First permanent human settlements (homo sapiens) are established along the Pacific coast of North America

Euclid wrote a series of 13 books on geometry called The Elements

Abbas Ibn Firnas, a Muslim, is rumored to have made a successful attempt at flying. He built his own glider, and launched himself from a mountain

Abu Rayhan al Biruni establishes the beginning of Islamic astronomy and physical mechanics

The Magna Carta document is adopted in England, guaranteeing liberties to the English people, and proclaiming basic rights and procedures

which later become the foundation of modern democracy

Nicole Oresme discovers the curvature of light through atmospheric refraction

Columbus reaches the West Indies (Caribbean) on the first of his voyages of discovery

Christopher Columbus and crew sighted land Oct. 12 in present-day Bahamas

Ferdinand Magellan is the first person to sail around the world

Copernicus describes the heliocentric model of the solar system

Tycho Brahe publishes his detailed astronomical observations

Johannes Kepler publishes the first two laws of planetary motion

First representative assembly in New World, elected July 30 at Jamestown, VA

Johannes Kepler publishes the third law of planetary motion

November 9, the Mayflower ship lands at Cape Cod, Massachusetts, with 101 colonists. On November 11,

the Mayflower Compact is signed by the 41 men, establishing a form of local government in which the

colonists agree to abide by majority rule and to cooperate for the general good of the colony. The Compact

sets the precedent for other colonies as they set up governments

Galileo Galilei describes the laws of falling bodies

First book printed in America, the so-called Bay Psalm Book

Nicolas Steno proposes that fossils are organic remains embedded in layers of sediment, this is the basis of stratigraphy

The Royal African Trade Company loses its slave trade monopoly, spurring colonists in New England to engage in slave trading for profit

Sir Issac Newton discovers that white light is a spectrum of a mixture of distinct colored rays

Ole Romer conducts the first successful measurement of the speed of light

Sir Issac Newton publishes the Classical Mathematical description of the fundamental force of universal gravitation

Sir Issac Newton publishes the three physical laws of motion

The Anglo population in the English colonies in America reaches 275,000, with Boston (pop. 7000) as the largest city, followed by New York (pop. 5000)

Mikhail Lomonosov discovers that Venus has an atmosphere

Charles Messier publishes a catalogue of astronomical objects (Messier Objects) now known to include galaxies, star clusters, and nebulae

First museum in the colonies was officially established in Charleston, SC

Patrick Henry addressed Virginia convention, March 23, said “Give me liberty or give me death!”

Richard Henry Lee of the Continental Congress, presents a formal resolution calling for independence from Britain

Declaration of Independence approved July 4, signed August 2

William Herschel announces the discovery of Uranus, expanding the scope of the solar system for the first time

Constitutional convention opened in Philadelphia, May 25, with Washington presiding

The Constitution of the United States is now in effect, having been ratified by the required nine states

George Washington chosen president by all electors voting

The largest American city is Philadelphia, with 42,000 persons, followed by New York (33,000)

Boston (18,000) Charleston (16,000) and Baltimore (13,000). The majority of Americans are involved

in agricultural pursuits, with little industrial activity occurring at this time

Georges Cuvier’s work establishes species extinction as a fact

Supreme Court, in Marbury v. Madison overturned U.S. law for first time. Louisiana Purchase doubled U.S. area

War of 1812; Unaware that Britain had raised blockade against France, congress declared war June 18

Emma Willard founded Troy Female Seminary, First U.S. women’s college

Monroe Doctrine, opposing European intervention in the Americas, enunciated by President James Monroe December 2

Mexico becomes an independent republic and outlaws slavery

John Stevens, of Hoboken, NJ, built and operated first experimental steam locomotive in U.S.

Massachusetts became first state to pass a law providing for tax-supported public high schools

Nikolai Lobachevsky created non-euclidean geometry

Oberlin College became first to adopt coeducation in U.S.

Liberty Bell cracked July while tolling death of Chief Justice John Marshall

Texas declares independence from Mexico

Marcus Whitman, H.H. Spaulding, and wives reached Fort Walla Walla on Columbia River, OR. First white women to cross plains

Mathias Schleiden discovers that all plants are made of cells

Edgar Allan Poe published one of the first American detective stories. The Murders in the Rue Morgue

First use of anesthetic (sulfuric ether gas)

Christian Doppler discovers and describes the Doppler Effect

First message over first telegraph line sent May 24

Bear flag of Republic of California raised by American settlers at Sonoma, June 14

Johann Gottfried Galle and Heinrich Louis d’Arrest discover the planet Neptune

Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton led Seneca Falls, NY, Women’s Rights Convention July 19-20

Herman Melvill’s Moby-Dick published

Republican Party formed at Ripon, WI, Feb. 28

First U.S. kindergarten opened in Watertown, WI

Edwin L. Drake drilled the first commercially productive oil well near Titusville, PA, August 27

Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace publish the Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection

Republican Abraham Lincoln elected president November 6 in 4-way race

The United States civil war begins

Civil War began as confederates fired on Ft. Sumter in Charleston, SC, April 12

President Lincoln issued Emancipation Proclamation Jan. 1, freeing “all slaves in areas still in rebellion”

President Abraham Lincoln is shot, he dies the next day

Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered 27,800 Confederate troops to Gen. Grant at Appomattox Court House in VA, April 9

Alaska sold to U.S. by Russia for $7.2 mil March 30, through efforts of Sec. Of State Williams H. Seward

Transcontinental railroad completed; golden spike driven at Promontory, UT.

Women suffrage law passed in Wyoming Territory December 10

The 15th Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, giving blacks but not women the right to vote

First U.S. postal card issued May 1

First Kentucky Derby held May 17

The Civil Rights Act is passed by the U.S. Congress

Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone March 7

Thomas A. Edison founded Edison Electric Light Co. on October 15

F. W. Woolworth opened his first five-and-ten store, in Utica, NY, February 22

George Selden of Rochester, NY. filed for the first patent for an automobile

The first recorded “bathing beauty” pageant in the U.S. is held in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Thomas Edison is a judge!

Clara Barton founded American Red Cross May 21. Booker T. Washington founded Tuskegee Institute for blacks

The Civil Rights Act of 1875 is declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court

Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Fin published

Apache Indian Geronimo surrendered September 4, ending last major Indian war

At the Battle of Wounded Knee, 200 Native American women and children are massacred by U.S. troops

Jacob Riis’s How the Other Half Lives, about city slums, published, instigating reform legislation in New York City

James J. Corbett defeated John L. Sullivan Sept. 7 to become first world heavyweight champion under Marquess of Queensbury rules

“America, the Beautiful” appeared for the first time, in church publication, July 4

Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen discovers x-rays

Henri Becquerel discovers radioactivity

Marie Curie discovers polonium, radium, and coins the term “radioactivity”

Annexation of Hawaii signed by President William McKinley, July 7

Philosopher John Dewey’s School and Society, advocating progressive education (“learn by doing”), published