Featured
Moon Landing
1969
On 20 July 1969, Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed in the Moon's Sea of Tranquility, the first people to walk on another world.
Illustrations
Moments in history, drawn flat.
Free vector scenes, 4:3, as SVG and PNG. Every file is CC0: use it in apps, slides, books, and work you sell, with no attribution.
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Cleopatra's royal barge on the Nilec. 41 BC
Plutarch says Cleopatra VII sailed to meet Mark Antony at Tarsus in 41 BC on a gilded barge with purple sails; her royal barges also travelled the Nile.
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Colosseum Gamesc. AD 80
In AD 80, Emperor Titus opened Rome's Flavian Amphitheatre, the Colosseum, with 100 days of games including gladiator fights before tens of thousands.
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Concorde's first commercial flight1976
On 21 January 1976 Concorde began passenger service as British Airways flew from London to Bahrain and Air France flew from Paris to Rio at the same moment.
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First Powered Flight1903
On 17 December 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright made the first controlled, sustained powered flights at Kill Devil Hills near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
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The First Steam Railway1825
On 27 September 1825, Locomotion No. 1 pulled the first train on the Stockton and Darlington Railway in County Durham, England, the first public steam railway.
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Great Wall of China1570
Around 1570, under the Ming dynasty, workers rebuilt China's Great Wall in brick and stone, adding watchtowers along the mountain frontier north of Beijing.
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The first moonwalk on stage1983
On 25 March 1983, at the Motown 25 taping in Pasadena, Michael Jackson danced to Billie Jean and did the moonwalk on TV for the first time, seen by 47 million.
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Landfall in the New World1492
On 12 October 1492, Christopher Columbus's expedition made landfall in the Bahamas, on an island its Lucayan Taíno inhabitants called Guanahani.
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Feluccas on the NileTimeless
At Aswan in southern Egypt, white-sailed feluccas glide on the Nile between golden desert dunes, smooth granite boulders and palm-lined islands and banks.
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Printing Press1450
Around 1450 in Mainz, Germany, Johannes Gutenberg developed printing with movable metal type, which led to the Gutenberg Bible and mass-produced books.
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Building the Great Pyramidc. 2560 BC
Around 2560 BC, workers built the Great Pyramid of Giza as the tomb of Pharaoh Khufu, on the Giza plateau by the Nile near present-day Cairo, Egypt.
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Founding of Saint Petersburg1703
On 27 May 1703 Peter the Great founded Saint Petersburg by laying the Peter and Paul Fortress on Hare Island in the Neva delta, on land just taken from Sweden.
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Titanic Departure1912
On 10 April 1912, RMS Titanic left Southampton, England, on her maiden voyage to New York; five days later she struck an iceberg and sank in the Atlantic.
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The White House is built1800
In November 1800 John Adams became the first president to live in the President's House in Washington, James Hoban's mansion of white-painted sandstone.
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Fall of the Berlin Wall1989
On 9 November 1989, East Germany opened the Berlin Wall's border crossings, and crowds climbed and broke the wall that had divided Berlin since 1961.