In the year 1815, Battle of New Orleans is fought, though the war - War of 1812 - has ended (Jan 8), the first commercial cheese factory is founded in Switzerland (Feb 3), the Spanish reconquest of Latin America begins (Feb 17), the War of 1812 officially ends (Feb 18), Napoleon enters Paris after escaping from Elba, and begins his (last) Hundred Days rule (Mar 20), the German Confederation and Congress Poland are created (Jun 9), in the Battle of Waterloo, Wellington defeats Napoleon (Jun 18), Napoleon begins his exile on Saint Helena (Oct 15), the Napoleonic Wars come to an end after 12 years (Nov 20), Jane Austen’s Emma is published (Dec 23) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

This is the first in the series One Day in the Life of … of people from all walks of life. If we live to be 80, we have lived around 29,200 days. We get to 10,000 days at the age of 27. So there are plenty of days for all kinds of things to happen. Something spectacular. Something life-changing. Or just a pretty ordinary day that still held something very memorable. Continue reading

Here’s another one for the series “First Names First”! We present a chronological list of persons with their first name here, and your task is to pick one. Then follow the Wikipedia link to read about that person, and to see what if anything he or she could contribute your life with. Inspiration, passion, enlightenment, encouragement, empathy, etc. Give a couple of minutes of your life to this. Lives lived have all something worthwhile to tell us - let them! Continue reading

The Royal Dramatic Theater in Stockholm, Sweden. Colloquially known as Dramaten In the year 1788, the first edition of The Times is published in London (Jan 1), 11 ships Sydney Cove with the aim of establishing there a British prison colony, the first permanent European settlement on the continent - hence celebrated as Australia Day (Jan 26), Sydney is named and founded (Feb 7), the first recorded riot in America takes place, due to grave robbers in Manhattan (Apr 13), The Royal Dramatic Theater is founded in Stockholm (May 10), Mozart completes his 41st and last symphony (Aug 10), seven new U. Continue reading

This is part in the article series Streets and Squares that provide some background information on street signs around the world. It is a fun way to learn about the history and culture of the cities you visit or even live in! This time we target Berlin which became the capital of the unified Germany exactly 27 years ago, June 20th 1991. Strasse - or straße like they write that double s in German - means of course street, and there are quite a few eponymous streets - and squares and parks - in Berlin. Continue reading

[caption id=“attachment_3107” align=“alignleft” width=“416”]General Andrew Jackson in the Battle of New Orleans in 1814[/caption] In the year 1814, the War of 1812 between the United States and the United Kingdom goes on all year long (Jan), Denmark cedes Norway into personal union with Sweden in exchange for west Pomerania (Jan 4), Norway’s independence is proclaimed, marking the ultimate end of the Kalmar Union (Feb 11), Napoleonic Wars are coming to an end (Apr 10) and Napoleon is exiled to Elba (May 30), inspired by the French Gendarmerie. Continue reading

This blog has been around for the past 10 years (under another name), and is going to be here in this digital world of ours not just for the next 10 but for years and years to come. So in case you are wondering whether there is any point of adding your relatives here - distant or near - ask yourself what guarantee we have of anything remaining intact for future generations to come. Continue reading

Let’s have another piece in this series Who Said That! Depicting what we people have uttered in a moment of elation, insight, inspiration, wisdom, despair - or any other emotion. The headline suggests anger, and is really a joke here, anger being such a poor indicator. It is instead those other emotions we are looking for. Try to guess/remember first who said that, and if you don’t know, you’ll see who it was at the very end of the article. Continue reading

Canada is a big country - the biggest in the world after Russia - and divided into many parts that might be nice to know more of for those of us who never visited this great country. So here below you see the provinces and territories - in both English and French - with their official two-letter abbreviations and also the capitals. These abbreviations will be used throughout the site. Continue reading

[caption id=“attachment_3273” align=“alignleft” width=“441”]Photo courtesy National Library of Medicine[/caption] In the year 1854, Major streets are lit by goal gas for the first time in San Francisco (Feb 11), the Republican Party is founded in the U.S. (Feb 28), slavery is abolished in Venezuela (Mar 24), the Convention of Kanagawa opens Japanese ports to American trade (Mar 31), the first cotton mill in India is established (Jul 7), the findings of the cholera outbreak in London form the starting point for epidemiology (Aug 31), Florence Nightingale and her team of volunteer nurses arrives in Scutari, Ottoman Empire to care for wounded soldiers there (Nov), the French fashion label Louis Vuitton is founded - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

Ottawa is incorporated as a city (Jan 1), Alexander II ascends the Russian throne (Mar 2), Nepalese troops invade Tibet (Apr 3), Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City opens its doors (Jun 5), stamp duty is removed from British newspapers, creating mass media in the United Kingdom (Jun 15), The Daily Telegraph begins publication in London (Jun 29), the Australian Colonies are granted self-governing status by the United Kingdom (Jul 16), the capital of the Crimea, Sebastopol, falls to French and British troops (Sep 9), Van Diemen’s Land is officially renamed Tasmania (Oct 24), the cocaine alkaloid is first isolated - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

From this day on there will be another constant presence in Journeys of Life, namely Monthly Latin. That old language isn’t of course an official language anywhere except perhaps in the Vatican State, and in the Catholic Church the use of Latin has greatly diminished since the old-style Latin Mass was phased out more than 40 years ago - in favor of local languages. Latin does remain the official language of the universal Church, but it is used mainly as the language of reference for translating major documents into modern languages. Continue reading

Here is another piece in the series “First Names First” - all for pure entertainment! We present a chronological list of persons with their first name here, and your task is to pick one. Then follow the Wikipedia link to read about that person, and to see what if anything he or she could contribute your life with. Inspiration, passion, encouragement, empathy, etc. Give a couple of minutes of your life to this. Continue reading

In the year 2002, the Euro is officially introduced in the Eurozone countries (Jan 1), the Sierra Leone Civil War comes to a conclusion (Jan 18), Queen Elizabeth II celebrates the Golden Jubilee (Feb 6), Mark Shuttleworth becomes the first African space tourist (Apr 25), Switzerland becomes the 190th member state of the United Nations (Sep 10), and East Timor the 191st (Sep 26), Homeland Security Act is signed into law in the United States (Nov 25) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

[caption id=“attachment_1955” align=“alignleft” width=“372”]Suomenlinna (Sveaborg) in the 21st century[/caption] In the year 1808, the importation of slaves into the United States is banned (Jan 1), John Adams, the last alive HMS Bounty mutineer is found on Pitcairn Islands (Feb 6), the Finnish War begins (Feb 21), Russian troops occupy Helsinki (Mar 1), Denmark declares war on Sweden (Mar 13), the people of Madrid rise up against the French troops (May 2), the fortress of Sveaborg in Helsinki is lost to Russia (May 3), the Swedish archipelago fleet defeats the Russians in the Battle of Turku (Jun 30), Tsar Alexander I of Russia proclaims Finland a part of Russia (Dec 1), Napoleon joins his army in Spain (Dec 4) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

[caption id=“attachment_3085” align=“alignleft” width=“377”]Police crossing notice from 1868[/caption] In the year 1868, the last convict ship from England to Australia arrives in Western Australia (Jan 9), the first identified skeletons of Cro-Magnon are discovered in France (Mar), MetLife is founded in New York City (Mar 24), United Kingdom decides to end public hanging (May 29), the Navajo people begin their long march home to Arizona and New Mexico (Jul 18), the name of the city of Edo changes to Tokyo (Sep 3), the 265-year long Edo period in Japan ends to give way to the new Meiji period (Oct 23), Thomas Edison applies for his first patent, the electric vote recorder (Oct 28), the world’s first traffic signal lights are installed in London, England (Dec 9) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

As you may have noticed, history is a big part of Journeys of Life. Along with the birth dates in each individual year, you can usually see a short list of some of the historical events that took place that particular year. Usually with a picture associated with one of the events. The yearly facts are of course meant to give some background and flavor to the times that the people - and the parents of those born - were living in. Continue reading

[caption id=“attachment_2622” align=“alignleft” width=“223”]Jack London in 1903[/caption] Jack London was one of the first writers to become a worldwide celebrity and earn a large fortune from writing? He was born in 1876, died fairly young at the age of 40, but amassed a fortune from novels such as The Call of the Wild (1903) and White Fang (1906), and the short story To Build a Fire (1902/1908) which many critics assess as his best. Continue reading

And the absence of them. You may have noticed that links are richly used in Journeys of Life when it comes to the persons appearing in the Year Files. Those links invariably lead to the Wikipedia page telling more about the person in question. In case there is no Wiki page available, the links direct you elsewhere. And sometimes of course there just isn’t any link to provide. But contrary to Wikipedia’s ample linkage and what many of us are used to, links are used very sparingly in the introductory paragraphs to these year files. Continue reading

[caption id=“attachment_3220” align=“alignleft” width=“345”]Singer’s 1854 improved patent model[/caption] In the year 1851, Edward Hargraves claims to have found gold in Australia (Feb 12), Verdi’s Rigoletto is first performed (Mar 11), the first Australian gold rush is proclaimed (May 15), Isaac Singer is granted a patent for his sewing machine (Aug 12), the New York Times is founded (Sep 18), the news service Reuters is founded (Oct), The Whale (later known as Moby Dick) is published in London (Oct 18), Moby Dick is published in the U. Continue reading