History

on April 8, 2020 at 5:03 am

The Great Egyptian Pyramids of Giza, Egypt, were built in about 2600 BC over several hundred years. The Egyptians arranged them in a mathematical ...

on April 8, 2020 at 2:03 am

... attributable to open subsequent 12 months subsequent to the Giza pyramids, the ministry said. Learn: Egypt to reopen historic Baron Empain Palace ...

on April 8, 2020 at 2:03 am

A staff of Egyptian archaeologists found a “distinctive group of 30 coloured wooden coffins for men, women and children” in a cache at Al-Asasif ...

by History.com Editors on April 7, 2020 at 7:31 pm

On December 11, 1997 in Kyoto, Japan, the United Nations adopts a new treaty for the purpose of limiting greenhouse gas emissions. The Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on […]

by History.com Editors on April 7, 2020 at 6:52 pm

On December 17, 1963, one of the first major pieces of environmental legislation in the United States becomes law. The Clean Air Act empowers federal and state agencies to research and regulate air […]

by History.com Editors on April 7, 2020 at 6:43 pm

The Clean Water Act becomes law on October 18, 1972. After centuries of reckless treatment of American rivers, streams, lakes and bays, the landmark act institutes strict regulations on pollution and […]

by History.com Editors on April 7, 2020 at 6:33 pm

On December 28, 1973, President Richard Nixon signs the Endangered Species Act into law. The act, which Nixon called for the previous year, is considered one of the most significant and influential […]

by History.com Editors on April 7, 2020 at 6:30 pm

In March of 1958, Dr. Charles David Keeling begins regularly measuring the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawai'i. Over the ensuing years, his research […]

by History.com Editors on April 7, 2020 at 6:26 pm

On December 2, 1970, a new federal agency opens its doors. Created in response to the dawning realization that human activity can have major effects on the planet, the Environmental Protection Agency […]

by History.com Editors on April 7, 2020 at 6:22 pm

On June 28, 2007, the United States removes one of its most commonly-used national symbols from its List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife. The de-listing of the bald eagle, which had been close […]

by History.com Editors on April 7, 2020 at 6:18 pm

On December 13, 2019, 16 year-old Greta Thunberg is named Time magazine's Person of the Year. The Swedish climate activist became the first Person of the Year to be born in the 21st century and […]

by History.com Editors on April 7, 2020 at 6:15 pm

In the scientific journal Nature on May 16, 1985, three scientists from the British Antarctic Survey announce their detection of abnormally low levels of ozone over the South Pole. Their discovery, […]

by Sarah Pruitt on April 7, 2020 at 3:28 pm

When Franklin D. Roosevelt was inaugurated on March 4, 1933, the United States was entering the fourth year of the Great Depression, the worst economic downturn in the nation’s history. The […]

by Becky Little on April 6, 2020 at 7:05 pm

The last known survivor of the last U.S. slave ship died in 1940—75 years after the abolition of slavery. Her name was Matilda McCrear. When she first arrived in Alabama in 1860, she was only […]

on April 4, 2020 at 10:58 am

The Eagle made a risky landing in a shallow moon crater named the Sea of Tranquility. (Most people watching the landing on TV didn’t know that the Eagle had only 20 seconds of landing fuel left […]

on April 4, 2020 at 8:35 am

The Apollo 11 moon landing on July 20, 1969 was one of the most astonishing achievements in human history. That day, an estimated 530 million TV viewers watched U.S. astronauts Neil Armstrong and ...

on April 4, 2020 at 4:53 am

A pyramid (from Greek: πυραμίς pyramís) is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape […]

on April 4, 2020 at 4:24 am

On July 20, 1969, two American astronauts landed on the moon and became the first humans to walk on the lunar surface. The event marked the culmination of a nearly decade-long intense push to meet ...

on April 4, 2020 at 3:13 am

A Moon landing is the arrival of a spacecraft on the surface of the Moon.This includes both crewed and robotic missions. The first human-made object to touch the Moon was the Soviet Union's Luna 2, […]

on April 4, 2020 at 3:06 am

A pyramid is a structure or monument, usually with a quadrilateral base, which rises to a triangular point. In the popular imagination, pyramids are the three lonely structures on the Giza plateau at […]

on April 4, 2020 at 12:00 am

The ancient pyramids of Egypt are some of the oldest and most magnificent monuments of antiquity. Of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Great Pyramid at Giza is the only one left standing.

on April 3, 2020 at 10:12 pm

All three of Giza's famed pyramids and their elaborate burial complexes were built during a frenetic period of construction, from roughly 2550 to 2490 B.C.

on April 3, 2020 at 9:08 pm

Pyramid and mummies have always been a part of ancient history. Though no one to date could discover how the pyramids built, what was the purpose behind the creation? The theories are only a work of […]

by Dave Roos on April 3, 2020 at 4:56 pm

The plague ravaged large cities and provincial towns in northern and central Italy from 1629 to 1631, killing more than 45,000 people in Venice alone and wiping out more than half the population of […]

on April 3, 2020 at 4:54 am

At 10:56 p.m. EDT Neil Armstrong is ready to plant the first human foot on another world. With more than half a billion people watching on television, he climbs down the ladder and proclaims: "That's […]

on April 3, 2020 at 12:01 am

Unfortunately simple minded idiots on urban dictionary like to try to spread their ignorance to people. Some people try to explain things that were filmed during the moon landing as a reason for […]

by Christopher Klein on April 2, 2020 at 6:08 pm

The blood remained fresh on the snow outside Boston’s Custom House on the morning of March 6, 1770. Hours earlier, rising tensions between British troops and colonists had exploded into […]

by Becky Little on April 2, 2020 at 3:25 pm

The United States has never delayed a presidential election. But there was one instance in which some wondered if the country should: when the nation was embroiled in the Civil War. The 1864 election […]

by Sarah Pruitt on April 2, 2020 at 2:47 pm

For nearly 56 hours after the Apollo 13 mission launched on April 11, 1970, it looked to be the smoothest flight of NASA’s Apollo program so far. The spacecraft ferrying astronauts Jim Lovell, […]

on April 1, 2020 at 10:36 pm

History >> Ancient Egypt The Ancient Egyptian pyramids are some of the most impressive structures built by humans in ancient times. Many of the pyramids still survive today for us to see and […]

by History.com Editors on April 1, 2020 at 4:37 pm

Pirates had not captured a ship sailing under the American flag since the 1820s until April 8, 2009, when the MV Maersk Alabama was hijacked off the coast of Somalia. The high-profile incident drew […]

by History.com Editors on April 1, 2020 at 4:37 pm

Pirates had not captured a ship sailing under the American flag since the 1820s until April 8, 2009, when the MV Maersk Alabama was hijacked off the coast of Somalia. The high-profile incident drew […]

by History.com Editors on April 1, 2020 at 4:33 pm

On April 30, 2004, the CBS program 60 Minutes reports on abuse of prisoners by American military forces at Abu Ghraib, a prison in Iraq. The report, which featured graphic photographs showing U.S. […]

by History.com Editors on April 1, 2020 at 4:24 pm

On April 30, 1997, at exactly 12:11 pm, London's iconic Big Ben clock stops ticking. For 54 minutes, the most famous clock in the world failed to keep time. Completed in 1859, Big Ben has a long […]

on March 31, 2020 at 11:56 pm

The pyramids of Giza were royal tombs built for three different pharaohs. The northernmost and oldest pyramid of the group was built for Khufu (Greek: Cheops), the second king of the 4th dynasty. […]

by Natasha Frost on March 31, 2020 at 8:47 pm

For millennia, a diagnosis of leprosy meant a life sentence of social isolation. People afflicted with the condition now known as Hansen’s disease—a bacterial infection that ravages the […]

by Patrick J. Kiger on March 31, 2020 at 7:16 pm

Every year, millions of Americans have to amass their financial records and fill out forms—or pay professionals to do it for them—in order to file their federal tax returns. It’s an […]

by Sarah Pruitt on March 30, 2020 at 7:30 pm

While scholars generally agree that Jesus was a real historical figure, debate has long raged around the events and circumstances of his life as depicted in the Bible. In particular, there’s […]

by Dave Roos on March 30, 2020 at 3:36 pm

In 1934, a doctor at a private boy’s school in Pennsylvania tried a unique method to stave off a potentially deadly measles outbreak. Dr. J. Roswell Gallagher extracted blood serum from a […]

by History.com Editors on March 30, 2020 at 1:47 pm

On April 30, 1993, four years after publishing a proposal for “an idea of linked information systems,” computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee released the source code for the world’s […]

by History.com Editors on March 30, 2020 at 1:39 pm

On April 8, 1990, 18-year-old Ryan White dies of pneumonia, due to having contracted AIDS from a blood transfusion. He had been given six months to live in December of 1984 but defied expectations […]

by History.com Editors on March 30, 2020 at 1:39 pm

On April 8, 1990, 18-year-old Ryan White dies of pneumonia, due to having contracted AIDS from a blood transfusion. He had been given six months to live in December of 1984 but defied expectations […]

on March 30, 2020 at 2:43 am

Egyptian Pyramids: History and Interesting Facts. Egyptian pyramids were made around the time when Egypt was a wealthy country with a fast rate of acquisition of knowledge. Although some of the […]

by Volker Janssen on March 27, 2020 at 7:38 pm

In the 1950s, the polio virus terrified American families. Parents tried “social distancing”—ineffectively and out of fear. Polio was not part the life they had signed up for. In […]

by Ellen DuBois on March 27, 2020 at 1:19 pm

The year 1917 was highly consequential for the suffrage movement. Having lost the chance to defeat the reelection of President Woodrow Wilson, who had initially been lukewarm toward suffrage, […]

on March 26, 2020 at 4:33 pm

Martin Luther King Jr. was a hugely influential figure in American life, and surprised many that he never chose to enter the political arena. But he almost did.Continue reading

on March 26, 2020 at 4:32 pm

Locked out of Major League Baseball, black players looked to the Negro Leagues to be treated like the elite athletes they were. And it was all possible because of one man: Rube Foster.Continue reading

by Missy Sullivan on March 26, 2020 at 2:02 pm

The need for social distancing may have forced museums and historic sites around the world to close their doors for now, but many have made their spaces, exhibits and collections available to anyone […]

by Dave Roos on March 25, 2020 at 8:22 pm

Almost 700 years ago, the overwhelmed physicians and health officials fighting a devastating outbreak of bubonic plague in medieval Italy had no notion of viruses or bacteria, but they understood […]

on March 25, 2020 at 5:38 pm

While Daylight Savings is fairly harmless today, it's origins lie in one of the most violent episodes of world history.Continue reading

on March 25, 2020 at 5:37 pm

St. Patrick's Day in 1776 was more than just an Irish-American celebration... it was also a step towards freedom.Continue reading

on March 25, 2020 at 5:33 pm

The Medal of Honor is given to America's bravest heroes, and the first people to receive it certainly proved their courage.Continue reading

on March 25, 2020 at 5:31 pm

Without their sister, Katharine, the Wright brothers may have never taken flight.Continue reading

by Becky Little on March 25, 2020 at 1:41 pm

In 1665 and 1666, one city experienced two enormous tragedies: the Great Plague of London and the Great Fire of London. The plague killed roughly 15 to 20 percent of the city’s population, […]

by Dave Roos on March 24, 2020 at 6:52 pm

Since the opening of the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, the international sports competition has only been canceled three times: once during World War I (1916) and twice during World War II […]

on March 24, 2020 at 6:05 pm

Facing racism and segregation in their own country, the Harlem Hellfighters became one of the most decorated American combat units serving in World War I.Continue reading

on March 24, 2020 at 6:02 pm

Harriet Tubman is known for her legendary efforts to free slaves via the Underground Railroad. And nothing, even the Civil War, would get in the way.Continue reading

on March 24, 2020 at 5:59 pm

Super Tuesday started as an idea to make southern Democrats more heard. It didn't go as planned.Continue reading

by Greg Daugherty on March 23, 2020 at 10:05 pm

From America’s vantage in 1889, the Russian influenza posed little cause for concern. So what if it had struck with a vengeance in the Russian capital of St. Petersburg that fall, infecting as […]

by Erin Blakemore on March 23, 2020 at 2:29 pm

“Are YOU doing all you can?” “We can do it!” During World War II, Americans at home were reminded to do their part by splashy propaganda posters that emphasized pulling […]

by Alexis Clark on March 20, 2020 at 6:50 pm

During the 1950s and ‘60s, the civil rights movement dominated the political landscape. But for Bernard Garrett, an African American born and raised in the South, the surest path to improving […]

by Lesley Kennedy on March 20, 2020 at 1:13 pm

When a natural disaster, pandemic, war or of other crisis strikes, Americans have reacted with acts of kindness, turning both regular civilians and notables into heroes. According to Rebecca Solnit, […]

by A.J. Baime on March 19, 2020 at 7:55 pm

Dwight Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force, would never forget the moment his boots hit the sand during Operation Overlord—the D-Day invasion of Normandy in […]

by Lesley Kennedy on March 19, 2020 at 1:42 pm

In 1972, it seemed ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment was all but a sure thing. First introduced to Congress in 1923 by suffragist Alice Paul, the proposed 27th Amendment to the U.S. […]

by Becky Little on March 18, 2020 at 1:08 pm

On April 17, 1957, Maurice Hilleman realized a pandemic was on its way to the United States. That day, The New York Times reported on a large influenza outbreak in Hong Kong. One detail in particular […]

by Dave Roos on March 17, 2020 at 7:35 pm

As human civilizations flourished, so did infectious disease. Large numbers of people living in close proximity to each other and to animals, often with poor sanitation and nutrition, provided […]

by History.com Editors on March 17, 2020 at 6:48 pm

Apollo 13 was the seventh manned mission in the Apollo Space program (1861-1975) and was supposed to be the third lunar landing mission, but the three astronauts aboard never reached the moon. […]

by Dave Roos on March 16, 2020 at 4:25 pm

In 1636, according to an 1841 account by Scottish author Charles MacKay, the entirety of Dutch society went crazy over exotic tulips. As Mackay wrote in his wildly popular, Memoirs of Extraordinary […]

by History.com Editors on March 16, 2020 at 3:55 pm

While St. Patrick’s Day is now associated with wearing green, parades (when they're not canceled) and beer, the holiday is grounded in history that dates back more than 1,500 years. The […]

by History.com Editors on March 16, 2020 at 3:55 pm

While St. Patrick’s Day is now associated with wearing green, parades (when they're not canceled) and beer, the holiday is grounded in history that dates back more than 1,500 years. The […]

by Becky Little on March 13, 2020 at 3:40 pm

The Great Depression was a difficult, life-altering period in the United States when millions of people struggled to find work and get by. Despite the tough times, the average life spans of Americans […]

on March 13, 2020 at 7:35 am

The shape of Egyptian pyramids is thought to represent the primordial mound from which the Egyptians believed the earth was created. The shape of a pyramid is thought to be representative of the […]

by Sarah Pruitt on March 12, 2020 at 5:46 pm

At the outset of 1944, Franklin D. Roosevelt was entering his 12th year as president of the United States. The popular Democratic leader had steered his country through the Great Depression with his […]

by Dave Roos on March 11, 2020 at 5:32 pm

In the late summer of 1918, the devastating second wave of the Spanish flu arrived on America’s shores. Carried by World War I doughboys returning home from Europe, the newly virulent virus […]

by History.com Editors on March 10, 2020 at 7:37 pm

On September 28, 2018, the cargo ship Venta Maersk docks in St. Petersburg, Russia, more than a month after departing from Vladivostok on the other side of the country. The successful traversal of […]

by History.com Editors on March 10, 2020 at 7:31 pm

After decades of environmental damage and legal wrangling, General Electric finally begins its government-mandated efforts to clean the Hudson River on May 15, 2009. One of America's largest and most […]

by History.com Editors on March 10, 2020 at 7:29 pm

On Valentine's Day, 1990, 3.7 billion miles away from the sun, the Voyager 1 spacecraft takes a photograph of Earth. The picture, known as Pale Blue Dot, depicts our planet as a nearly indiscernible […]

by Sarah Pruitt on March 10, 2020 at 4:20 pm

Cleopatra’s death appears to have played out as dramatically as the life she lived. After the Egyptian queen and her longtime lover, the Roman general Mark Antony, saw their combined forces […]

by Becky Little on March 6, 2020 at 6:36 pm

One of the best ways to prevent the spread of the flu and other viruses is to wash your hands. Today, this may seem like common sense to many people (even if they don’t all do it properly). Yet […]

by Patrick J. Kiger on March 6, 2020 at 4:21 pm

Thomas Edison applied for his first patent in 1868, when he was just 21 years old. The famous inventor’s first brainchild was for a device that recorded legislative votes. That was just the […]

on March 6, 2020 at 3:50 pm

Moon landing conspiracy theories claim that some or all elements of the Apollo program and the associated Moon landings were hoaxes staged by NASA, possibly with the aid of other organizations.The […]

by Becky Little on March 5, 2020 at 7:01 pm

The first humans emerged in Africa around two million years ago, long before the modern humans known as Homo sapiens appeared on the same continent. There’s a lot anthropologists still […]

by History.com Editors on March 4, 2020 at 5:15 pm

On March 7, 1965, in Selma, Alabama, a 600-person civil rights demonstration ends in violence when marchers are attacked and beaten by white state troopers and sheriff’s deputies. The […]

by Jesse Greenspan on March 4, 2020 at 3:35 pm

Though they were both Republicans and briefly campaigned together in 1952, President Dwight D. Eisenhower “loathed [Senator Joseph] McCarthy as much as any human being could possibly loathe […]

by Dave Roos on March 3, 2020 at 7:32 pm

The horrific scale of the 1918 influenza pandemic—known as the "Spanish flu"—is hard to fathom. The virus infected 500 million people worldwide and killed an estimated 20 million to […]

by Thad Morgan on February 28, 2020 at 8:35 pm

In the mid 19th century in Macon, Georgia, a man and woman fell in love, married and, as many young couples do, began thinking about starting a family. But Ellen and William Craft were both enslaved […]

on February 28, 2020 at 8:27 pm

After Abraham Lincoln's death, President Andrew Johnson did everything he could to undermine the legacy of his predecessor.Continue reading

on February 28, 2020 at 8:26 pm

New Orleans is known for its Mardi Gras celebrations, but its history is much more mysterious than you might think.Continue reading

on February 28, 2020 at 8:25 pm

William McKinley's assassination rocked the entire country, but not his successor, Theodore Roosevelt. He made it very clear from the start that the presidency was now his.Continue reading

on February 28, 2020 at 8:23 pm

After President Warren Harding's death, Calvin Coolidge was left to deal with the fallout of his predecessor's corrupt legacy.Continue reading

by Sarah Pruitt on February 26, 2020 at 7:04 pm

What were postwar Americans planning to eat in the event of a nuclear attack? Hint: It wasn’t very appetizing. With Cold War tensions escalating in the 1950s, the threat of a Soviet nuclear […]

by Lesley Kennedy on February 26, 2020 at 5:10 pm

For all the pomp and circumstance that once surrounded presidential party conventions, they’re rarely all that dramatic today. In fact, the last time Democrats faced a tight delegate race was […]

by Rashad Grove on February 25, 2020 at 4:30 pm

For nearly a century, the Harlem Globetrotters have brought flair and antics to the game of basketball. The team has played to more than 148 million people, in over 26,000 exhibition games in 124 […]

by History.com Editors on February 25, 2020 at 2:54 pm

Rachel Carson’s watershed work Silent Spring is first published on September 27, 1962. Originally serialized in The New Yorker magazine, the book shed light on the damage that man-made […]

by Becky Little on February 24, 2020 at 10:07 pm

The history of invasive species is usually one of unforeseen consequences. When an animal, fish, insect or plant is taken out of its original ecosystem and introduced to a new one—whether by […]

by Dave Roos on February 24, 2020 at 3:47 pm

Two centuries before Twitter, U.S. presidents understood the power of communicating directly with the people. From George Washington to Donald Trump, presidents have always adopted the latest media […]

by Adam Janos on February 20, 2020 at 10:17 pm

Starting in the 1980s, the swamps of the South Florida Everglades have been overrun by one of the most damaging invasive species the region has ever seen: the Burmese python. These massive snakes, […]

by Stephen Wood on February 20, 2020 at 8:29 pm

Nearly every four years, we add an extra day to the calendar in the form of February 29, also known as Leap Day. Put simply, these additional 24 hours are built into the calendar to ensure that it […]

by Sarah Pruitt on February 20, 2020 at 3:21 pm

By 1966, the civil rights movement had been gaining momentum for more than a decade, as thousands of African Americans embraced a strategy of nonviolent protest against racial segregation and […]

by Sarah Pruitt on February 18, 2020 at 11:59 pm

Ever since Eve’s transgression in the Garden of Eden, snakes in Christian tradition have been associated with lies, evil and temptation. But in other cultures, as far-flung as ancient Greece […]