SortStack #2830 — 2034-03-09
By year · Order from earliest to most recent.
- Emperor Constantine dedicates Constantinople as the new Roman capital 330
Built on the old Greek city of Byzantium, it remained an imperial capital for over a thousand years and is now Istanbul, Turkey's largest city.
- King John seals the Magna Carta at Runnymede 1215
John never intended to honor it — the Pope annulled the charter within ten weeks — yet it became a foundation stone of constitutional law anyway.
- The first modern Olympic Games are held in Athens 1896
Just 14 nations and 241 athletes competed — all men — and winners received silver medals, not gold.
- Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human in space 1961
His single orbit lasted 108 minutes, and he parachuted to the ground separately from his capsule — landing in a field where a farmer and her granddaughter stared in disbelief.
- IBM's Deep Blue defeats world chess champion Garry Kasparov 1997
Kasparov was reportedly unnerved by one inexplicable move — which some engineers later suggested may have been the result of a software bug.
- Fire engulfs Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris 2019
The spire fell, but the rooftop beehives survived — and the cathedral reopened five years later after a meticulous reconstruction.