TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY IS MONDAY, JULY 9, 2018 On this day in history:

0118 - Hadrian, Rome’s new emperor, made his entry into the city.

0455 - Avitus, the Roman military commander in Gaul, became Emperor of the West. 1540 - England’s King Henry VIII had his 6-month-old marriage to his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, annulled. 1609 - In a letter to the crown, the emperor Rudolf II granted Bohemia freedom of worship. 1755 - General Edward Braddock was mortally wounded when French and Indian troops ambushed his force of British regulars and colonial militia. He died on July 13.

1789 - In Versailles, the French National Assembly declared itself the Constituent Assembly and began to prepare a French constitution. 1790 - The Swedish navy captured one third of the Russian fleet at the naval battle of Svensksund in the Baltic Sea.

1816 - Argentina declared independence from Spain. 1827 - Australian explorer Allan Cunningham discovers the Gwydir River in northern NSW, opening up the area for grazing and pastureland. 1857 - The Municipality of the Town of Gawler, South Australia, is proclaimed. 1900 - The Commonwealth of Australia was established by an act of the British Parliament, uniting the separate colonies under a federal government.

1947 - The engagement of Britain’s Princess Elizabeth to Lt. Philip Mountbatten was announced.

1997 - Mike Tyson was banned from the boxing ring and fined $3 million for biting the ear of opponent Evander Holyfield. 2002 - The African Union is established in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, replacing the Organisation of African Unity (OAU). The organization’s first chairman is Thabo Mbeki, President of South Africa. 2006 - 125 people are killed when S7 Airlines Flight 778, a Airbus A310 passenger jet, veers off the runway while landing in wet conditions at Irkutsk Airport in Siberia. 2011 - South Sudan gains independence and secedes from Sudan.