TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY IS MONDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2018

On this day in history:

1782 - The Spanish captured Minorca from the British. 1783 - Sweden recognised the independence of the United States.

1803 - Early Australian sea-explorer, George Bass, disappears.

1869 - The world’s largest recorded gold nugget is found in Victoria, Australia.

1869 - The first permanent white settlers arrive in Darwin, Australia.

1885 - Congo State was established under Leopold II of Belgium, as a personal possession.

1917 - Mexico’s constitution was adopted.

1924 - The BBC time signals, or “pips”, from Greenwich Observatory were heard for the first time. They are broadcast every hour.

1947 - Australia’s first cloud-seeding experiment resulting in artificially produced rain is carried out at Bathurst, New South Wales. 1958 - Gamel Abdel Nasser was formally nominated to become the first president of the United Arab Republic.

1962 - French President Charles De Gaulle called for Algeria’s independence. 1982 - Great Britain imposed economic sanctions against Poland and Russia in protest against martial law in Poland. 1997 - Switzerland’s “Big Three” banks announced they would create a $71 million fund for Holocaust victims and their families.

1997 - Investment bank Morgan Stanley announced a $10 billion merger with Dean Witter.

1999 - Mike Tyson was sentenced to a year in jail for assaulting two people after a car accident on August 31, 1998. Tyson was also fined $5,000, had to serve 2 years of probation, and had to perform 200 hours of community service upon release. 2002 - It is reported that the remains of a Tasmanian tiger have been found on the Eyre Peninsula.

2004 - Rebels from the Revolutionary Artibonite Resistance Front capture the city of Gonaïves, starting the 2004 Haiti rebellion.

2008 - A major tornado outbreak across the Southern United States kills 57.