Author Archive

1349 – Six thousand Jews are massacred in Mainz after being blamed for the bubonic plague. 1690 – Job Charnock of the East India Company establishes a factory in Calcutta, an event formerly considered the founding of the city. In 2003, however, the Calcutta High Court ruled that the city’s foundation date is unknown. 1857…

79 – Mount Vesuvius begins to stir, on the feast day of Vulcan, the Roman god of fire. 476 – Odoacer, chieftain of the Germanic tribes is proclaimed rex Italiae – King of Italy – by his troops. 1514 – The Battle of Chaldiran ends with a decisive victory for the Sultan Selim I, Ottoman…