On This Day January 1

Bouvet Island in the South Atlantic Ocean is the most remote island in the world. It was discovered by French explorer Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier on January 1, 1739 (see picture below). The nearest land is the uninhabited Queen Maud Land, Antarctica, over 1,600 km (994 mi) away to the south. The nearest inhabited lands are Tristan da Cunha, 2,260 km (1,404 mi) away and South Africa, 2,580 km (1,603 mi) away.

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On This Day December 31

Thomas Edison made the first public demonstration of his incandescent light bulb on December 31 1879, in Menlo Park. British chemist Joseph Swan had already invented the lamp but Edison wanted to produce a longer lasting one. The American inventor worked thousands of hours on the electric light bulb experimenting with 1,200 different varieties of bamboo before finding a carbonized bamboo fiber that remained lit for over 1,000 hours in a vacuum.

"Edison Lightbulb Museum of Letters and Manuscripts" by Tieum512 

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On This Day December 30

When Frank Sinatra opened at New York's Paramount Theatre on December 30, 1942, he was dubbed "The Sultan of Swoon," as teen girls screamed and cried. Sinatra became the idol of "bobbysoxer" teenage fans everywhere, culminating in the "Columbus Day Riot" of 1944, when 35,000 teenage girls mobbed the New York Paramount to see him sing.

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On This Day December 29

Edmond Audran (1840-1901) was a church organist in the French city of Marseilles who also wrote comic operas. He penned a popular comic operetta about a country girl whose extraordinary good fortune could not be due to mere chance but must have been caused by some supernatural agent. Titled La Mascotte, it premiered on December 29, 1880. Translated into English as The Mascot, it introduced into the English language "mascot," a word for any animal, person, or object that brings good luck.

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On This Day December 28

In 1836 a fleet of eight ships under John Hindmarsh, first Governor of South Australia, camped at Holdfast Bay. South Australia was officially proclaimed as a new British colony on December 28, 1836, near The Old Gum Tree in what is now the Adelaide suburb of Glenelg North.

European settlers with Aborigines, 1850

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On This Day December 27

The Cave of Swallows in Aquismón, San Luis Potosí, Mexico is the largest known cave shaft in the world. The floor of the cave is a 1092 feet (333-meter)) freefall drop from the lowest side of the opening, with a 370-meter (1,214 ft) drop from the highest side. The first documented exploration was on December 27, 1966 by T. R. Evans, Charles Borland and Randy Sterns.

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On This Day December 26

The modern parachute was invented by French chemist and physicist Louis-Sébastien Lenormand. His intended use for the parachute was to help entrapped occupants of a burning building to escape unharmed. Lenormand used his 14-foot contraption with a rigid wooden frame to make the first recorded public parachute jump, when he leaped from the tower of the Montpellier observatory, in France, on December 26, 1783.

Lenormand jumps from the tower of the Montpellier observatory, Wikipedia

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On This Day December 25

Clovis I, King of the Franks, was converted to Christianity, the first barbarian chief of any importance to convert to orthodox Christianity, rather the Arian religion. He was baptized into the Catholic faith on Christmas Day 496, along with his 3,000 strong army at Reims Cathedral. The Bishop Remigius of Rheims declared to him, "bow thy head, proud Frank: adore what thou hast burned; burn what thou hast adored."

Clovis roi des Francs by François-Louis Dejuinne (1786–1844) Wikipedia

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On This Day December 24

During World War I there was an unofficial Christmas truce between British and German troops demonstrating the power for good that is inherent in the season. The truce began on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1914, when the two sides shouted Christmas greetings to each other and as word spread men from both sides of the Western Front ventured into no man's land to mingle and exchange food and souvenirs.

Christmas Truce By A. C. Michael - The Guardian

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On This Day December 23

On December 23, 1888, Paul Gauguin, Vincent Van Gogh's painting companion, threatened to leave him alone to spend a hard winter in Arles. In retaliation, the tortured Dutchman came at the French artist with an open razor. He was stopped by Gauguin, but instead cut off part of his own left earlobe. The incident led to Van Gogh's painting Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear, which was sold privately in the late 1990s for an estimated US$80/$90 million.

Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear

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On This Day December 22

Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky was arrested with 33 others in April 1849 as a Social Revolutionary, after a police informer had slipped into his socialist discussion groups. Originally he was sentenced to be executed on December 22, 1849. At the stake in front of the squad he was told his sentence was a joke and he was to be sent to Siberia for four years instead.  Dostoyevsky was incarcerated at a penal settlement where they were packed in "like herrings in a barrel."

A sketch of the Petrashevsky Circle mock execution

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On This Day December 21

Six days after the Mayflower Pilgrims set sail from Plymouth, England, they landed on what is now known as Plymouth Rock in Plymouth, Massachusetts on December 21, 1620. The Pilgrims established there the second successful permanent English colony in the part of North America that later became the United States, after the Jamestown Colony. It's now thought that 12 per cent of all modern day Americans are descended from the Mayflower Pilgrims.

Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor by William Halsall 1882

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On This Day December 20

The poet William Wordsworth first encountered Dove Cottage on the edge of Grasmere when on a walking tour of the Lake District with Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The house was available for rent, and he, his wife Mary and sister Dorothy took up residence on December 20, 1799 paying £5 a year to John Benson of Grasmere. The primitive Dove Cottage was Wordsworth's cramped home for nine years until 1808.

Dove Cottage. By Christine Hasman

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On This Day December 19

Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol was published on December 19, 1843. Dickens wrote the book in six weeks in such a state of excitement that he could not sleep but walked the streets of London thinking about the story. All 6,000 copies of its first print run were sold in just five days and it was reprinted. However, the extravagance of A Christmas Carol's gilted pages and cloth cover meant despite its success, Dickens only made £130 from the book.

A Christmas Carol-Title page-First edition 1843.

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On This Day December 18

In 1892 the St Petersburg Opera commissioned Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky to compose the music to accompany an adaption of their ballet adaption of the 1816 German story, E.T.A. Hoffmann's The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. The Nutcracker ballet was premièred at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg on December 18, 1892. Although the original production was not a success, the 20-minute "Nutcracker Suite" that Tchaikovsky extracted from the ballet was.

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On This Day December 17

From May 1944 to March 1945, Ernest Hemingway was in London and Europe as a war correspondent. On December 17, 1944, a feverish and ill Hemingway had himself driven to Luxembourg to cover what would later be called The Battle of the Bulge. As soon as he arrived, however, he was handed to the doctors, who hospitalized him with pneumonia; by the time he recovered a week later, most of the fighting in this battle was over.

Hemingway with Col. Charles 'Buck' Lanham in Germany, 1944

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On This Day December 16

About fifty members of the Sons of Liberty, some disguised as Mohawk Indians, boarded a British vessel in Boston on December 16, 1773. They then emptied 342 tea chests into the harbor as a protest against the Tea Act. Word about their protest against the English tax soon spread and it proved to be a key event in the U.S. War of Independence.

1846 lithograph by Nathaniel Currier "The Destruction of Tea at Boston Harbor"

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On This Day December 15

The Gone With The Wind movie premiered at Loew's Grand Theatre in Atlanta to cheering crowds on December 15, 1939. There was a parade before the movie premiere. There were also three days of parties in which the stars of the movie wore costumes and many stores in the city were re-decorated to look like they would have been in the Civil War.

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On This Day December 14

 

George Washington died from acute laryngitis between 10 and 11 p.m. on December 14, 1799 with his wife Martha seated at the foot of his bed. His last words were "It is well. I die hard, but am not afraid to go." The news of Washington's death placed the entire country in mourning. Even Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte ordered ten days of mourning in France.

Washington on his Deathbed. Junius Brutus Stearns 1799

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On This Day December 13

After deciding to follow his religious vocation, Argentine chemist Jorge Bergoglio entered the Society of Jesus in Cordoba in March 1958 as a novice. He was ordained to the priesthood on December 13, 1969.  43 years later, Bergoglio was elected Pope. He chose to be called Pope Francis in order to pay tribute to St. Francis of Assisi.

Pope Francis

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On This Day December 12

On December 12, 1896, radio innovators Guglielmo Marconi and William Preece arranged a demonstration of radio controlled apparatus at Toynbee Hall, a center of social reform in East London. Marconi advertised the event and invited the newspaper press. During the event, the pair amazed the assembled audience by making a bell ring by pushing a button in a box that was not connected by any wires.

British Post Office engineers inspect Marconi's radio equipment on May 13, 1897 Wikipedia

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On This Day December 11

Albert Frederick Arthur George Windsor became George VI, King of the United Kingdom, on December 11, 1936 when his elder brother, Edward VIII abdicated to marry Wallis Simpson. George VI was crowned on May 12, 1937. The coronation took place on the date originally set for his brother, Edward VIII, to be crowned, before he abdicated.

George VI of the United Kingdom

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On This Day December 10

Desiring to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson against widespread opposition, Edward VIII abdicated the United kingdom throne on December 10, 1936, the only British monarch to have voluntarily done so since the Anglo-Saxon period. After his abdication, Edward was given the title Duke of Windsor. He married Simpson in a private ceremony near Tours, France on June 3, 1937.

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On This Day December 9

The NLS, a computer collaboration system that was the first to employ the practical use of hypertext, the computer mouse, and other modern computing concepts, was publicly demonstrated for the first time in San Francisco on December 9, 1968. Engineer and inventor Douglas Engelbart's 90-minute 'Mother of All Demos' essentially demonstrated almost all the fundamental elements of modern personal computing.

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On This Day December 8

The United States entered World War II on December 8, 1941 a day after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. The US Senate voted for war against Japan by 82 to 0, and the House of Representatives approved the resolution by a vote of 388 to 1. The sole dissenter was Representative Jeannette Rankin of Montana, a devout pacifist who had also cast a dissenting vote against the US. entrance into World War I.

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On This Day December 7

The outlaw Jesse James first became famous on December 7, 1869, when he and his brother Frank robbed the Daviess County Savings Association in Gallatin, Missouri. The robbery netted little money, but the daring escape he and his brother made through the middle of a posse shortly afterward, put his name in the newspapers for the first time.

Jesse James portrait

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On This Day December 6

The first recorded successful operation to remove an appendix was on December 6, 1735, at St. George’s Hospital in London, when French surgeon Claudius Amyand took out a perforated appendix from an 11-year-old boy, Hanvil Andersen. The organ had apparently been perforated by a pin he had swallowed. The patient made a recovery and was discharged a month later.

Location of the appendix in the digestion system

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On This Day December 5

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died in his home on December 5, 1791 (aged 35) at 1:00 am, while he was working on his final composition, the Requiem (unfinished when he passed away). His last words were "You spoke of a refreshment, Emile: Take my last notes, and let me hear once more my solace and delight". The actual cause of Mozart's death is uncertain.  Dozens of theories have been proposed, which include trichinosis, mercury poisoning, and rheumatic fever.

Posthumous painting by Barbara Krafft in 1819

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On This Day December 4

A month after the Mary Celeste left the New York City harbor bound for Genoa with a cargo, it was found by the Canadian brig Dei Gratia on December 4, 1872 drifting in the Atlantic. The ship was in good condition but abandoned and the mystery has never been solved. Mutiny, piracy and insurance fraud have all been suggested as explanations of the mystery.

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On This Day December 3

Neil Papworth sent the first (unabbreviated) text message on December 3, 1992. The 22-year-old British engineer had been working as a developer and test engineer to create a Short Message Service (SMS) for his client, Vodafone. He used a personal computer to send his message to Vodafone director Richard Jarvis who received it on an Orbitel 901 handset. It read: "MERRY CHRISTMAS".

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On This Day December 2

In February 1804, a British-financial plot against Napoleon Bonaparte was uncovered by the former police minister Joseph Fouche. It gave Napoleon a reason to start a hereditary dynasty. Napoleon was crowned Emperor of the French on December 2, 1804 at Notre Dame de Paris in a ceremony presided over by Pope Pius VII.

The Coronation of Napoleon by Jacques-Louis David

After his defeat at the Battle of Trafalgar, Emperor Napoleon abandoned plans to invade Britain and turned his armies against the Austro-Russian forces, defeating them at the Battle of Austerlitz on December 2, 1805. Napoleon's historic triumph at the Battle of Austerlitz, led to the elimination of the Holy Roman Empire, 1000 years after it had been set up by Charlemagne.

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On This Day December 1

In 1885, a young pharmacist called Charles Alderton was working and serving carbonated soft drinks at Morrison's Old Corner Drug Store, in Waco, Texas. Having noted that customers soon tired of drinking the same old fruit flavors, the inventive Alderton decided to make something new by blending several fruit extracts. After numerous experiments, he finally created one he liked, which he named Dr. Pepper after his employer. The first serving of the new soft drink was on December 1, 1885.

By Amin 

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On This Day November 30

Comic actress Lucille Ball first met Cuban-born bandleader Desi Arnaz while filming the Rodgers and Hart stage hit Too Many Girls. At first, Arnaz was not fond of Lucy. When they met again later that day, the two connected immediately and eloped the same year. They got married in Greenwich, Connecticut on November 30, 1940. Lucy said "It wasn't love at first sight. It took a full five minutes."

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On This Day November 29

Louis Antoine Godey, the publisher of Godey's Lady's Book, died on November 29, 1878. The largest circulation magazine of its time, Godey's Lady's Book's illustrations not only influenced nineteenth century women's fashions, but would become documents for social historians and prized items for collectors. A publisher also of children's and music journals, Godey was among the first to copyright magazine contents.

Cover from June 1867 issue

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On This Day November 28

On November 28, 1582, the 18-year-old William Shakespeare married the 26-year-old daughter of a yeoman farmer Anne Hathaway (1556-1623). There appears to have been some haste in arranging the ceremony: Anne was three months pregnant. Shakespeare was not a faithful husband and it is thought he had an affair with the mysterious "Dark Lady" who featured in many of his sonnets.

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On This Day November 27

English chemist John Walker had developed an interest in trying to find a means of obtaining fire easily. He experimented with several chemical mixtures which were already known to ignite by a sudden explosion and made the discovery on November 27, 1826 that when a stick coated in potassium chlorate and antimony sulphide was brushed across stone, it created a flame. Walker appreciated the practical value of the discovery, and started making the first friction matches.

Sulphur-head matches, 1828, lit by dipping into a bottle of phosphorus

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On This Day November 26

Charles Dodgson's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was published on November 26, 1865 under his pseudonym Lewis Carroll. The book grew out of a story told by Charles Dodgson to amuse three little girls, the daughters of the Dean of Christchurch, during a rowing trip. Afterwards he wrote down the story for one of them - the ten-year-old Alice Liddell. Below is a page from Carroll's original manuscript copy titled Alice's Adventures Under Ground, 1864, held in the British Library.

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On This Day November 25

On November 25, 1944 a carrier pigeon Paddy was decorated for his effort in the war against Nazi Germany. In the service of Royal Air Force, Paddy had achieved to get a message from Normandy to England in the fastest crossing of the English Channel: 4 hours and 50 minutes. When receiving his Order of Merit Paddy was described as "exceptionally intelligent".

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On This Day November 24

The first live televised murder occurred on November 24, 1963, when Jack Ruby killed President John Kennedy's alleged assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald. As Oswald was being transported from the Dallas Police Department to the county jail, Ruby lunged from the crowd and shot Oswald in the abdomen. Oswald was rushed to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 1:00 p.m. CST.

The shooting of Oswald was broadcast live on television by NBC, and it was seen by millions of Americans across the country. The event was a shocking and traumatic one for many people, and it raised questions about the role of violence in American society.

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On This Day November 23

The world's first jukebox was installed at the Palais Royal Hotel in San Francisco on November 23, 1899. At a nickel per play, the machine earned nearly $1000 during the first six months of operation. Early manufacturers of Jukeboxes never referred to them as "jukeboxes", they called them Automatic Coin-Operated Phonographs. The term "juke" is Southern US slang for dancing.

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On This Day November 22

President John F Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas. He was being driven through the city in an open-top convertible with his wife sat beside him. As the car drove into Dealey Plaza, shots were fired. Kennedy was hit twice. The first bullet struck him in the upper back and exited through his throat. The second bullet struck him in his head. He was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital and at 1:00 p.m, was pronounced dead.

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On This Day November 21

Rocky, starring Sylvester Stallone as the underdog prizefighter Rocky Balboa, debuted on November 21, 1976 in New York City. It was a huge box-office hit and received 10 Academy Awards. Just before Sylvester Stallone sold the script for Rocky, he was homeless and sold his dog for $50. A week later, he bought his dog back for $3000.

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On This Day November 20

Princess Elizabeth first fell in love with Philip Mountbatten after they met at the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth in July 1939, They were married on November 20, 1947 at Westminster Abbey before 2,000 guests. Because Britain had not yet completely recovered from the devastation of the war, Elizabeth required ration coupons to buy the material for her wedding dress, which was designed by Norman Hartnell.

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On This Day November 19

Abraham Lincoln's famous Gettysburg Address was delivered by the President on the afternoon of November 19, 1863, four and a half months after the Union armies defeated those of the Confederacy at the Battle of Gettysburg. He gave it at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Though it came to be regarded as one of the greatest speeches in American history, Lincoln at the time thought it was a failure.

Lincoln (center, facing camera) at Gettysburg, taken just after he arrived

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On This Day November 18

After Gottlieb Wilhelm Daimler developed in 1885 a high-speed internal combustion engine, he fitted the engine to a bicycle to create the first internal combustion motorcycle. Daimler's 17-year-old son, Paul, was the first to ride the motorcycle taking it 5–12 kilometers (3.1–7.5 mi), from Cannstatt to Untertürkheim in Stuttgart, Germany on November 18, 1885. The seat caught fire during that journey, due to the engine's hot tube ignition being located directly underneath.

Replica of the Daimler-Maybach Reitwagen. Wikipedia Commons

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On This Day November 17

The Elizabethan age began when Elizabeth I acceded to the English throne on November 17, 1558, following the death of her half sister Mary. Elizabeth was told the news of her accession to the throne whilst sitting under an oak tree in the Hatfield Palace gardens. She reacted by getting on her knees and quoting Psalm 118 “This is the Lord’s day. It is marvelous in our eyes.”

Elizabeth I in her coronation robes, 

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On This Day November 16

The Sound of Music musical opened on Broadway at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on November 16, 1959. Both of the major New York critics hated it, finding it way too saccharine, but producers already had $2 million in advance ticket sales, so their lack of enthusiasm didn't really matter. The play won six Tony Awards, including Best Musical.

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On This Day November 15

Winston Churchill was The Morning Post's war correspondent during the Boer War. On November 15, 1899, he was captured and imprisoned by Boers. The following month, Churchill and two other inmates successfully made an escape from the prison camp in Pretoria over the latrine wall, hiding in a mine shaft for three days.

Churchill in 4th Queen's Own Hussars uniform in 1895

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On This Day November 14

Aviator Eugene Burton Ely performed the first take off from a ship in Hampton Roads, Virginia on November 14, 1910. He took off from a makeshift deck erected over the bow of the light cruiser USS Birmingham. The airplane plunged downward as soon as it cleared the 83-foot platform runway; and the aircraft wheels dipped into the water before rising. Ely's goggles were covered with spray, and the aviator promptly landed on a beach rather than landing at the Norfolk Navy Yard as planned.

Ely takes off from the USS Birmingham November 14, 1910

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On This Day November 13

Arthur A Denny and his group of travelers from New York State, arrived on a cold, stormy day on the schooner Exact at Alki Point on November 13, 1851. They originally called their settlement in what’s today known as West Seattle, "New York." After the party moved across Elliott Bay, they renamed the territory "Seattle" after Chief Si'ahl of the local Duwamish and Suquamish tribes befriended them.

Photographer Theodore Peiser captured an image of this painting of early Seattle

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On This Day November 12

Jules Léotard (1838–1870) abandoned his law studies to become a trapeze artist. Léotard won almost immediate success during a performance in Cirque Napoleon in Paris on November 12, 1859 when for the first time he swung from one trapeze to the other. The acrobatic act was called “La Course aux Trapèze” and it lasted for 12 minutes.

Jules Léotard

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On This Day November 11

On November 11, 1864, after Atlanta surrendered to the Union Army during the Civil War, General Sherman ordered the city to be burned to the ground, sparing only its churches and hospitals. Four days later he started Sherman's March to the Sea. Only 400 buildings survived, which is why Atlanta's symbol is a phoenix.

Atlanta in ruins during the Civil War, 1864

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On This Day November 10

In January 1866, the missionary and explorer David Livingstone traveled to Africa to seek the source of the Nile. By 1871 he had been lost to the world for over five years and had trekked 30,000 miles in his attempt to find the river's source. The journalist H.M. Stanley eventually found Livingstone at Ujiji, on the bank of Lake Tanganyika in present day Tanzania on November 10, 1871, and greeted him with the famous words "Dr Livingstone I presume."

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On This Day November 9

After Germany's defeat in the First World War, the emperor Wilhelm II lost the support of the German army. He abdicated on November 9, 1918. So many significant events in German history have happened on November 9 that historians have called the date 'The Day of Fate'. Other events that have occurred on this date include the the failed Beer Hall Putsch and the fall of the Berlin Wall. 

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On This Day November 8

While experimenting with high voltages applied to an evacuated tube on November 8, 1895, German scientist Wilhelm Röntgen noticed a fluorescence on a nearby plate of coated glass. Within a month, he discovered that the radiation causing this was able to pass through everyday materials such as paper, wood and living tissue and it produced an image on photographic plates as well as a fluorescent screen. Röntgen called this type of radiation X rays. Below is the first medical X-ray by Wilhelm Röntgen of his wife Anna Bertha Ludwig's hand.

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On This Day November 7

American outlaws Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and their The Wild Bunch gang became so proficient at robbing banks, payrolls and trains all over Colorado and Utah that the Pinkerton Detective Agency was hired to run them down. The pressures of being pursued forced Cassidy and the Sundance Kid to flee first to Argentina and then to Bolivia, where they were killed in a shoot-out on November 7, 1908.

Butch Cassidy poses in the Wild Bunch group photo, Fort Worth, Texas

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On This Day November 6

In December 1526, Charles V commissioned Spanish conquistador Pánfilo de Narváez to explore, conquer and settle a portion of North America stretching along the Gulf coast from Mexico to Florida.  The expedition's treasurer, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, along with 79 others were the first known Europeans to set foot in Texas on November 6, 1528.  Only de Vaca, and three others survived the next eight years, during which they wandered through what is now the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. They eventually reached Mexico City in 1536. 

Below is the route of the Narváez expedition (until November 1528 at Galveston Island), and speculative historical reconstruction of Cabeza de Vaca's later wanderings.

By Lencer - Own work (Original text: own work, used:)

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On This Day November 5

Following the World Bank's refusal to fund building the Aswan Dam in 1956, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal sparking international condemnation. Britain, France, and Israel invaded Egypt to get back the Suez Canal with the initial Anglo-French assault taking place on Port Said on November 5, 1956. Despite being a military success and having minor losses, the Suez Crisis had so much political fallout that most historians consider it the end of Britain as a superpower.

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On This Day November 4

Abraham Lincoln married Mary Todd on November 4, 1842 at the Springfield, Illinois, mansion of Mary's married sister. Mary was a hysterical and madly jealous wife and she refused her husband to receive female visitors alone. She was the first presidential wife to be referred to as the First Lady. Mary was so disliked in her day she was nicknamed the “she-wolf”.

Mary Todd and Abraham Lincoln

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On This Day November 3

Martha Hughes Cannon became the first female state senator elected in the United States when she was elected as a Utah State Senator on November 3, 1896. A Mormon polygamous wife, she ran against and defeated her own husband. Martha Hughes Cannon was the author of Utah sanitation laws and was a founder and member of Utah's first State Board of Health.

Martha Hughes Cannon

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On This Day November 2

The first radio broadcast license by the U.S. Commerce Department was given in 1920 to Westinghouse for station KDKA in Pittsburgh. On November 2, 1920, KDKA broadcast the US presidential election returns from a shack on the roof of the K Building of the Westinghouse Electric Company "East Pittsburgh Works" in Turtle Creek, Pennsylvania. The original broadcast was said to be heard as far away as Canada.

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On This Day November 1

The Russian mystic Rasputin first met Tsar Nicholas II on November 1, 1905, at the Peterhof Palace. The Tsar recorded the event in his diary, writing that he and his wife Alexandra had "made the acquaintance of a man of God - Grigory, from Tobolsk province." By late 1906, Rasputin began acting as a healer for the royal family's son Alexei, who suffered from hemophilia.

Alexandra Feodorovna with her children, Rasputin and the nurse (1908)

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On This Day October 31

The papacy was earning a good income by the indulgences system that allowed Christians to purchase remission from penance in purgatory. Appalled at the indulgences system, the Augustinian monk Martin Luther nailed up on the church door at Wittenberg on October 31, 1517, his Ninety-five Theses, (the standard way of raising issues for debate), arguing that a Christian has had a full pardon from God and no need of indulgences. The Protestant Reformation had begun.

1517 Nuremberg printing of the Ninety-five Theses as a placard

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