c. 450 million years ago – May 25, 2025·62 events
Things That Happened at the Same Time: Surprising Overlaps in History
All 62 events
In date order. Indented events happen within the event above them. Times are in UTC unless another zone is shown. Last updated September 29, 2026.
c. 450 million years ago · Nature and deep time
The first sharks appear in the fossil record
Fossil scales from Late Ordovician rocks show shark-like fish about 450 million years ago. No teeth survive from this time, so researchers debate whether the scales belong to true sharks or close relatives.
Sources: Shark evolution: a 450 million year timeline, Natural History Museum; Evolution of sharks, Wikipedia
c. 385 million years ago · Nature and deep time
The earliest known trees grow at Gilboa, New York
Fossils of Wattieza, a fern relative about 8 meters tall, place the earliest known trees at Gilboa, New York, about 385 million years ago. A 2007 study matched a fossil crown to tree stumps found there in the 1870s.
Sources: Giant cladoxylopsid trees resolve the enigma of the Earth’s earliest forest stumps at Gilboa, Nature (2007); Wattieza, Wikipedia
155–145 million years ago · Nature and deep time
Stegosaurus lives in Late Jurassic North America
Stegosaurus lived between about 155 and 145 million years ago. At least 76 million years separate the last Stegosaurus from the first Tyrannosaurus, more than the 66 to 69 million years that separate Tyrannosaurus from us.
Sources: Stegosaurus, Wikipedia; Stegosaurus, Natural History Museum Dino Directory; On Dinosaur Time, Smithsonian Magazine
69–66 million years ago · Nature and deep time
Tyrannosaurus rex lives in Late Cretaceous North America
Tyrannosaurus lived about 69 to 66 million years ago. That puts it closer in time to us than to Stegosaurus, which had been extinct for at least 76 million years when the first Tyrannosaurus appeared.
Sources: Tyrannosaurus, Wikipedia; On Dinosaur Time, Smithsonian Magazine
c. 300 thousand years ago · Africa and the Middle East
The oldest known Homo sapiens live at Jebel Irhoud
Skull and jaw fossils from Jebel Irhoud, Morocco, date to about 300,000 years ago, about 100,000 years older than the Homo sapiens remains known before them. Jean-Jacques Hublin’s team published them in 2017.
Sources: Our species arose at least 300,000 years ago, Smithsonian Human Origins Program; New fossils from Jebel Irhoud, Morocco and the pan-African origin of Homo sapiens, Nature (2017)
10 thousand years ago – c. 2,000 BC · Nature and deep time
Woolly mammoths survive on Wrangel Island
Rising seas cut off a small group of woolly mammoths on Wrangel Island, off Siberia, about 10,000 years ago. The population stayed stable for about 6,000 years, so mammoths were still alive there while the Great Pyramid was being built.
Sources: Woolly mammoth, Wikipedia; Last surviving woolly mammoths were inbred but not doomed to extinction, ScienceDaily (2024)
c. 2,000 BC · Nature and deep time
The last woolly mammoths die out
The Wrangel Island mammoths died out about 4,000 years ago, roughly 2000 BC. That is nearly six centuries after the Great Pyramid of Giza was finished, around 2560 BC. A 2024 genetic study found inbreeding did not cause their sudden end, which remains unexplained.
Sources: Woolly mammoth, Wikipedia; Last surviving woolly mammoths were inbred but not doomed to extinction, ScienceDaily (2024)
c. 2,600 BC – c. 2,400 BC · Europe
The sarsen stones of Stonehenge are raised
The great sarsen circle at Stonehenge was put up between about 2600 and 2400 BC, the same stretch of centuries in which Khufu's pyramid rose at Giza, around 2560 BC.
Sources: Stonehenge, Wikipedia; History of Stonehenge, English Heritage
c. 2,560 BC · Africa and the Middle East
The Great Pyramid of Giza is completed
The pyramid built for the pharaoh Khufu is dated to about 2560 BC (radiocarbon dates range from 2620 to 2484 BC). Woolly mammoths still lived on Wrangel Island, and Stonehenge's sarsen stones were going up in the same centuries.
Sources: Great Pyramid of Giza, Wikipedia; Great Pyramid of Giza, World History Encyclopedia
30 BC · Africa and the Middle East
Cleopatra dies in Alexandria
Cleopatra VII, queen of Ptolemaic Egypt from 51 BC, died on 10 or 12 August 30 BC. That was about 2,530 years after the Great Pyramid was finished and 1,998 years before Apollo 11 landed on the Moon, so she lived closer in time to the Moon landing.
Sources: Cleopatra, Wikipedia; Cleopatra VII, World History Encyclopedia
1096 · Europe
Teaching is under way at Oxford
Oxford has no founding date, but teaching existed there in some form by 1096. That is 229 years before the traditional founding of Tenochtitlan in 1325 and 332 years before the Aztec Triple Alliance formed in 1428.
Sources: University of Oxford, Wikipedia; List of oldest universities in continuous operation, Wikipedia
· Asia and the Pacific
Zhongdu surrenders to Genghis Khan
In June 1215 the last defenders of Zhongdu, the Jin dynasty capital on the site of modern Beijing, opened the gates to the Mongols after a long siege. King John sealed Magna Carta in England that same month.
Sources: Battle of Zhongdu, Wikipedia; Genghis Khan, Wikipedia
· Europe
King John seals Magna Carta at Runnymede
King John and the rebel barons sealed Magna Carta at Runnymede on 15 June 1215. In the same month, on the other side of Eurasia, the Jin capital Zhongdu (modern Beijing) surrendered to Genghis Khan's Mongol army.
Sources: Magna Carta, Wikipedia; Magna Carta, The National Archives (UK)
c. 1299 – Nov 1, 1922 · Africa and the Middle East
The Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman state grew from a principality founded by Osman I around 1299 and lasted until 1922. It was more than 600 years old when the Wright brothers first flew, and outlasted that flight by almost 19 years.
Sources: Ottoman Empire, Wikipedia; Abolition of the Ottoman sultanate, Wikipedia
· Africa and the Middle East
Turkey's Grand National Assembly abolishes the Ottoman sultanate
The Grand National Assembly abolished the sultanate on 1 November 1922, and the last sultan, Mehmed VI, left Constantinople on a British warship on 17 November. The Wright brothers' first flight had been almost 19 years earlier.
Sources: Abolition of the Ottoman sultanate, Wikipedia; Ottoman Empire, Wikipedia
1324–1325 · Africa and the Middle East
Mansa Musa's pilgrimage to Mecca
Mansa Musa, ruler of the Mali Empire, made the pilgrimage to Mecca between 1324 and 1325. Accounts of the journey say his gifts and spending lowered the value of gold in Egypt for years.
Sources: Mansa Musa, Wikipedia; Mali Empire, Wikipedia
· Africa and the Middle East
Mansa Musa crosses the Nile into Cairo
Mansa Musa's caravan crossed the Nile into Cairo on 19 July 1324 and stayed about three months. Marco Polo had died in Venice that January.
Sources: Mansa Musa, Wikipedia
· Europe
Marco Polo dies in Venice
Marco Polo, whose book described the court of Kublai Khan, died in Venice in January 1324. Six months later, Mansa Musa of Mali arrived in Cairo on his pilgrimage to Mecca.
Sources: Marco Polo, Wikipedia; Marco Polo, World History Encyclopedia
1325 · The Americas
The Mexica found Tenochtitlan
The Mexica founded Tenochtitlan on an island in Lake Texcoco, traditionally in 1325; some sources give 1345. Either way, teaching had been going on at Oxford for more than two centuries.
Sources: Tenochtitlan, Wikipedia; Aztec Empire, Wikipedia; Tenochtitlan, World History Encyclopedia
· Europe
Galileo Galilei is born in Pisa
Galileo was born in Pisa on 15 February 1564. Michelangelo died in Rome three days later, and William Shakespeare was baptized in Stratford-upon-Avon that April.
Sources: Galileo Galilei, Wikipedia; Galileo Galilei, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
· Europe
Michelangelo dies in Rome
Michelangelo died at his home in Rome on 18 February 1564, weeks before his 89th birthday and three days after Galileo was born in Pisa.
Sources: Michelangelo, Wikipedia; The Life of Michelangelo, Accademia.org
· Europe
William Shakespeare is baptized in Stratford-upon-Avon
Shakespeare was baptized at Holy Trinity Church on 26 April 1564; his birthday is traditionally kept on 23 April. Galileo had been born in Pisa ten weeks earlier.
Sources: William Shakespeare, Wikipedia; When was Shakespeare born?, Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
· The Americas
Harvard is founded
The Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony voted to found Harvard on 28 October 1636. Isaac Newton was born six years later, and he worked out his calculus 29 years after Harvard was founded.
Sources: Harvard University, Wikipedia; History, Harvard University
1665–1666 · Europe
Newton develops calculus during the plague years
With Cambridge closed by plague in 1665 and 1666, Isaac Newton laid the foundations of calculus; a manuscript dated 20 May 1665 already shows it. Newton was born on Christmas Day 1642 (Julian calendar), six years after Harvard was founded.
Sources: Isaac Newton, Wikipedia; Isaac Newton, MacTutor History of Mathematics, University of St Andrews
· Europe
Newton publishes the Principia
Isaac Newton’s Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, published on 5 July 1687, set out his laws of motion and universal gravitation.
Sources: July 5, 1687: Newton’s Principia is published, Astronomy; Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, Wikipedia
· The Americas
The Salem witch trials
Hearings and trials of people accused of witchcraft ran in colonial Massachusetts from February 1692 to May 1693, starting in Salem Village. Nineteen people were hanged, and Giles Corey died under torture for refusing to enter a plea.
Sources: Salem witch trials, Wikipedia; A Brief History of the Salem Witch Trials, Smithsonian Magazine
· The Americas
John Tyler is born in Virginia
John Tyler was born at Greenway plantation in Charles City County, Virginia, on 29 March 1790. He became the tenth president of the United States in 1841.
Sources: John Tyler (1790–1862), Encyclopedia Virginia; John Tyler, White House Historical Association
· The Americas
Abraham Lincoln is born in Kentucky
Lincoln was born in a one-room log cabin on Sinking Spring Farm, Kentucky, on 12 February 1809. Charles Darwin was born in Shrewsbury, England, on the same day.
Sources: Abraham Lincoln, Wikipedia; Lincoln and Darwin, Wikipedia
· Europe
Charles Darwin is born in Shrewsbury
Darwin was born at The Mount, his family's home in Shrewsbury, on 12 February 1809, the same day Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky.
Sources: Charles Darwin, Wikipedia; Lincoln and Darwin, Wikipedia
1823 · Europe
Döbereiner makes one of the first lighters
In 1823 the German chemist Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner made a lighter that lit a jet of hydrogen on a platinum sponge. Döbereiner’s lamp stayed in production until about 1880.
Sources: Döbereiner’s lamp, Wikipedia; German Döbereiner’s lamp, 1823–1889, Science Museum Group
· Europe
John Walker sells the first friction matches
The English chemist John Walker sold his first friction matches from his shop in Stockton-on-Tees on 7 April 1827. He had found the mixture in 1826 and never patented it.
Sources: John Walker and the friction match, Tees Valley Museums; John Walker (inventor), Wikipedia
· The Americas
The first large wagon train sets out for Oregon
The first large wagon train on the Oregon Trail left Elm Grove, Missouri, on 22 May 1843. It became known as the Great Migration of 1843, and estimates of its size range from 700 to 1,000 people.
Sources: A thousand pioneers head west on the Oregon Trail, History; Oregon Trail, Wikipedia
· Europe
Alexander Bain patents image transmission by wire
On 27 May 1843 the Scottish inventor Alexander Bain received British patent 9745, which covered copying a surface at a distance by electric current, the principle of the fax. It came almost 33 years before Bell's telephone patent.
Sources: Fax, Wikipedia; Alexander Bain (inventor), Wikipedia
· Europe
The first commercial fax service opens, Paris to Lyon
Giovanni Caselli's pantelegraph began official service between Paris and Lyon on 16 February 1865, sending handwriting and drawings by wire. The first year saw almost 5,000 faxes. Bell's telephone patent came 11 years later.
Sources: Pantelegraph, Wikipedia; Giovanni Caselli, Wikipedia
· The Americas
Lee surrenders to Grant at Appomattox
Robert E. Lee surrendered the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia to Ulysses S. Grant at the McLean house in Appomattox Court House, Virginia, on 9 April 1865. The surrender led to the end of the Civil War.
Sources: The surrender meeting, Appomattox Court House, National Park Service; Appomattox Court House, American Battlefield Trust
· Europe
Winston Churchill is born
Winston Churchill was born at Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, on 30 November 1874. When Elizabeth II became queen in 1952, he was her first prime minister.
Sources: Winston Churchill, Wikipedia; List of prime ministers of Elizabeth II, Wikipedia
· The Americas
Bell receives the telephone patent
The US Patent Office issued Alexander Graham Bell patent 174,465 on 7 March 1876, and he made his first clear call three days later. Commercial fax service had been running in France for 11 years, and samurai still fought in Japan.
Sources: Invention of the telephone, Wikipedia; Alexander Graham Bell, Wikipedia
· Asia and the Pacific
The Satsuma Rebellion
Former samurai led by Saigō Takamori rose against Japan's new imperial government from 29 January to 24 September 1877. The rebellion began less than a year after Bell patented the telephone.
Sources: Satsuma Rebellion, Wikipedia; Saigō Takamori, Wikipedia
· Asia and the Pacific
The samurai's last stand at Shiroyama
On 24 September 1877 imperial troops overran the last rebels at Shiroyama and Saigō Takamori died. The battle effectively ended the samurai as a fighting class, 18 months after Bell's telephone patent.
Sources: Battle of Shiroyama, Wikipedia; Satsuma Rebellion, Wikipedia
· Europe
The Jack the Ripper murders in Whitechapel
The five 'canonical' Jack the Ripper murders took place in London's East End between 31 August and 9 November 1888. Nintendo was founded in Kyoto less than 11 months after the last of them.
Sources: Whitechapel murders, Wikipedia
· Europe
Gustave Eiffel inaugurates his tower
Eiffel led officials up the stairs of the finished tower and raised a French flag on 31 March 1889; the public was let in on 15 May. Nintendo was founded in Kyoto the same year.
Sources: Eiffel Tower, Wikipedia; Eiffel Tower opens in Paris, HISTORY
· Asia and the Pacific
Nintendo is founded in Kyoto
Fusajiro Yamauchi began making and selling hanafuda playing cards in Kyoto on 23 September 1889, the business that became Nintendo. The Eiffel Tower had opened that spring, and the last canonical Jack the Ripper murder was 10 months earlier.
Sources: Nintendo, Wikipedia; Company History, Nintendo Co., Ltd.
· The Americas
The Wright brothers make the first powered flight
At Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, on 17 December 1903, Orville Wright flew 120 feet in 12 seconds. The Ottoman Empire still existed, and Harriet Tubman, who escaped slavery in 1849, was still alive.
Sources: Wright Flyer, Wikipedia; 1903 Wright Flyer, National Air and Space Museum
· Asia and the Pacific
China's last emperor abdicates
On 12 February 1912 an edict issued for the six-year-old Puyi ended the Qing dynasty and more than 2,100 years of imperial rule in China. The Titanic sank 63 days later.
Sources: Imperial Edict of the Abdication of the Qing Emperor, Wikipedia; Puyi, Wikipedia
· Europe
The Titanic sinks
The British liner Titanic sank in the North Atlantic early on 15 April 1912, with the loss of up to 1,635 lives. China's last emperor had abdicated two months earlier.
Sources: Titanic, Wikipedia; Sinking of the Titanic, Wikipedia
· The Americas
Harriet Tubman dies in Auburn, New York
Harriet Tubman, born into slavery in Maryland around 1822, died in Auburn, New York, on 10 March 1913. She lived more than nine years into the age of powered flight.
Sources: Harriet Tubman, Wikipedia; Harriet Tubman, US National Park Service
· The Americas
Betty White is born
The actress Betty White was born in Oak Park, Illinois, on 17 January 1922. She was six years old when the first pre-sliced loaf of bread went on sale in 1928.
Sources: Betty White, Wikipedia
· Europe
The future Elizabeth II is born in London
Princess Elizabeth was born at 17 Bruton Street, Mayfair, on 21 April 1926. Marilyn Monroe was born in Los Angeles 41 days later. Monroe died in 1962; Elizabeth II died in 2022, 60 years later.
Sources: Elizabeth II, Wikipedia; Early life and education, The Royal Family
· The Americas
Marilyn Monroe is born in Los Angeles
Norma Jeane Mortenson, later Marilyn Monroe, was born at Los Angeles General Hospital on 1 June 1926, six weeks after the future Elizabeth II. She died on 4 August 1962.
Sources: Marilyn Monroe, Wikipedia
· The Americas
Sliced bread goes on sale for the first time
The Chillicothe Baking Company in Missouri sold the first bread cut by Otto Rohwedder's slicing machine on 7 July 1928. Betty White was six and a half.
Sources: Sliced bread, Wikipedia; A Missouri town almost forgot it invented the greatest thing since anything: sliced bread, KCUR
· The Americas
Martin Luther King Jr. is born in Atlanta
King was born at 501 Auburn Avenue, Atlanta, on 15 January 1929. Anne Frank was born in Frankfurt five months later, in the same year.
Sources: Martin Luther King Jr., Wikipedia; Birth Home, Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park, US National Park Service
· Europe
Anne Frank is born in Frankfurt
Anne Frank was born in Frankfurt am Main on 12 June 1929, five months after Martin Luther King Jr. She died at Bergen-Belsen in February or March 1945, aged 15.
Sources: Anne Frank, Wikipedia; Who was Anne Frank?, Anne Frank House
· Nature and deep time
The last known thylacine dies in Hobart
The last known Tasmanian tiger died at Hobart's Beaumaris Zoo on the night of 7 September 1936. Eight weeks later the BBC began regular television broadcasts from London.
Sources: Thylacine, Wikipedia; On this day: Death of the last Tasmanian tiger, Australian Geographic
· Europe
The BBC starts regular television from Alexandra Palace
The BBC Television Service opened at 3 pm on 2 November 1936, the world's first regular high-definition service; Germany had begun a lower-definition service in 1935. The last known thylacine had died 56 days earlier.
Sources: BBC Television, Wikipedia; BBC at Alexandra Palace, Alexandra Palace; BBC Airs the First High-Definition Television Program, EBSCO Research Starters
· The Americas
Apollo 11 lands on the Moon
The lunar module Eagle touched down at 20:17 UTC on 20 July 1969. Cleopatra died 1,998 years before this. Neil Armstrong carried fabric and wood from the Wright brothers’ 1903 Flyer in his personal kit.
Sources: Apollo 11, Wikipedia; Apollo 11, NASA; Wood and Fabric, 1903 Wright Flyer, Apollo 11, National Air and Space Museum
· Europe
Liz Truss is born
Liz Truss was born on 26 July 1975. Elizabeth II appointed her prime minister at Balmoral on 6 September 2022, two days before the Queen died, making her the last of the Queen’s 15 prime ministers.
Sources: Liz Truss, Wikipedia; List of prime ministers of Elizabeth II, Wikipedia
· The Americas
Star Wars opens in American theaters
George Lucas's Star Wars opened on 25 May 1977. France was still using the guillotine: its last execution took place 108 days later.
Sources: Star Wars (film), Wikipedia; Star Wars opens in theaters, HISTORY
· Europe
France carries out its last guillotine execution
Hamida Djandoubi was guillotined at Baumettes Prison in Marseille at 4:40 am on 10 September 1977, the last execution in France. Star Wars had been in theaters since May. France abolished the death penalty in 1981.
Sources: Hamida Djandoubi, Wikipedia; Capital punishment in France, Wikipedia
· Europe
Tim Berners-Lee proposes the World Wide Web
At CERN in March 1989, Tim Berners-Lee wrote 'Information Management: A Proposal', the first proposal for the Web. The Berlin Wall still stood; it opened eight months later.
Sources: A short history of the Web, CERN; Information Management: A Proposal, W3C archive
· Europe
The Berlin Wall falls
The Berlin Wall opened on 9 November 1989, eight months after Tim Berners-Lee first proposed the World Wide Web at CERN.
Sources: Fall of the Berlin Wall, Wikipedia; Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State: Fall of Communism in Eastern Europe, 1989
· The Americas
The last Civil War pension recipient dies
Irene Triplett, the last person receiving a US Civil War pension, died on 31 May 2020, aged 90. She received $73.13 a month for the service of her father, Mose Triplett, who fought for the Confederacy and then the Union and was 83 when she was born.
Sources: The last person to receive a Civil War pension dies at age 90, Smithsonian Magazine; Irene Triplett, Wikipedia
· The Americas
John Tyler’s last living grandchild dies
Harrison Ruffin Tyler, the last living grandchild of President John Tyler, died on 25 May 2025, aged 96. His father, Lyon Gardiner Tyler, was born in 1853, when the president was 63. Harrison was born in 1928, when Lyon was 75.
Sources: Harrison Ruffin Tyler, Wikipedia; Lyon Gardiner Tyler, Wikipedia