Nature History: What Happened On This Day
Find your date below: 13 days of the year, each with a nature event from history between 1872 and 2017, its year and a link to the full story in our history calendar.
The natural world and its protection: meteorite falls, eclipses and comets, record weather, national parks, and the treaties that set out to protect the planet. Every day is also a round of Years Ago, our daily history game, so days playing today or in the next 30 days are left out until they have played.
February
February 26, 1929
The US Congress creates Grand Teton National Park to protect a jagged mountain range in Wyoming.
March
March 1, 1872
President Ulysses S. Grant signs a law creating Yellowstone, widely seen as the world's first national park.
April
April 29, 1961
The World Wildlife Fund is founded to raise money for nature conservation.
June
June 30, 1973
A long total solar eclipse crosses Africa, and a Concorde prototype chases it for 74 minutes of totality.
August
September
September 15, 2007
A meteorite crashes near the Peruvian village of Carancas, blasting a crater near Lake Titicaca.
September 16, 1987
Nations sign the Montreal Protocol to phase out chemicals destroying Earth's ozone layer.
September 25, 1890
Sequoia National Park is established in California to protect groves of giant sequoia trees.
December
December 6, 1947
President Harry Truman dedicates Everglades National Park in southern Florida.
December 11, 1997
Delegates adopt the Kyoto Protocol, setting binding targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
December 12, 2015
Nearly 200 countries adopt the Paris Agreement on climate change at the COP21 conference.
December 29, 1993
The UN Convention on Biological Diversity enters into force, committing countries to protect nature.
Frequently asked questions
- What counts as a nature event?
- The natural world and its protection: meteorite falls, eclipses and comets, record weather, national parks, and the treaties that set out to protect the planet.
- Why are some days of the year missing?
- Our history calendar has one event for each day, and this page lists the days whose event is about nature. Every day is also a round of Years Ago, our daily history game, so a day playing today or in the next 30 days is left out until it has played, and then comes back.
- How are the dates checked?
- Each event was checked against at least 2 independent sources, linked on its day in the history calendar, and the summary is written in our own words.
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