Europe Timeline of Events

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Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting the Black and Aegean Seas...

Timeline of Events

1259

12.4.1259

Kings Louis IX of France and Henry III of England agree to the Treaty of Paris, in which Henry renounces his claims to French-controlled territory on continental Europe (including Normandy) in exchange for Louis withdrawing his support for English rebels.

1488

2.3.1488

Bartolomeu Dias of Portugal lands in Mossel Bay after rounding the Cape of Good Hope, becoming the first known European to travel so far south.

1492

12.5.1492

Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to set foot on the island of Hispaniola, now Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

1500

1.26.1500

Vicente Yáñez Pinzón becomes the first European to set foot on Brazil.

4.22.1500

Portuguese navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral becomes the first European to sight Brazil.

1513

4.2.1513

Juan Ponce de Leon sets foot on Florida, becoming the first European known to do so.

1520

11.28.1520

After navigating through the South American strait, three ships under the command of Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan reach the Pacific Ocean, becoming the first Europeans to sail from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific.

1534

6.9.1534

Jacques Cartier is the first European to discover the Saint Lawrence River.

7.7.1534

European colonization of the Americas: first known exchange between Europeans and natives of the Gulf of St. Lawrence in New Brunswick.

1602

5.15.1602

Bartholomew Gosnold becomes the first European to see Cape Cod.

1642

12.18.1642

Abel Tasman becomes first European to land in New Zealand.

1661

7.16.1661

The first banknotes in Europe are issued by the Swedish bank Stockholms Banco.

1715

9.1.1715

King Louis XIV of France dies after a reign of 72 years — the longest of any major European monarch.

1767

6.18.1767

Samuel Wallis, an English sea captain, sights Tahiti and is considered the first European to reach the island.

1778

11.26.1778

In the Hawaiian Islands, Captain James Cook becomes the first European to visit Maui.

1791

5.3.1791

The Constitution of May 3 (the first modern constitution in Europe) is proclaimed by the Sejm of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.

1814

10.1.1814

Opening of the Congress of Vienna, intended to redraw Europe's political map after the defeat of Napoléon the previous spring.

1815

6.9.1815

End of the Congress of Vienna: the new European political situation is set.

1816

2.12.1816

The Teatro di San Carlo, the oldest working opera house in Europe, is destroyed by fire.

1851

3.27.1851

First reported sighting of the Yosemite Valley by Europeans.

1871

5.21.1871

Opening of the first rack railway in Europe, the Rigi-Bahnen on Mount Rigi.

1878

7.13.1878

Treaty of Berlin: the European powers redraw the map of the Balkans. Serbia, Montenegro and Romania become completely independent of the Ottoman empire.

1906

3.10.1906

The Courrières mine disaster, Europe's worst ever, kills 1099 miners in Northern France.

9.13.1906

First flight of a fixed-wing aircraft in Europe.

10.23.1906

Alberto Santos-Dumont flies an airplane in the first heavier-than-air flight in Europe at Champs de Bagatelle, Paris, France.

1917

1.22.1917

World War I: President Woodrow Wilson of the still-neutral United States calls for "peace without victory" in Europe.

1918

12.4.1918

U.S. President Woodrow Wilson sails for the World War I peace talks in Versailles, becoming the first US president to travel to Europe while in office.

1933

7.17.1933

After successfully crossing the Atlantic Ocean, the Lithuanian research aircraft Lituanica crashes in Europe under mysterious circumstances.

1939

6.4.1939

Holocaust: The MS St. Louis, a ship carrying 963 Jewish refugees, is denied permission to land in Florida, United States, after already being turned away from Cuba. Forced to return to Europe, more than 200 of its passengers later die in Nazi concentration camps.

1941

4.10.1941

World War II: The Axis Powers in Europe establish the Independent State of Croatia from occupied Yugoslavia with Ante Pavelić's Ustaše fascist insurgents in power.

1942

1.26.1942

World War II: The first United States forces arrive in Europe landing in Northern Ireland.

1943

2.11.1943

World War II: General Dwight Eisenhower is selected to command the allied armies in Europe.

1944

1.4.1944

World War II: Operation Carpetbagger, involving the dropping of arms and supplies to resistance fighters in Europe, begins.

1945

5.15.1945

World War II: The final skirmish in Europe is fought near Prevalje, Slovenia.

1946

12.25.1946

The first in Europe artificial, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction was initiated within Soviet nuclear reactor F-1.

1947

6.5.1947

Marshall Plan: In a speech at Harvard University, United States Secretary of State George Marshall calls for economic aid to war-torn Europe.

1949

5.5.1949

The Treaty of London establishes the Council of Europe in Strasbourg as the first European institution working for European integration.

1950

5.9.1950

Robert Schuman presents his proposal on the creation of an organized Europe, indispensable to the maintenance of peaceful relations. This proposal, known as the "Schuman declaration", is considered by some people to be the beginning of the creation of what is now the European Union.

9.24.1950

Forest fires black out the sun over portions of Canada and New England. A blue moon (in the astronomical sense) is seen as far away as Europe.

1951

12.31.1951

The Marshall Plan expires after distributing more than $13.3 billion USD in foreign aid to rebuild Europe.

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