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The period of stability achieved during the reign of Augustus Caesar has been given the name Pax Romana ('Roman peace')
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The network of Roman roads stretches eventually from England to Egypt
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The rock tombs of prosperous Petra, now incorporated in the Roman empire, are carved in the cliffs as classical temples
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Ten dynasties and nineteen kingdoms jockey for power in the three centuries after the fall of the Han dynasty
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Niall of the Nine Hostages is the first man to be called king of Ireland, though his direct control does not extend beyond Ulster.
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Monks in Ireland live in stone beehive cells on rocky islands, to achieve maximum discomfort
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The luxury of Baghdad, under the caliph Harun al-Rashid, is evident in the Thousand and One Nights
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The huge stone heads standing on Easter Island are carved and erected at some time between the sixth and seventeenth century AD
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Flemish towns begin to acquire municipal independence, as communes, following the earlier Italian trend
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Richard II dies in Pontefract castle, almost certainly starved to death on the orders of the new king - insecure on his throne as an undeniable usurper
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William Gilbert, physician to Queen Elizabeth, concludes that the earth is a magnet and coins the term 'magnetic pole'
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Napoleon appoints a commission to prepare a code of civil law, which becomes known as the Code Napoléon
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Daimler cars develop a new brand using the name Mercedes, that of the ten-year-old daughter of the investor and distributor Emil Jellinek
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Trade unionist Morgan Tsvangirai leads a newly formed party in Zimbabwe, the MDC (Movement for Democratic Change)
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Mikheil Saakashvili, the real winner of Georgia's November 2003 presidential election, has a resounding victory in the replay
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Protests begin in Jordan, causing King Abdullah to form a new cabinet on February 1 with the brief to introduce reform and steps towards democracy
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US President Bush signs into law a $700 billion emergency fund to purchase failing bank assets
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The Burj Khalifa skyscraper in Dubai is inaugurated, entering the record books as the world tallest building at 828 m (2717 ft)
