1012 Chronicle 1

539 BC: Cyrus the Great captures Babylon. 1492: Italian explorer Christopher Columbus lands on islands in the Caribbean, initiating a series of subsequent colonization actions in the Americas. 1798: The Peasants' War begins in the Overmeer region of the Southern Netherlands, where peasants take up arms against the French occupying forces. 1810: Munich citizens hold the first Oktoberfest to celebrate the wedding of their Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig and Princess Therese. 1822: Prince Pedro, heir to the throne of the Kingdom of Brazil, declares himself Emperor and announces the independence of the Kingdom of Brazil from the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil, and the Algarves, renaming the country the Empire of Brazil. 1847: German inventor Werner von Siemens founds the Siemens company, which later becomes Europe's largest engineering company. 1859: Norton I, who proclaimed himself 'Emperor of the United States of America and Regent of Mexico,' officially announces the dissolution of the U.S. Congress. 1885: The Fujian-Taiwan Province of the Qing Dynasty is established, with Liu Mingchuan appointed as the first Governor of Taiwan. 1899: Second Boer War: The Transvaal Republic and the Orange Free State, led by the Boers, declare war on the British Empire.