The Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca authorised the Russian ambassador in Istanbul to defend the autonomy of Moldavia and Wallachia (known as the Danubian Principalities) in 1774. Taking advantage of the Greek War of Independence, a Wallachian lesser nobleman, Tudor Vladimirescu, stirred up a revolt against the Ottomans in January 1821, but he was murdered in June by Phanariot Greeks. After a new Russo-Turkish War, the Treaty of Adrianople strengthened the autonomy of the Danubian Principalities in 1829, although it also acknowledged the sultan's right to confirm the election of the princes.
Mihail Kogălniceanu, Nicolae Bălcescu and other leaders of the 1848 revolutions in Moldavia and Wallachia demanded the emancipation of the peasants and the union of the two principalities, but Russian and Ottoman troops crushed their revolt. The Wallachian revolutionists were the first to adopt the blue, yellow and red tricolour as the national flag. In Transylvania, most Romanians supported the imperial government against the Hungarian revolutionaries after the Diet passed a law concerning the union of Transylvania and Hungary. Bishop Andrei Șaguna proposed the unification of the Romanians of the Habsburg Monarchy in a separate duchy, but the central government refused to change the internal borders.
The Treaty of Paris put the Danubian Principalities under the collective guardianship of the Great Powers in 1856. After special assemblies convoked in Moldavia and Wallachia urged the unification of the two principalities, the Great Powers did not prevent the election of Alexandru Ioan Cuza as their collective domnitor (or ruling prince) in January 1859. The united principalities officially adopted the name Romania on 21 February 1862. Cuza's government carried out a series of reforms, including the secularisation of the property of monasteries and agrarian reform, but a coalition of conservative and radical politicians forced him to abdicate in February 1866.
Cuza's successor, a German prince, Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (or Carol I), was elected in May. The parliament adopted the first constitution of Romania in the same year. The Great Powers acknowledged Romania's full independence at the Congress of Berlin and Carol I was crowned king in 1881. The Congress also granted the Danube Delta and Dobruja to Romania. Although Romanian scholars strove for the unification of all Romanians into a Greater Romania, the government did not openly support their irredentist projects.
The Transylvanian Romanians and Saxons wanted to maintain the separate status of Transylvania in the Habsburg Monarchy, but the Austro-Hungarian Compromise brought about the union of the province with Hungary in 1867. Ethnic Romanian politicians sharply opposed the Hungarian government's attempts to transform Hungary into a national state, especially the laws prescribing the obligatory teaching of Hungarian. Leaders of the Romanian National Party proposed the federalisation of Austria-Hungary and the Romanian intellectuals established a cultural association to promote the use of Romanian.


In 1991, Microsoft introduced Visual Basic, an evolutionary development of QuickBASIC. It included constructs from that language such as block-structured control statements, parameterized subroutines and optional static typing as well as object-oriented constructs from other languages such as "With" and "For Each". The language retained some compatibility with its predecessors, such as the Dim keyword for declarations, "Gosub"/Return statements and optional line numbers which could be used to locate errors. An important driver for the development of Visual Basic was as the new macro language for Microsoft Excel, a spreadsheet program. To the surprise of many at Microsoft who still initially marketed it as a language for hobbyists, the language came into widespread use for small custom business applications shortly after the release of VB version 3.0, which is widely considered the first relatively stable version.
While many advanced programmers still scoffed at its use, VB met the needs of small businesses efficiently as by that time, computers running Windows 3.1 had become fast enough that many business-related processes could be completed "in the blink of an eye" even using a "slow" language, as long as large amounts of data were not involved. Many small business owners found they could create their own small, yet useful applications in a few evenings to meet their own specialized needs. Eventually, during the lengthy lifetime of VB3, knowledge of Visual Basic had become a marketable job skill. Microsoft also produced VBScript in 1996 and Visual Basic .NET in 2001. The latter has essentially the same power as C# and Java but with syntax that reflects the original Basic language. The IDE, with its event-driven GUI builder, was also influential on other tools, most notably Borland Software's Delphi for Object Pascal and its own descendants such as Lazarus.
Mainstream support for the final version 6.0 of the original Visual Basic ended on March 31, 2005, followed by extended support in March 2008. On March 11, 2020, Microsoft announced that evolution of the VB.NET language had also concluded, although it was still supported. Meanwhile, competitors exist such as Xojo and Gambas.


1890 (MDCCCXC) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar, the 1890th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 890th  year of the 2nd millennium, the 90th  year of the 19th century, and the  1st   year of the 1890s decade. As of the start of 1890, the Gregorian calendar was 12 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.


March 1 – Theresa Bernstein, Polish-born American artist and writer (d. 2002)
March 4 – Norman Bethune, Canadian doctor and humanitarian (d. 1939)
March 8 – Eugeniusz Baziak, Polish Roman Catholic archbishop (d. 1962)
March 9
(new style) Vyacheslav Molotov, Soviet politician (d. 1986)
Rupert Balfe, Australian rules footballer (d. 1915)
March 11 – Vannevar Bush, American engineer, inventor and politician (d. 1960)
March 19 – Nancy Elizabeth Prophet, African-American artist known for her sculpture (d. 1960)
March 20
Beniamino Gigli, Italian tenor (d. 1957)
Fania Marinoff, Russian born American actress (d. 1971)
Lauritz Melchior, Danish-American tenor (d. 1973)
March 26 – Aaron S. "Tip" Merrill, American admiral (d. 1961)
March 28 – Paul Whiteman, American bandleader (d. 1967)
March 31 – William Lawrence Bragg, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1971)


Turkish War of Independence
Greco-Turkish War (May 1919 – October 1922)
Turkish–Armenian War (September–December 1920)
Franco-Turkish War (December 1918 – October 1921)
Royalist and separatist revolts (1919–1923)
Unification of Saudi Arabia
Rashidi-Saudi War (1903–1921)
Kuwait-Saudi War (1919–1920)
Hejaz-Saudi War (1919–1925)
Transjordan-Saudi War (1922–1924)
Polish–Soviet War (February 1919 – March 1922)
Irish War of Independence (January 1919 – July 1921)
Iraqi revolt against the British (1920)
Rif War (1920–1927)
Pacification of Libya (1923–1932)
United States occupation of Nicaragua (1912–1933)
United States occupation of Haiti (1915–1934)
United States occupation of the Dominican Republic (1916–1924)


Rise of radical political movements such as communism and fascism, amid the economic and political turmoil after World War I and after the stock market crash
The rise in the use of radio technology meant political campaigning no longer had to be done in person.


The 1920s (pronounced "nineteen-twenties" often shortened to the "20s" or the "Twenties") was a decade that began on January 1, 1920, and ended on December 31, 1929. In America, it is frequently referred to as the "Roaring Twenties" or the "Jazz Age", while in Europe the period is sometimes referred to as the "Golden Twenties" because of the economic boom following World War I (1914-1918). French speakers refer to the period as the "Années folles" ("Crazy Years"), emphasizing the era's social, artistic, and cultural dynamism.
The 1920s saw foreign oil companies begin operations in Venezuela, which became the world's second-largest oil-producing nation. The devastating Wall Street Crash in October 1929 is generally viewed as a harbinger of the end of 1920s prosperity in North America and Europe. In the Soviet Union the New Economic Policy was created by the Bolsheviks in 1921, to be replaced by the first five-year plan in 1928. The 1920s saw the rise of radical political movements, with the Red Army triumphing against White movement forces in the Russian Civil War, and the emergence of far right political movements in Europe. In 1922, the fascist leader Benito Mussolini seized power in Italy. Economic problems contributed to the emergence of dictators in Eastern Europe to include Józef Piłsudski in Poland, and Peter and Alexander Karađorđević in Yugoslavia. First-wave feminism saw progress, with women gaining the right to vote in the United States (1920), Ireland (1921) and with suffrage being expanded in Britain to all women over 21 years old (1928).
In Turkey, nationalist forces defeated Greece, France, Armenia and Britain in the Turkish War of Independence, leading to the Treaty of Lausanne (July 1923), a treaty more favorable to Turkey than the earlier proposed Treaty of Sèvres. The war also led to the abolition of the Ottoman Caliphate. Nationalist revolts also occurred in Ireland (1919–1921) and Syria (1925–1927). Under Mussolini, Italy pursued a more aggressive foreign policy, leading to the Second Italo-Senussi War in Libya. In 1927, China erupted into a civil war between the Kuomintang (KMT)-led government of the Republic of China (ROC) and forces of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Civil wars also occurred in Paraguay (1922–1923), Ireland (1922–1923), Honduras (1924), Nicaragua (1926–1927), and Afghanistan (1928–1929). Saudi forces conquered Jabal Shammar and subsequently, Hejaz.
A severe famine occurred in Russia in 1921–1922 due to the combined effects of economic disturbance because of the Russian Revolution and the Russian Civil War, exacerbated by rail systems that could not distribute food efficiently, leading to 5 million deaths. Another severe famine occurred in China in 1928–1930, leading to 6 million deaths. The Spanish flu (1918–1920) and the 1918–1922 Russia typhus epidemic, which had begun in the previous decade, caused 25–50 million and 2–3 million deaths respectively. Major natural disasters of this decade include the 1920 Haiyuan earthquake (258,707~273,407 deaths), the 1922 Swatow typhoon (50,000–100,000 deaths), the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake (105,385–142,800 deaths), and the 1927 Gulang earthquake (40,912 deaths).
Silent films were popular in this decade, with the 1925 American silent epic adventure-drama film Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ being the highest-grossing film of this decade, grossing $9,386,000 worldwide. Other high-grossing films of this decade include The Big Parade and The Singing Fool. Sinclair Lewis was a popular author in the 1920s, with 2 of his books, Main Street and Elmer Gantry, becoming best-selling books in the United States in 1921 and 1927 respectively. Other best-selling books of this decade include All Quiet on the Western Front and The Private Life of Helen of Troy.  Songs of this decade include "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" and "Stardust".


1869 (MDCCCLXIX) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar, the 1869th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 869th  year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th  year of the 19th century, and the  10th  and last year of the 1860s decade. As of the start of 1869, the Gregorian calendar was 12 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.


The first civil war came during the Arab Spring movements which overturned the rulers of Tunisia and Egypt. Libya first experienced protests against Gaddafi's regime on 15 February 2011, with a full-scale revolt beginning on 17 February. Libya's authoritarian regime led by Muammar Gaddafi put up much more of a resistance compared to the regimes in Egypt and Tunisia. While overthrowing the regimes in Egypt and Tunisia was a relatively quick process, Gaddafi's campaign posed significant stalls on the uprising in Libya. The first announcement of a competing political authority appeared online and declared the Interim Transitional National Council as an alternative government. One of Gaddafi's senior advisors responded by posting a tweet, wherein he resigned, defected, and advised Gaddafi to flee. By 20 February, the unrest had spread to Tripoli. On 27 February 2011, the National Transitional Council was established to administer the areas of Libya under rebel control. On 10 March 2011, the United States and many other nations recognised the council headed by Mahmoud Jibril as acting prime minister and as the legitimate representative of the Libyan people and withdrawing the recognition of Gaddafi's regime.
Pro-Gaddafi forces were able to respond militarily to rebel pushes in Western Libya and launched a counterattack along the coast toward Benghazi, the de facto centre of the uprising. The town of Zawiya, 48 kilometres (30 mi) from Tripoli, was bombarded by air force planes and army tanks and seized by Jamahiriya troops, "exercising a level of brutality not yet seen in the conflict."
Organizations of the United Nations, including United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the United Nations Human Rights Council, condemned the crackdown as violating international law, with the latter body expelling Libya outright in an unprecedented action.
On 17 March 2011 the UN Security Council passed Resolution 1973, with a 10–0 vote and five abstentions including Russia, China, India, Brazil and Germany. The resolution sanctioned the establishment of a no-fly zone and the use of "all means necessary" to protect civilians within Libya. On 19 March, the first act of NATO allies to secure the no-fly zone began by destroying Libyan air defenses when French military jets entered Libyan airspace on a reconnaissance mission heralding attacks on enemy targets.
In the weeks that followed, US American forces were in the forefront of NATO operations against Libya. More than 8,000 US personnel in warships and aircraft were deployed in the area. At least 3,000 targets were struck in 14,202 strike sorties, 716 of them in Tripoli and 492 in Brega. The US air offensive included flights of B-2 Stealth bombers, each bomber armed with sixteen 2000-pound bombs, flying out of and returning to their base in Missouri in the continental United States.  The support provided by the NATO air forces contributed to the ultimate success of the revolution.
By 22 August 2011, rebel fighters had entered Tripoli and occupied Green Square, which they renamed Martyrs' Square in honour of those killed since 17 February 2011.  On 20 October 2011, the last heavy fighting of the uprising came to an end in the city of Sirte. The Battle of Sirte was both the last decisive battle and the last one in general of the First Libyan Civil War where Gaddafi was captured and killed by NATO-backed forces on 20 October 2011. Sirte was the last Gaddafi loyalist stronghold and his place of birth. The defeat of loyalist forces was celebrated on 23 October 2011, three days after the fall of Sirte.
At least 30,000 Libyans died in the civil war. In addition, the National Transitional Council estimated 50,000 wounded.


Kent is one of the warmest parts of Britain. On 10 August 2003, in the hamlet of Brogdale near Faversham the temperature reached 38.5 °C (101.3 °F), at that time the highest temperature ever officially recorded in the United Kingdom.


Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces the French department of Pas-de-Calais across the Strait of Dover. The county town is Maidstone. It is the fifth most populous county in England, the most populous non-Metropolitan county and the most populous of the home counties.
Kent was one of the first British territories to be settled by Germanic tribes, most notably the Jutes, following the withdrawal of the Romans. Canterbury Cathedral in Kent, the oldest cathedral in England, has been the seat of the Archbishops of Canterbury since the conversion of England to Christianity that began in the 6th century with Saint Augustine. Rochester Cathedral in Medway is England's second-oldest cathedral. Located between London and the Strait of Dover, which separates England from mainland Europe, Kent has been the setting for both conflict and diplomacy, including the Battle of Britain in World War II and the Leeds Castle peace talks of 1978 and 2004.
England relied on the county's ports to provide warships through much of its history; the Cinque Ports in the 10th–14th centuries and Chatham Dockyard in the 16th–20th centuries were of particular importance. France can be seen clearly in fine weather from Folkestone and the White Cliffs of Dover. Hills in the form of the North Downs and the Greensand Ridge span the length of the county and in the Vale of Holmesdale in between and to the south are most of the county's 26 castles.
Kent's economy is diversified: agriculture, haulage, logistics and tourism are various industries. Because of its orchards and allotments, Kent is known as "The Garden of England". In northwest Kent, industries include extraction of aggregate building materials, printing and scientific research. Coal mining has also played its part in Kent's industrial heritage. Large parts of Kent are within the London commuter belt and its strong transport connections to the capital and the nearby continent make Kent a high-income county. Twenty-eight per cent of the county forms part of two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty: the North Downs and The High Weald.


After his initial performances with his puppet between 1952 and 1955, Harry Corbett introduced Sooty officially with his own programme, under the same name; the title would later be changed to The Sooty Show in 1967. The programme, run on BBC 1 between 1955 and 1967 and made as a replacement for Muffin the Mule, focused primarily on a series of comedic sketches involving Sooty conducting simple tasks or ventures, which would sometimes go wrong and result in a mess that they would need to deal with. The show expanded on the routines used in episodes by featuring slapstick humour suitable for young children, magic tricks, and the inclusion of songs and music. The glove puppet gained a sufficient profile from television exposure that his likeness became a feature on charity collection boxes used by the Royal National Institute of Blind People in the late 1950s.
Corbett expanded on the programme further with the inclusion of story-telling, and the creation of additional characters that would co-star with Sooty. The two most prominent additions were made during his tenure with the BBC: Sweep in 1957, handled by his brother Leslie Corbett; and Soo in 1964, voiced by his wife Marjorie and brought in after backlash on the BBC's desire not to include a female character. In 1967, Corbett fell into disagreement with the BBC, in particular with the new controller of BBC 1 that year, Paul Fox, who decided that Corbett be replaced with another person presenting his programme. Faced with the prospect of this or his programme being cancelled, Corbett decided to sign a deal with ITV to bring Sooty to commercial television, having earlier performed with the character in one of the channel's first product advertisement. The move led to him expanding on the characters that featured in the programme, including: Butch, another dog who occasionally plays the part of a villain; Ramsbottom, a snake; and 'Enry the Robot, a robot with light up eyes who keeps breaking down.
Alongside his television work, Corbett also created travelling shows with Sooty and various works for charity, but the switch to ITV created a tighter schedule that increased his workload. As a result, Corbett's work affected his health badly, culminating in him having a heart attack in December 1975. Knowing he would need to retire, Corbett opted to hand over control of his puppets and the franchise to his son Peter, who was now performing in children's television under the stage name of Matthew Corbett, with his own programme. Despite retiring, Corbett's role in children's television earned him an OBE for his services in January 1976, with his character Sooty being given a special one alongside him during his ceremony, while he continued to provide assistance on The Sooty Show as a guest star, making his final appearance in 1984 – five years before his death in 1989.


Arabic (اَلْعَرَبِيَّةُ, al-ʿarabiyyah [al ʕaraˈbijːa] (listen) or عَرَبِيّ, ʿarabīy [ˈʕarabiː] (listen) or [ʕaraˈbij]) is a Semitic language that first emerged in the 1st to 4th centuries CE. It is the lingua franca of the Arab world and the liturgical language of Islam. It is named after the Arabs, a term initially used to describe people living in the Arabian Peninsula bounded by eastern Egypt in the west, Mesopotamia in the east, and the Anti-Lebanon mountains and northern Syria in the north, as perceived by ancient Greek geographers. The ISO assigns language codes to 32 varieties of Arabic, including its standard form, Modern Standard Arabic, also referred to as Literary Arabic, which is modernized Classical Arabic. This distinction exists primarily among Western linguists; Arabic speakers themselves generally do not distinguish between Modern Standard Arabic and Classical Arabic, but rather refer to both as al-ʿarabiyyatu l-fuṣḥā (اَلعَرَبِيَّةُ ٱلْفُصْحَىٰ "the eloquent Arabic") or simply al-fuṣḥā (اَلْفُصْحَىٰ).
Arabic is widely taught in schools and universities around the world and is used to varying degrees in workplaces, governments and the media. Arabic, in its Modern Standard Arabic form, is an official language of 26 states and 1 disputed territory, the third most after English and French;
it is also the liturgical language of the religion of Islam, since the Quran and the Hadiths were written in Classical Arabic.
During the early Middle Ages, Arabic was a major vehicle of culture in the Mediterranean region, especially in science, mathematics and philosophy. As a result, many European languages have also borrowed many words from it. Arabic influence, mainly in vocabulary, is seen in European languages—mainly Spanish and to a lesser extent Portuguese, Catalan, and Sicilian—owing to both the proximity of Christian European and Muslim Arabized civilizations and the long-lasting Muslim culture and Arabic language presence, mainly in Southern Iberia, during the Al-Andalus era. For example, "Algebra" comes from the Arabic word "al-jabr", which was then transferred to Middle English. The Maltese language is a Semitic language developed from a dialect of Arabic and written in the Latin alphabet. The Balkan languages, including Greek and Bulgarian, have also acquired a significant number of words of Arabic origin through contact with Ottoman Turkish.
Arabic has influenced many other languages around the globe throughout its history, especially languages of Muslim cultures and countries that were conquered by Muslims. Some of the most influenced languages are Persian, Turkish, Hindustani (Hindi and Urdu), Kashmiri, Kurdish, Bosnian, Kazakh, Bengali, Malay (Indonesian and Malaysian), Maldivian, Pashto, Punjabi, Albanian, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Sicilian, Spanish, Greek, Bulgarian, Tagalog, Sindhi, Odia Hebrew and Hausa and some languages in parts of Africa (e.g. Swahili, Somali). Conversely, Arabic has borrowed words from other languages, including Aramaic as well as Hebrew, Latin, Greek, Persian and to a lesser extent Turkish (due to the Ottoman Empire), English and French (due to their colonization of the Levant) and other Semitic languages such as Abyssinian.
Arabic is the liturgical language of more than 2 billion Muslims, and Arabic is one of six official languages of the United Nations. All varieties of Arabic combined are spoken by perhaps as many as 422 million speakers (native and non-native) in the Arab world, making it the fifth most spoken language in the world, and the fourth most used language on the internet in terms of users. In 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked Arabic the fourth most useful language for business, after English, Standard Mandarin Chinese, and French. Arabic is written with the Arabic alphabet, which is an abjad script and is written from right to left, although the spoken varieties are sometimes written in ASCII Latin from left to right with no standardized orthography.


Arabic spread with the spread of Islam. Following the early Muslim conquests, Arabic gained vocabulary from Middle Persian and Turkish. In the early Abbasid period, many Classical Greek terms entered Arabic through translations carried out at Baghdad's House of Wisdom.
By the 8th century, knowledge of Classical Arabic had become an essential prerequisite for rising into the higher classes throughout the Islamic world, both for Muslims and non-Muslims. For example, Maimonides, the Andalusi Jewish philosopher, authored works in Judeo-Arabic—Arabic written in Hebrew script—including his famous The Guide for the Perplexed (דלאלת אלחאירין, دلالة الحائرين Dalālat al-ḥāʾirīn).


Arabia boasted a wide variety of Semitic languages in antiquity. In the southwest, various Central Semitic languages both belonging to and outside of the Ancient South Arabian family (e.g. Southern Thamudic) were spoken. It is also believed that the ancestors of the Modern South Arabian languages (non-Central Semitic languages) were also spoken in southern Arabia at this time. To the north, in the oases of northern Hejaz, Dadanitic and Taymanitic held some prestige as inscriptional languages. In Najd and parts of western Arabia, a language known to scholars as Thamudic C is attested. In eastern Arabia, inscriptions in a script derived from ASA attest to a language known as Hasaitic. Finally, on the northwestern frontier of Arabia, various languages known to scholars as Thamudic B, Thamudic D, Safaitic, and Hismaic are attested. The last two share important isoglosses with later forms of Arabic, leading scholars to theorize that Safaitic and Hismaic are in fact early forms of Arabic and that they should be considered Old Arabic.
Linguists generally believe that "Old Arabic" (a collection of related dialects that constitute the precursor of Arabic) first emerged around the 1st century CE. Previously, the earliest attestation of Old Arabic was thought to be a single 1st century CE inscription in Sabaic script at Qaryat Al-Faw, in southern present-day Saudi Arabia. However, this inscription does not participate in several of the key innovations of the Arabic language group, such as the conversion of Semitic mimation to nunation in the singular. It is best reassessed as a separate language on the Central Semitic dialect continuum.

It was also thought that Old Arabic coexisted alongside—and then gradually displaced--epigraphic Ancient North Arabian (ANA), which was theorized to have been the regional tongue for many centuries. ANA, despite its name, was considered a very distinct language, and mutually unintelligible, from "Arabic". Scholars named its variant dialects after the towns where the inscriptions were discovered (Dadanitic, Taymanitic, Hismaic, Safaitic). However, most arguments for a single ANA language or language family were based on the shape of the definite article, a prefixed h-. It has been argued that the h- is an archaism and not a shared innovation, and thus unsuitable for language classification, rendering the hypothesis of an ANA language family untenable. Safaitic and Hismaic, previously considered ANA, should be considered Old Arabic due to the fact that they participate in the innovations common to all forms of Arabic.
The earliest attestation of continuous Arabic text in an ancestor of the modern Arabic script are three lines of poetry by a man named Garm(')allāhe found in En Avdat, Israel, and dated to around 125 CE. This is followed by the Namara inscription, an epitaph of the Lakhmid king Imru' al-Qays bar 'Amro, dating to 328 CE, found at Namaraa, Syria. From the 4th to the 6th centuries, the Nabataean script evolves into the Arabic script recognizable from the early Islamic era. There are inscriptions in an undotted, 17-letter Arabic script dating to the 6th century CE, found at four locations in Syria (Zabad, Jabal 'Usays, Harran, Umm al-Jimaal). The oldest surviving papyrus in Arabic dates to 643 CE, and it uses dots to produce the modern 28-letter Arabic alphabet. The language of that papyrus and of the Qur'an are referred to by linguists as "Quranic Arabic", as distinct from its codification soon thereafter into "Classical Arabic".


Ibn Jinni of Mosul, a pioneer in phonology, wrote prolifically in the 10th century on Arabic morphology and phonology in works such as Kitāb Al-Munṣif, Kitāb Al-Muḥtasab, and Kitāb Al-Khaṣāʾiṣ.
Ibn Mada' of Cordoba (1116–1196) realized the overhaul of Arabic grammar first proposed by Al-Jahiz 200 years prior.
The Maghrebi lexicographer Ibn Manzur compiled Lisān al-ʿArab (لسان العرب, "Tongue of Arabs"), a major reference dictionary of Arabic, in 1290.


Arabic is usually, but not universally, classified as a Central Semitic language. It is related to languages in other subgroups of the Semitic language group (Northwest Semitic, South Semitic, East Semitic, West Semitic), such as Aramaic, Syriac, Hebrew, Ugaritic, Phoenician, Canaanite, Amorite, Ammonite, Eblaite, epigraphic Ancient North Arabian, epigraphic Ancient South Arabian, Ethiopic, Modern South Arabian, and numerous other dead and modern languages. Linguists still differ as to the best classification of Semitic language sub-groups.
The Semitic languages changed a great deal between Proto-Semitic and the emergence of the Central Semitic languages, particularly in grammar. Innovations of the Central Semitic languages—all maintained in Arabic—include:
The conversion of the suffix-conjugated stative formation (jalas-) into a past tense.
The conversion of the prefix-conjugated preterite-tense formation (yajlis-) into a present tense.
The elimination of other prefix-conjugated mood/aspect forms (e.g., a present tense formed by doubling the middle root, a perfect formed by infixing a /t/ after the first root consonant, probably a jussive formed by a stress shift) in favor of new moods formed by endings attached to the prefix-conjugation forms (e.g., -u for indicative, -a for subjunctive, no ending for jussive, -an or -anna for energetic).
The development of an internal passive.
There are several features which Classical Arabic, the modern Arabic varieties, as well as the Safaitic and Hismaic inscriptions share which are unattested in any other Central Semitic language variety, including the Dadanitic and Taymanitic languages of the northern Hejaz. These features are evidence of common descent from a hypothetical ancestor, Proto-Arabic. The following features can be reconstructed with confidence for Proto-Arabic:
negative particles m * /mā/; lʾn */lā-ʾan/ to Classical Arabic lan
mafʿūl G-passive participle
prepositions and adverbs f, ʿn, ʿnd, ḥt, ʿkdy
a subjunctive in -a
t-demonstratives
leveling of the -at allomorph of the feminine ending
ʾn complementizer and subordinator
the use of f- to introduce modal clauses
independent object pronoun in (ʾ)y
vestiges of nunation


April 23 – Russo-Turkish War (1686–1700): Russia begins the second of the Azov campaigns (1695–96).
April – A fire destroys the Gra Bet (Left Quarter) of Gondar, the capital of Ethiopia.  The fire starts "in the house of a prostitute" and destroys many buildings, including the churches of St. George, Takla Haymanot and Iyasu.
May 31 – John Salomonsz is elected chief of Sint Eustatius in the Caribbean Netherlands.
June 4 – A second Pueblo Revolt occurs in Santa Fe de Nuevo México.  The Tiwas of Taos and Picuris, the Tewas of San Ildefonso and Nambe, the Tanos of Jemez and San Cristobal, and the Keres of Santo Domingo and Cochiti attack during the full moon and kill 21 Spanish civilians and five priests.
June 12 – China's Kangxi Emperor leads troops in the Battle of Jao Modo (about 37 miles (60 km) from the modern Mongolain capital, Ulan Bator and defeats 5,000 Mongolian troops of the Dzungar Khanate, under the command of Galdan Boshugtu Khan.  Galdan escapes capture.
June 17 – The throne of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth becomes vacant with the death of Jan Sobieski, prompting a competition between Friedrich Augustus, Elector of Saxony and Prince François Louis of France to compete under the Commonwealth's "Golden Liberty" system for an elective monarchy of the new King by the nobility.  Jerzy Albrecht Denhoff, the Grand Chancellor, remains the head of the Polish-Lithuanian government during the vacancy of the ceremonial throne.


Shaka starts to rule the Zulu Kingdom at about this date.
Banjul, capital of the Gambia, is founded as a trading post named Bathurst.
René Laennec invents the stethoscope.
E. Remington and Sons (the famous firearm and later typewriter manufacturing company) is founded in the United States.
Robert Stirling patents his Stirling engine, at this time known as Stirling's air engine.
A rail capable of supporting a heavy locomotive is developed.


April 3 – Juan Trippe, airline entrepreneur (b. 1899)
April 5
Lucile Godbold, American Olympic athlete (b. 1900)
Maurice Zbriger, Canadian violinist, composer and conductor (b. 1896)
Bob Hite, American musician (Canned Heat) (b. 1943)
April 6 – Alfredo Guarini, Italian director, producer and screenwriter (b. 1901)
April 7 – Norman Taurog, American film director (b. 1899)
April 8
Gopal Chandra Bhattacharya, Indian entomologist (b. 1895)
Omar Bradley, American army general (b. 1893)
April 12
Joe Louis, American boxer (b. 1914)
Hendrik Andriessen, Dutch composer (b. 1892)
April 13 – Prince Yasuhiko Asaka of Japan (b. 1887)
April 15
John Thach, American naval aviator and admiral (b. 1905)
Lorenzo Guerrero, former President of Nicaragua (b. 1900)
April 17 – Ludwik Sempoliński, Polish actor (b. 1899)
April 18 – James H. Schmitz, German-born writer (b. 1911)
April 22 – Marcia King, murder victim (b. 1959)
April 23
Nietta Zocchi, Italian actress (b. 1909)
Josep Pla, Spanish journalist and author (b. 1897)
April 26
Jim Davis, American actor (b. 1909)
Madge Evans, American actress (b. 1909)
Muhammad Lafir, Sri Lankan snooker player (b. 1930)
April 27 – John Aspinwall Roosevelt, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1916)
April 28 – Cliff Battles, American football player (Boston Redskins) and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame (b. 1910)


April 6 – Rama I overthrows King Taksin of Siam (now Thailand) in a coup d'état, and moves the political capital from Thonburi, across the Chao Phraya River to Rattanakosin Island, the historic center of Bangkok.
April 12 – Battle of the Saintes: A British fleet under Admiral Sir George Rodney defeats a French fleet under the Comte de Grasse, in the West Indies.
April 19 – John Adams secures recognition of the United States as an independent government by the Dutch Republic. During this visit, he also negotiates a loan of five million guilders, financed by Nicolaas van Staphorst and Wilhelm Willink.
April 21 – A Lak Mueang (city pillar) is erected on Rattanakosin Island, located on the eastern bank of the Chao Phraya River, by order of King Rama I, an act considered the founding of the capital city of Bangkok.
May 17 – The Parliament of Great Britain passes the Repeal of Act for Securing Dependence of Ireland Act, a major component of the reforms collectively known as the Constitution of 1782, which restore legislative independence to the Parliament of Ireland.
June 18 – In Switzerland, Anna Göldi is sentenced to death for witchcraft (the last legal witchcraft sentence).
June 20 – The bald eagle is chosen as the emblem of the United States of America.  On the same day, the Confederation Congress adopts the design for the Great Seal of the United States.


March 30 - National Hockey Association's Montreal Canadiens win their First Stanley Cup by defeating the Pacific Coast Hockey Association's  Portland Rosebuds 3 games to 2. All Games were played at Montreal's Montreal Arena.
Due to the outbreak of World War I, the 1916 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, is cancelled.


In the 1941 film Citizen Kane, Charles Foster Kane runs for New York governor and loses. Also in 1916, Emily Monroe Norton divorces him and, in either this year or in 1917, he marries Susan Alexander.


1916
January
February
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April
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December
1916 (MCMXVI) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar and a leap year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar, the 1916th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 916th  year of the 2nd millennium, the 16th  year of the 20th century, and the  7th   year of the 1910s decade. As of the start of 1916, the Gregorian calendar was 13 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.


In gemology, color is divided into three components: hue, saturation, and tone. Emeralds occur in hues ranging from yellow-green to blue-green, with the primary hue necessarily being green. Yellow and blue are the normal secondary hues found in emeralds. Only gems that are medium to dark in tone are considered emeralds; light-toned gems are known instead by the species name green beryl. The finest emeralds are approximately 75% tone on a scale where 0% tone is colorless and 100% is opaque black. In addition, a fine emerald will be saturated and have a hue that is bright (vivid). Gray is the normal saturation modifier or mask found in emeralds;  a grayish-green hue is a dull-green hue.


January 1
Benito Juárez captures Mexico City.
The first steam-powered carousel is recorded, in Bolton, England.
January 2 – Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia dies, and is succeeded by Wilhelm I.
January 3 – American Civil War: Delaware votes not to secede from the Union.
January 9 – American Civil War: Mississippi becomes the second state to secede from the Union.
January 10 – American Civil War: Florida secedes from the Union.
January 11 – American Civil War: Alabama secedes from the Union.
January 12 – American Civil War: Major Robert Anderson sends dispatches to Washington.
January 19 – American Civil War: Georgia secedes from the Union.
January 21 – American Civil War: Jefferson Davis resigns from the United States Senate.
January 26 – American Civil War: Louisiana secedes from the Union.
January 29 – Kansas is admitted as the 34th U.S. state, being admitted as a free state.
February 1 – American Civil War: Texas secedes from the Union.
February 4 – American Civil War: In Montgomery, Alabama, the Provisional Confederate States Congress is formed by representatives from the first seven break-away states.
February 8 – American Civil War: The Confederate States of America are formed, comprising the first seven break-away States.
February 9 – American Civil War: Jefferson Davis is elected Provisional President of the Confederate States of America, by the Weed Convention at Montgomery, Alabama.
February 11
American Civil War: The U.S. House unanimously passes a resolution, guaranteeing non-interference with slavery in any state.
About 850 convicts at Chatham Dockyard in England take over their prison in a riot.
February 13 – Italian unification: The Siege of Gaeta,  stronghold of the Neapolitan King Francis II, is ended by Piedmontese forces. Francis goes into exile.
February 18 – American Civil War: In Montgomery, Alabama, Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as the provisional president of the Confederate States of America.
February 19 – Alexander II, Czar of Russian Empire, made a law against serfdom.
February 20 – In Britain, storms damage the Crystal Palace and cause the collapse of the steeple of Chichester Cathedral.
February 23 – President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrives secretly in Washington, D.C. after an assassination attempt in Baltimore.
February 24 – Battle of Ky Hoa: the French and the Spanish defeat the Vietnamese.
February 27 – Russian troops fire upon a crowd in Warsaw protesting Russian rule over Poland, killing 5 protesters.
February 28 – Colorado is organized as a United States territory.
March 2
Nevada is organized as a United States territory.
American Civil War: Texas is admitted to the Confederate States of America.
March 3 (February 19 O.S.) – Emancipation reform of 1861: Serfdom is abolished in the Russian Empire.
March 4
Abraham Lincoln is sworn in, as the 16th president of the United States.
American Civil War: The "Stars and Bars" is adopted as the flag of the Confederate States of America.
March 10 – El Hadj Umar Tall seizes the city of Ségou, destroying the Bamana Empire of Mali.
March 11 – American Civil War: The Constitution of the Confederate States of America is adopted.
March 13 – Tsushima incident: The Russian corvette Posadnik arrives at Tsushima Island in the Korea Strait, Japan, provoking a reaction from the Japanese Shogunate.
March 17 – Italian unification: The Kingdom of Italy is proclaimed by the new Parliament, with Victor Emmanuel II of Piedmont-Sardinia becoming its king.
March 19 – The First Taranaki War ends in New Zealand.
March 20
An earthquake completely destroys Mendoza, Argentina.
Italian unification: The surrender of Civitella del Tronto ends the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
March 21 – Alexander Stephens, Vice President of the Confederacy,  gives the infamous Cornerstone Speech in Savannah, Georgia, in which he declares that slavery is the natural condition of blacks, and the foundation of the Confederacy.
March 28 – Confederate Arizona: convention in present-day Tucson ratified the ordinance of secession of southern part of New Mexico Territory.
March 30 – Discovery of the chemical elements: Sir William Crookes announces his discovery of thallium.


April 7 – A population census is taken in the United Kingdom.
April 12 – The American Civil War begins with the bombardment of Fort Sumter, South Carolina.
April 13 – American Civil War: Fort Sumter surrenders to Southern forces.
April 15 – American Civil War: President Abraham Lincoln issues a Proclamation calling for 75,000 men to confront in the South, "combinations too powerful to be suppressed in the ordinary way".
April 17 – American Civil War: The state of Virginia secedes from the Union.
April 20 – American Civil War: Robert E. Lee resigns his commission in the United States Army, in order to command the forces of the state of Virginia.
April 24 (N.S.) – Bezdna, Russia is the scene of a peasant uprising; the military open fire and about 90 are killed.
April 25 – American Civil War: The Union Army arrives in Washington, D.C.
April 26 – Giovanni Schiaparelli discovers the asteroid 69 Hesperia.
April 27 – American Civil War:
President Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus in the United States.
May 6 – American Civil War: Arkansas secedes from the Union.
May 7 – American Civil War: Tennessee secedes from the Union.
May 8 – American Civil War: Richmond, Virginia is named the capital of the Confederate States of America.
May 13
North Star Affair: The British merchant ship North Star leaves Hong Kong for Nagasaki, Japan.  Chinese pirates board the vessel, kill an officer, and escape with a large quantity of gold.
American Civil War: Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom issues a "proclamation of neutrality", which recognizes the breakaway states as having belligerent rights.
Comet C/1861 J1 (the "Great Comet of 1861") is discovered in Australia.
May 14 – The Canellas meteorite, an 859 gram chondrite type meteorite, strikes Earth near Barcelona, Spain.
May 20 – American Civil War:
Kentucky proclaims its neutrality, which lasts until September 3, when Confederate forces enter the state.
North Carolina secedes from the Union.
May 21 – Russian sailors clash with a group of Japanese samurai and farmers, at Tsushima island.
May 23 – American Civil War: The state of Virginia's ordinance of secession from the United States is ratified in a referendum held on May 23, 1861.
May 29 – The Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce is established.
June 9 – The Règlement Organique: With the approval of European powers, the Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate is established as a semi-autonomous sub-division separate from the Sidon Eyalet. An Ottoman Armenian, Davud Pasha, is appointed Mutasarrıf by the Ottoman Sultan.
June 15 – Benito Juárez is formally elected President of Mexico; he temporarily stops the payments of foreign debt.
June 22 – Tooley Street fire starts and takes the life of James Braidwood first director of the London Fire Brigade.
June 25 – Abdülmecid I, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1839–1861) dies and is succeeded by Abdülaziz (1861–1876).


The electric streetcars of Austria-Hungary, France, Germany and Great Britain are carrying 6.7 million riders per year.
Henry Ford sells 10,000 automobiles.


January 31 –  The first venereal diseases clinic opens at London Lock Hospital.
February 11 – King George's War: A combined French and Indian force, commanded by Captain Nicolas Antoine II Coulon de Villiers, attacks and defeats British troops at Grand-Pré, Nova Scotia.
March 7 – Juan de Arechederra the Spanish Governor-General of the Philippines, combines  his forces with those of Sultan Azim ud-Din I of Sulu to suppress the rebellion of the Moros in the Visayas.
March 19 – Simon Fraser, the 79-year old Scottish Lord Loyat, is convicted of high treason for being one of the leaders of the Jacobite rising of 1745 against King George II of Great Britain and attempting to place the pretender Charles Edward Stuart on the throne.  After a seven day trial of impeachment in the House of Lords and the verdict of guilt, Fraser is sentenced on the same day to be hanged, drawn and quartered; King George alters Fraser's punishment to beheading, which is carried out publicly on April 9.


July 2 – War of the Austrian Succession – Battle of Lauffeld: France defeats the combined armies of Hanover, Great Britain and the Netherlands.
August 15 – Great Britain, Russia and the Dutch Republic sign the Convention of Saint Petersburg (1747).
August 24 – Seyyid Abdullah Pasha, the Turkish Governor of Cyprus, becomes the new Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire and serves until 1750.
September 13 – The Netherlands city of Bergen op Zoom falls to the Army of France after a 70 day siege during the War of the Austrian Succession.
September 21 – A hurricane in the Caribbean Sea sinks 11 British ships, most of them off the coast of Saint Kitts.


The Holy Roman Empire (the successor state of East Francia and then Lotharingia) ruled much of the Low Countries in the 10th and 11th century but was not able to maintain political unity. Powerful local nobles turned their cities, counties and duchies into private kingdoms that felt little sense of obligation to the emperor. Holland, Hainaut, Flanders, Gelre, Brabant, and Utrecht were in a state of almost continual war or in paradoxically formed personal unions. The language and culture of most of the people who lived in the County of Holland were originally Frisian. As Frankish settlement progressed from Flanders and Brabant, the area quickly became Old Low Franconian (or Old Dutch). The rest of Frisia in the north (now Friesland and Groningen) continued to maintain its independence and had its own institutions (collectively called the "Frisian freedom"), which resented the imposition of the feudal system.
Around 1000 AD, due to several agricultural developments, the economy started to develop at a fast pace, and the higher productivity allowed workers to farm more land or to become tradesmen. Towns grew around monasteries and castles, and a mercantile middle class began to develop in these urban areas, especially in Flanders and later also Brabant. Wealthy cities started to buy certain privileges for themselves from the sovereign. In practice, this meant that Bruges and Antwerp became quasi-independent republics in their own right and would later develop into some of the most important cities and ports in Europe.
Around 1100 AD, farmers from Flanders and Utrecht began draining and cultivating uninhabited swampy land in the western Netherlands, making the emergence of the County of Holland as the centre of power possible. The title of Count of Holland was fought over in the Hook and Cod Wars (Dutch: Hoekse en Kabeljauwse twisten) between 1350 and 1490. The Cod faction consisted of the more progressive cities, while the Hook faction consisted of the conservative noblemen. These noblemen invited the Duke Philip the Good of Burgundy — who was also Count of Flanders — to conquer Holland.


Spanish Netherlands
The Four Days' Battle, 1–4 June 1666 (Second Anglo-Dutch War) by Pieter Cornelisz van Soest
The Low Countries in the late 14th century
William I, Prince of Orange, leader of the Dutch Revolt, by Adriaen Thomasz. Key
Most of the Imperial and French fiefs in what is now the Netherlands and Belgium were united in a personal union by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, in 1433. The House of Valois-Burgundy and their Habsburg heirs would rule the Low Countries in the period from 1384 to 1581. Before the Burgundian union, the Dutch identified themselves by the town they lived in or their local duchy or county. The Burgundian period is when the road to nationhood began. The new rulers defended Dutch trading interests, which then developed rapidly. The fleets of the County of Holland defeated the fleets of the Hanseatic League several times. Amsterdam grew and in the 15th century became the primary trading port in Europe for grain from the Baltic region. Amsterdam distributed grain to the major cities of Belgium, Northern France and England. This trade was vital because Holland could no longer produce enough grain to feed itself. Land drainage had caused the peat of the former wetlands to reduce to a level that was too low for drainage to be maintained.
Under Habsburg Charles V, ruler of the Holy Roman Empire and King of Spain, all fiefs in the current Netherlands region were united into the Seventeen Provinces, which also included most of present-day Belgium, Luxembourg, and some adjacent land in what is now France and Germany. In 1568, under Phillip II, the Eighty Years' War between the Provinces and their Spanish ruler began. The level of ferocity exhibited by both sides can be gleaned from a Dutch chronicler's report:
 On more than one occasion men were seen hanging their own brothers, who had been taken prisoners in the enemy's ranks... A Spaniard had ceased to be human in their eyes. On one occasion, a surgeon at Veer cut the heart from a Spanish prisoner, nailed it on a vessel's prow, and invited the townsmen to come and fasten their teeth in it, which many did with savage satisfaction.
The Duke of Alba ruthlessly attempted to suppress the Protestant movement in the Netherlands. Netherlanders were "burned, strangled, beheaded, or buried alive" by his "Blood Council" and his Spanish soldiers. Severed heads and decapitated corpses were displayed along streets and roads to terrorise the population into submission. Alba boasted of having executed 18,600, but this figure does not include those who perished by war and famine.
The first great siege was Alba's effort to capture Haarlem and thereby cut Holland in half. It dragged on from December 1572 to the next summer, when Haarlemers finally surrendered on 13 July upon the promise that the city would be spared from being sacked. It was a stipulation Don Fadrique was unable to honour, when his soldiers mutinied, angered over pay owed and the miserable conditions they endured during the long, cold months of the campaign. On 4 November 1576, Spanish tercios seized Antwerp and subjected it to the worst pillage in the Netherlands' history. The citizens resisted, but were overcome; seven thousand of them were mowed down; a thousand buildings were torched; men, women, and children were slaughtered in a delirium of blood by soldiers crying, "Santiago! España! A sangre, a carne, a fuego, a sacco!" (Saint James! Spain! To blood, to the flesh, to fire, to sack!)
Following the sack of Antwerp, delegates from Catholic Brabant, Protestant Holland and Zeeland agreed, at Ghent, to join Utrecht and William the Silent in driving out all Spanish troops and forming a new government for the Netherlands. Don Juan of Austria, the new Spanish governor, was forced to concede initially, but within months returned to active hostilities. As the fighting restarted, the Dutch began to look for help from the Queen of England, but she initially stood by her commitments to the Spanish in the Treaty of Bristol of 1574. According to Gillespie Alexander the result was that when the next large-scale battle did occur at Gembloux in 1578, the Spanish forces easily won the day, killing at least 10,000 rebels, with the Spanish suffering few losses. In light of the defeat at Gembloux, the southern states of the Seventeen Provinces (today in northern France and Belgium) distanced themselves from the rebels in the north with the 1579 Union of Arras, which expressed their loyalty to Philip II of Spain. Opposing them, the northern half of the Seventeen Provinces forged the Union of Utrecht (also of 1579) in which they committed to support each other in their defence against the Spanish army. The Union of Utrecht is seen as the foundation of the modern Netherlands.
Spanish troops sacked Maastricht in 1579, killing over 10,000 civilians and thereby ensuring the rebellion continued. In 1581, the northern provinces adopted the Act of Abjuration, the declaration of independence in which the provinces officially deposed Philip II as reigning monarch in the northern provinces. Against the rebels Philip could draw on the resources of Spain, Spanish America, Spanish Italy and the Spanish Netherlands. The Protestant Queen Elizabeth I of England sympathised with the Dutch struggle against the Spanish and sent an army of 7,600 soldiers to aid the Dutch in their war with the Catholic Spanish. English forces under the Earl of Leicester and then Lord Willoughby faced the Spanish in the Netherlands under the Duke of Parma in a series of largely indecisive actions that tied down significant numbers of Spanish troops and bought time for the Dutch to reorganise their defences. The war continued until 1648, when Spain under King Philip IV finally recognised the independence of the seven north-western provinces in the Peace of Münster. Parts of the southern provinces became de facto colonies of the new republican-mercantile empire.


From the 2000 census, 4,765 or 85.3% were Roman Catholic, while 205 or 3.7% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church.  Of the rest of the population, there were 29 members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.52% of the population), there was 1 individual who belongs to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 50 individuals (or about 0.89% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church.  There were 168 (or about 3.01% of the population) who were Islamic.  There were 2 individuals who were Buddhist, 2 individuals who were Hindu and 6 individuals who belonged to another church.  168 (or about 3.01% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 213 individuals (or about 3.81% of the population) did not answer the question.


The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Per fess, Gules two Grapes Or slipped Vert and Azure a Church Or doored and roofed Sable.


Fully ([fyli]) is a municipality in the district of Martigny in the canton of Valais in Switzerland.


In the University of Glasgow (Scotland):
Adam Smith is appointed professor of logic.
The Medical School is founded.
Ferdinando Galiani publishes the first modern economic analysis, Della Moneta.
Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus publishes his Philosophia Botanica, the first textbook of descriptive systematic botanical taxonomy, and the first appearance of his binomial nomenclature.
The Maria Theresa thaler is minted; it becomes an international currency.
1751–1775 – 13 per cent of appointees to audiencias in the Spanish Empire are Creoles.


Wikimedia Commons (or simply Commons) is a media repository of open images, sounds, videos and other media. It also contains JSON files. It is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation.
Files from Wikimedia Commons can be used across all of the Wikimedia projects in all languages, including Wikipedia, Wikivoyage, Wikisource, Wikiquote, Wiktionary, Wikinews, Wikibooks, and Wikispecies, or downloaded for offsite use. As of July 2022, the repository contains over 87 million free-to-use media files, managed and editable by registered volunteers.


Over time, additional functionality has been developed to interface Wikimedia Commons with the other Wikimedia projects. Daniel Kinzler wrote applications for finding appropriate categories for uploaded files ("CommonSense"), determining the usage of files across the Wikimedia projects ("CheckUsage"), locating images with missing copyright information ("UntaggedImages"), and relaying information about administrative actions such as deletions to the relevant wikis ("CommonsTicker").
Specialized uploading tools and scripts such as "Commonist" have been created to simplify the process of uploading large numbers of files. At one time, in order to review free content photos uploaded to Flickr, users could participate in a now-defunct collaborative external review process ("FlickrLickr"), which resulted in more than 10,000 uploads to Commons.There exists a community-maintained Commons Mobile App which allows uploading of photos that document the world, especially notable objects findable in the map in the Nearby List in the app (displaying Wikidata items with coordinates). The app launched in 2012 as an official Wikimedia app and since May 2016, it uses the official Wikimedia Commons name and logo.


Structured Data on Commons (SDC) is a three-year software development project funded by the Sloan Foundation to provide the infrastructure for Wikimedia Commons volunteers to organize data about media files in a consistent manner. This data is structured more and is made machine-readable. The goals of the functionality are to make contributing to Commons easier by providing new ways to edit, curate, and write software for Commons, and to make general use of Commons easier by expanding capabilities in search and reuse.


While there have been discoveries of archaeological evidence of human occupation of the Rome area from approximately 14,000 years ago, the dense layer of much younger debris obscures Palaeolithic and Neolithic sites. Evidence of stone tools, pottery, and stone weapons attest to about 10,000 years of human presence. Several excavations support the view that Rome grew from pastoral settlements on the Palatine Hill built above the area of the future Roman Forum. Between the end of the Bronze Age and the beginning of the Iron Age, each hill between the sea and the Capitol was topped by a village (on the Capitol Hill, a village is attested since the end of the 14th century BC). However, none of them yet had an urban quality. Nowadays, there is a wide consensus that the city developed gradually through the aggregation ("synoecism") of several villages around the largest one, placed above the Palatine. This aggregation was facilitated by the increase of agricultural productivity above the subsistence level, which also allowed the establishment of secondary and tertiary activities. These, in turn, boosted the development of trade with the Greek colonies of southern Italy (mainly Ischia and Cumae). These developments, which according to archaeological evidence took place during the mid-eighth century BC, can be considered as the "birth" of the city. Despite recent excavations at the Palatine hill, the view that Rome was founded deliberately in the middle of the eighth century BC, as the legend of Romulus suggests, remains a fringe hypothesis.


After the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD, Rome was first under the control of Odoacer and then became part of the Ostrogothic Kingdom before returning to East Roman control after the Gothic War, which devastated the city in 546 and 550. Its population declined from more than a million in 210 AD to 500,000 in 273 to 35,000 after the Gothic War (535–554), reducing the sprawling city to groups of inhabited buildings interspersed among large areas of ruins, vegetation, vineyards and market gardens. It is generally thought the population of the city until 300 AD was 1 million (estimates range from 2 million to 750,000) declining to 750–800,000 in 400 AD, 450–500,000 in 450 AD and down to 80–100,000 in 500 AD (though it may have been twice this).
The Bishop of Rome, called the Pope, was important since the early days of Christianity because of the martyrdom of both the apostles Peter and Paul there. The Bishops of Rome were also seen (and still are seen by Catholics) as the successors of Peter, who is considered the first Bishop of Rome. The city thus became of increasing importance as the centre of the Catholic Church.
After the Lombard invasion of Italy (569–572), the city remained nominally Byzantine, but in reality, the popes pursued a policy of equilibrium between the Byzantines, the Franks, and the Lombards. In 729, the Lombard king Liutprand donated the north Latium town of Sutri to the Church, starting its temporal power. In 756, Pepin the Short, after having defeated the Lombards, gave the Pope temporal jurisdiction over the Roman Duchy and the Exarchate of Ravenna, thus creating the Papal States. Since this period, three powers tried to rule the city: the pope, the nobility (together with the chiefs of militias, the judges, the Senate and the populace), and the Frankish king, as king of the Lombards, patricius, and Emperor. These three parties (theocratic, republican, and imperial) were a characteristic of Roman life during the entire Middle Ages. On Christmas night of 800, Charlemagne was crowned in Rome as emperor of the Holy Roman Empire by Pope Leo III: on that occasion, the city hosted for the first time the two powers whose struggle for control was to be a constant of the Middle Ages.
In 846, Muslim Arabs unsuccessfully stormed the city's walls, but managed to loot St. Peter's and St. Paul's basilica, both outside the city wall. After the decay of Carolingian power, Rome fell prey to feudal chaos: several noble families fought against the pope, the emperor, and each other. These were the times of Theodora and her daughter Marozia, concubines and mothers of several popes, and of Crescentius, a powerful feudal lord, who fought against the Emperors Otto II and Otto III. The scandals of this period forced the papacy to reform itself: the election of the pope was reserved to the cardinals, and reform of the clergy was attempted. The driving force behind this renewal was the monk Ildebrando da Soana, who once elected pope under the name of Gregory VII became involved into the Investiture Controversy against Emperor Henry IV. Subsequently, Rome was sacked and burned by the Normans under Robert Guiscard who had entered the city in support of the Pope, then besieged in Castel Sant'Angelo.
During this period, the city was autonomously ruled by a senatore or patrizio. In the 12th century, this administration, like other European cities, evolved into the commune, a new form of social organisation controlled by the new wealthy classes. Pope Lucius II fought against the Roman commune, and the struggle was continued by his successor Pope Eugenius III: by this stage, the commune, allied with the aristocracy, was supported by Arnaldo da Brescia, a monk who was a religious and social reformer. After the pope's death, Arnaldo was taken prisoner by Adrianus IV, which marked the end of the commune's autonomy. Under Pope Innocent III, whose reign marked the apogee of the papacy, the commune liquidated the senate, and replaced it with a Senatore, who was subject to the pope.
In this period, the papacy played a role of secular importance in Western Europe, often acting as arbitrators between Christian monarchs and exercising additional political powers.
In 1266, Charles of Anjou, who was heading south to fight the Hohenstaufen on behalf of the pope, was appointed Senator. Charles founded the Sapienza, the university of Rome. In that period the pope died, and the cardinals, summoned in Viterbo, could not agree on his successor. This angered the people of the city, who then unroofed the building where they met and imprisoned them until they had nominated the new pope; this marked the birth of the conclave. In this period the city was also shattered by continuous fights between the aristocratic families: Annibaldi, Caetani, Colonna, Orsini, Conti, nested in their fortresses built above ancient Roman edifices, fought each other to control the papacy.
Pope Boniface VIII, born Caetani, was the last pope to fight for the church's universal domain; he proclaimed a crusade against the Colonna family and, in 1300, called for the first Jubilee of Christianity, which brought millions of pilgrims to Rome. However, his hopes were crushed by the French king Philip the Fair, who took him prisoner and killed him in Anagni. Afterwards, a new pope faithful to the French was elected, and the papacy was briefly relocated to Avignon (1309–1377). During this period Rome was neglected, until a plebeian man, Cola di Rienzo, came to power. An idealist and a lover of ancient Rome, Cola dreamed about a rebirth of the Roman Empire: after assuming power with the title of Tribuno, his reforms were rejected by the populace. Forced to flee, Cola returned as part of the entourage of Cardinal Albornoz, who was charged with restoring the Church's power in Italy. Back in power for a short time, Cola was soon lynched by the populace, and Albornoz took possession of the city. In 1377, Rome became the seat of the papacy again under Gregory XI. The return of the pope to Rome in that year unleashed the Western Schism (1377–1418), and for the next forty years, the city was affected by the divisions which rocked the Church.


In 1418, the Council of Constance settled the Western Schism, and a Roman pope, Martin V, was elected.
This brought to Rome a century of internal peace, which marked the beginning of the Renaissance. The ruling popes until the first half of the 16th century, from Nicholas V, founder of the Vatican Library, to Pius II, humanist and literate, from Sixtus IV, a warrior pope, to Alexander VI, immoral and nepotist, from Julius II, soldier and patron, to Leo X, who gave his name to this period ("the century of Leo X"), all devoted their energy to the greatness and the beauty of the Eternal City and to the patronage of the arts.
During those years, the centre of the Italian Renaissance moved to Rome from Florence. Majestic works, as the new Saint Peter's Basilica, the Sistine Chapel and Ponte Sisto (the first bridge to be built across the Tiber since antiquity, although on Roman foundations) were created. To accomplish that, the Popes engaged the best artists of the time, including Michelangelo, Perugino, Raphael, Ghirlandaio, Luca Signorelli, Botticelli, and Cosimo Rosselli.
The period was also infamous for papal corruption, with many Popes fathering children, and engaging in nepotism and simony. The corruption of the Popes and the huge expenses for their building projects led, in part, to the Reformation and, in turn, the Counter-Reformation. Under extravagant and rich popes, Rome was transformed into a centre of art, poetry, music, literature, education and culture. Rome became able to compete with other major European cities of the time in terms of wealth, grandeur, the arts, learning and architecture.
The Renaissance period changed the face of Rome dramatically, with works like the Pietà by Michelangelo and the frescoes of the Borgia Apartments. Rome reached the highest point of splendour under Pope Julius II (1503–1513) and his successors Leo X and Clement VII, both members of the Medici family.
In this twenty-year period, Rome became one of the greatest centres of art in the world. The old St. Peter's Basilica built by Emperor Constantine the Great (which by then was in a dilapidated state) was demolished and a new one begun. The city hosted artists like Ghirlandaio, Perugino, Botticelli and Bramante, who built the temple of San Pietro in Montorio and planned a great project to renovate the Vatican. Raphael, who in Rome became one of the most famous painters of Italy, created frescoes in the Villa Farnesina, the Raphael's Rooms, plus many other famous paintings. Michelangelo started the decoration of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and executed the famous statue of the Moses for the tomb of Julius II.
Its economy was rich, with the presence of several Tuscan bankers, including Agostino Chigi, who was a friend of Raphael and a patron of arts. Before his early death, Raphael also promoted for the first time the preservation of the ancient ruins. The War of the League of Cognac caused the first plunder of the city in more than five hundred years since the previous sack; in 1527, the Landsknechts of Emperor Charles V sacked the city, bringing an abrupt end to the golden age of the Renaissance in Rome.
Beginning with the Council of Trent in 1545, the Church began the Counter-Reformation in response to the Reformation, a large-scale questioning of the Church's authority on spiritual matters and governmental affairs. This loss of confidence led to major shifts of power away from the Church. Under the popes from Pius IV to Sixtus V, Rome became the centre of a reformed Catholicism and saw the building of new monuments which celebrated the papacy. The popes and cardinals of the 17th and early 18th centuries continued the movement by having the city's landscape enriched with baroque buildings.
This was another nepotistic age; the new aristocratic families (Barberini, Pamphili, Chigi, Rospigliosi, Altieri, Odescalchi) were protected by their respective popes, who built huge baroque buildings for their relatives. During the Age of Enlightenment, new ideas reached the Eternal City, where the papacy supported archaeological studies and improved the people's welfare. But not everything went well for the Church during the Counter-Reformation. There were setbacks in the attempts to assert the Church's power, a notable example being in 1773 when Pope Clement XIV was forced by secular powers to have the Jesuit order suppressed.


In 27 BC, Octavian became princeps civitatis and took the title of Augustus, founding the principate, a diarchy between the princeps and the senate. During the reign of Nero, two thirds of the city was ruined after the Great Fire of Rome, and the persecution of Christians commenced. Rome was established as a de facto empire, which reached its greatest expansion in the second century under the Emperor Trajan. Rome was confirmed as caput Mundi, i.e. the capital of the known world, an expression which had already been used in the Republican period. During its first two centuries, the empire was ruled by emperors of the Julio-Claudian, Flavian (who also built an eponymous amphitheatre, known as the Colosseum), and Antonine dynasties. This time was also characterised by the spread of the Christian religion, preached by Jesus Christ in Judea in the first half of the first century (under Tiberius) and popularised by his apostles through the empire and beyond. The Antonine age is considered the zenith of the Empire, whose territory ranged from the Atlantic Ocean to the Euphrates and from Britain to Egypt.
After the end of the Severan Dynasty in 235, the Empire entered into a 50-year period known as the Crisis of the Third Century during which there were numerous putsches by generals, who sought to secure the region of the empire they were entrusted with due to the weakness of central authority in Rome. There was the so-called Gallic Empire from 260 to 274 and the revolts of Zenobia and her father from the mid-260s which sought to fend off Persian incursions. Some regions – Britain, Spain, and North Africa – were hardly affected. Instability caused economic deterioration, and there was a rapid rise in inflation as the government debased the currency in order to meet expenses. The Germanic tribes along the Rhine and north of the Balkans made serious, uncoordinated incursions from the 250s-280s that were more like giant raiding parties rather than attempts to settle. The Persian Empire invaded from the east several times during the 230s to 260s but were eventually defeated.
Emperor Diocletian (284) undertook the restoration of the State. He ended the Principate and introduced the Tetrarchy which sought to increase state power. The most marked feature was the unprecedented intervention of the State down to the city level: whereas the State had submitted a tax demand to a city and allowed it to allocate the charges, from his reign the State did this down to the village level. In a vain attempt to control inflation, he imposed price controls which did not last. He or Constantine regionalised the administration of the empire which fundamentally changed the way it was governed by creating regional dioceses (the consensus seems to have shifted from 297 to 313/14 as the date of creation due to the argument of Constantin Zuckerman in 2002 "Sur la liste de Verone et la province de grande armenie, Melanges Gilber Dagron). The existence of regional fiscal units from 286 served as the model for this unprecedented innovation. The emperor quickened the process of removing military command from governors. Henceforth, civilian administration and military command would be separate. He gave governors more fiscal duties and placed them in charge of the army logistical support system as an attempt to control it by removing the support system from its control. Diocletian ruled the eastern half, residing in Nicomedia. In 296, he elevated Maximian to Augustus of the western half, where he ruled mostly from Mediolanum when not on the move. In 292, he created two 'junior' emperors, the Caesars, one for each Augustus, Constantius for Britain, Gaul, and Spain whose seat of power was in Trier and Galerius in Sirmium in the Balkans. The appointment of a Caesar was not unknown: Diocletian tried to turn into a system of non-dynastic succession. Upon abdication in 305, the Caesars succeeded and they, in turn, appointed two colleagues for themselves.
After the abdication of Diocletian and Maximian in 305 and a series of civil wars between rival claimants to imperial power, during the years 306–313, the Tetrarchy was abandoned. Constantine the Great undertook a major reform of the bureaucracy, not by changing the structure but by rationalising the competencies of the several ministries during the years 325–330, after he defeated Licinius, emperor in the East, at the end of 324. The so-called Edict of Milan of 313, actually a fragment of a letter from Licinius to the governors of the eastern provinces, granted freedom of worship to everyone, including Christians, and ordered the restoration of confiscated church properties upon petition to the newly created vicars of dioceses. He funded the building of several churches and allowed clergy to act as arbitrators in civil suits (a measure that did not outlast him but which was restored in part much later). He transformed the town of Byzantium into his new residence, which, however, was not officially anything more than an imperial residence like Milan or Trier or Nicomedia until given a city prefect in May 359 by Constantius II; Constantinople.
Christianity in the form of the Nicene Creed became the official religion of the empire in 380, via the Edict of Thessalonica issued in the name of three emperors – Gratian, Valentinian II, and Theodosius I – with Theodosius clearly the driving force behind it. He was the last emperor of a unified empire: after his death in 395, his sons, Arcadius and Honorius divided the empire into a western and an eastern part. The seat of government in the Western Roman Empire was transferred to Ravenna in 408, but from 450 the emperors mostly resided in the capital city, Rome.
Rome, which had lost its central role in the administration of the empire, was sacked in 410 by the Visigoths led by Alaric I, but very little physical damage was done, most of which were repaired. What could not be so easily replaced were portable items such as artwork in precious metals and items for domestic use (loot). The popes embellished the city with large basilicas, such as Santa Maria Maggiore (with the collaboration of the emperors). The population of the city had fallen from 800,000 to 450–500,000 by the time the city was sacked in 455 by Genseric, king of the Vandals. The weak emperors of the fifth century could not stop the decay, leading to the deposition of Romulus Augustus on 22 August 476, which marked the end of the Western Roman Empire and, for many historians, the beginning of the Middle Ages. The decline of the city's population was caused by the loss of grain shipments from North Africa, from 440 onward, and the unwillingness of the senatorial class to maintain donations to support a population that was too large for the resources available. Even so, strenuous efforts were made to maintain the monumental centre, the palatine, and the largest baths, which continued to function until the Gothic siege of 537. The large baths of Constantine on the Quirinale were even repaired in 443, and the extent of the damage exaggerated and dramatised. However, the city gave an appearance overall of shabbiness and decay because of the large abandoned areas due to population decline. The population declined to 500,000 by 452 and 100,000 by 500 AD (perhaps larger, though no certain figure can be known). After the Gothic siege of 537, the population dropped to 30,000 but had risen to 90,000 by the papacy of Gregory the Great. The population decline coincided with the general collapse of urban life in the West in the fifth and sixth centuries, with few exceptions. Subsidized state grain distributions to the poorer members of society continued right through the sixth century and probably prevented the population from falling further. The figure of 450,000–500,000 is based on the amount of pork, 3,629,000 lbs. distributed to poorer Romans during five winter months at the rate of five Roman lbs per person per month, enough for 145,000 persons or 1/4 or 1/3 of the total population. Grain distribution to 80,000 ticket holders at the same time suggests 400,000 (Augustus set the number at 200,000 or one-fifth of the population).


During Diaz's rule, called the Porfiriato, a number of modernization efforts were undertaken in the state such as public lighting, first with gas then with electricity, railroad lines, new agriculture techniques and the revitalization of commerce. However, most of the benefits of these advances went to national and international corporations and workers and indigenous farmers organized against the regime.
After the Mexican Revolution broke out, Diaz was soon ousted and the rest of the war was among the various factions that had power in different parts of the country. Various leaders such as Francisco I. Madero, Victoriano Huerta and Venustiano Carranza came to the state during this time. However; the most important force in the area was the Liberation Army of the South under Emiliano Zapata. This army would ally and fight against the previous leaders, especially Venustiano Carranza, and hold various portions of the state until 1920. At the end of the Revolution, a new state constitution was written and accepted in 1922.
A series of major disasters occurred in the state from the 1920s to the 1940s. In 1928, a series of earthquakes destroyed many of the buildings in the capital. A much larger earthquake in 1931, was the largest in the state's history, devastating a number of cities along the coast. The 1930s brought the Great Depression, which along with the disasters, prompted wide scale migration to Mexico City. In 1944, torrential rains caused extensive flooding in the Tuxtepec region, resulting in hundreds of deaths.
In the 1940s and 1950s, new infrastructure projects were begun. These included the Izúcar-Tehuantepec section of the Panamerican Highway and the construction of the Miguel Alemán Dam. From the 1980s to the present, there has been much development of the tourism industry in the state. This tourism, as well as the population growth of the capital, prompted the construction of the Oaxaca-Mexico City highway in 1994. Development of tourism has been strongest in the Central Valleys area surrounding the capital, with secondary developments in Huatulco and other locations along the coast. This development was threatened by violence associated with the 2006 uprising, which severely curtailed the number of incoming tourists for several years.
On February 12, 2008, a 6.4 magnitude earthquake was recorded in Oaxaca.
From the Mexican Revolution until the 2000s, the ruling PRI party held control of almost all of Oaxacan politics from the local to the state level. Challenges to the rule were sporadic and included the student movements of the 1970s, which did bring down the state government. Teachers' strikes had been frequent since then, culminating in the 2006 uprising in Oaxaca city, which brought in groups protesting the heavy marginalization of the poor. The PRI lost its 80-year hold on the state government in 2010 with the election of the PAN gubernatorial candidate Gabino Cué Monteagudo. This has led to speculation of major changes for the state.
In 2017, a series of earthquakes brought death and destruction to parts of Mexico, including Oaxaca. According to the US Geological Survey, early on September 23, 2017, a magnitude 6.1 earthquake shook Matías Romero, about 275 miles southeast of Mexico City. The epicenter was about 12 miles from Matías Romero and centered approximately between the two even more violent earthquakes felt by Mexico earlier in the month, of which it is considered an aftershock. On September 8, an 8.1 magnitude quake struck off of the southern Pacific coast, near Chiapas state. Mexico City, on September 19, then endured a 7.1 magnitude quake, which also marked the 32nd anniversary of the devastating 1985 earthquake, in which more than 10,000 people had been killed.
On June 23, 2020, a preliminary 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck the region, triggering tsunami warnings for parts of the area. At least 10 people were killed.


Buddhism is an Indian religion or philosophy founded on the teachings of Gautama Buddha, a Śramaṇa also called Shakyamuni (sage of the Shakya's), or "the Buddha" ("the Awakened One"), who lived c. 5th to 4th century BCE. Early texts have the Buddha's family name as "Gautama" (Pali: Gotama). The details of Buddha's life are mentioned in many Early Buddhist Texts but are inconsistent. His social background and life details are difficult to prove, and the precise dates are uncertain.
The evidence of the early texts suggests that Siddhartha Gautama was born in Lumbini, present-day Nepal and grew up in Kapilavastu, a town in the Ganges Plain, near the modern Nepal–India border, and that he spent his life in what is now modern Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Some hagiographic legends state that his father was a king named Suddhodana, his mother was Queen Maya. Scholars such as Richard Gombrich consider this a dubious claim because a combination of evidence suggests he was born in the Shakya community, which was governed by a small oligarchy or republic-like council where there were no ranks but where seniority mattered instead. Some of the stories about Buddha, his life, his teachings, and claims about the society he grew up in may have been invented and interpolated at a later time into the Buddhist texts.
According to early texts such as the Pali Ariyapariyesanā-sutta ("The discourse on the noble quest," MN 26) and its Chinese parallel at MĀ 204, Gautama was moved by the suffering (dukkha) of life and death, and its endless repetition due to rebirth. He thus set out on a quest to find liberation from suffering (also known as "nirvana"). Early texts and biographies state that Gautama first studied under two teachers of meditation, namely Āḷāra Kālāma (Sanskrit: Arada Kalama) and Uddaka Ramaputta (Sanskrit: Udraka Ramaputra), learning meditation and philosophy, particularly the meditative attainment of "the sphere of nothingness" from the former, and "the sphere of neither perception nor non-perception" from the latter.
Finding these teachings to be insufficient to attain his goal, he turned to the practice of severe asceticism, which included a strict fasting regime and various forms of breath control. This too fell short of attaining his goal, and then he turned to the meditative practice of dhyana. He famously sat in meditation under a Ficus religiosa tree — now called the Bodhi Tree — in the town of Bodh Gaya and attained "Awakening" (Bodhi).
According to various early texts like the Mahāsaccaka-sutta, and the Samaññaphala Sutta, on awakening, the Buddha gained insight into the workings of karma and his former lives, as well as achieving the ending of the mental defilements (asavas), the ending of suffering, and the end of rebirth in saṃsāra. This event also brought certainty about the Middle Way as the right path of spiritual practice to end suffering. As a fully enlightened Buddha, he attracted followers and founded a Sangha (monastic order). He spent the rest of his life teaching the Dharma he had discovered, and then died, achieving "final nirvana," at the age of 80 in Kushinagar, India.
Buddha's teachings were propagated by his followers, which in the last centuries of the 1st millennium BCE became various Buddhist schools of thought, each with its own basket of texts containing different interpretations and authentic teachings of the Buddha; these over time evolved into many traditions of which the more well known and widespread in the modern era are Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism.


February 5 – Gabriel Voisin, French aviation pioneer (d. 1973)
February 8 – Franz Marc, German artist (d. 1916)
February 12
John L. Lewis, American labor union leader (d. 1969)
George Preca, Maltese saint (d. 1962)
February 14 – Frederick J. Horne, American four-star admiral (d. 1959)
February 17 – Reginald Farrer, English botanist (d. 1920)
February 19 – Álvaro Obregón, 39th President of Mexico (d. 1928)
February 21 – Waldemar Bonsels, German writer (d. 1952)
February 22
Eric Lemming, Swedish athlete (d. 1930)
Frigyes Riesz, Hungarian mathematician (d. 1956)
February 26 - Lionel Logue, Australian speech and language therapist (d. 1953)


After Shivaji's escape, hostilities between the Marathas and the Mughals ebb, with Mughal sardar Jaswant Singh acting as intermediary between Shivaji and Aurangzeb for new peace proposals.
The first military campaign of Stenka Razin is conducted in Russia.
The French army uses grenadiers.
Robert Hooke demonstrates that the alteration of the blood in the lungs is essential for respiration.
Isaac Newton has investigated and written on optics, acoustics, the infinitesimal calculus, mechanism and thermodynamics. The works will be published only years later.


January 1 – The first edition of The Times, previously The Daily Universal Register, is published in London.
January 2 – Georgia ratifies the United States Constitution, and becomes the fourth U.S. state under the new government.
January 9 – Connecticut ratifies the United States Constitution, and becomes the fifth U.S. state.
January 18 – The leading ship (armed tender HMS Supply) in Captain Arthur Phillip's First Fleet arrives at Botany Bay, to colonise Australia.
January 22 – the Congress of the Confederation, effectively a caretaker government until the United States Constitution can be ratified by at least nine of the 13 states, elects Cyrus Griffin as its last president.
January 24 – The La Perouse expedition in the Astrolabe and Boussole arrives off Botany Bay, just as Captain Arthur Phillip is attempting to move his colony from there to Sydney Cove in Port Jackson.
January 26 – Australia Day: Eleven ships of the First Fleet from Botany Bay, led by Captain Arthur Phillip, land at Sydney Cove (which will become Sydney), Australia, where he determines to establish the British prison colony of New South Wales, the first permanent European settlement on the continent.
January 31 – Henry Benedict Stuart becomes the new Stuart claimant to the throne of Great Britain, as King Henry IX and the figurehead of Jacobitism.
February 1 – Isaac Briggs and William Longstreet patent a steamboat.
February 6 – Massachusetts ratifies the United States Constitution, and becomes the sixth U.S. state.
February 7 – Sydney is named and founded, by the British Colony of New South Wales.
February 9 – Austria enters the Russo-Turkish War (1787–92), and attacks Moldavia.
February 17 – The uninhabited Lord Howe Island is discovered by the brig HMS Supply, commanded by Lieutenant Ball, who is on his way from Botany Bay to Norfolk Island with convicts to start a penal settlement there. They arrive at Norfolk Island on March 6.
March 10 – The La Perouse expedition leaves Sydney Cove for New Caledonia, never to be seen again.
March 14 – The Edinburgh Evening Courant carries a notice of £200 reward for the capture of William Brodie, a town councilor doubling as a burglar.
March 21 – The Great New Orleans Fire kills 25% of the population and destroys 856 buildings, including St. Louis Cathedral and The Cabildo, leaving most of the town in ruins.


July 13 – A hailstorm sweeps across France and the Dutch Republic, with hailstones 'as big as quart bottles' that take 'three days to melt'; immense damage is done.
July 24 – Governor General Lord Dorchester, by proclamation issued from the Chateau St. Louis in Quebec City, divides the British Province of Quebec into five Districts, namely: Gaspé, Nassau, Lunenburg, Mecklenburg, and Hesse.
July 26 – New York ratifies the United States Constitution, and becomes the eleventh U.S. state.
July 28 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, in Vienna, completes his penultimate symphony, now called the Symphony No. 40 in G Minor.
August 8 – King Louis XVI of France agrees to convene the Estates-General meeting in May 1789, the first time since 1614.
August 10 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, in Vienna, completes his final symphony, now called the Symphony No. 41 in C Major, and nicknamed (after his death) The Jupiter.
August 12 – The Anjala conspiracy is signed.
August 27 – The trial of Deacon William Brodie for burglary begins in Edinburgh, Scotland; he is sentenced to death by hanging.
September 13 – The United States Congress of the Confederation passes an act providing a timeline for the voting for the first President under the new U.S. Constitution.
September 21 – Austro-Turkish War - Battle of Karánsebes: The Austrian army engages in a friendly-fire incident, which results in mass casualties.
September 24 – The Theater War begins, when the army of Denmark–Norway invades Sweden.


January 2
Sir Gilbert Heathcote, 1st Baronet, Lord Mayor of London (d. 1733)
Michel Chamillart, French statesman (d. 1721)
January 7 – Pavao Ritter Vitezović, Croatian historian (d. 1713)
January 8 – Wilhelm Homberg, Dutch alchemist (d. 1715)
January 11 – Eugen Alexander Franz, 1st Prince of Thurn and Taxis, Germany (d. 1714)
January 13 – Henry Booth, 1st Earl of Warrington, English politician (d. 1694)
January 16 – Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 2nd Earl of Shaftesbury, English politician (d. 1699)
January 17 – Claude-Guy Hallé, French painter (d. 1736)
February 6 – Francesco Pignatelli, Italian Catholic cardinal (d. 1734)
February 13
Anton Domenico Gabbiani, Italian painter (d. 1726)
August, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck (d. 1689)
February 14 – Camille d'Hostun, duc de Tallard, Marshal of France (d. 1728)
March 1 – Louis de Sabran, British theologian (d. 1732)
March 3 – Thomas Otway, English dramatist (d. 1685)
March 10 – Giacomo Serpotta, Italian artist (d. 1732)
March 12 – Johann Heinrich Ernesti, German philosopher, theologian (d. 1729)
March 14 – Benedicta Henrietta of the Palatinate, German princess (d. 1730)
March 20 – Leon Bazyli Sapieha, Polish-Lithuanian politician (d. 1686)
March 21 – Piers Butler, 3rd Viscount Galmoye, Anglo-Irish nobleman (d. 1740)
March 28 – Samuel Sewall, English-born Massachusetts judge (d. 1730)
April 7 – Pope Clement XII (d. 1740)
April 9
Jean Le Fèvre (astronomer), French astronomer (d. 1706)
Christian Ulrich I, Duke of Württemberg-Oels (d. 1704)
April 13 – Thomas Ward (author), English writer (d. 1708)
April 21 – Michel Rolle, French mathematician (d. 1719)
April 25
Boris Sheremetev, Russian noble (d. 1719)
Giovanni Battista Foggini, Italian artist (d. 1725)
April 28 – Magdalena Sibylla of Hesse-Darmstadt, regent and composer (d. 1712)
May 1 – John King (Rector of Chelsea), English churchman (d. 1732)
May 2 – Abraham Hinckelmann, German Protestant theologian (d. 1695)
May 7 – Edward Northey (barrister), British barrister and politician (d. 1723)
May 11 – Johann Philipp d'Arco, Austrian soldier (d. 1704)
May 14
Juliana of Hesse-Eschwege, German noblewoman (d. 1693)
Johann Philipp Förtsch, German opera composer (d. 1732)
May 20 – Ichijō Kaneteru, Japanese court noble (d. 1705)
May 27 – Elizabeth Charlotte, Princess Palatine, wife to Philippe I, Duke of Orléans (d. 1722)
June 1 – Juan Ferreras, Spanish priest (d. 1735)
June 23 – Jan Brokoff, German sculptor (d. 1718)
August 3 – Samuel Western, English politician (d. 1699)
August 15
John Grubb, American politician (d. 1708)
John Wise (clergyman), American Christian clergyman (d. 1725)
August 26 – Tsarevna Marfa Alekseyevna of Russia (d. 1707)
August 31 – Ferdinando Carlo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua and Montferrat, only child of Duke Charles II (d. 1708)
September 4
Jean Orry, French economist (d. 1719)
Tokugawa Tsunanari, Japanese daimyō (d. 1699)
September 8 – Luisa Roldán, Spanish artist (d. 1706)
September 10 – Jan Sladký Kozina, Czech revolutionary (d. 1695)
September 12 – Frederick Charles, Duke of Württemberg-Winnental (d. 1697)
October 11 – Nathaniel Higginson, English politician (d. 1708)
October 16
Karl, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst (d. 1718)
Jan Mortel, painter from the Northern Netherlands (d. 1719)
October 29 – Jan Wyck, Dutch military painter (d. 1702)
November 1 – William Lowndes, English politician (d. 1724)
November 3 – Louis, Duke of Rohan, French noble (d. 1727)
November 4 – Marc-René de Voyer de Paulmy d'Argenson (1652–1721), French politician (d. 1721)
November 9 – Marie Anne d'Orléans, French princess (d. 1656)
November 10 – Johann Ernst Glück, German theologian, translator (d. 1705)
December 2 – Karolina of Legnica-Brieg, Silesian noblewoman (d. 1707)
December 9
Augustus Quirinus Rivinus, German physician and botanist (d. 1723)
Robert Rochfort, Irish politician (d. 1727)
December 10 – Frederick, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, German nobleman (d. 1692)
December 20 – Samuel Bradford, English churchman, Whig politician (d. 1731)
December 25 – Archibald Pitcairne, Scottish physician (d. 1713)


In 1299, according to the Malay Annals, the Kingdom of Singapura was founded on the island by Sang Nila Utama. Although the historicity of the accounts as given in the Malay Annals is the subject of academic debates, it is nevertheless known from various documents that Singapore in the 14th century, then known as Temasek, was a trading port under the influence of both the Majapahit Empire and the Siamese kingdoms, and was a part of the Indosphere. These Indianised kingdoms were characterised by surprising resilience, political integrity and administrative stability. Historical sources also indicate that around the end of the 14th century, its ruler Parameswara was attacked by either the Majapahit or the Siamese, forcing him to move to Malacca where he founded the Sultanate of Malacca. Archaeological evidence suggests that the main settlement on Fort Canning was abandoned around this time, although a small trading settlement continued in Singapore for some time afterwards. In 1613, Portuguese raiders burned down the settlement, and the island faded into obscurity for the next two centuries. By then, Singapore was nominally part of the Johor Sultanate. The wider maritime region and much trade was under Dutch control for the following period after the Dutch conquest of Malacca.