AncientPages.com – On November 30, 1853, the Battle of Sinop (Sinope) took place at Sinop, a sea port in northern Anatolia, when a squadron of Imperial Russian warships struck and defeated Ottoman ships anchored in the harbor. Battle of Sinope. Image credit: Wikipedia.

AncientPages.com – On November 29, 1929, U.S. Admiral Richard E. Byrd led the first expedition to fly over the South Pole. In the fall of 1928, Byrd and a group of explorers traveled to the Bay of Whales and established a

AncientPages.com – On Nov. 28, 1520, Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan reached the Pacific Ocean after passing through the South American strait. The strait was later named The Strait of Magellan. Magellan came with three ships from the Atlantic Ocean and became

AncientPages.com – On November 26, 1476, Vlad III Dracula (1431-1476), ruler of Wallachia, returned from a decade-long exile to take the throne for the last time. The man was named Vlad by his father, Vlad II, and he also received

AncientPages.com – On November 27, 1701, Anders Celsius, a Swedish astronomer, physicist, and mathematician (1701-1744), was born. He invented the centigrade (Celsius) temperature scale commonly used in Europe and founded the Uppsala Astronomical Observatory in 1740, the oldest astronomical observatory in Sweden.

AncientPages.com – On November 25, 885, the Vikings laid siege to Paris. The Siege of Paris of 885-86 was part of a Viking in the Kingdom of the West Franks. It was a turning point in the history of France; the

AncientPages.com – On November 24, 1996, Sorley MacLean, one of the most distinguished poets, died. Sorley MacLean, (in Gaelic: Somhairle Macgill-Eain) will be remembered as one of the greatest of all Gaelic poets. He is seen by many as the father

AncientPages.com – On November 23, 1889, the first jukebox was installed at the Palais Royale Saloon in San Francisco. It becomes a true overnight sensation, and its popularity spreads worldwide. This Edison cylinder phonograph had an oak cabinet and operated with a

AncientPages.com – On November 22, 1307, a Papal Bull, the so-called “Pastoralis Praeeminentiae” was issued by Pope Clement V to all Christian monarchs. Monarchs of Christendom were given orders to arrest the Knights Templar and sequester their lands in the name

AncientPages.com – On November 21, 615, died Irish Saint Columbanus, who founded monasteries throughout France, Germany, and Italy. He was one of those many Irish missionaries who kept the faith alive in Western Europe after the destruction of Rome, now

AncientPages.com – On November 20, 1739, the Battle of Porto Bello started. It was a historic naval battle between a British naval force aiming to capture the settlement of Portobello in Panama and its Spanish defenders. British merchants’ desire to

AncientPages.com – On November 19, 1703, “the man in the iron mask” died in the Bastille in Paris, France. He was buried under name “Marchioly,” and his age was “about 45.” The Man in the Iron Mask, etching and mezzotint, 1789.

AncientPages.com – On November 18, 1477, English printer William Caxton printed the first book in England. It was his book, “Sayings of the Philosophers” (Dictes or Sayengis). Left: William Caxton – English etching, Granger Collection, New York – Public Domain;

AncientPages.com – On November 17, 1810, Sweden declared war on its ally, the United Kingdom. On this day, the Anglo-Swedish War begins, but according to sources, no fighting takes place. Charles XIV John (King of Sweden and Norway.   The painting

AncientPages.com – On November 16, 1532, Francisco Pizarro captured Atahualpa, the Last Emperor of the Inca Empire, in the town of Cajamarca, Peru. When he arrived in Cajamarca, the town itself was almost empty. Pizarro sent an embassy to the Inca, led

AncientPages.com – On November 15, 1280, Albertus Magnus, known as Albert the Great or “Universal Doctor – died. He was born ca. 1200 and educated at the University of Padua, where he studied Aristotle’s writings. The drawing is actually not