ON THIS day
1614
Powhatan Indian Pocahontas (above) marries Virginia planter and colonial official John Rolfe.
1621
The Mayflower departed for England after having deposited 102 Pilgrims at what became the American colony of Plymouth.
1722
Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen discovers Easter Island.
1794
Georges Danton, one of the main republicans who ruled France after the monarchy was overthrown, is guillotined after opposing the killings of the Reign of Terror, along with fellow revolutionary Camille Desmoulins.
1798
Napoleon invades Switzerland, soon ending its ancient ruling system, the Confederation of the 13 Cantons.
1818
Chile’s independence movement wins the Battle of Maipu.
1842
Pope Gregory XVI approves the establishment of an Australian Catholic Church hierarchy, under Archbishop John Bede Polding.
1895
Irish writer Oscar Wilde loses his criminal libel case against the Marquess of Queensberry, who accused the writer of homosexual practices.
1921
Grafton doctor Earle Page becomes federal leader of the newly formed Country Party.
1923
British archaeologist George Herbert, Lord Carnarvon, who had discovered Tutankhamen’s tomb in Egypt a few months earlier, dies in Cairo at 56 of an unknown illness and thus begins the legend of the curse of the Pharaoh.
1932
New Zealand-foaled, Australian champion racehorse Phar Lap dies in California in suspicious circumstances.
1994
US grunge rocker Kurt Cobain, leader of the band Nirvana, commits suicide.
2008
American actor Charlton Heston, who was best known for such films as Ben-Hur (1959) and The Ten Commandments (1956), dies at the age of 84.