Showing posts with label history. Show all posts
Showing posts with label history. Show all posts

Monday, May 11, 2020

First Urban City in History




Gone are the days when people lived in the village, having their own households, a portion of arable land, a few animals there.

 The population grew, everything became a bit crowded and so the cities were created, which had other functions, commercial and craft, where you live with your neighbors. For 200 years, since industrialization, cities have grown in size, creating an ever-expanding oil and cement civilization. I know that the first city was Mureybet in Syria, founded in 10,000 BC

Mureybet - Alchetron




Then came Catalhoyuk in Turkey,  Jericho in Palestine, Ur, Eridu, Lagas, Ummah, Uruk, and Babylon in Iraq, Dobrovody in Ukraine, Abydos, Thebes and Memphis in Egypt, Mohenjo-Darro and Harrapa in India, Yinxu and Chengzhou in China.

Ancient Çatalhöyük - Wikipedia


In the classical period, Athens was established in Greece, Alexandria in Egypt, Carthage in Tunisia, etc.  But the first really sexy city was Rome, a real modern city by the standards of the time.

There are many sources that show that Rome was the first city to have 1 million inhabitants in the first century.  You may also like : Inferno "Historical Review and facts"

Alexandria, Egypt - Ancient History 


The second city to reach such a population would be Chang'an in China in the ninth century, Baghdad in Iraq and Kaifeng in China in the 10th century.

The first city with a population of 1,500,000 was Hangzhou in China in 1300.

The first city with a population of over 2 million was London in 1850, in the midst of the revolution. industries.

Aerial view of London, 1850. View of London looking north-east Getty Images


In 1870, London would have a population of 4 million, and in 1900-6 million.

London In 1900 Londonist








In 1925, the population of New York City reached 7 million, and after in 1962 to reach 15 million.

New York: the world's largest city in 1925 AD Highbrow 


But cities are not only measured by area and population, but also by the endowment and quality of life it offers to the population. Mohenjo Daro had a systematized infrastructure. The concept of "citizenship" and "vote" appeared in Athens.

Carthage was a great commercial center, and Alexandria was a true cultural capital.

Carthage - Ancient History Encyclopedia






Baghdad and Constantinople were great cultural and religious centers. Small city-states like Florence, Genoa, or Venice created their commercial maritime empires.

The first industrialized city with infrastructure, modern sewerage, factories, and plants, was London, which faced problems regarding poverty, disease, and congestion. Paris was perhaps the first city of style, a city of entertainment, a capital of fashion.



But the first mega-city was New York because it was not only huge in area, but also in height with its skyscrapers, dominated by jobs in the tertiary sector, being imitated by other cities such as Shanghai, Dubai, Tokyo. and so on.

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

May 9th: The End of the bloodiest conflagration in human history and three major holidays Independence Day, Victory Day, Europe Day

1945 front page Evening News (London) Alamy


On May 9th, we celebrate the end of the hostilities of the bloodiest conflagration in human history, when the trigger of World War II, German fascist Nazism, a great enemy of human civilization, was defeated, crushed and abolished as a state entity. On May 9th, 1945, under the concentric blows of United Nations forces, Nazi Germany was forced to surrender unconditionally.

Elbe Day - Wikipedia


Among the victorious states is our country, which on August 23, 1944 leaves the alliance with Nazi Germany and joins the alliance with the countries of the United Nations, with its full economic potential and an army of over 600 thousand people.

History of the United Nations The United Nations


As a tribute to the victors, May 9th was proclaimed Europe Day, with its significance in marking the importance for Europeans of the European construction process from 1945 to the present day, in order to harmoniously develop European states in peace and progress. economic.

Winston Churchill gives his famous 'V for Victory' memoryprints


We hope that, in the end, reason and wisdom will triumph. Mankind will be convinced that prosperity and prosperity cannot be achieved in a world torn apart by wars, more recently viruses wars, that only peace and understanding ensure the peace and well-being of mankind.


How do you perceive May 9?

May 8th is Victory Day

May 10 is Independence Day

May 9 is the day of the Romanian Communist Party

May 5th and 9 are both declared Europe Days

On May 5, 1949, the Council of Europe is established

Thursday, December 6, 2018

From Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) to War on Terrorism 10 wars that can be considered "World Wars"


Updated Today : 31/05/2021

Traditionally, we believe that in history, the human species witnessed just two world wars that took place in the 20th century in my opinion that is wrong

But what defines "World War"?

A World War involves many of the states and the populations of the planet and is being deployed across multiple continents with many fronts of war.

Well, if it's to be taken by definition, it would mean that there were several world wars throughout history, most of them unfolding just before the industrial age, in early modernity.


1. The 30-year War (1618-1648) - the First European War
combatant
  • Sweden-Gustav Adolf II
  • France-Ludovic XIII
  • Denmark
  • United States Provinces
  • England and Scotland
  • Saxony
  • The Ottoman Empire
  • Russia
  • Transylvania
  • The Spanish-Philip III / Philip IV Empire
  • The Holy Roman Empire
  • Poland
Readings in the Military History of the Thirty Years War (1618-1648)  International History


Thirty Years' War - History.com


Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia, whose staunch Catholicism and diligent opposition to Protestantism source: Wikipedia

It is estimated that 11 million people were killed because of religious rivalries (of which 8 million were civilians ... I believe that until WW1, there was no such devastating war and yet, the 30-year War not too it's covered ... why?)



2. The War of Succession of Spain (1701-1712) - has unfolded in Europe, North America and South America.

combatants:
  • The Spanish Loyalists of King Carol
  • The Holy Roman Empire: Austria, Prussia, Hanover
  • England and Scotland (Great Britain after 1707) - Duke of Marlborough
  • United States Provinces
  • Savoia-Eugen de Savoia
  • Portugal
  • The Spanish Loyalists of King Philip
  • France - Ludovic XIV
  • Bavaria
War of the Spanish Succession - Wikipedia

Almansa, April 1707; Bourbon victory was a serious setback for the Allies in Spain. source: Wikipedia


At the same time, in the northern, central and eastern Europe, between 1700 and 1719, the Great Northern War between Sweden and Carol II was carried out between Russia and Russia, with Poland, Lithuania, the Ottoman Empire, the United Provinces, Great Britain, Denmark, Saxony, Moldova, Hanover and Prussia. After the war, only 175,000 Swedish civilians died of hunger, not counting the tens of thousands of soldiers killed in battles.


3. The War of Austrian Succession (1741-1748): conducted in Europe, India and North America
combatant

Almansa, April 1707; Bourbon victory was a serious setback for the Allies in Spain. source: Wikipedia

  • France-Ludovic XV
  • Prussia-Great Frederick II the Great
  • Spain
  • Sweden
  • The Italian States
  • Bavaria
  • Great Britain- George I
  • Austria -Maria Tereza
  • Saxony
  • Russia
  • United States Provinces

4. The Seven Years War (1756-1763) - depicted in North America, South America, Europe, India and Africa
combatants:
  • Great Britain - George II / George III
  • Prussia - Frederic the Great
  • Hanover
  • Confederation of the Iroquois
  • Portugal
  • Other German states
  • Abenaki
  • Mogul Empire
  • Franta-Ludovic XV
  • Austria-Maria Tereza
  • Sweden
  • Saxony
  • Spain
  • Russia
Seven Years' War  Definition, Causes, Maps, & Effects   Britannica

Seven Years' War Collage based on these files: Lord Clive meeting with Mir Jafar after the Battle of Plassey, 23 June 1757 The Victory of Montcalm's Troops at Carillon, 6-8 July 1758 Frederick the Great at the battle of Zorndorf, 25 August 1758 General von Laudon at the battle of Kunersdorf, 12 August 1759 source: Wikipedia



It is estimated that 1,400,000 were killed


5. The American Independence War (1775-1784) - not only in North America, but also in India, the Caribbean, Sumatra, the North Seacombatants:

The Fourth of July and the Martial Spirit Law & Liberty  




A collection of public domain images of the American Revolutionary War, together in a montage.source: Wikipedia
  • United States of America - George Washington
  • Spain
  • Franta-Ludovic XVI
  • Mysore
  • Netherlands
  • American Indians
  • Great Britain-George III
  • Hanover
  • American Indians


6. Napoleon Wars (1796-1815) - deployed in Europe, Egypt, the Middle East, the Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, the North Sea, North America, Caucasus, French Guiana
combatants:

Coat of arms source: Wikipedia



  • The French Empire-Napoleon I
  • Coalition anti-Napoleon
  • Great Britain-George III
  • Austria- Francis I
  • Russia-Alexander II
  • Prussia-Frederick William III
  • The Ottoman Empire
  • Spain
  • Portugal
  • Sweden
  • Netherlands
  • The Italian and German states
  • Switzerland
  • Norway, Denmark
  • Persia


Many of these states joined Napoleon Bonaparte


It is estimated that 6 million people were killed just because Napoleon wanted to venture.



7. World War I - (1914-1918) - Europe, Africa, Atlantic Ocean, Middle East, the coasts of American continents, Pacific, China
combatant


  • Entente
  • France-Poincaire / Clemenceau
  • The British Empire and its colonies - Asquith, Lloyd George
  • Italy-Vittorio Orlando
  • USA-Woodrow Wilson
  • Russia-Nicholas II
  • Japan
  • Portugal
  • Belgium
  • Romania
  • Greece
  • serbia
  • And I have
  • Hejaz
  • Montenegro
  • Central Powers
  • Germany-Wilhelm I
  • The Ottoman Empire - Mehmed V
  • Austro-Hungary-Franz Jospeh / Karl I
  • Bulgaria
Montage for WWI article. Top: Trenches - Image:The_badly_shelled_main_road_to_Bapaume.jpg (Trenches on the Western Front) Left Upper: Image:AlbatDIII.jpg (German Albatros D.III biplane fighters of Jasta 11 at Douai, France) Left Lower source: Wikipedia


It is estimated that 17 million people were killed (including 7 million civilians) and 20 million were injured.


8. World War II (1939-1945) - Europe, the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, the Mediterranean Sea and Africa
allies

Chinese forces in the Battle of Wanjialing Australian 25-pounder guns during the First Battle of El Alamein German Stuka dive bombers on the Eastern Front in December 1943 American naval force in the Lingayen Gulf Wilhelm Keitel signing the German Instrument of Surrender Soviet troops in the Battle of Stalingrad


  • China-Kai-Shek
  • US-F.D. Roosevelt
  • Great Britain-Churchill
  • USSR Stalin
  • France-Charles de Gaulle
  • New Zealand
  • Canada
  • Australia
  • Finland
  • Netherlands
  • Belgium
  • Greece
  • Turkey
  • Yugoslavia
  • Axis
  • Japan, Hirohito
  • Germany-Hitler
  • Italy-Mussolini
  • Romania
  • Hungary
  • Bulgaria
  • Thailand


not to mention alliance changes

It is estimated that 85 million were killed (of which -55 million civilians)


9. Cold War (1947-1991) - an ideological, economic, technological, diplomatic planetary war faded in the northern hemisphere, but ignited in local wars in the third world + space rivalry.
combatants:


  • Free world
  • US
  • NATO & CE
  • South America
  • Australia
  • Japan
  • South Korea
  • The totalitarian world
  • USSR
  • Warsaw Pact & CAER
  • North Korea
  • China
  • Cuba

Mushroom cloud of the Ivy Mike nuclear test, 1952; one of more than a thousand such tests conducted by the US between 1945 and 1992 source: Wikipedia


It is estimated that 10 million people were killed in the wars in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa.


10. War on Terrorism (2001-present) - is the first unconventional war that takes place on a global scale, even though the main wars are the Middle East. It is also the first global cyberwar.
Simultaneously, we have an economic rivalry between the US / EU vs BRICS, where the US carries a cold war with Russia and an economic one with China.
FIGHTING:

Clockwise from top left: Aftermath of the September 11 attacks; American infantry in Afghanistan; an American soldier and Afghan interpreter in Zabul Province, Afghanistan; explosion of an Iraqi car bomb in Baghdad source: Wikipedia


  • NATO member states
  • Non-NATO states: Russia, China and the rest
  • Terrorist group
  • ISIS
  • al-Qaeda
  • At the moment,  a few hundred thousand people died in the wars of Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.



Theoretically, we would have about 10 world wars in history. I hope you enjoyed my article !


Other articles on the same theme:




Saturday, December 1, 2018

1 December Died George H.W. Bush, the 41st President of the United States, died at the age of 94. Homage from Trump and Obama

Bush, as CIA Director, listens at a meeting following the assassinations in Beirut of Francis E. Meloy Jr. and Robert O. Waring, 1976.


George H.W. Bush, the 41st President of the United States, died at the age of 94. Homage from Trump and Obama

George Herbert Walker Bush (June 12, 1924 – November 30, 2018) was an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States from 1989 to 1993. Prior to assuming the presidency, Bush served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States from 1981 to 1989. As a member of the Republican Party, he had previously been a Representative, Ambassador and Director of Central Intelligence. During his career in public service, he was known simply as George Bush; since 2001, he has often been referred to as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush 41", or "George Bush Sr." in order to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, the 43rd President of the United States.

George H. W. Bush, c. 1925  photo source wikipedia

A scion of the Bush family, he was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to Prescott Bush and Dorothy Walker Bush. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Bush postponed his university studies, enlisted in the U.S. Navy on his 18th birthday, and became the youngest aviator in the U.S. Navy at the time. He served until September 1945, then attended Yale University. Graduating in 1948, he moved his family to West Texas, where he entered the oil business and became a millionaire by the age of 40 in 1964. Soon after founding his own oil company, Bush became involved in politics.

 He was defeated in his first election, for the U.S. Senate in 1964 but won election to the House of Representatives from Texas' 7th district in 1966. He was re-elected in 1968 and was defeated for election to the Senate again in 1970. In 1971, President Richard Nixon appointed Bush as Ambassador to the United Nations, and in 1973, Bush became the Chairman of the Republican National Committee. The following year, President Gerald Ford appointed Bush as the ambassador to China and later reassigned Bush to the position of Director of Central Intelligence. Bush ran for president in 1980 but was defeated in the Republican primary by Ronald Reagan. Reagan chose Bush as his running mate, and Bush became vice president after the Reagan–Bush ticket won the 1980 election. During his eight-year tenure as vice president, Bush headed administration task forces on deregulation and fighting the War on Drugs.

Bush in his TBM aboard San Jacinto in 1944 photo source wikipedia

In 1988, Bush ran a successful cam-aign to succeed Reagan as President, defeating Democratic opponent Michael Dukakis. Foreign policy drove the Bush presidency: military operations were conducted in Panama and the Persian Gulf; the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, and the Soviet Union dissolved two years later. Although the agreement was not ratified until after he left office, Bush also signed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which created a trade bloc consisting of the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Domestically, Bush reneged on a 1988 campaign promise and, after a struggle with Congress, signed an increase in taxes that Congress had passed. In the wake of a weak recovery from an economic recession, along with continuing budget deficits and the diminution of foreign politics as a major issue in a post-Cold War political climate, he lost the 1992 presidential election to Democrat Bill Clinton.

Bush left office in 1993. His presidential library was dedicated in 1997, and he was active—often alongside Bill Clinton—in various humanitarian activities. With George W. Bush's victory in the 2000 presidential election, Bush and his son became the second father–son pair to serve as president, following John Adams and John Quincy Adams. Bush's second son, Jeb Bush, served as the 43rd Governor of Florida and sought the Republican presidential nomination in 2016.

Bush died on November 30, 2018, at the age of 94. At the time of his death, Bush was the longest-lived American president in history, followed closely by Jimmy Carter, who was born a few months later.


1566 Spanish king Philip II names Fernando Alvarez, duke of Alva

Philip II (Spanish: Felipe II; 21 May 1527 – 13 September 1598) was King of Spain (1556–98), King of Portugal (1581–98, as Philip I, Filipe I),[1] King of Naples and Sicily (both from 1554), and jure uxoris King of England and Ireland (during his marriage to Queen Mary I from 1554–58).He was also Duke of Milan. From 1555 he was lord of the Seventeen Provinces of the Netherlands.

Philip II portrait by Titian 1550 credit: wikipedia

The son of Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain Charles V and Isabella of Portugal, Philip was called "Felipe el Prudente" ("Philip the Prudent") in Spain; his empire included territories on every continent then known to Europeans, including his namesake the Philippines. During his reign, Spain reached the height of its influence and power. This is sometimes called the Spanish Golden Age. The expression "the empire on which the sun never sets" was coined during Philip's time to reflect the extent of his dominion

1167 Northern Italian towns form Lombardi League


1420 Henry V of England enters Paris.

Posthumous portrait of Henry credit: wikipedia

Henry V (16 September 1386 – 31 August 1422), also called Henry of Monmouth, was King of England from 1413 until his early death in 1422. He was the second English monarch of the House of Lancaster. Despite his relatively short reign, Henry's outstanding military successes in the Hundred Years' War against France, most notably in his famous victory at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, made England one of the strongest military powers in Europe. Immortalised in the plays of Shakespeare, Henry is known and celebrated as one of the great warrior kings of medieval England.


1626 Pasha Muhammad ibn Farukh tyrannical gov of Jerusalem, driven out

Koca Mustafa Reşid Pasha (literally Mustafa Reşid Pasha the Great; 13 March 1800 – 7 January 1858) was an Ottoman statesman and diplomat, known best as the chief architect behind the Ottoman government reforms known as Tanzimat.



Taken from "A history of all nations from the earliest times" by John Henry Wright published by Lea Brothers & Co. in 1906 Philadelphia and New York. John Henry Wright died in 1908 more than 70 years ago.
The son of Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain Charles V and Isabella of Portugal, Philip was called "Felipe el Prudente" ("Philip the Prudent") in Spain; his empire included territories on every continent then known to Europeans, including his namesake the Philippines. During his reign, Spain reached the height of its influence and power. This is sometimes called the Spanish Golden Age. The expression "the empire on which the sun never sets" was coined during Philip's time to reflect the extent of his dominion credit: wikipedia

Born in Constantinople in 1800, Mustafa Reşid entered public service at an early age and rose rapidly, becoming ambassador to France (1834) and to the United Kingdom (1836), minister for foreign affairs (1837), and once again ambassador to the United Kingdom (1838) and to France (1841). In the settlement of the Oriental Crisis of 1840, and during the Crimean War and the ensuing peace negotiations, he rendered important diplomatic services to the Ottoman state. He returned a third time as ambassador to France in 1843. Between 1845 and 1857, he held the office of Grand Vizier six times.

One of the greatest and most versatile statesmen of his time, thoroughly acquainted with European politics and well-versed in national and international affairs, he was a convinced partisan for reform and the principal author of the legislative remodeling of the Ottoman administration known as Tanzimat. His efforts to promote reforms within the government led to the advancement of the careers of many other reformers, such as Fuad Pasha and Mehmed Emin Âli Pasha


1640 Portugal regains independence after 60 years of Spanish rule

John IV of Portugal being proclaimed king. credit: wikipedia


The Portuguese Restoration War (Portuguese: Guerra da Restauração; Spanish: Guerra de Restauración portuguesa) was the name given by nineteenth-century Romantic historians to the war between Portugal and Spain that began with the Portuguese revolution of 1640 and ended with the Treaty of Lisbon in 1668. The Portuguese and Catalan revolutions of 1640 ended the 60-year Iberian Union. The period from 1640 to 1668 was marked by periodic skirmishes between Portugal and Spain, as well as short episodes of more serious warfare, much of it occasioned by Spanish and Portuguese entanglements with non-Iberian powers. Spain was involved in the Thirty Years' War until 1648 and the Franco–Spanish War until 1659, while Portugal was involved in the Dutch–Portuguese War until 1663.


1641 Massachusetts becomes the first colony to give statutory recognition to slavery

Massachusetts was the first colony in New England with slave ownership and was a center for the slave trade throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. No legislation was passed that abolished slavery until the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865 was ratified by the state. Instead, the practice of slavery was ended through case law; and as an institution it died out in the late 18th century through judicial actions litigated on behalf of slaves seeking manumission. These court cases, starting in 1781, heard arguments contending that slavery was a violation of Christian principles and also a violation of the constitution of the commonwealth. 1783 saw additional high-profile court cases that began a general trend of slaves winning their emancipation on a case-by-case basis through lawsuit. As slavery dwindled in the last decade of the 18th century in Massachusetts, many of the instances where it remained, the slaveholders sometimes applied semantics of a name change to indentured servitude to maintain their property. The 1790 federal census, however, listed no slaves. Massachusetts was a center for the abolition movement in the 19th century.

1653 An athlete from Croydon is reported to have run 20 miles from St Albans to London in less than 90 minutes

1656 Germany promises Poland aid against Sweden

1708 Great Alliance occupies Brussels

1742 Empress Elisabeth orders expulsion of all Jews from Russia

Elizabeth Petrovna (Russian: Елизаве́та (Елисаве́та) Петро́вна) (29 December [O.S. 18 December] 1709 – 5 January 1762 [O.S. 25 December 1761]), also known as Yelisaveta or Elizaveta, was the Empress of Russia from 1741 until her death. She led the country during the two major European conflicts of her time: the War of Austrian Succession (1740–48) and the Seven Years' War (1756–63). On the eve of her death Russia spanned almost 16,200,000 square kilometres (6,250,000 sq mi).

Portrait painted by Vigilius Eriksen in 1757 credit: wikipedia

Her domestic policies allowed the nobles to gain dominance in local government while shortening their terms of service to the state. She encouraged Mikhail Lomonosov's establishment of the University of Moscow and Ivan Shuvalov's foundation of the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg. She also spent exorbitant sums of money on the grandiose baroque projects of her favourite architect, Bartolomeo Rastrelli, particularly in Peterhof and Tsarskoye Selo. The Winter Palace and the Smolny Cathedral in Saint Petersburg are among the chief monuments of her reign. She remains one of the most popular Russian monarchs due to her strong opposition to Prussian policies and her decision not to execute a single person during her reign


1750 First school in America to offer manual training courses opens in Maryland

The recorded history of Maryland dates back to the beginning of European exploration, starting with the Venetian John Cabot, who explored the coast of North America for the Kingdom of England in 1498. After European settlements had been made to the south and north, the colonial Province of Maryland was granted by King Charles I to Sir George Calvert (1579–1632), his former Secretary of State in 1632, for settlement beginning in March 1634.



 It was notable for having been established with religious freedom for Roman Catholics, since Calvert had publicly converted to that faith.[1][2][3] Like other colonies and settlements of the Chesapeake Bay region, its economy was soon based on tobacco as a commodity crop, highly prized among the English, cultivated primarily by African slave labor, although many young people came from Britain sent as indentured servants or criminal prisoners in the early years.


1768 The slave ship Fredensborg sinks off Tromøy in Norway.

The Fredensborg was a frigate built in Copenhagen in 1753. She was originally named Cron Prindz Christian after the crown prince, the future king Christian VII of Denmark and Norway, and was fitted out as a slave ship. Following an initially unsuccessful stint in the triangular trade, her operational area was limited to the Caribbean, where she sailed as a trader until 1756.


Farvelagt tegning visende fregatten / slaveskibet FREDENSBORG, ført af Kaptajn J. Berg i 1788. Privatejet. credit: wikipedia

The ship was then purchased by another Danish company, which renamed her Fredensborg after Fort Fredensborg, one of the Dano-Norwegian trading stations on the Danish Gold Coast. Her owners put her under the command of Captain Espen Kiønigs.

She embarked from Copenhagen on 24 June 1767 and arrived off the West African coast on 1 October. A cargo of slaves was collected at Fort Christiansborg and Fort Fredensborg, and the ship set sail for the Danish West Indies on 21 April 1768. She arrived at St Croix on 9 July, where the cargo of slaves were unloaded. She had embarked 265 slaves, and she disembarked 235, for a loss rate of 11%. Of the crew of 40, 12 had died en-route. At some point Johan Frantzen Ferentz replaced Kiønigs as captain. She then sailed for home on 14 September

1783 Jacques Charles and Nicolas Roberts make first untethered ascension with gas hydrogen balloon in Paris



Jacques Alexandre César Charles, French scientist, mathematician, and balloonist. This image is from the Library of Congress online collection, and is in the public domain. It has been cropped for concision.credit: wikipedia

Jacques Alexandre César Charles (November 12, 1746 – April 7, 1823) was a French inventor, scientist, mathematician, and balloonist. Charles wrote almost nothing about mathematics, and most of what has been credited to him was due to mistaking him with another Jacques Charles, also a member of the Paris Academy of Sciences, entering on May 12, 1785. He was sometimes called Charles the Geometer. (See J. B. Gough, Charles the Obscure, Isis 70, #254, pgs 576-579) Charles and the Robert brothers launched the world's first unmanned hydrogen-filled gas balloon in August 1783; then in December 1783, Charles and his co-pilot Nicolas-Louis Robert ascended to a height of about 1,800 feet (550 m) in a manned gas balloon. Their pioneering use of hydrogen for lift led to this type of balloon being named a Charlière (as opposed to a Montgolfière which used hot air).


1821 Santo Domingo (Dominican Rep) proclaims independence from Spain

The recorded history of the Dominican Republic began when the Genoa-born navigator Christopher Columbus, working for the Spanish Crown, happened upon a large island in the region of the western Atlantic Ocean that later came to be known as the Caribbean. It was inhabited by the Taíno, an Arawakan people, who variously called their island Ayiti, Bohio, or Quisqueya (Kiskeya). Columbus promptly claimed the island for the Spanish Crown, naming it La Isla Española ("the Spanish Island"), later Latinized to Hispaniola. What would become the Dominican Republic was the Spanish Captaincy General of Santo Domingo until 1821 except for a time as a French colony from 1795 to 1809. It was then part of a unified Hispaniola with Haiti from 1822 until 1844. In 1844, Dominican independence was proclaimed and the republic, which was often known as Santo Domingo until the early 20th century, maintained its independence except for a short Spanish occupation from 1861 to 1865 and occupation by the United States from 1916 to 1924.

1822 Franz Liszt's  debut as pianist Isabella Colbran

Franz Liszt (German: Hungarian: Liszt Ferencz, in modern usage Liszt Ferenc  22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) was a prolific 19th-century Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor, music teacher, arranger, organist, philanthropist, author, nationalist and a Franciscan tertiary during the Romantic era.

Liszt in March 1886, four months before his death, photographed by Nadar credit: wikipedia

Liszt gained renown in Europe during the early nineteenth century for his prodigious virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was a friend, musical promoter and benefactor to many composers of his time, including Frédéric Chopin, Richard Wagner, Hector Berlioz, Robert Schumann, Camille Saint-Saëns, Edvard Grieg, Ole Bull, Joachim Raff, Mikhail Glinka, and Alexander Borodin.

As a composer, Liszt was one of the most prominent representatives of the New German School (Neudeutsche Schule). He left behind an extensive and diverse body of work in which he influenced his forward-looking contemporaries and anticipated many 20th-century ideas and trends. Some of his most notable musical contributions were the invention of the symphonic poem, developing the concept of thematic transformation as part of his experiments in musical form, and making radical departures in harmony

1824 US House of Representatives begins to decide outcome of election deadlock between John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson (Adams wins)

The United States presidential election of 1824 was the tenth quadrennial presidential election, held from Tuesday, October 26, to Thursday, December 2, 1824. In an election contested by four members of the Democratic-Republican Party, no candidate won a majority of the electoral vote, necessitating a contingent election in the House of Representatives under the provisions of the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution. On February 9, 1825, the House of Representatives elected John Quincy Adams as president. The 1824 presidential election was the first election in which the winner of the election lost the popular vote.

1831 Erie Canal closes for entire month due to cold weather

1852 Telegraph company opens throughout Netherlands

1864 Raid at Stoneman: Knoxville, TN to Saltville, VA

1864 Skirmish at Millen Brutal, Georgia

1868 John D. Rockefeller begins anti oil war

1878 1st White House telephone installed

1884 American Old West: Near Frisco, New Mexico, deputy sheriff Elfego Baca holds off a gang of 80 Texan cowboys who want to kill him for arresting Charles McCarthy.

1884 Society of Independent Artists hold 1st exhibition in Polychrome Pavilion, Paris, includes Georges Seurat's "Bathers at Asnières"

1887 Sherlock Holmes 1st appears in print: "Study in Scarlet"

1887 Sino-Portuguese treaty recognizes Portugal's control of Macao

1896 1st certified public accountants receive certificates (NY)

1900 Exiled South African President of Transvaal Paul Kruger visits Flanders and on the same day is declined a visit from the German Kaiser

1900 Portifiro Diaz is inaugurated for his 6th consecutive term as President of Mexico

1903 "The Great Train Robbery", the 1st Western film, released

1906 Cinema Omnia Pathe, world's 1st cinema, opens (Paris)

1906 German Shoemaker Wilhelm Voigt (Capt of Köpenick) sentenced to 4 years for forgery after posing as Prussian officer

1909 1st Christmas Club payment made, to Carlisle Trust Co, Pa

1909 1st Israeli kibbutz founded, Deganya Alef

1912 Boston Braves MLB franchise owner James Gaffney buys the Allston Golf Club on Commonwealth Avenue, Boston with a plan to construct a ball park there; ground breaking for Braves Field starts on March 20, 1915

1913 1st drive-up gasoline station opens (Pitts)

1913 Ford Motor Company institutes world's 1st moving assembly line for the Model T Ford
1913 Flag of Greece officially raised at Firka Fortress, Chania Crete symbolising the union of Crete and Greece.

1933 Rudolf Hess & Ernest Rohm become ministers in Hitler government

1934 Leningrad mayor Sergey Kirov assassinated, Stalin uses as excuse to begin the Great Purge of 1934-38

1939 SS-Fuhrer Himmler begins deportation of Polish Jews

1941 Japanese Emperor Hirohito signs declaration of war

1941 US Civil Air Patrol (CAP) organizes

1942 Gasoline rationed in US

1942 The Beveridge Report is published by the British government unveiling plans for a post-war welfare state

1942 With WWII travel restrictions in mind, MLB owners decide to restrict travel to a 3-trip schedule rather than customary 4; Spring training in 1943 limited to locations north of Potomac or Ohio rivers and east of the Mississippi

1943 FDR, Churchill & Stalin agree to Operation Overlord (D-Day)

1944 Béla Bartòk's Concerto for orchestra, premieres

1944 Mail routing resumes in free South Netherlands

1944 Prokofjev's 8th Piano sonata, premieres

1945 CFL Grey Cup, Varsity Stadium, Toronto: Toronto Argonauts win their 6th title with a 35-0 shutout of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers

1947 In first cricket Test match between the 2 nations, India is dismissed for 58 by Australia in Brisbane; fast bowler Ernie Toshack takes 5 for 2 off 2.3 overs; Don Bradman scores 185 as Australia wins by an innings & 226 runs

1948 Arabic Congress names Abdullah of Trans Jordan as King of Palestine

1948 Piet Roozenburg becomes world champion checker player

1949 WBNG TV channel 12 in Binghamton, NY (CBS) begins broadcasting

1949 WKTV TV channel 2 in Utica, NY (NBC) begins broadcasting

1949 MLB announces attendance for the season is 20.2 million, down from 20.9 in 1948; New York Yankees and the Cleveland Indians each finish with over 2.2 million, but the St. Louis Browns fall to 270,000

1951 17th Heisman Trophy Award: Dick Kazmaier, Princeton (HB)

1951 Benjamin Britten's opera "Billy Budd" premieres in London

1951 Golden Gate Bridge closes due to high winds

1951 Legendary Australian cricket fast bowler Ray Lindwall takes his 100th Test wicket when he bowls West Indian spinner Sonny Ramadhin in the 2nd Test in Sydney; Australia wins by 7 wickets

1952 The New York Daily News reports the first successful sexual reassignment operation

1953 Red Sox trade for slugger Jackie Jensen, sending pitcher Mickey McDermott and outfielder
Tom Umphlett to Washington; Jensen averages 25 HRs a year for his 7 seasons in Boston; AL RBI leader x 3, and AL MVP in 1958

1953 WAIM (now WAXA) TV channel 40 in Anderson, SC (IND) 1st broadcast

1953 WCSH TV channel 6 in Portland, ME (NBC) begins broadcasting

1955 Rosa Parks is arrested for refusing to move to the back of a bus and give her seat to a white passenger in Montgomery, Alabama

1956 "Candide" opens at Martin Beck Theater NYC for 73 performances

1956 Algerian-born French long-distance runner Alain Mimoun wins the men's marathon in2:25:00.0 at the Melbourne Olympics; first time runners follow painted line

1956 Frank Robinson (NL) & Luis Aparicio (AL) voted Rookie of the Year

1956 Indonesian VP Mohammed Hatta resigns

1956 In front of 100,000 fans at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, a US Army baseball team beats an Australian all-star team, 11–5 in an Olympic exhibition game; Sergeant Vance Sutton belts a grand slam for Army

1956 US men's 4 x 100m relay team of Thane Baker, Leamon King, Bobby Morrow & Ira Murchison sets world record 39.60s to win the gold medal at the Melbourne Olympics; Morrow's 3rd gold medal of the Games

1956 Australian women's 4 x 100m relay team of Norma Croker, Betty Cuthbert, Fleur Mellor & Shirley Strickland de la Hunty run world record 44.65 to win the gold medal at the Melbourne Olympics; Cuthbert's 3rd gold of the Games

1956 American Mildred McDaniel jumps world record 1.76m to win the women's high jump gold medal at the Melbourne Olympics; Briton Thelma Hopkins and Russian Mariya Pisareva dead-heat for silver (1.67m)

1956 Hungarian boxer László Papp wins his 3rd straight Olympic gold medal when he beats future Hall of Famer José Torres representing the US on points in the light-middleweight final at the Melbourne Olympics

1956 Legendary Australian swimmer Dawn Fraser sets world record 1:02.0 to win the women's 100m freestyle at the Melbourne Olympics; first of Fraser's 3 consecutive gold medals in the event

1956 Led by future Basketball Hall of Famers Bill Russell and K.C. Jones, the US wins it's 4th consecutive Olympic gold medal with an 89-55 victory over the Soviet Union at the Melbourne Games

1956 Romanian canoeist Leon Rotman wins the men's C-1,000m gold medal at the Melbourne
Olympics; claims the singles double after also winning the C-1 10,000m gold

1956 Gert Fredriksson of Sweden wins his 3rd consecutive K-1 1,000m canoeing gold medal by 2.5s from Igor Pissarov of the Soviet Union at the Melbourne Olympics; also wins K-1 10,000m gold

1958 "Flower Drum Song" opens at St James Theater NYC for 602 performances

1958 Central African Rep made autonomous member of Fr Comm (National Day)

1958 Our Lady of Angels School fire kills 92 students & 3 nuns in Chicago, Illinois

1959 12 nations sign treaty for scientific peaceful use of Antarctica

1959 25th Heisman Trophy Award: Billy Cannon, LSU (HB)

1959 The 1st color photograph of Earth received from outer space

1960 Patrice Lumumba caught in the Congo

1961 The independent Republic of West Papua is proclaimed in modern-day Western New Guinea.

1962 KGMB TV channel 9 in Honolulu, HI (CBS) begins broadcasting

1962 Classifications in minor league baseball are overhauled; Eastern and South Atlantic leagues are promoted from Class-A to Class-AA; classes B, C and D are abolished with those leagues being promoted to Class-A

1963 Nagaland becomes a state of Indian union

1963 Wendell Scott wins the Grand National Series Jacksonville 200 at Speedway Park in Jacksonville, Florida, becoming the first black driver to win a race at NASCAR's premier level
1964 After just 3 seasons in MLB the Houston Colt .45s change name of the team to Astros; owners say move signals a step into the future for the franchise and the city of Houston

1964 Martin Luther King Jr. speaks to J. Edgar Hoover about his slander campaign

1965 Airlift of refugees from Cuba to US began

1965 South Africa's government says children of white fathers are white

1966 Georg Kiesinger elected West German chancellor

1966 Radio time signal WWV moves from Greenbelt, Maryland to Boulder, Colorado

1966 Ecuadorian national baseball team defends its title with a 4-3 win over Brazil in the South

American Championship; last win for next 50 years; Eloy Guerrero drives in Ramón Sotomayor with the winning run

1967 Queen Elizabeth inaugurates 98-inch (249-cm) Isaac Newton telescope

1967 Seattle awarded one of the 2 AL expansion franchise teams

1967 Pacific Northwest Sports, Inc. is awarded one of the 2 American League baseball expansion franchises; new team named the Seattle Pilots

1968 "Promises Promises" opens at Shubert Theater NYC for 1281 performances

1968 Burt Bacharach/Hal David's musical premieres in NYC

1968 Gonzalo Barrios, Venezuelan presidential candidate

1968 Pirate Radio Modern (259) (England) begins transmitting

1969 US government holds its 1st draft lottery since WW II

1969 LAPD Police Chief Edward Davis announces warrants for the arrest of the Manson cult for murder

1970 Luis Echeverria Alvarez sworn in as president of Mexico

1970 Independent People's Republic of South Yemen renames itself as People's Democratic Republic of Yemen

1971 Cambodian Civil War: Khmer Rouge rebels intensify assaults on Cambodian government positions, forcing their retreat from Kompong Thmar and nearby Ba Ray.

1972 Wings release "Hi, Hi, Hi" in UK

1972 2 people killed and 127 injured when 2 car bombs explode in the centre of Dublin, Republic of Ireland

1973 Australia grants self-government to Papua New Guinea

1973 Davis Cup Tennis, Cleveland, Ohio: Rod Laver and John Newcombe beat American pair Stan Smith and Erik van Dillen 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 to give Australia an unassailable 3-0 lead, (ends 5-0); 23rd Cup title for Australia

1974 Boeing 727 crashes in Upperville Virginia, 92 died

1974 American Jacqueline Hansen runs female world record marathon 2:43:54.5 in Culver City, California

1974 LA Skid Row slasher kills 1st of 8

1974 South Africa is awarded the Davis Cup tennis title after India refuses to travel to South Africa
for the final in protest of the South African government's apartheid policies

1975 US President Gerald Ford visits People's Republic of China

1978 Australian cricket fast bowler Rodney Hogg debuts in 1st Test v England in Brisbane; after Australia all out 116, Hogg makes instant impact by dismissing both high profile England openers Graham Gooch (2) and Geoff Boycott (13)

1978 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

1979 Australia's World Series Cricket men return to the fold in the drawn 1st Test v West Indies in Brisbane; ex-WSC players Bruce Laird (92), Greg Chappell (74) & David Hookes (33no) provide the scoring on Day 1 in home side's 229/5

1980 46th Heisman Trophy Award: George Rogers, South Carolina (RB)

1980 Mel Harris appears on M*A*S*H in "Cementing Relationships"

1980 US Justice Department sues Yonkers siting racial discrimination

1981 Yugoslavian charter flight crashes into Mont San-Pietro in Corsica, 180 killed

1981 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar passes Oscar Robertson (26,710) to become the NBA’s second all-time leading scorer behind Wilt Chamberlain; scores 14 points in 117-86 Lakers' win over Utah Jazz in Los Angeles

1982 Dentist Barney B Clark gets 1st artificial heart

1983 Rita Lavelle, former head of EPA, convicted of perjury

1984 50th Heisman Trophy Award: Doug Flutie, Boston College (QB)

1984 France performs nuclear test

1984 American boxer Greg Page KOs home town favourite Gerrie Coetzee in 8th round to win WBA heavyweight title in Sun City, South Africa

1984 American tennis icon Chris Evert wins her 1,000th career professional match; beats Pascale Paradis of France 6-1, 6-7, 6-2 in the round of 16 at the Australian Open; Evert goes on to win the event

1985 Noraly Beyer becomes Neth's 1st black TV newscaster

1985 STS 61-C vehicle moves to launch pad

1985 South Africa's Cosatu union centre forms

1986 Musée d'Orsay opens in Paris

1986 Paul McCartney releases "Only Love Remains"

1987 Digging begins to link England & France under English Channel

1988 596 dead after cyclone hits Bangladesh, half a million homeless

1988 Chinese minister of Foreign affairs Qian Qichen visits Moscow

1988 NBC bids a record $401 million to capture television broadcasting rights for the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympic Games

1989 Romanian 5-time Olympic gold medal winning gymnast Nadia Comăneci arrives in NYC requesting political asylum to the United States; granted

1989 "Day Without Art" - Artists demonstrate against AIDS

1989 East Germany drops communist monopoly from its constitution

1989 Mark Langston signs record $3.2 million per year Cal Angels contract

1990 56th Heisman Trophy Award: Ty Detmer, Brigham Young (QB)


1990 British & French workers meet in English Channel's tunnel (Chunnel)

1990 Hissène Habré of Chad flees to Cameroon

1990 Iraq accepts Bush's offer for talks

1990 Lithuania, Estonia & Latvia hold their 1st joint session

1990 Davis Cup Tennis, St. Petersburg, Florida: Rick Leach and Jim Pugh beat Australian pair Pat
Cash and John Fitzgerald 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 to clinch an unassailable 3-0 lead (ends 3-2) for the US

1991 "Moscow Circus Cirk Valentin" closes at Gershwin NYC after 32 performances

1991 "Once on this Island" closes at Booth Theater NYC after 469 performances

1991 Davis Cup Tennis, Lyon: Frenchman Guy Forget upsets Pete Sampras 7-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to clinch a 3-1 final win over the US

1991 Colorado party wins Paraguay parliamentary election

1991 Nursultan Nazarbayev sworn in as president of Kazakhstan

1991 US 75th manned space mission "STS 44" Atlantis 10 lands

1991 Ukrainian people vote for independence

1991 Miami quarterback Dan Marino sets an NFL record when he reaches 3,000 yards passing for the 8th time in his career during Dolphin's 33-14 win over Tampa Bay at Joe Robbie Stadium

1991 Reigning US Open champion Payne Stewart wins only 1 hole, but claims the Skins Game at La Quinta and sets record in the process; 3-foot birdie putt at 14th hole earns 8 skins worth $260,000; record for most money won on 1 hole

1992 2 C-141B Starlifters collide in Montana & crash, 13 die

1992 Amy Fisher sentenced 5-15 yrs for shooting Mary Jo Buttafuoco

1993 Northwest Airlink plane crashes in Minn, killing 18

1993 St Louis Blues' Bob Berry coaches his 800th career NHL game, a 4-2 loss to the Maple Leafs in Toronto; also coached LA Kings, Montreal Canadiens & Pittsburgh Penguins

1994 Ernesto Zedillo innaugrated as president of Mexico

1994 Jim Bakker, American televangelist and convicted fraud is released from jail

1994 Rober Schumanns 2nd Symphony premieres in London

1996 Davis Cup Tennis, Malmo, Sweden: Arnaud Boetsch beats Sweden's Nicklas Kulti in closest deciding match in Cup history 7-6, 2-6, 4-6, 7-6, 10-8 to give France 3-2 victory

1996 South African cricket all-rounder Lance Klusener takes 8-64 on debut in Proteas' 329 run 2nd Test win v India in Kolkata

1996 Flamboyant Australian rugby union winger David Campese ends his 15-year, 101 Test career at Cardiff Arms Park in Wales; Wallabies beat Wales, 28-19; Campese scores record 64 career tries

1996 Wayne Gretzky becomes first and only player in NHL history to reach 3,000-point plateau (including playoffs); records an assist in NY Rangers' 6-2 win over Montreal Canadiens at Madison Square Garden

1997 Golden State Warriors NBA guard Latrell Sprewell assaults head coach P.J. Carlesimo; suspended for 10 games

1997 Howard Stern Radio Show premieres in Davenport IA on KORB 93.5 FM

1997 Westinghouse formally changes its name to CBS

1997 In their 81st season, Montreal Canadiens become first team in history to play 5,000 NHL games; host the Penguins but lose, 1-0; franchise record 2,625-1,603-772 with .620 winning percentage

1998 Exxon announces a $73.7 billion USD deal to buy Mobil, creating Exxon-Mobil, the world's largest company.

2001 Captain Bill Compton brings Trans World Airlines Flight 220, an MD-83, into St. Louis International Airport bringing to an end 76 years of TWA operations following TWA's purchase by American Airlines.

2001 Nicaraguan baseball team wins the Central American Games; Ramon Padilla ends 15 year stint with the national team with 2 homers in the 9-0 finale against Guatemala

2002 Davis Cup Tennis, Paris: Mikhail Youzhny beats Paul-Henri Mathieu 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 to give Russia 3-2 win over France; only time in event history that a 2-set deficit turned around in a live 5th rubber of a Final

2003 "The Return of the King", 3rd and final film in the Lord of the Rings series, directed by Peter Jackson and starring Elijah Wood and Ian McKellen premieres in Wellington, New Zealand

2006 Canadian jockey Russell Baze becomes North American horse racing's all-time win leader when Butterfly Belle wins 4th race at Bay Meadows, San Mateo, California; 9,531 victories passes record of Laffit Pincay Jr

2007 T. C. Williams High School’s newly constructed basketball court is named after Earl Lloyd

2007 Davis Cup Tennis, Portland, Oregan: Bob and Mike Bryan team to give US an unassailable 3-0 lead (ends 4-1) over Russia; beat Nikolay Davydenko and Igor Andreev 7-6, 6-4, 6-2; 32nd US title
2008 The US economy has been in recession since December 2007, the National Bureau of Economic Research announces today

2012 8 people are killed and 36 injured after a bus overturns in Bolivia

2012 Enrique Peña Nieto sworn in as President of Mexico

2012 Ukranian Anna Ushenina beats Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria, 3½-2½ in 2 rapid tie breaks to win the World Women's Chess Championship in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia

2012 Ex-England soccer captain David Beckham leaves LA Galaxy triumphantly with a second MLS Cup winner's medal after a 3-1 win over Houston Dynamo in Carson, CA; final game of a 6-year stint in US

2012 FC Barcelona with 13 wins and a draw sets new La Liga start to Spanish football season record; Lionel Messi scores twice in 5-1 win over Athletic Bilbao; pass Real Madrid's 1991-92 season mark

2014 "The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies", 3rd and final Hobbit film, directed by Peter Jackson, starring Martin Freeman and Ian McKellen, premieres in London

2014 Utility Claudio Liverziani becomes first 3-time MVP in the Italian Baseball League; 291/.444/.472 season, with 30 HRs and 20 RBI in 38 games for Fortitudo Bologna

2015 In the largest deal ever for a MLB pitcher, Boston Red Sox land one of the biggest catches of the off-season, signing free agent David Price for 7 years and $217 million

2015 After finishing the season with the largest payroll in MLB history at $298.3 million, the Los Angeles Dodgers are assigned the largest luxury tax bill ever, $43.7 million

2016 Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn is declared King of Thailand, succeeding his father King Bhumibol Adulyadej

2016 UN admits its peacekeepers were responsible for the cholera epidemic in Haiti in 2010 that killed 30,000

2017 President Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn pleads guilty to lying to the F.B.I.



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Thursday, November 22, 2018

Top 13 important meanings of day 22 November

Portrait of Vasco da Gama by António Manuel da Fonseca (1838) credit: wikipedia

Updated today: 31/05/2021

1497 Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama rounds Cape of Good Hope on way to first voyage from Europe to reach India

1926 Imperial Conference ends, giving autonomy inside British Commonwealth

1935 Flying boat "China Clipper" takes off from Alameda, California, carrying 100,000 pieces of mail on 1st trans-Pacific airmail flight



1963 American President John F. Kennedy assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas, Texas


1969 Isolation of a single gene announced by scientists at Harvard University

2005 Angela Merkel becomes the first female Chancellor of Germany

498 St Symmachus begins his reign as Pope replacing Anastasius II




845 First King of all Brittany, Nominoe defeats Frankish King Charles the Bald at the Battle of Ballon, near Redon




1220 Frederick II crowned Holy Roman Emperor in Rome by Pope Honorius III




1346 Street fights in Utrecht, Hollandsgezinde Gunterlingen statements

1542 Spain delegates "New Laws" against slavery in America

1573 The Brazilian city of Niterói is founded

1574 Discovery of the Juan Fernández Islands off Chile.

Wednesday, November 21, 2018

21 November




  • 164 BC During Maccabbean revolt Judas Maccabaeus recaptures Jersusalem and rededicates the Second Temple, commemorated since as Jewish festival Hanukkah In the narrative of I Maccabees, after Antiochus IV issued his decrees forbidding Jewish religious practice, a rural Jewish priest from Modiin, Mattathias the Hasmonean, sparked the revolt against the Seleucid Empire by refusing to worship the Greek gods. Mattathias killed a Hellenistic Jew who had stepped forward to take Mattathias's place in sacrificing to an idol. Afterwards, he and his five sons fled to the wilderness of Judah. After Mattathias's death about one year later in 166 BC, his son Judah Maccabee led an army of Jewish dissidents to victory over the Seleucid dynasty in guerrilla warfare, which at first was directed against Hellenized Jews, of whom there were many. 
  • The Maccabees destroyed pagan altars in the villages, circumcised boys and forced Hellenized Jews into outlawry. Judah's nickname "Maccabbeus," now used in popular culture to describe the Jewish partisans as a whole, is taken from the Hebrew word for "hammer". The revolt itself involved many battles, in which the light, quick and mobile Maccabean forces gained notoriety among the slow and bulky Seleucid army, and also for their use of guerrilla tactics. After the victory, the Maccabees entered Jerusalem in triumph and ritually cleansed the Temple, reestablishing traditional Jewish worship there and installing Jonathan Apphus, Judah's youngest brother, as high priest. A large Seleucid army was sent to quash the revolt, but returned to Syria on the death of Antiochus IV. Beforehand, Judas Maccabbeus made an agreement with Rome
Judah from Die Bibel in Bildern credit: wikipedia


  • 1620 Mayflower Compact signed by Pilgrims at Cape Cod, The Mayflower was an English ship that transported the first English Puritans, known today as the Pilgrims, from Plymouth, England, to the New World in 1620. There were 102 passengers, and the crew is estimated to have been about 30, but the exact number is unknown. The ship has become a cultural icon in the history of the United States. The Pilgrims signed the Mayflower Compact prior to leaving the ship and establishing Plymouth Colony, a document which established a rudimentary form of democracy with each member contributing to the welfare of the community. There was a second ship named Mayflower, which made the London to Plymouth, Massachusetts, voyage several times.
Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor by William Halsall (1882) credit: wikipedia


















  • 1791 Colonel Napoléon Bonaparte is promoted to 1st Lieutenant and appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Armies of the French Republic. The military career of Napoleon Bonaparte spanned over 20 years. As emperor, he led the French Armies in the Napoleonic Wars. He is widely regarded as a military genius and one of the finest commanders in world history. He fought 60 battles, losing only eight, mostly at the end.[1] The great French dominion collapsed rapidly after the disastrous invasion of Russia in 1812. Napoleon was defeated in 1814; he returned and was finally defeated in 1815 at Waterloo. He spent his remaining days in British custody on the remote island of St. Helena
1801 Antoine-Jean Gros - Bonaparte on the Bridge at Arcole  credit: wikipedia
  • 1787 Andrew Jackson admitted to the bar  7th President of the United States March 4, 1829 – March 4, 1837Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American soldier and statesman who served as the seventh President of the United States from 1829 to 1837 and was the founder of the Democratic Party.[1] He was born somewhere near the then-unmarked border between North and South Carolina, into a recently immigrated Scots-Irish farming family of relatively modest means. 
The Battle of New Orleans. General Andrew Jackson stands on the parapet of his makeshift defenses as his troops repulse attacking Highlanders, by painter Edward Percy Moran in 1910. Credit: wikipedia

1791 Colonel Napoléon Bonaparte is promoted to 1st Lieutenant and appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Armies of the French Republic.
  • 1818 Russia's Tsar Alexander I petitions for a Jewish state in Palestine Alexander I (Russian: Александр Павлович, Aleksandr Pavlovich; 23 December [O.S. 12 December] 1777 – 1 December [O.S. 19 November 1825 reigned as Emperor of Russia between 1801 and 1825. He was the son of Paul I and Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg. Alexander was the first Russian King of partitioned Poland, reigning from 1815 to 1825, as well as the first Russian Grand Duke of Finland, reigning from 1809 to 1825. He was born in Saint Petersburg to Grand Duke Paul Petrovich, later Emperor Paul I, and succeeded to the throne after his father was murdered. He ruled Russia during the chaotic period of the Napoleonic Wars. As prince and during the early years of his reign, Alexander often used liberal rhetoric, but continued Russia's absolutist policies in practice. In the first years of his reign, he initiated some minor social reforms and (in 1803–04) major, liberal educational reforms, such as building more universities. Alexander appointed Mikhail Speransky, the son of a village priest, as one of his closest advisors. The Collegia was abolished and replaced by the State Council, which was created to improve legislation. Plans were also made to set up a parliament and sign a constitution.
Tsar Alexander I. from russia, painted by en:George Dawe in 1824 (part, version with less environment of low interest at the topside. credit: wikipedia
  • 1906 China prohibits the opium trade The history of opium in China began with the use of opium for medicinal purposes during the 7th century. In the 17th century the practice of mixing opium with tobacco for smoking spread from Southeast Asia, creating a far greater demand. Imports of opium into China stood at 200 chests annually in 1729, when the first anti-opium edict was promulgated. By the time Chinese authorities reissued the prohibition in starker terms in 1799, the figure had leaped; 4,500 chests were imported in the year 1800. The decade of the 1830s witnessed a rapid rise in opium trade, And by 1838, just before the First Opium War, it had climbed to 40,000 chests. The rise continued on after the Treaty of Nanking (1842) that concluded the war. By 1858 annual imports had risen to 70,000 chests (4,480 long tons (4,550 t)), approximately equivalent to global production of opium for the decade surrounding the year 2000
Opium smokers c1880 by Lai Afong. credit: wikipedia



  • 1970 General Hafez al-Assad becomes Prime Minister of Syria following military coup Hafez al-Assad 6 October 1930 – 10 June 2000) was a Syrian politician who served as President of Syria from 1971 to 2000. He was also Prime Minister from 1970 to 1971, as well as Regional Secretary of the Regional Command of the Syrian Regional Branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party and Secretary General of the National Command of the Ba'ath Party from 1970 to 2000. Assad participated in the 1963 Syrian coup d'état which brought the Syrian Regional Branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party to power, and the new leadership appointed him Commander of the Syrian Air Force. In 1966, Assad participated in a second coup, which toppled the traditional leaders of the Ba'ath Party and brought a radical military faction headed by Salah Jadid to power. Assad was appointed defense minister by the new government. Four years later, Assad initiated a third coup which ousted Jadid, and appointed himself as the undisputed leader of Syria.
Assad's first inauguration as President in the People's Council, March 1971 credit: wikipedia



















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