First National Baha'i Convention of French Guiana was held in April 1984

Delegates and guests at the first National Baha'i Convention of French Guiana held April 28-29, 1984, in Montjoly. Hand of the Cause of God 'Ali Muhammad Varqa represented the Universal House of Justice. Dr. Varqa is seated at right in the third row; Eberhard Friedland, A Knight of Baha'u'llah who pioneered to French Guiana in 1953, is at left in the second row. 

(Baha'i News August 1984)

April 1984: Frst Baha'i National Convention of the Canary Islands

More than 70 delegates and guests were present April 28-29, 1984,  at the first Baha'i National Convention of the Canary Islands in Santa Cruz de Teneife. Hand of the Cause of God 'Ali Akbar Furutan represented the Universal House of Justice. Dr. Furutan is standing with arms folded in the center of the fifth row. (Baha'i News September 1984)

Australia's first National Haziratu'l-Quds

First National Haziratu'l-Quds in Australia: 2 Lang Road, Paddington, Sydney

First Government to recognize official status of the Faith

The Bill to incorporate the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Canada was passed by both Houses of the Canadian Parliament, and given Royal assent on April 30, 1949.

On June 19, 1949, the Guardian’s secretary wrote on his behalf:

Your Assembly has much to be congratulated upon for your victories during the past Bahá'í Year have been memorable. The passing, in both Houses, of the Bill relating to the official status of your Assembly was a cause for great rejoicing, as this is the first time in Bahá'í history that any government has taken such action in relation to our Faith's status. He would like, if possible, to receive duplicates of the official Gazette and all publicity given this matter, as the copies you sent were placed in the Mansion at Bahji, but he wishes to have these documents at hand in his personal files as well. 
(Messages to Canada)

17 February 1932: Chicago Spiritual Assembly becomes the first local assembly to receive civil recognition

The processes of civil incorporation began with the adoption in 1927 of a Declaration of Trust and By-Laws for the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and Canada, which gained civil recognition as a voluntary trust two years later. On 17 February 1932 the first local Bahá'í Assembly, that of Chicago, adopted papers of incorporation which, together with those adopted by that of New York City on 31 March of that year, were to become a pattern for such instruments throughout the world. 
(Century of Light, a statement prepared at the Baha’i World center, commissioned by The Universal House of Justice)

The first gathering of Baha'is in Foundation Hall of the House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois, July 9, 1922

The first gathering of Baha'is in Foundation Hall of the House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois, July 9, 1922, in commemoration of the anniversary of the martydom of the Bab. Corinne True is in the front row (far right), next to Dr. Zia Baghdadi.

First Yerrinbool Baha'i Summer School -- Australia, January 1938

First Yerrinbool Baha'i Summer School in Australia, January 1938

The speed in which the religion of the Báb spread in Persia …

Historian Gobineau, writing in the early 1860s and familiar with Persia after a five-year residence there, wrote:

And so, here is a religion presented and promoted by a mere youth. In a very few years, that is to say from 1847 to 1852, this religion had disseminated throughout almost the whole of Persia, and counted within its fold numerous zealous adherents. In five years, a nation of from ten to twelve million people, occupying a territory which in bygone days had supported a population of fifty millions, a nation which does not possess those means of communication considered by us as so indispensable to the spread of ideas, I mean, of course, journals and pamphlets, and which did not have a postal service, nor even a single road fit for carriages in the entire extent of its empire; this nation, I say, had in five years been, in its entirely, penetrated by the doctrine of the Bábís, and the impression produced had been such that these most serious events, which I have recounted above, resulted therefrom. Arid it is not at all the ignorant part of the population that has been touched; it is eminent members of the clergy, the rich and learned classes, the women from the most important families; and lastly, after the Muslims, it is the philosophers, the Sufis in great numbers, and many Jews, who have been conquered by the new revelation... 
(Quoted by Moojan Momen in ‘The Babi and Baha'i Religions 1844-1944’)

1981: Inaugural meeting of the Continental Board of Counsellors in Africa

Inaugural meeting of the Continental Board of Counsellors in Africa (1981) with the Hand of the Cause William Sears. Seated, left to right: William Masehla, Friday Ekpe, Thelma Khelghati, William Sears, Bahiyyih Winckler, Isobel Sabri, Peter Vuyiya. Standing, left to right: Shidan Fat’he-Aazam, Mihdi Samandari, Muhammad Kebdani, Oloro Epyeru, Hushang Ahdieh, Zekrollah Kazemi, Kolonario Oule, Husayn Ardekani. 
(The Baha’i World 1979-1983)

February 1953: First of the four Intercontinental Conferences of the Holy Year is held in Kampala, Uganda, and the Guardian's Ten Year World Crusade is launched

In February 1953 the first of the four Intercontinental Conferences of the Holy Year that commemorated Baha'u'llah's incarceration in the Siyah-Chal and the Birth of the Baha'i Revelation was held in Kampala, Uganda. There the Guardian's Ten Year World Crusade was launched. Convened by the British National Assembly, Hasan Balyuzi, the Assembly's chairman; John Ferraby, its secretary; and Dorothy Ferraby, a member of the National Assembly and secretary of the Africa Committee, attended that auspicious conference. (The Baha’i World In Memoriam 1992-1997, p. 138)

Video showing the Hands of the Cause and friends attending this very historic conference:

 

1912 and 1922 views of the prison complex where Baha'u'llah and His family were confined

circa 1912: The north-west cornor of the barrack-square of the prison complex, to which Baha'u'llah and His family were taken. Note the now unused fountain in the courtyard.

1922: The north-west building of the prison complex where Baha'u'llah and His family were confined (center). Note the open court on the ground floor and he doorway, in deep shadow, leading to the inner stairway to the upper floor.

First church in America honored by the presence of the Master in 1912

The first church in America that was honored by the presence of the Master was the Church of the Ascension in New York City at Fifth Avenue and Tenth Street – Sunday April 14, 1912. He gave His first public address in America there.(Mahmud’s Diary) 
(For a transcript of the talk please visit Talks of 'Abdu'l-Baha)

The first Local Spiritual Assembly of Mariental, South West Africa/Namibia

The first Local Spiritual Assembly of Mariental, South West Africa/Namibia, whose members are of five different tribes and speak as many languages -- 14 September 1980 

(The Baha'i World 1979-1983)

The First Oceanic Baha’i Conference was held in Palermo, Sicily, in August 1968

The significance of the conference and its location are described in the following excerpt from the message of the House of Justice:

The great sea, on one of whose chief islands you are now gathered, within whose hinterland and islands have flourished the Jewish, the Christian and Islamic civilizations is a befitting scene for the first Oceanic Bahá'í Conference. Two millenniums ago, in this arena, the disciples of Christ performed such deeds of heroism and self-sacrifice as are remembered to this day and are forever enshrined in the annals of His Cause. A thousand years later the lands, bordering the southern and western shores of this sea witnessed the glory of Islam's Golden Age. [The classical age of Islamic civilization, the eighth through thirteenth centuries.]

In the day of the Promised One this same sea achieved eternal fame through its association with the Heroic and Formative Ages of His Cause. It bore upon its bosom the King of kings Himself, the Centre of His Covenant crossed and re-crossed it in the course of His epoch-making journeys to the West, during which He left the indelible imprint of His presence upon European and African lands; the Sign of God on earth frequently journeyed upon it. [Bahá'u'lláh sailed upon the Mediterranean Sea in 1868 during His journey from Gallipoli to 'Akká. 'Abdu'l-Bahá, the Centre of Bahá'u'lláh's Covenant, accompanied Bahá'u'lláh on that journey and later sailed upon the Mediterranean in the course of His travels to Egypt, Europe, and North America, 1910-13. Shoghi Effendi, the Sign of God on earth, traversed the Mediterranean in his travels to England to study at Oxford University and in the course of later visits to Europe.] It enshrines within its depths the mortal remains of the Hand of the Cause of God Dorothy Baker and around its shores lies the dust of apostles, martyrs and pioneers. Forty-six Knights of Bahá'u'lláh are identified with seven of its islands and five of its territories. Through such and many other episodes, Mediterranean lands -- ancient home of civilizations -- have been endowed with spiritual potentiality to dissolve the encrustations of those once glorious but now moribund social orders and to radiate once again the light of Divine guidance.

1961: Baha'i House of Worship in Kampala, Uganda, is opened to the public --the first African Temple, the first Temple to be completed during the World Crusade, and the third Temple in the world

We should ponder the fact that the people of Africa have attracted the grace of Bahá'u'lláh to such a marked degree that after the construction in Asia -- the continent which has been the Cradle of the Manifestations of God -- of the first Bahá'í Temple to be erected, and the completion in America, the Cradle of the Administrative Order, of the second Bahá'í House of Worship, it was Africa which was singled out for the unique honour of completing the third Mother Temple to be raised in the name and to the glory of the Supreme Manifestation of God for this Day. 
(Excerpt from a message of the Hands of the Cause in the Holy Land to the friends attending the Dedication of the Mother Temple of Africa and the Africa Teaching Conference; Ministry of the Custodians, pp. 250-252) (To read the entire message please visit Baha’i Calendar – this month in history)

1981: Baha'u'llah's House in Takur is destroyed

The House of Baha'u'llah in Takur, Iran, which was destroyed in 1981 during anti-Baha'i fervor that followed the Islamic Revolution. (Baha'i News, December 1982)

Bahá'u'lláh's Banishments – imposed by Násiri'd-Dín Sháh of Persia and Sultan 'Abdu'l-Aziz of Turkey

• Tihran, Persia to Baghdad, 'Iraq, January 1853-April 1863
• Baghdad to Constantinople (now Istanbul), Turkey, August-December 1863
• Constantinople to Adrianople (now Edirne), Turkey, December 1863-August 1868
• Adrianople to 'Akká, Palestine, August 1868(Adapted from the Footnotes, Messages from the Universal House of Justice 1963-1986, p. 136)

The first Bábi martyr: Mulla ‘Aliy-i-Bastami, one of the Letters of the Living

He was directed by the Báb to go to Iraq to teach among the Shaykhi’s [followers of Shayk Ahmad, a forerunner to the Báb]. His presentation of a copy of the Báb’s Qayyumu'l-Asma' to one of the leading exponents of Shi'ih Islam, Shaykh Muhammad Hasan-i-Najafi, led to a violent debate and eventually to his arrest and transfer to prison in Baghdad. A court of inquiry was held in January 1846 where the Sunnis argued for the death penalty on grounds of heresy while the Shi'ihs argued for banishment or imprisonment. He was eventually transferred to Istanbul where he was apparently sentenced to labour in the docks. He died in prison near the end of 1846, thus making him the first Babi martyr. 
(Adapted from 'A Basic Baha’i Dictionary', by Wendi Momen)

The first person to embrace the Babi Faith after the Letters of the Living

Haji Mirza Siyyid ‘Ali was the maternal uncle of the Báb. He brought up the Bab after His father died. He was known as Khál-i--i-A'zam (the Most Great Uncle). Haji Mirza Siyyid 'Ali was a leading merchant of Shiraz and the first, after the Letters of the Living, to embrace the Bábi Faith in that city. He devoted the rest of his life to serving his nephew. After visiting the Báb in Chihriq, he went to Tihran where he was arrested in 1850. With great eloquence he refused to recant his faith, was beheaded, and became known as one of the Seven Martyrs of Tihran. 
(Adapted from ‘A Basic Baha’i Dictionary’, by Weni Momen)

The first National Spiritual Assembly to become legally incorporated

The incorporation of the American National Spiritual Assembly as a voluntary Trust, a species of corporation recognized under the common law, enabling it to enter into contract, hold property and receive bequests by virtue of a certificate issued in May, 1929, under the seal of the Department of State in Washington and bearing the signature of the Secretary of State, Henry L. Stimson, was followed by the adoption of similar legal measures resulting in the successive incorporation of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of India and Burma, in January, 1933, in Lahore, in the state of Punjab, according to the provisions of the Societies Registration Act of 1860; of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Egypt and the Sudan, in December, 1934, as certified by the Mixed Court in Cairo; of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Australia and New Zealand, in January, 1938, as witnessed by the Deputy Registrar at the General Registry Office for the state of South Australia; and more recently of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the British Isles, in August, 1939, as an unlimited non-profit company, under the Companies Act, 1929, and certified by the Assistant Registrar of Companies in the City of London. 
(Shoghi Effendi, 'God Passes By')

First National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Tajikistan, April 1994

First National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Tajikistan, April 1994

The first Baha’i from the outside world who met Baha’u’llah in ‘Akka

Mulla Abu'l-Hasan-i-Ardikani, who is known as Haji Amin or Amin-i-Ilahi, was the first Baha’i from the outside world to be able to meet Baha’u’llah in ‘Akka (in the public baths). 
(Adapted from ‘A Basic Baha’i Dictionary’, by Wendi Momen)

The 19-member delegation that represented the Baha’i International Community on January 29, 1982 at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Countries of Europe in Strasbourg, France

The 19-member delegation that represented the Baha’i International Community on January 29, 1982 at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Countries of Europe in Strasbourg, France. Countries represented are Ireland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Spain, United Kingdom, Austria, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Germany, and Switzerland. 
(Baha’i News, June 1982)

1907: The First Baha'i in the West visits Baha'is in the East

Thornton Chase (seated second from the right), the First Baha'i in the West, meets Baha'is in the East, Cairo, Egypt, April 1907. Also present are Mirza Abu'l-Fadl (seated to the right of Thornton Chase) and Haji Niaz (seated to his left).

The Last Tablet Revealed by 'Abdu'l-Bahá for the Bahá'ís in America

To all the friends of God in America - The Glory of God rest upon them!

He Is God!

O ye friends of God!

'Abdu'l-Bahá is day and night thinking of you and mentioning you, for the friends of God are dear to him. Every morning at dawn I supplicate the Kingdom of God and ask that you may be filled with the breath of the Holy Spirit, so that you may become brilliant candles, shine with the light of guidance and dispel the darkness of error. Rest assured that the confirmations of the Abha Kingdom will continuously reach you.

Through the power of the Divine springtime, the downpour of the celestial clouds and the heat of the Sun of Reality, the Tree of Life is just beginning to grow. Before long it will produce buds, bring forth leaves and fruits and cast its shade over the East and the West. This Tree of Life is the Book of the Covenant.

In America, in these days, severe winds have surrounded the lamp of the Covenant, hoping that this brilliant light may be extinguished and this Tree of Life may be uprooted. Certain weak, capricious, malicious and ignorant souls have been shaken by the earthquake of hatred, of animosity, have striven to efface the divine Covenant and Testament, and render the clear water muddy so that in it they might fish(1). They have arisen against the Center of the Covenant like the people of the Bayan [The Book of the Báb] who attacked the Blessed Beauty (Bahá'u'lláh) and every moment uttered a calumny. Every day they seek a pretext and secretly arouse doubts, so that the Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh may be completely annihilated in America.