The
Hiztory.org API is a RESTful service that provides XML output for various types of historical events. It's very much in beta and was intended for our own applications. It'll be made more scalable/reliable in the near future. At this stage, only XML data is available.
The database and industry specific areas are growing on a daily basis. If you have specific needs, please let us know.
Rate Limiting
Because the API is free and doesn't require registration, we've mitaged the potential for abuse by rate limiting unreasonable requests and we truncate various types of output. If you're building an application and require uninterrupted access, let us know and we'll whitelist you. Registered users get full and complete access; this includes the ability to build queries by any parameter - including keywords.
XML API
The XML URL is as follows:
http://api.hiztory.org/aviation/09/26/1/15/api.xml
The URL structure is as follows:
All queries begin with:
http://api.hiztory.org/
aviation - query
aviation history. Must be lower case.
09 - September (two digits).
26 - 26th day of the month (always two digits).
1 - Page 1. No leading zero.
15 - Number of results per page (max 15... for now).
For the moment, you're limited to
aviation,
birth,
death and
event queries. More
are available and will be made public soon.
Output looks like this:

Note that the output includes the number of pages, the number of total results, the result limit (max 15 at this stage) and the page number. The status message of
200
indicates a successful response.
Random Output
At times, sometimes it's necessary to generate a single random item for inclusion on a webpage or blog. To that end, use the following:
http://api.hiztory.org/random/birth.xml
http://api.hiztory.org/random/death.xml
http://api.hiztory.org/random/event.xml
http://api.hiztory.org/random/aviation.xml
Results are cached locally for about 10 minutes. It's expected that you would also cache the results for up to 15 minutes to avoid any rate-limiting. If you're using any of our code, we provide that functionality by default.

Note, again, the 200 response code. If you don't receive this, it's best to keep your locally cached copy until new information becomes available.
Random Output by Date
Random output doesn't take date into consideration; it literally picks anything from the data. To refine your random result by date, use the following format:
http://api.hiztory.org/date/event/09/24/api.xml
09 is the month and
24 is the date. Numbers must include the leading '0'. Of course, you'll need to replace
event with whatever data source you're querying.
RSS Feeds
Limited RSS feeds are available from the main page. They can be consumed via any number of RSS readers or consumed directly into a WordPress (or other) blog via an array of available widgets and tools.

These feeds, however, are based on a timezone on the Eastern State of Australia. For feeds in your own timezone, use the following format:
http://www.hiztory.org/10/23/aviation.rss
... where
10 is the month (October) and
23 is the date. Of course, replace
aviation with whatever it is you're searching (again, at this stage, only aviation, birth, death or event).
Error Codes
There are various errors that might be generated. Generally speaking, anything other than a
200 response is bad. Rate limiting also applies (code
420).
Aviation
Despite the fact we're using this information on a number of our own sites, the prime motivation was to make aviation historical information available. If you're an aviation person and need help with implementation, get in touch with us and we'll do our best to help. WordPress and other code will be available on our
Flight blog.
It's in BETA
The service is considered in a
very early stage of development. If you have any ideas or encounter any errors, please let us know.
Terms of Use
By using the
Hiztory API, you agree to these simple terms of use. You may use the API as-is for any purpose. You alone are responsible for any damage that you or your users encounter from using services from this API. The data provided may be cached locally for performance, but for no longer than 1 day. We accept no responsibility for any downtime, damage or errors, invalid/incorrect data or the consequences of information we provide. These terms are subject to change without notice and will be updated on this page.
You
must provide attribution with a link to
http://www.hiztory.org/
.