 1978, after months of secret talks, the United States and the People's Republic of China announced they…

The 1980s

The 1990s

  • Taiwan turns from one-party rule to democracy, Taipei, Taiwan (Republic of China), 1990 to 1994. Between 1990 and 1994, Taiwan moved from decades of Nationalist one-party rule toward open, competitive elections under…
  • Blue Jays win back-to-back World Series, Toronto, Canada, 1992 to 1993. The Toronto Blue Jays won baseball's World Series in 1992 and again in 1993. They were the first team based outside the…
  • The United Nations takes charge in Cambodia, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 1992 to 1993. From 1992 to 1993 a large United Nations mission based in Phnom Penh helped run Cambodia after years of war. It…
  • Clean Hands and the fall of Italy's old parties, Rome and Milan, Italy, 1992 to 1994. A corruption inquiry that began in Milan in 1992 swept through Italy's national politics and brought down the parties…
  • Kabul falls, then rival fighters tear it apart, Kabul, Afghanistan, 1992 to 1994. In April 1992 the government in Kabul collapsed and mujahideen groups took the capital. They then turned on each other…
  • UN air embargo isolates Libya, Tripoli, Libya, 1992 to 1994. In 1992 the United Nations cut Libya's air links and arms trade to press its leader to hand over suspects in two…
  • South Africa's first free election, Johannesburg, South Africa, 1994. In April 1994 South Africans of all races voted together for the first time, with long queues stretching outside…
  • Karachi's violent years and the security crackdown, Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan, 1995 to 1996. In the mid 1990s Karachi was gripped by deadly political and ethnic violence. The government sent police and…
  • Bolivia sells shares in its state companies, La Paz, Bolivia, 1995 to 1997. Under a policy called capitalization, Bolivia brought foreign investors into its biggest state-run companies between…
  • Dublin rides the Celtic Tiger boom, Dublin, Ireland, 1995 to 1999. In the late 1990s Ireland's economy grew faster than almost any other in Europe, and Dublin sat at the centre of the…
  • The Oslo peace process after the handshake, Oslo, Norway, 1995 to 1999. The Israeli and Palestinian peace deal that took its name from secret talks in Norway moved into a harder second stage…
  • The Taliban enter Kabul, Kabul, Afghanistan, 1996. In late September 1996 the Taliban, a movement of young religious students, marched into Kabul and drove out the…
  • The Hong Kong handover, Hong Kong, 1997. At midnight on 30 June 1997 Britain transferred sovereignty over Hong Kong to China after 156 years of colonial rule.…
  • Hugo Chávez wins Venezuela's presidency, Caracas, Venezuela, 1998 to 1999. In December 1998 Venezuelans elected Hugo Chávez, a former army officer who had once tried to seize power, as their…
  • President Clinton is impeached and tried, Washington, D.C., United States, 1998 to 1999. In December 1998 the House of Representatives impeached President Bill Clinton, and in February 1999 the Senate cleared…

The 2000s

  • The disputed presidential election of 2000, United States, including Anchorage, Alaska, 2000 to 2001. The 2000 US presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore was one of the closest in the nation's history. It…
  • Experience Music Project opens at Seattle Center, Seattle, Washington, United States, 2000 to 2004. In June 2000 Seattle opened the Experience Music Project, a striking new museum of popular music funded by Paul Allen.…
  • The American housing boom takes off, United States (including Denver, Colorado), 2000 to 2004. In the early 2000s, American home prices began climbing far faster than they had for generations. Cheap borrowing and…
  • Portugal swaps the escudo for the euro, Lisbon, Portugal, 2002. On 1 January 2002 euro notes and coins went into use in Portugal, replacing the escudo that people had used for…
  • Seoul cheers in red at the 2002 World Cup, Seoul, Korea, Republic of (South Korea), 2002. In June 2002, South Korea and Japan jointly hosted the football World Cup. The South Korean team's surprising run to…
  • NATO opens its Joint Force Command in Naples, Naples, Italy, 2004. On 15 March 2004 NATO set up Allied Joint Force Command Naples, a headquarters that plans and runs military operations.…
  • Kyiv after the Orange Revolution, Kyiv, Ukraine, 2005 to 2007. After weeks of mass protests in Kyiv's central square, Viktor Yushchenko took office as president in January 2005. The…
  • Dubai's skyscraper boom and sudden bust, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 2005 to 2009. Between 2005 and 2009 Dubai raced to build record-breaking towers, artificial islands and a metro, then was hit hard…
  • Shanghai's boom years before the Expo, Shanghai, China, 2005 to 2009. Between 2005 and 2009 Shanghai grew into one of the world's most visible global cities, with new ports, towers and a…
  • Fidel Castro hands power to Raúl, Havana, Cuba, 2006 to 2008. In July 2006 a seriously ill Fidel Castro handed his duties to his younger brother Raúl, ending nearly half a century…
  • Food riots shake Port-au-Prince, Port-au-Prince, Haiti, 2008. In April 2008, soaring food prices pushed crowds onto the streets of Port-au-Prince in angry protests. The unrest led…
  • Usain Bolt makes Jamaica the sprint capital, Kingston, Jamaica, 2008 to 2009. Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt won three gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and set new world records, turning him…

The 2010s

The 2020s