SortStack #1493 — 2030-07-11

By year · Order from earliest to most recent.

1. Temujin unites the Mongol tribes and takes the name Genghis Khan 1206

   His empire became the largest contiguous land empire in history, and genetic studies suggest millions of men today descend from his male line.

2. Christopher Columbus makes landfall in the Americas 1492

   Columbus never set foot on the North American mainland and insisted until his death that he had reached the edge of Asia.

3. The Eiffel Tower opens to the public in Paris 1889

   It was meant to stand for only twenty years. Its usefulness as a giant radio antenna saved it from demolition.

4. The Second World War ends with the surrender of Japan 1945

   The same year saw the first atomic bombs, the founding of the United Nations, and the deaths of Roosevelt, Hitler, and Mussolini within three weeks of each other.

5. DeepMind's AlphaGo defeats Go champion Lee Sedol 2016

   AlphaGo's 'Move 37' was so alien that commentators assumed it was a mistake. Lee won a single game back with a move fans dubbed 'God's touch.'

6. The container ship Ever Given wedges itself across the Suez Canal 2021

   For six days it blocked an estimated $10 billion of trade per day, while a single excavator digging at its bow became a global meme.

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