Silver, symphonies, and the shaking Americas

The Mexica people found Tenochtitlán on a small island in Lake Texcoco, guided by a divine omen.

The omen they are waiting for — an eagle perched on a cactus devouring a snake — ends up on the modern Mexican flag.

Tenochtitlan, also known as Mexico-Tenochtitlan, was a large Mexican altepetl in what is now the historic center of Mexico City. The exact date of the founding of the city is unclear, but the date 13 March 1325 was chosen in 1925 to celebrate the 600th anniversary of the city. The city was built on an island in what was then Lake Texcoco in the Valley of Mexico. The city was the capital of the expanding Aztec Empire in the 15th century until it was captured by the Tlaxcaltec and the Spanish in 1521.

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Spanish colonists discover a mountain of silver at Cerro Rico in the Andes and found the city of Potosí.

The mine produces so much silver that 'worth a Potosí' becomes a common Spanish phrase for unimaginable wealth — Cervantes drops it into Don Quixote.

Potosí, known as Villa Imperial de Potosí in the colonial period, is the capital city and a municipality of the Department of Potosí in Bolivia. It is one of the highest cities in the world at a nominal 4,067 m (13,343 ft). Diego Huallpa, an indigenous prospector, is traditionally credited with the discovery of the Cerro Rico in 1545, which led to the founding and rapid growth of Potosí due to its extraordinary silver wealth.

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John Law's Mississippi Company — which promised fabulous wealth from French Louisiana — collapses spectacularly in Paris.

The word 'millionaire' is coined during the bubble's peak frenzy, when even coachmen and servants become briefly, deliriously rich.

John Law's Company, founded in 1717 by Scottish economist and financier John Law, was a joint-stock company that occupies a unique place in French and European monetary history, as it was for a brief moment granted the entire revenue-raising capacity of the French state. It also absorbed all previous French chartered colonial companies and was popularly known as the Compagnie du Mississippi, even though under Law's leadership its overseas operations remained secondary to its domestic financial activity.

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Ludwig van Beethoven conducts the premiere of his Ninth Symphony in Vienna, completely deaf.

When the audience erupts in applause, Beethoven cannot hear a note — a soloist has to physically turn him around to see the cheering crowd.

The Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, is a choral symphony, the final complete symphony by Ludwig van Beethoven, composed between 1822 and 1824. It was first performed in Vienna on 7 May 1824. The symphony is regarded by many critics and musicologists as a masterpiece of Western classical music and one of the supreme achievements in the history of music. One of the best-known works in common practice music, it stands as one of the most frequently performed symphonies in the world.

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The War of the Triple Alliance ends, leaving Paraguay in ruins after fighting Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay simultaneously.

The carnage is so extreme that Paraguay's postwar census finds women outnumber men by as much as four to one in some regions.

The Paraguayan War, also known as the War of the Triple Alliance, was a South American war that lasted from 1864 to 1870. It was fought between Paraguay and the Triple Alliance of Argentina, the Empire of Brazil, and Uruguay. It was the deadliest inter-state war in Latin American history. Paraguay sustained immense casualties, but even the approximate numbers are disputed. Paraguay was forced to cede disputed territory to Argentina and Brazil. The war began in late 1864, as a result of a conflict between Paraguay and Brazil caused by the Uruguayan War. Argentina and Uruguay entered the war against Paraguay in 1865, and it then became known as the "War of the Triple Alliance".

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Peru opens a grand international exposition in Lima, modeled on London's Crystal Palace fairs.

The glittering pavilions are funded largely by guano profits — Peru has earned so much selling seabird dung that it briefly rivals Europe's richest nations.

Lima's International Exposition showcases South American industrial ambition at a moment of peak guano-fueled prosperity, just before Peru's economy collapses.

Yale explorer Hiram Bingham III is led to Machu Picchu by a local Quechua farmer named Melchor Arteaga.

Arteaga charges Bingham a sol — about fifty cents — for the tip, arguably the best-paid local guide fee in history.

Hiram Bingham III brings Machu Picchu to international attention, sparking global fascination with Inca civilization.

Jelly Roll Morton and his Red Hot Peppers record a landmark series of jazz sides for the Victor label in Chicago.

Morton insists on multiple takes and careful rehearsal at a time when jazz is assumed to be purely spontaneous — and he personally arrives with written arrangements in hand.

Jelly Roll Morton's Red Hot Peppers recordings for Victor stand as the first meticulously arranged — and documented — jazz compositions, cementing New Orleans style for posterity.

Mexican muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros paints América Tropical on a building in Los Angeles.

City officials whitewash it within two years — the anti-imperialist image of a crucified indigenous man is deemed too inflammatory for a tourist street.

América Tropical is a 98-foot wide fresco mural (30 m) created in 1932 by David Alfaro Siqueiros and other artists in Los Angeles, California, on a second-level exterior wall of the Italian Hall. It was painted over soon after its completion on an external wall of the Italian Hall on Olvera Street, in El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument of Downtown Los Angeles. It was restored and revealed to the public in 2012, 80 years to the day after its first unveiling.

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The most powerful earthquake ever measured strikes southern Chile, triggering tsunamis across the Pacific.

At magnitude 9.5, it is so strong that it sets the entire Earth ringing like a bell for days afterward.

The 1960 Valdivia earthquake and tsunami or the Great Chilean earthquake occurred on 22 May 1960. Most studies have placed it at 9.4–9.6 on the moment magnitude scale, making it the strongest earthquake ever recorded, while some studies have placed the magnitude lower than 9.4. It occurred in the afternoon, and lasted 10 minutes. The resulting tsunamis affected southern Chile, Hawaii, Japan, the Philippines, eastern New Zealand, southeast Australia, and the Aleutian Islands.

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