Human Saga

On May 28

On May 28, 2 pivotal events are recorded in the Human Saga, including Thales of Miletus and the predicted eclipse: the dawn of natural philosophy (585 BCE).

On this day

28 May 585 BCE (traditional)Thales of Miletus and the predicted eclipse: the dawn of natural philosophyCulture, arts & philosophy

According to Herodotus, a solar eclipse that halted a battle between the Medes and Lydians had been foretold by Thales of Miletus, the figure later remembered as the first of the Ionian or Presocratic philosophers.

1830–1839 (Indian Removal Act 28 May 1830; Cherokee Trail of Tears 1838–39)Indian Removal Act and the Trail of TearsSocial & demographic

Signed into law by President Andrew Jackson on 28 May 1830, the Indian Removal Act authorised the federal government to negotiate the exchange of Native American lands east of the Mississippi for territory in the west, opening the way for…

Also this week in history (May 25 – May 31)

29 May 1453 CEThe Ottoman conquest of ConstantinopleMilitary & conflict

On 29 May 1453, after a siege of some seven weeks begun on 6 April, the army of the Ottoman sultan Mehmed II captured Constantinople, extinguishing the Byzantine Empire that had endured for over a thousand years as the eastern continuation…

29 May 1919 (announced 6 November 1919)Eddington's eclipse expeditions confirm general relativityScience, technology & invention

During the total solar eclipse of 29 May 1919, British expeditions led by Arthur Eddington (on Principe, off West Africa) and a Greenwich party at Sobral, Brazil, photographed stars near the obscured Sun and measured the deflection of…

25 May 1085Christian capture of Toledo accelerates the ReconquistaMilitary & conflict

Following the collapse of the Caliphate of Córdoba in 1031, al-Andalus fractured into rival taifa kingdoms.

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