TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY IS FRIDAY, APRIL 6, 2018

On this day in history:

1199 - English King Richard I was killed by an arrow at the siege of the castle of Chaluz in France.

1607 - An expedition led by Captain Christopher Newport arrived at the Spanish colony of Puerto Rico for supplies before continuing on their journey. On May 14, they went ashore and founded Jamestown, Virginia, as the first permanent English colony in America.

1652 - Jan van Riebeeck established a settlement at Cape Town, South Africa. 1814 - Granted sovereignty in the island of Elba and a pension from the French government, Napoleon Bonaparte abdicates at Fountainebleau. He was allowed to keep the title of emperor.

1830 - Joseph Smith and five others organized the Mormon Church in western New York. 1860 - Stuart arrives at and names Chambers Pillar, in central Australia.

1895 - Banjo Paterson’s Waltzing Matilda is first sung in public.

1896 - The first modern Olympic Games began in Athens, Greece.

1916 - Charlie Chaplin became the highest-paid film star in the world when he signed a contract with Mutual Film Corporation for $675,000 a year. He was 26 years old. 1917 - The US Congress approved a declaration of war on Germany and entered World War I on the Allied side. 1941 - German forces invaded Greece and Yugoslavia. 1953 - Iranian Premier Mossadegh demanded that the shah’s power be reduced. 1981 - A Yugoslav Communist Party official confirmed reports of intense ethnic riots in Kosovo.

1987 - Sugar Ray Leonard took the middleweight title from Marvin Hagler.

1998 - Pakistan successfully tested medium-range missiles capable of attacking neighbouring India.

2004 - The Australian territory of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands officially adopts its own flag. 2012 - The inaugural Waltzing Matilda Day is held in Winton, Queensland.