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10,045 illustrations — Lessons from history, biography, and world events
5/8 (1886): Pharmacist John Pemberton first sells a carbonated beverage named "Coca-Cola" as a patent medicine.
SermonWise.ai generates complete sermon outlines for any passage across 17 theological traditions.
Generate a sermon →4/9 (2017): The Palm Sunday church bombings at Coptic churches in Tanta and Alexandria, Egypt, take place.
11/1 (1897): The first Library of Congress building opens its doors to the public; the library had previously been housed in the Congressional Reading Room in the U.S.
1/20 (1973): Amílcar Cabral, leader of the independence movement in Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde, is assassinated in Conakry, Guinea.
12/7 (1904): Comparative fuel trials begin between warships HMS Spiteful and HMS Peterel: Spiteful was the first warship powered solely by fuel oil, and the trials led to the obsolescence of coal in ships of the Royal Navy.
4/9 (1784): The Treaty of Paris, ratified by the United States Congress on January 14, 1784, is ratified by King George III of the Kingdom of Great Britain, ending the American Revolutionary War. Copies of the ratified documents are exchanged on May 12, 1784.
11/1 (1688): William III of Orange sets out a second time from Hellevoetsluis in the Netherlands to seize the crowns of England, Scotland and Ireland from King James II of England during the Glorious Revolution.
3/17 (1860): The First Taranaki War begins in Taranaki, New Zealand, a major phase of the New Zealand Wars.
7/20 (1951): King Abdullah I of Jordan is assassinated by a Palestinian while attending Friday prayers in Jerusalem.
12/7 (1724): Tumult of Thorn: Religious unrest is followed by the execution of nine Protestant citizens and the mayor of Thorn (Toruń) by Polish authorities.
The riders wanted enforcement of the United States Supreme Court's 1946 Irene Morgan decision that banned racial segregation in interstate travel.
5/1 (1844): Hong Kong Police Force, the world's second modern police force and Asia's first, is established.
2/12 (1502): Isabella I issues an edict outlawing Islam in the Crown of Castile, forcing virtually all her Muslim subjects to convert to Christianity.
11/1 (1914): World War I: The first British Royal Navy defeat of the war with Germany, the Battle of Coronel, is fought off of the western coast of Chile, in the Pacific, with the loss of HMS Good Hope and HMS Monmouth.
7/14 (1853): Opening of the first major US world's fair, the Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations in New York City.
2/12 (2016): Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill sign an Ecumenical Declaration in the first such meeting between leaders of the Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches since their split in 1054.
4/1 (1572): In the Eighty Years' War, the Watergeuzen capture Brielle from the Seventeen Provinces, gaining the first foothold on land for what would become the Dutch Republic.
10/12 (1945): The Lao Issara took control of Laos' government and reaffirmed the country's independence.
3/17 (1776): American Revolution: The British Army evacuates Boston, ending the Siege of Boston, after George Washington and Henry Knox place artillery in positions overlooking the city.
9/11 (1829): An expedition led by Isidro Barradas at Tampico, sent by the Spanish crown to retake Mexico, surrenders at the Battle of Tampico, marking the effective end of Spain's resistance to Mexico's campaign for independence.
12/25 (1724): J. Bach leads the first performance of Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ, BWV 91, in Leipzig, based on Luther's 1524 Christmas hymn.
1/1 (1914): The SPT Airboat Line becomes the world's first scheduled airline to use a winged aircraft.
1/20 (1953): Dwight D. Eisenhower is inaugurated as the 34th President of the United States of America, becoming the first president to begin his presidency on January 20 since the 20th Amendment changed the dates of presidential terms.
(Julian calendar)