On This Day In History
May 26th
1896 Dow Jones index begins with an average of 12 industrial stocks (closing is 40.94)
1908 At Masjed Soleyman (مسجد سليمان) in southwest Persia, the first major commercial oil strike in the Middle East is made, rights acquired by the United Kingdom
1927 Henry Ford and the Ford Motor Company produce the last (and 15th million) Model T Ford / Tin Lizzie
1948 South Africa elects a nationalist government under D. F. Malan with an apartheid policy
2004 The United States Army veteran Terry Nichols is found guilty of 161 state murder charges for helping carry out the Oklahoma City bombing.
Did You Know?
“Dracula” by Irish author Bram Stoker is published by Archibald Constable and Company in London
Today in History in 1897
Would You Believe?
George Willig climbs the South Tower of NYC’s World Trade Center, famously fined 1 cent for each of 110 stories he climbed
Today in History in 1977
May 27th
1679 Habeas Corpus Act passes in England, strengthening a person’s right to challenge unlawful arrest and imprisonment
1703 Saint Petersburg (Leningrad) founded by Russian Tsar Peter the Great
1873 Heinrich Schliemann discovers “Priam’s Treasure” a cache of gold and other objects in Hisarlik (Troy) in Anatolia
1905 Japanese fleet destroys the Russian East Sea fleet in the Battle of Tsushima, the only decisive clash between modern steel battleships in history
1940 British and Allied forces begin the evacuation of Dunkirk (Operation Dynamo) during WWII
1963 Jomo Kenyatta elected 1st Prime Minister of Kenya
1999 The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia indicts Slobodan Milošević and four others for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Kosovo
2006 Earthquake strikes Java, Indonesia at 5:53:58 AM local time (22:53:58 UTC May 26) devastating Bantul and the city of Yogyakarta, killing over 6,600 people
Did You Know?
The 1,046-foot (319-meter) Chrysler Building in New York City, the tallest man-made structure at the time, opens to the public
Today in History in 1930
Would You Believe?
English playwright William Shakespeare reported to have died after receiving COVID-19 vaccine by Argentine news channel Chanal 26 (case of mistaken identity, the Bard died in 1616)
Today in History in 2021
May 28th
585 BC Solar eclipse, as predicted by Greek philosopher Thales, while Lydians at war with the Medes leads to a truce. One of the cardinal dates from which other dates calculated.
1431 Joan of Arc is accused of relapsing into heresy by donning male clothing again, providing justification for her execution
1588 Spanish Armada under the Duke of Medina-Sidonia departs Lisbon to invade England
1830 US President Andrew Jackson signs the Indian Removal Act, a key law leading to the forced removal of the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole tribes out of Georgia and surrounding states, setting the stage for the Cherokee Trail of Tears
1936 Alan Turing submits “On Computable Numbers” for publication, in which he set out the theoretical basis for modern computers.
1972 White House “plumbers” first break in at the Democratic National Headquarters and install listening devices at Watergate Complex in Washington, D.C.
Did You Know?
Near Callander, Ontario, the Dionne quintuplets are born to Olivia and Elzire Dionne, later becoming the first quintuplets to survive infancy
Today in History in 1934
Would You Believe?
Monkeys Able & Baker zoom 300 miles (500 km) into space on Jupiter missile, become 1st animals retrieved from a space mission
Today in History in 1959
May 29th
1453 Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman Empire falls to the Turks under Mehmed II; ends the Byzantine Empire
1592 Battle of Sacheon: Korean navy led by Admiral Yi Sun Shin repels a Japanese fleet – first use of Korean Turtle ship
1660 On his 30th birthday Charles II returns to London from exile in the Netherlands to claim the English throne after the Puritan Commonwealth comes to an end
1851 Sojourner Truth addresses 1st Black Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio
1953 Edmund Hillary (NZ) and Tenzing Norgay (Nepal) are first to reach the summit of Mount Everest as part of a British Expedition
Did You Know?
American chemist John Pemberton begins to advertise Coca-Cola
Today in History in 1886
Would You Believe?
15 young women are fired by Curtis Publishing in Philadelphia for dancing the “Turkey Trot” during their lunch break
Today in History in 1912
30th May
1431 Hundred Years’ War: 19 year old Joan of Arc is burned at the stake by an English-dominated tribunal in Rouen, France
1539 Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto‘s expedition of 10 ships and 700 men lands in Florida
1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo between US and Mexico comes into force, giving New Mexico, California and parts of Nevada, Utah, Arizona and Colorado to the US in return for $15 million
1868 “Decoration Day”, later called Memorial Day is first observed in Northern US states
1896 Khodynka Tragedy: Stampeding crowd on Khodynka Field, Moscow, during the festivities for coronation of Russian Tsar Nicholas II, results in the deaths of about 1,300 people
1913 Treaty of London signed by the Great Powers, the Ottoman Empire and the victorious Balkan League (Serbia, Greece, Kingdom of Bulgaria, and Montenegro) bringing an end to the First Balkan War
Did You Know?
Former Chad dictator Hissène Habré convicted of crimes against humanity by the Extraordinary African chambers, 1st ex-head of state convicted of the charge
Today in History in 2016
Would You Believe?
Future US President Andrew Jackson kills Charles Dickinson in a duel after Dickinson accused Jackson’s wife of bigamy
Today in History in 1806
May 31st
1279 BC Ramesses II, also known as Ramesses the Great becomes Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt (19th Dynasty)
1578 Martin Frobisher sails from Harwich, England, to Frobisher Bay, Canada. Eventually mines fools gold, famously used to pave the streets of London.
1902 Boer War Ends; Treaty of Unity signed, Britain annexes Transvaal
1910 Union of South Africa declares its independence from the United Kingdom
1916 Battle of Jutland: Largest naval battle of World War I between the British Grand Fleet and the German High Seas Fleet which killed 8,645 in an inconclusive battle but strategic British victory. German fleet never puts to sea again in WWI.
1935 7.7 magnitude earthquake destroys Quetta in Balochistan, British India (now Pakistan) killing an estimated 40,000 people
1947 Communists seize power in Hungary
1970 7.75 Ancash earthquake off coast of Peru kills 66-70,000 and sets off world’s deadliest avalanche
Did You Know?
Citing poor eyesight, English civil servant Samuel Pepys records the last event in his famous diary
Today in History in 1669
Would You Believe?
The Who set the record for the loudest concert of all time, 120 decibels at 50 metres, at The Valley in Charlton, London, England
Today in History in 1976
June 1st
4000 BC Approximate domestication of the horse in the Eurasian steppes near Dereivka, central Ukraine (hypothesis only)
1215 Peking [Beijing], then a city of over one million, under control of Jurchen ruler Emperor Xuanzong of Jin, is captured and looted for a month by the Mongols under Genghis Khan
1676 Battle of Öland: allied Danish-Dutch forces defeat the Swedish navy in the Baltic Sea, during the Scanian War (1675–79)
1964 Kenya becomes a republic with Jomo Kenyatta as its 1st President
1998 European Central Bank is founded in Brussels to define and execute the European Union’s monetary policy