Historical Events API

Historical Events is a world history API that searches historical records by keyword to find matching events and their detailed descriptions. Paid plans add exact calendar dates and queries by year or date.

This is a Python wrapper for the Historical Events API

Installation

Using pip:

pip install apiverve-historicalevents

Using pip3:

pip3 install apiverve-historicalevents

Configuration

Before using the Historical Events API client, you have to setup your account and obtain your API Key. You can get it by signing up at https://apiverve.com

Quick Start

Here's a simple example to get you started quickly:

from apiverve_historicalevents.apiClient import HistoricaleventsAPIClient

# Initialize the client with your APIVerve API key
api = HistoricaleventsAPIClient("[YOUR_API_KEY]")

query = { "text": "moon landing" }

try:
    # Make the API call
    result = api.execute(query)

    # Print the result
    print(result)
except Exception as e:
    print(f"Error: {e}")

Usage

The Historical Events API documentation is found here: https://docs.apiverve.com/ref/historicalevents. You can find parameters, example responses, and status codes documented here.

Setup

# Import the client module
from apiverve_historicalevents.apiClient import HistoricaleventsAPIClient

# Initialize the client with your APIVerve API key
api = HistoricaleventsAPIClient("[YOUR_API_KEY]")

Perform Request

Using the API client, you can perform requests to the API.

Define Query

query = { "text": "moon landing" }

Simple Request

# Make a request to the API
result = api.execute(query)

# Print the result
print(result)

Example Response

{
  "status": "ok",
  "error": null,
  "data": {
    "count": 6,
    "filteredOn": [
      "text"
    ],
    "events": [
      {
        "year": "1969",
        "month": "05",
        "day": "18",
        "date": "1969/05/18",
        "event": " Apollo program: ''Apollo 10'' (Tom Stafford, Gene Cernan, John Young) is launched, on the full dress-rehearsal for the Moon landing.",
        "range": "May",
        "granularity": "year"
      },
      {
        "year": "1969",
        "month": "05",
        "day": "25",
        "date": "1969/05/25",
        "event": "Apollo program: ''Apollo 10'' returns to Earth, after a successful 8-day test of all the components needed for the upcoming first manned Moon landing.",
        "range": "May",
        "granularity": "year"
      },
      {
        "year": "1969",
        "month": "07",
        "day": "20",
        "date": "1969/07/20",
        "event": " Apollo program: The lunar module ''Eagle'' lands on the lunar surface. An estimated 500 million people worldwide watch in awe as Neil Armstrong takes his historic first steps on the Moon at 02:56 UTC, the largest television audience for a live broadcast at that time.cite web|title=Manned Space Chronology: Apollo_11|url=<a href=\"http://www.spaceline.org/flightchron/apollo11.html|publisher=spaceline.org|accessdate=2008-02-06|\">http://www.spaceline.org/flightchron/apollo11.html|publisher=spaceline.org|accessdate=2008-02-06|</a> archiveurl= <a href=\"http://web.archive.org/web/20080214213826/http://www.spaceline.org/flightchron/apollo11.html|\">http://web.archive.org/web/20080214213826/http://www.spaceline.org/flightchron/apollo11.html|</a> archivedate= 14 February 2008 !--DASHBot--| deadurl= no}}cite web|title= Apollo Anniversary: Moon Landing quotInspired Worldquot|url=<a href=\"http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/07/0714_040714_moonlanding.html|publisher=nationalgeographic.com|accessdate=2008-02-06|\">http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/07/0714_040714_moonlanding.html|publisher=nationalgeographic.com|accessdate=2008-02-06|</a> archiveurl= <a href=\"http://web.archive.org/web/20080209140059/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/07/0714_040714_moonlanding.html|\">http://web.archive.org/web/20080209140059/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/07/0714_040714_moonlanding.html|</a> archivedate= 9 February 2008 !--DASHBot--| deadurl= no}}",
        "range": "July",
        "granularity": "year"
      },
      {
        "year": "1969",
        "month": "07",
        "day": "20",
        "date": "1969/07/20",
        "event": "The ''Apollo 11'' astronauts return from the first successful Moon landing, and are placed in biological isolation for several days, on the chance they may have brought back lunar germs. The airless lunar environment is later determined to preclude microscopic life.",
        "range": "July",
        "granularity": "year"
      },
      {
        "year": "1971",
        "month": "02",
        "day": "08",
        "date": "1971/02/08",
        "event": "Apollo program: ''Apollo 14'' returns to Earth after the third manned Moon landing.",
        "range": "February",
        "granularity": "year"
      },
      {
        "year": "1973",
        "month": "01",
        "day": "07",
        "date": "1973/01/07",
        "event": "Elvis Presley's concert in Hawaii. The first worldwide telecast by an entertainer watched by more people than watched the Apollo moon landings.",
        "range": "January",
        "granularity": "year"
      }
    ]
  }
}

Error Handling

The API client provides comprehensive error handling through the HistoricaleventsAPIClientError exception. Here are some examples:

Basic Error Handling

from apiverve_historicalevents.apiClient import HistoricaleventsAPIClient, HistoricaleventsAPIClientError

api = HistoricaleventsAPIClient("[YOUR_API_KEY]")

query = { "text": "moon landing" }

try:
    result = api.execute(query)
    print("Success!")
    print(result)
except HistoricaleventsAPIClientError as e:
    print(f"API Error: {e.message}")
    if e.status_code:
        print(f"Status Code: {e.status_code}")
    if e.response:
        print(f"Response: {e.response}")

Handling Specific Error Types

from apiverve_historicalevents.apiClient import HistoricaleventsAPIClient, HistoricaleventsAPIClientError

api = HistoricaleventsAPIClient("[YOUR_API_KEY]")

query = { "text": "moon landing" }

try:
    result = api.execute(query)

    # Check for successful response
    if result.get('status') == 'success':
        print("Request successful!")
        print(result.get('data'))
    else:
        print(f"API returned an error: {result.get('error')}")

except HistoricaleventsAPIClientError as e:
    # Handle API client errors
    if e.status_code == 401:
        print("Unauthorized: Invalid API key")
    elif e.status_code == 429:
        print("Rate limit exceeded")
    elif e.status_code >= 500:
        print("Server error - please try again later")
    else:
        print(f"API error: {e.message}")
except Exception as e:
    # Handle unexpected errors
    print(f"Unexpected error: {str(e)}")

Using Context Manager (Recommended)

The client supports the context manager protocol for automatic resource cleanup:

from apiverve_historicalevents.apiClient import HistoricaleventsAPIClient, HistoricaleventsAPIClientError

query = { "text": "moon landing" }

# Using context manager ensures proper cleanup
with HistoricaleventsAPIClient("[YOUR_API_KEY]") as api:
    try:
        result = api.execute(query)
        print(result)
    except HistoricaleventsAPIClientError as e:
        print(f"Error: {e.message}")
# Session is automatically closed here

Advanced Features

Debug Mode

Enable debug logging to see detailed request and response information:

from apiverve_historicalevents.apiClient import HistoricaleventsAPIClient

# Enable debug mode
api = HistoricaleventsAPIClient("[YOUR_API_KEY]", debug=True)

query = { "text": "moon landing" }

# Debug information will be printed to console
result = api.execute(query)

Manual Session Management

If you need to manually manage the session lifecycle:

from apiverve_historicalevents.apiClient import HistoricaleventsAPIClient

api = HistoricaleventsAPIClient("[YOUR_API_KEY]")

query = { "text": "moon landing" }

try:
    result = api.execute(query)
    print(result)
finally:
    # Manually close the session when done
    api.close()

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Licensed under the MIT License (MIT)

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