Category Archives: History

History

On This Day – November 15

On This Day – November 15

  • 2006 Al Jazeera English launched

    The English language 24-hour news channel is owned and run by Al Jazeera Media Network based in Doha, Qatar.

  • 1988 State of Palestine created

    The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) declared the creation of the state while in exile in Algiers, Algeria. The declaration designated eastern Jerusalem as the state’s capital. Today, almost 70% of all UN members state recognize it as an independent country.

  • 1956 Elvis Presley makes his movie debut

    Love Me Tender, a black-and-white musical starred the American singer, who is also sometimes called the King of Rock and Roll. The movie was named after Presley’s hit single by the same name.

  • 1949 Assassins of MK Gandhi Executed in India

    Nathuram Godse, Narayan Apte and 6 other co-conspirators of the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi were hanged at the Ambala jail. On January 30, 1948, Godse who was unhappy about Gandhi’s accommodation of India’s Muslims shot Gandhi while he was out for his evening prayers.

  • 1920 League of Nations meets for the first time

    The general assembly of the international organization got together for the first time after being founded in January 1920. The League was created as a response to World War I and was entrusted by member states to maintain peace in the world.

History

On This Day – November 14

On This Day – November 14

  • 2010 Sebastian Vettel wins the Formula One World Drivers’ Champion

    At 23 years old, the German competitive race driver became the youngest person to win the World Championship in Formula One.

  • 1971 First spacecraft to orbit a planet

    NASA’s Mariner 9 entered Mars’ orbit after 167 days in space. Despite it being in Mars’ orbit within 15 minutes, a dust storm on the planet made it impossible for Mariner 9 to take pictures of Mars until January.

  • 1969 Apollo 12 launched

    The crew of the NASA’s second manned mission to the Moon included Commander Charles Conrad, Jr. Richard F. Gordon, Jr. and Alan L. Bean. It landed on the Moon on November 19 and was the first spacecraft to take a color TV camera to the Moon.

  • 1889 Nelie Bly sets out to go around the world in 80 days

    The American journalist, whose real name was Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman, followed the footsteps of fictional character Phileas Fogg from Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days. She started her adventure in Hoboken and came back 72 days later.

  • 1851 Moby Dick Makes its Debut in the United States

    The epic novel by Herman Melville about Captain Ahab’s quest to find and kill Moby Dick, a white whale had released in the UK in October under the name The Whale. Considered to be one of the best fictional works written in recent history, the book did not sell many copies after its launch or during Melville’s lifetime.

History

On This Day – November 12

On This Day – November 12

  • 1991 Dili massacre

    Several pro-independence protesters were shot at the Santa Cruz cemetery in Dili, East Timor by Indonesian soldiers. about 250 people were killed in this event, which is also known as the Dili massacre or the Santa Cruz massacare

  • 1990 Coup in Lesotho

    Justin Metsing Lekhanya staged a coup against King Moshoeshoe II of Lesotho and took over the government of Lesotho. Lekhanya was deposed a few months later in another military coup.

  • 1984 First salvage operation in space

    Astronauts Dale A. Gardner and Joseph P. Allen aboard space shuttle Discovery performed a series of space walks to salvage parts from two satellites, the Palapa B-2 and the Westar 6 which had steered away from their orbits.

  • 1981 STS-2 launched

    The second space shuttle mission by NASA, space shuttle Columbia was launched from NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It was the first time a manned space shuttle had been launched twice.

  • 1966 First images of a Solar Eclipse taken from space

    The crew of Gemini 12 which included Edwin Eugene “Buzz” Aldrin were able to view and take pictures of the total solar eclipse over South America.

History

On This Day – November 11

On This Day – November 11

  • 1999 House of Lords Act 1999 passed

    The act removed the right to a place in the House of Lords based on peerage and hereditary rights.

  • 1975 Angola independence

    Angola gained its independence after over 300 years of Portuguese rule.

  • 1965 Rhodesia declares its independence

    Rhodesia, a region that is comprised of present day Zimbabwe declared its freedom from the United Kingdom under the leadership of predominantly white leaders. It lasted for 14 years when it was renamed the Republic of Zimbabwe after being recognized by the UN and the UK.

  • 1926 Approval of numbered highways in the US

    Under this system odd numbered highways run north to south while even numbered highways run east to west. Lower odd numbers are in the west, and higher odd number are in the east. Lower even numbers are in the south, and higher even numbers are in the north.

  • 1918 World War I ends

    An armistice was signed to formally end the war. With 17 million casualties, the First World War was one of the bloodiest conflicts in history.