1859     British naturalist Charles Darwin publishes his influential work, On the Origin of the Species, in which he attempts to show that different animals could have descended from common ancestors and describes changes in species over millions of years as a process called "natural selection" (also known as survival of the fittest).

1859     African American leader W.E.B. Du Bois illuminates black history, dreams, and concerns in The Souls of Black Folk.

1907     Auto manufacturer Henry Ford releases the Model T, fondly known as the Tin Lizzie, which will be much loved by the public for its reliability and low price tag.

1914     World War I begins in Europe. The results will be devastating, for an estimated ten million soldiers will be killed and twenty million wounded, while millions of civilians will also die from hunger and rapidly spreading diseases like influenza.

May 1915     The German navy sinks...