401      The Visigoths, led by King Alaric I, cross the Alps and invade northern Italy 1307     William Tell shoots an apple off his son’s head. 1493     Christopher Columbus first sights the island now known as Puerto Rico. 1787     Louis Daguerre (born), French physicist and photographer, developed the daguerreotype (died 1851) 1810     Asa Gray (born), American… Continue reading →

1558     Elizabethan era begins: Queen Mary I of England dies and is succeeded by her half-sister Elizabeth I of Englandied 1603     English explorer, writer and courtier Sir Walter Raleigh goes on trial for treason. 1659     The Treaty of the Pyrenees is signed between France and Spain. 1720     Calico Jack (died), English pirate (born 1682) 1777    … Continue reading →

International Day for Tolerance 42 BC   Tiberius (born), Roman emperor (died 37) 1532    Francisco Pizarro and his men capture Inca Emperor Atahualpa at the Battle of Cajamarca. 1849    A Russian court sentences Fyodor Dostoevsky to death for anti-government activities linked to a radical intellectual group; his sentence is later commuted to hard labor. 1873    W…. Continue reading →

1532     Commanded by Francisco Pizarro, Spanish conquistadors under Hernando de Soto meet Inca Empire leader Atahualpa for the first time outside Cajamarca, arranging a meeting on the city plaza the following day 1533     Francisco Pizarro arrives in Cuzco, the capital of the Inca Empire. 1594     Martin Frobisher (died), English explorer (born 1539) 1738     William Herschel… Continue reading →

1716     Gottfried Leibniz (died), German philosopher and mathematician (born 1646) 1740     Johann van Beethoven (born), German singer and educator (died 1792) 1770     James Bruce discovers what he believes to be the source of the Nile 1797     Charles Lyell (born), Scottish geologist and lawyer (died 1875) 1831     Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (died), German philosopher (born 1770)… Continue reading →