Earth & Nature
Exploration
The Discovery of the Pacific Islands
Finding a third of the planet without instruments, 3000 BC - AD 1500
1271 – 1299Marco Polo's Travels
Venice to Xanadu and back, 1271–1295
1492 – 1545The Discovery of America
Fifty-three years, from a beach in the Bahamas to the silver of Potosí, 1492–1545
1519 – 1522Magellan's Circumnavigation
Five ships out, one ship home, 1519–1522
1600 – 1990How America Filled Up
Every American city of 60,000 people, in the year it began
Wars & Empires
Rome
A thousand years of one border, 509 BC – AD 565
402 – 201 BCThe Unification of China
From the partition of Jin to the founding of Han, 403–202 BC
57 – 49 BCThe Gallic Wars
Caesar's conquest of Gaul, 58–50 BC
1162 – 1227Genghis Khan
From a boy on the Onon to the Caspian, c. 1162–1227
1337 – 1453The Hundred Years' War
From the seizure of Aquitaine to the fall of Bordeaux, 1337–1453
1467 – 1615The Unification of Japan
From the Ōnin War to the fall of Osaka, 1467–1615
1769 – 1821Napoleon
From Ajaccio to Saint Helena, 1769–1821
1775 – 1783The American Revolution
From Lexington to the last ship out of New York, 1775–1783
1860 – 1865The American Civil War
One country, torn in two and taken back battle by battle, 1860–1865
1914 – 1919The First World War
Sarajevo to Versailles, five years to the day
1937 – 1945The Second World War
From the Marco Polo Bridge to Tokyo Bay, 1937–1945
1945 – 1990Decolonisation
How a third of the world stopped belonging to somebody else, 1945–1990
Society
Science & Technology
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