AncientPages.com – On April 20, 1535, an atmospheric optical phenomenon known as the “Sun Dog” was observed over Stockholm. 17th-century painting of Stockholm, a copy of the so-called Vädersolstavlan, depicting a halo display event in 1535. Image via wikipedia The painting that depicts the event was named “Weather sun” (in Swedish: Vädersol) and is considered the […]
AncientPages.com – On April 19, 1770, Captain James Cook spotted and claimed the East Coast of Australia Cook was born in northeast England in 1728, and in his late teens, he worked on ships along the English coast and the Baltic Sea. Portrait by Sir Nathaniel Dance-Holland, c. 1775, National Maritime Museum. Credit: Public Domain In
AncientPages.com – On the evening of April 18, 1775, Dr. Joseph Warren instructed Paul Revere, a Boston silversmith, to ride to Lexington, Massachusetts, to warn Sam Adams and John Hancock that the British troops were approaching to arrest them and to warn the countryside of the danger. Paul Revere’s Ride – Public Domain William Dawes
AncientPages.com – On April 17, 1397, Geoffrey Chaucer (1343 – 1400) was recorded to have given the first presentation of his Canterbury Tales at the English royal court of Richard II. Left: Geoffrey Chaucer (17th century); Right: title page of Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales in the hand of his personal scribe Adam Pinkhurst, c. 1400. Credits: Wikipedia The
AncientPages.com – Christiaan Huygens was born in Hague on April 14, 1629. He was a Dutch mathematician, astronomer, and physicist best known for his contributions to mathematics and physics. Huygens was the first to recognize the rings of Saturn, made pioneering studies of the dynamics of moving bodies, and was the leading advocate of the
AncientPages.com – On April 13, 1598, Henry IV of France signed the Edict of Nantes. It confirmed Roman Catholicism as the state religion while granting religious freedom to Protestants. Proclamation of the Edict of Nantes by Henry IV. Image source – Public Domain It also effectively ended the War of Religion that had plagued France for a
AncientPages.com – On April 10-11, 1815, more than 13,000 feet high, Tambora Mount in Indonesia exploded, killing about 92000 people and changing the global climate. Tambora’s powerful eruption made the global climate effects felt. The 1815 Mount Tambora eruption. The red areas are maps of the thickness of volcanic ashfall. Source – The base map
AncientPages.com – On April 9, 1747, the Scottish Jacobite Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat, became the last man in Britain to be publicly beheaded at Tower Hill, London. The last ever beheading with an axe in the UK was that of the Luddite Jeremiah Brandreth of Derby on November 7, 1817. The chief of Clan Fraser, Simon
AncientPages.com – On April 7, 451, Attila the Hun, who reigned 434-453 CE, captured and plundered the city of Metz – Roman’s stronghold. Without any opposition, he massacred the citizens and continued his new attacks on other cities in Gaul, today known as France. Raphael (1483-1520) painted “The Meeting between Leo the Great and Attila.” According
On This Day In History: Attila The Hun Captures The City of Metz – On Apr 7, 451 Read More »
AncientPages.com – On May 3, 752, Bird Jaguar IV (also called Yaxun B’alam IV) was a Mayan king from Yaxchilan (modern-day Chiapas), located on the banks of the river Usumacinta, in the west east of Mexico. Since 1882 there have been important epigraphic discoveries made from surviving altars, stelae and lintels in Yaxchilan Maya center that thrived
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