The time during the Holocene epoch when the weather was at its best (between 9000BCE and 5000BCE). See 'A Brief History of Climate Change'.
Holocene Optimum
Fact of the Day
When President Lyndon Johnson was asked by members of the press why American soldiers were in Vietnam, he unzipped his trousers, pulled out what lay beneath and said 'This is why!'
Quote of the Day
"I have beaten the Russian and Austrian army commanded by two emperors. I am a little tired.
"
~ Napoleon after Austerlitz
On This Day
350 General Magnentius deposes Roman Emperor Constans and proclaims himself Emperor.
1486 The Houses of York and Lancaster were united when Henry VII married Elizabeth of York (the eldest daughter of Edward IV).
1562 The Council of Trent was reconvened for its final time. It set out Catholicism's response to the Reformation.
1778 Captain James Cook became the first European to visit the Hawaiian Islands, which he named the Sandwich Islands.
1788 11 British ships with 800 convicts landed at Botany Bay, Australia, intending to found the first penal colony. They moved to a more suitable location eight days later.
1871 Wilhelm I was proclaimed German Emperor, 170 years to the day after Frederick I crowned himself King in Prussia.
1904 Hollywood's quintessential leading man, Cary Grant, was born in Bristol, as Archibald Leach.
1919 The Paris Peace Conference began. It resulted, among other things, in the Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations.
1936 Rudyard Kipling, Nobel Prize winner and author of The Jungle Book died. His ashes are buried in Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey.