What happened on 12 October?

11 events from the Ever-When timeline, ranked by how much they mattered.

1. 1492 Columbus reaches the Americas Christopher Columbus's first voyage lands in the Bahamas; opens the Columbian Exchange and four centuries of European colonisation.
2. 539 BCE Cyrus conquers Babylon Persian capture of Babylon ends the Neo-Babylonian empire; Cyrus permits return of the Jewish exiles.
3. 1931 Christ the Redeemer dedicated Art Deco statue of Jesus above Rio de Janeiro; one of the New Seven Wonders.
4. 1537 Born: Edward VI of England Boy-king and Protestant whose short reign entrenched the English Reformation.
5. 1984 Brighton hotel bombing Provisional IRA bomb at the Grand Hotel during Conservative Party conference targets Margaret Thatcher; she escapes; five killed.
6. 2002 Bali bombings Coordinated nightclub bombings by Jemaah Islamiyah kill 202 people, mostly foreign tourists; Southeast Asia's deadliest terror attack.
7. 1798 Born: Pedro I of Brazil Portuguese prince who declared Brazilian independence in 1822 with the cry of Ipiranga and reigned as Brazil's first emperor, then abdicated to fight for his daughter's throne in P
8. 1999 1999 Pakistani coup d'état General Pervez Musharraf seizes power from Nawaz Sharif, beginning nearly a decade of military rule in nuclear-armed Pakistan.
9. 1915 Execution of Edith Cavell The German authorities shoot the British nurse Edith Cavell in Brussels for helping Allied soldiers escape. The execution caused international outrage, drove Allied recruitment, an
10. 1897 Joseon dynasty ends Conventional end of Joseon dynasty.
11. 1576 Reign of Rudolf II Moved the imperial court to Prague and filled it with astronomers, alchemists and a cabinet of wonders while the empire drifted towards war.