AncientPages.com – On August 10, 1675, King Charles II laid the foundation stone of the Royal Greenwich Observatory in London, England. The building was designed by Sir Christopher Wren, who was also a Professor of Astronomy. Dome of the Greenwich

AncientPages.com – On 9 August 48 BC, the Battle of Pharsalus was fought between Julius Caesar and Pompeius Magnus (“Pompey the Great”), who fled to Egypt. In this decisive battle of Caesar’s Civil War, on this day, Gaius Julius Caesar

AncientPages.com – On August 8, 1220, the Battle of Lihula was fought between the invading Swedish army and Estonians to control a castle in Lihula, Estonia. The castle of Lihula was first mentioned in 1211; however, the site served as

AncientPages.com – On August 7, 1947, Thor Heyerdahl’s raft, the Kon –Tiki, reached Polynesia. Heyerdahl and his five adventurers sailed from Peru to the Tuamotus, French Polynesia, in a pae-pae raft they had constructed from balsa wood and other native materials.

AncientPages.com – On Aug 6, 1840,  Adolph Bandelier, a Swiss-American anthropologist famous for his studies of the American Indian cultures, was born. Bandelier was the first historian and archaeologist to study American Indian cultures in the southwestern United States, Mexico,

AncientPages.cm – On August 5, 1888, Anna Haining Bates – one of the tallest women in history – died. Anna Haining Bates was born on August 6, 1846, on the island of Nova Scotia in the far east of Canada. Her

AncentPages.com – On August 4, 1181, a supernova was observed in the constellation Cassiopeia. Chinese and Japanese astronomers observed this supernova on August 4 and then on August 6. They have recorded the event as SN 1181 in eight different

AncientPages.com – On August 3, 1704, British forces captured Gibraltar from the Spanish and have kept it for more than 300 years. Gibraltar was considered one of the most important strategic points in the entire world. Gibraltar had been in

AncientPages.com – On August 2, 1798, Nelson won one of the most significant victories of the British admiral Horatio Nelson. It was fought between the British and French fleets in Abu Qir Bay, near Alexandria, Egypt. Upon seeing the defeated Frenchmen,

AncientPages.com – On August 1, 1944, the Warsaw Uprising began and was part of a national plan, the so-called Operation Tempest (referred to in English as Operation Storm, with several other uprisings), when the Soviet Army approached Warsaw. The ‘W’ Hour 1 August 1944.

AncientPages.com – On July 31, 1451, Jacques Cœur was arrested on the order of Charles VII of France. This historical scandal occurred in medieval France on this day when King Charles VII ordered the arrest of Jacques Coeur – one of the

AncientPages.com – On July 30, 1502, Christopher Columbus reached the Bay Islands of Honduras with his ships. He landed on the mainland of Honduras (Trujillo) and named the area “Honduras” (meaning “depths”) for the deep water off the coast. During his

AncientPages.com – On July 29, 615, K’inich Janaab’ Pakal ascended the throne of the Mayan city-state of Palenque at the age of 12 and ruled until his death. During his 68-year-long reign from 615 to 683 CE, Pakal supervised the construction

AncientPages.com – On July 28, 1794, Maximilien Robespierre, a leading figure of the French Revolution, was sent to the guillotine in Paris, France. Robespierre had dominated the Committee of Public Safety during the “Reign of Terror.” The execution of Robespierre and

AncientPages.com – On July 27, 1361, the Battle of Visby was fought near the town of Visby on the Swedish island of Gotland. This military encounter was between the forces of the Danish king and the Gotland peasants. The Danish