TODAY IN HISTORY

Today is Wednesday, February 5, 2020

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 seaexplorer, 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.

1917 - The U.S. Congress passed the Immigration Act of 1917 (Asiatic Barred Zone Act) with an overwhelming majority. The action overrode President Woodrow Wilson’s December 14, 1916 veto.

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 cloudseeding 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. 1988 - A pair of indictments were unsealed in Florida, accusing Panama’s military leader, Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega, of bribery and drug trafficking.

1997 - Switzerland’s “Big Three” banks announced they would create a $71 million fund for Holocaust victims and their families.

2002 - It is reported that the remains of a Tasmanian tiger have been found on the Eyre Peninsula.