Cleisthenes, brought to power by popular support, puts into effect a major programme of political reform in Athens

Ostracism is introduced in Athens as a way of getting rid of unpopular politicians

With the army away, Pericles introduces full democracy for all Athenian citizens, enabling them to vote and participate in the administration of the state

A secret ballot is instituted for Roman citizens, who mark their vote on a tablet and place it in an urn

The Venetians for the first time elect their own doge, acting independently of the Byzantine governor in Ravenna

Communal gatherings, the thing and the larger althing, are the distant origins of Scandivian parliaments

An althing of chieftains establishes the commonwealth of Iceland, which will survive for more than three centuries

Iceland's parliament, the althing, passes a resolution that everyone on the island is to be baptized

Many of the towns of northern Italy acquire virtual independence as self-governing communes

Representatives of the towns in Léon are summoned to one of the earliest known parliaments

Flemish towns begin to acquire municipal independence, as communes, following the earlier Italian trend

France becomes the first kingdom to establish a permanent parliament when Louis IX reserves a chamber in his palace for quarterly sessions

The first open-air democratic assembly, later characteristic of the Swiss cantons, is held in Schwyz

The parliament summoned by Edward I in Westminster Hall is later seen as a 'model' for the breadth of its representation

The English government in Dublin calls a parliament on the lines of England's recent Model Parliament

The estates-general of France gather for the first time, in Notre Dame, to consider the king's relationship with the pope

The leading role of Schwyz in the victory at Morgarten causes the independent cantons to become informally known as the Swiss confederation

Cola di Rienzo, appointed tribune of the people, enjoys a few months of dictatorial powers in Rome before the citizens tire of him

The Swedish Riksdag includes peasants as a fourth estate, alongside clergy, nobles and burghers

The assembly brought together in Bruges in 1463 is later seen as the first full gathering of the Netherlands States-General

John I Albert summons the first recorded sejm, a parliament representing the whole of Poland

William Bradford, one of the Pilgrims from the Mayflower, is elected governor of the new Plymouth Colony

The rival political parties in Britain find abusive names for each other - Whigs and Tories

The revolutionary convention of Virginia votes for independence from Britain, and instructs its delegates in Philadelphia to propose this motion

Virginia's motion for independence from Britain is passed at the Continental Congress of the colonies with no opposing vote