On This Day In History Archive

AncientPages.com - On December 27, 1571, Johannes Kepler, ‘Father of Modern Astronomy’ was born. His three fundamental statements about planetary motion represent his work, which he based on detailed

AncientPages.com - On Christmas Day, December 25, 1950, four young Scots retrieved the Stone of Destiny from Westminster Abbey. Used as the Coronation Stone of the Scottish kings

Conny Waters - AncientPages.com - Yohl Ik'nal was the queen of the Maya city-state of Palenque, who ruled until she died in 604. She was also known as Lady

AncientPages.com - On December 21, 1872, the HMS Challenger sailed from Portsmouth, England, in the first scientific voyage, which would last almost three and a half years. This

AncientPages.com - On December 19, 1154, Henry II (also known as Henry Curtmantle) was crowned King of England. Henry II was born in 1133 in France and was the

AncientPages.com - On December 17, 1790, the Sun Stone (Stone of the Five Eras), sometimes called the Aztec calendar stone, was rediscovered during repairs in Mexico City. The

AncientPages.com - On December 15, 1612, Simon Marius (1573 - 1624), a mathematician and astronomer, independently rediscovered the "Nebula in the Girdle of Andromeda," actually the Andromeda Galaxy (M31).

AncientPages.com - On December 13, 1577, Francis Drake set sail from Plymouth with a five-ship flotilla on the dangerous path that killed Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan 50 years earlier.

AncientPages.com - On December 11, 1792, King Louis XVI of France was put on trial for treason by the National Convention. Louis XVI (also known as Louis Capet)

AncientPages.com - On December 10, 1948, the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. According to the Guinness Book of Records, it is considered the world’s

AncientPages.com - On December 7, 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy conducted a surprise military strike against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The attack was

AncientPages.com - On December 5, 771, Charlemagne became the King of the Franks after the death of his brother Carloman. Charlemagne, son of King Pepin the Short, succeeded

AncientPages.com - On December 3, 1872, a translation from Babylonian cuneiform tablets of the Chaldean account of the deluge was read by George Smith (1840 - 1876), an English

AncientPages.com - On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks disobeyed an order to give up her seat in the black section of the bus to a white passenger. She

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