~1831Art & Culture
Hokusai Creates The Great Wave
Katsushika Hokusai created The Great Wave off Kanagawa, a woodblock print that became the most iconic image in Japanese art.
Asia
Modern
1800 — 1945 CE · 33 events
August 28, 1833Social Movements
Abolition of Slavery in the British Empire
The Slavery Abolition Act was passed, making the purchase or ownership of slaves illegal throughout the British Empire.
Global
1837Science & Technology
Babbage Designs the Analytical Engine
Charles Babbage designed the Analytical Engine, a mechanical general-purpose computer that anticipated modern computing by a century.
Europe
1843Religion & Philosophy
Kierkegaard Publishes Either/Or
Søren Kierkegaard published Either/Or, laying the foundations of existentialism by insisting that truth is found through individual choice, not abstract systems.
Europe
1843Science & Technology
Ada Lovelace Writes the First Algorithm
Ada Lovelace published the first computer algorithm, envisioning that machines could manipulate symbols beyond mere numbers.
Europe
1854Medicine & Health
John Snow and the Cholera Map
Physician John Snow traced a cholera outbreak to a contaminated water pump in London, pioneering the science of epidemiology.
Europe
November 24, 1859Science & Technology
Theory of Evolution Published
Charles Darwin published "On the Origin of Species," introducing the theory of evolution by natural selection.
Europe
January 1, 1863Social Movements
Emancipation Proclamation
President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring enslaved people in Confederate states to be free.
Americas
April 9, 1865War & Conflict
American Civil War Ends
General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, effectively ending the American Civil War.
Americas
1866Art & Culture
Crime and Punishment Published
Fyodor Dostoevsky published Crime and Punishment, one of the greatest novels in world literature.
Europe
1882Religion & Philosophy
Nietzsche Declares "God is Dead"
Friedrich Nietzsche proclaimed "God is dead" in The Gay Science, diagnosing the collapse of traditional values and the crisis of meaning in modern life.
Europe
1886Art & Culture
Seurat Paints A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte
Georges Seurat completed his masterpiece, pioneering the Pointillist technique that transformed modern art.
Europe
June 1889Art & Culture
Starry Night Painted
Vincent van Gogh painted The Starry Night from the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum, creating one of art's most iconic images.
Europe
March 31, 1889Art & Culture
Eiffel Tower Completed
The Eiffel Tower was completed in Paris, becoming an enduring symbol of French engineering and culture.
Europe
September 11, 1893Religion & Philosophy
Vivekananda at the Parliament of Religions
Swami Vivekananda addressed the World's Parliament of Religions in Chicago, introducing Vedanta and Hindu philosophy to the Western world.
Americas
September 19, 1893Social Movements
Women's Suffrage in New Zealand
New Zealand became the first self-governing country to grant all women the right to vote, pioneering the global suffrage movement.
Oceania
December 17, 1903Science & Technology
First Powered Flight
The Wright Brothers achieved the first sustained, controlled, powered heavier-than-air flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
Americas
1903Science & Technology
Marie Curie Wins the Nobel Prize
Marie Curie became the first woman to win a Nobel Prize — for her pioneering research on radioactivity — and later became the only person to win Nobel Prizes in two different sciences.
Europe
1907Art & Culture
Picasso Paints Les Demoiselles d'Avignon
Pablo Picasso completed Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, shattering traditional perspective and launching the Cubist revolution.
Europe
June 28, 1914War & Conflict
World War I Begins
The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand triggered a chain of alliances that plunged Europe into the First World War.
Europe
November 1915Science & Technology
Einstein Publishes General Theory of Relativity
Albert Einstein published his general theory of relativity, revolutionizing our understanding of gravity, space, and time.
Europe
November 7, 1917Politics & Governance
Russian Revolution
The Bolsheviks seized power in Russia, establishing the world's first communist state and reshaping global politics.
Europe
1917Art & Culture
Duchamp Submits Fountain
Marcel Duchamp submitted a urinal signed "R. Mutt" as art, challenging every assumption about what art is — and igniting a debate that continues today.
Americas
1918Medicine & Health
The Spanish Flu Pandemic
The 1918 influenza pandemic infected a third of the world's population and killed an estimated 50 million people — more than World War I itself.
Global
1921Religion & Philosophy
Wittgenstein Publishes Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
Ludwig Wittgenstein published the Tractatus, attempting to define the limits of language and thought — then declaring philosophy solved.
Europe
April 8, 1924Art & Culture
Birth of Kumar Gandharva
Kumar Gandharva, the revolutionary Indian classical vocalist, was born in Belgaum, Karnataka.
Asia
March 16, 1926Science & Technology
Robert Goddard Launches the First Liquid-Fueled Rocket
American physicist Robert Goddard launched the world's first liquid-fueled rocket from a farm in Massachusetts, inaugurating the age of modern rocketry.
Americas
September 28, 1928Medicine & Health
Discovery of Penicillin
Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, leading to the development of antibiotics that would save millions of lives.
Europe
1929Science & Technology
Hubble Discovers the Expanding Universe
Edwin Hubble observed that distant galaxies are moving away from us, proving the universe is expanding.
Americas
September 1, 1939War & Conflict
World War II Begins
Nazi Germany invaded Poland, triggering declarations of war from Britain and France and beginning the Second World War.
Europe
1939Art & Culture
Frida Kahlo Paints The Two Fridas
Frida Kahlo completed The Two Fridas, a dual self-portrait exploring identity, heartbreak, and the divided self that became an icon of feminist art.
Americas
1942Religion & Philosophy
Camus Publishes The Myth of Sisyphus
Albert Camus published The Myth of Sisyphus, arguing that life is absurd — and that we must imagine Sisyphus happy.
Europe
1943Religion & Philosophy
Sartre Publishes Being and Nothingness
Jean-Paul Sartre published Being and Nothingness, the foundational text of existentialism proclaiming that "existence precedes essence."
Europe