1690-1881 A.D.

The Hogwarts Express.The wizarding world develops its own culture, hidden away from the Muggles. The newly formed Ministry of Magic deals with the massive undertaking of creating a government, social structures, and infrastructure while managing and guiding everything from dragons in the mountains and Dementors in Azkaban to magical children on their way to school. In North America, the Magical Congress of the United States was humiliated when one of the most serious breaches of the Statute of Secrecy occurred, thanks to the foolishness of the daughter of one of the top officials of MACUSA.

A summit meeting of the International Confederation of Wizards takes place. The discussion about magical creatures lasts seven weeks and includes delegations of goblins, centaurs, and merpeople. The result of this summit is the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy, which effectively hid the Wizarding community away from the Muggles (Pm). Read More
In 1693 after the International Statute of Secrecy was passed, American witches and wizards set up their own government known as the Magical Congress of the United States. This underground government totally separate from the No-Maj included representatives from magical groups all over North America, and was set up in… Read More
The first president of MACUSA, Josiah Jackson, also set up the Department of Magical Law Enforcement for North America with a dozen volunteer Aurors who would risk their lives tracking down the Scourers responsible for the Salem Witch Trials (PM: MACUSA). Read More
The Ministry is formed as part of the massive transition in the Wizarding world which followed the passage of the International Statute of Secrecy in 1692. UIick Gamp is chosen to be the first Minister for Magic. The initial task of the Ministry, led by Gamp, was calming… Read More
Before the invention of the Pennifold Quaffle, dropped quaffles often fell to the ground. Red balls were easier to distinguish against the muddy, wintertime Quidditch pitch (QA6). Read More
The Pennifold Quaffle was invented by Daisy Pennifold after the introduction of the red Quaffle in 1711. It causes the Quaffle to fall slowly towards the ground rather than dropping “like a rock” due to gravity. This allows Chasers to catch the Quaffle while they are… Read More
He had been working on plans to build a wizarding prison on a remote Hebridean island when he is replaced by Damocles Rowle, who wins election on a platform of getting “tough on Muggles.” The plans for building a prison are scrapped by Rowle in favor of using Azkaban (Pm). Read More
Rowle, the second Minister for Magic, ignores the warnings of experts about the terrible effects of Dementors and of the evil permeating the fortress. He begins bringing prisoners to Azkaban and allows the Dementors to torment them (Pm). Read More
At some earlier point in her life, Ketteridge narrowly escapes suffocation due to the ingestion of gillyweed by sticking her head underwater (FW). Read More
The international agreement is breached in an incident involving vampires. Legislation follows to make another such breach less likely. There was a question about this incident on Harry’s History of Magic O.W.L. exam. Read More
Abraham Peasegood invented the game of Quodpot when a Quaffle came into contact with his wand when the items had been transported in his luggage from Britain. Peasegood took the Quaffle out to play Quidditch and the ball exploded (QA8). Read More
Clause 73 is added to the code, making it the responsibility of each nation’s Ministry of Magic to work to conceal the magical creatures living within their borders. The text of the Clause reads as follows: Each wizarding governing body will be responsible for the concealment, care, and control of… Read More
One of a number of Goblin rebellions throughout the history of the Wizarding community in Britain. This particular rebellion was handled poorly by two successive Ministers for Magic, Albert Boot and Basil Flack, both of whom resigned in 1752. As the tumultuous year progressed, werewolves joined the goblins in rebellion. Read More
His tenure as Minister was marked by growing bureaucracy — several new Departments were added to the Ministry during his time — but he proved ineffective at managing a genuine crisis and resigned (Pm). Read More
1754 – Many spectators gathered at the finish line to watch Torquil McTavish of Scotland and Silvio Astolfi Italy race from Aberdeen to the Colosseum in Rome. It is not known who won, but, by the time explosions damaging the Colosseum awoke the Muggles of Rome, Astolfi had been transfigured… Read More
When a broom race between bitter rivals resulted in a huge predawn explosion at the finish line, damaging the Colosseum in Rome, Ministry witch Orabella Nuttley demonstrated a spell she’d created which could repair broken objects. The Ministry officials on the scene quickly learned the spell and quickly repaired the ancient… Read More
She had used her victims’ blood for bathing, in the hopes that it would help her stay young and beautiful. She dies a few years short of turning 200 years old (FW). Read More
The Magical Congress of the United States  was housed in a secret edifice somewhere in the Appalachian Mountains until 1760, when it was relocated to Williamsburg, Virginia, the home of Thornton Harkaway, then President of MACUSA (Pm). Unfortunately for the local No-Maj population, President Harkaway raised Crups, a type of… Read More
During the 1770s, the Magical Congress of the United States relocated from Williamsburg, Virginia, to the city of Baltimore, Maryland, home of MACUSA President Able Fleming (Pm:MACUSA). This was a short-lived location due to the arrival of the No-Maj Continental Congress to the city, as well as the beginning of… Read More
Gore’s 18 years as Minister were marked with conflict, but he managed to suppress the bloody rebellion which started in 1752, the year he took office. He also supported the use of Azkaban as a prison. He had no sympathy for the werewolves who joined the rebellion and refused to… Read More
Monkstanley, who worked in the Department of Mysteries, invented the Wand-Lighting Charm purely to assist in finding things like dropped quills behind her desk. Her casual use of the charm at work came as a complete surprise to her co-workers (BoS). Read More
Around 1776 when the Continental Congress moved to Baltimore during the Revolutionary War, the secret Magical Congress of the United States (MACUSA) decided it was time to move again, so they relocated to Washington. The move was followed by the “Country or Kind” debate of 1777 led by President Elizabeth… Read More
Fleming is a resident of Baltimore, Maryland, and MACUSA meets in that city until the outbreak of the Revolutionary War and the advent of the Continental Congress to Baltimore in 1776. Read More
In 1777, MACUSA President Elizabeth McGilliguddy presided over a gathering of witches and wizards from all over North America for the “Country or Kind” Debate. Thousands arrived, so the Great Meeting Hall was expanded magically to hold them all. Their purpose was to debate whether they should give allegiance to… Read More
President McGillicuddy presides over the “Country or Kind?” debate of 1777, when witches and wizards from all over North America decided whether or not to become involved in the American Revolutionary War. The Ministry of Magic in London sent a message saying “Sitting this one out.” President McGillicuddy responded “Mind… Read More
The attack comes while he is while holidaying in Papua New Guinea. Belby wards off the creature by conjuring a patronus (FB). While Belby is considered the only wizard to survive a lethifold attack (FW, FB), Celestina Warbeck’s mother, a Muggle woman, is another survivor of a lethifold attack (Pm). Read More
Barebone was a descendant of Scourers who believed that all witches and wizards should be killed. He befriends a gullible young witch named Dorcus Twelvetrees, plies her with seemingly innocent questions, then steals her wand and publishes the locations of both Ilvermorny and MACUSA headquarters. Dorcus serves a year in… Read More
The period from 1789 – 1799 in France as their society beginning with the overthrow of the monarchy and the later dictatorship of Napoleon. The “Reign of Terror” refers to the popular use of the guillotine to chop off the heads of the wealthy or anyone under suspicion. (Wikipedia)… Read More
After putting the entire magical community in danger by spilling its secrets to a descendent of scourers, the daughter of Aristotle Twelvetrees is imprisoned for one year. Many in the magical community wish to see Dorcus killed or locked away for the rest of her life for her foolishness. Wizarding… Read More
Rappaport is the fifteenth president of MACUSA. In 1790, she puts in place the complete segregation of the magical and non-magical communities in the U.S. All contact is forbidden in what becomes known as Rappaport’s Law. Read More
Flavius Belby, at one point the proud president of his local Gobstones Club, passes away nine years after successfully fighting off a lethifold in Papua New Guinea (FW, FB). Read More
He grows up to be a collector of live Sphinxes, which not surprisingly sets him at odds with the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures (FW). Read More
The Quidditch World Cup 1805 tournament took place somewhere in Britain between 1798 and 1811, while Artemisia Lufkin was Minister for Magic. The actual year is not specifically mentioned in canon – it could have taken place in 1801. Background Minister of Magic Lufkin, who was in office from 1798… Read More
The Quidditch World Cup 1809 tournament is especially remembered for “The Attack of the Killer Forest“, after a disastrous event followed the final match between Romania and New Spain (QWC). Read More
He soon comes up with several important improvements to the governance of the Wizarding World, including a workable definition of “Beast” and “Being” and and creating separate divisions for them in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures (FB). Read More
After a match against the Appleby Arrows in 1814, the Bangers attempted to capture a Hebridean Black dragon as their team mascot. Their foolishness led to their being banned from playing ever again (QA5). Read More
The book was written by Gulliver Pokeby and published by Little Red Books. The book contains the results of patient research revealing that – far from being a death omen, as widely believed – the cry of the Augurey merely indicates the approach of rain. (FB)… Read More
Logistical difficulties plague efforts to get students to and from Hogwarts while adhering to the Statute of Secrecy. Minister for Magic Ottaline Gambol, who appreciates Muggle innovation, comes up with the idea of using a steam engine. The exact origin of the Hogwarts Express is uncertain, but it is rumoured… Read More
Xavier Rastrick, the famous wizard entertainer, vanishes unexpectedly while tap dancing for a crowd of 300 in Painswick and is never seen again (FW). Read More
The Crimean War was a military conflict fought from October 1853 to February 1856 in which the Russian Empire lost to an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, Britain and Sardinia (Wikipedia). Evangeline Orpington, who was Minister for Magic during that time, is widely believed to have illegally… Read More
The Ministry of Magic made a decision to leave full control of Gringotts Wizarding Bank in the hands of Goblins. It remained so until a partial takeover by the Death Eaters when Voldemort took control of the Ministry in 1997 (JKR-W3)… Read More
Hogwarts caretaker Rancourous Carp baits a trap for Peeves with various weapons he might enjoy, hoping to lure him and then drop a large bell jar over him (Pm). But Peeves breaks the jar and escapes “armed with several cutlasses, crossbows, a blunderbuss and a miniature cannon,” which causes the… Read More
The Quidditch World Cup 1877 is a mystery – no one knows what actually happened. Although the Quidditch World Cup is said to be held every four years, this particular tournament had to be repeated in 1878, the following year. Therefore, 1877’s Quidditch World Cup is known as “… Read More
The Quidditch World Cup 1878 tournament was staged as a replacement for the “missing” Tournament that Nobody Remembers of 1877 (QWC). Read More
Peruvian Vipertooth dragons are particularly dangerous. They are very fast flyers, they are very venomous, and humans are their preferred food. By the end of the 1800s, the Vipertooths had become such a problem that the International Confederation of Wizards sends a team of exterminators to Peru to reduce the number. Read More
Albus Dumbledore, one of the greatest wizards of the modern era, is born to Kendra and Percival Dumbledore in the village of Mould-on-the-Wold (DH2, DH11). Read More
As reported in the 1883 Daily Prophet article “Bring Back Our Baskets“, this change by the Department of Magical Games and Sports is made to ensure fairness and consistency (QA6). The change does make the game more fair but was not appreciated by some fans, who relished the… Read More