TODAY IN HISTORY: Douglas elected first NDP leader
In 1460, King James II of Scotland died in a cannon explosion.
In 1492, Italian explorer Christopher Columbus sailed from Palos, Spain, with 119 men and three ships — the "Nina," "Pinta" and "Santa Maria" on his first voyage to the New World. Supported by the king and queen of Spain, he sailed in search for a new passage to China. Instead, he came upon many West Indies islands.
In 1527, Captain John Rut wrote the first recorded letter from the New World to the old. He sent a report to England’s King Henry VIII about conditions in Newfoundland and Labrador.
In 1583, the first English settlement in North America was founded at St. John’s, after Sir Humphrey Gilbert proclaimed England’s authority over Newfoundland. On his return voyage home, Gilbert and his ship were lost at sea.
In 1751, the first printing press in Canada was set up in Halifax by Bartholomew Green.
In 1778, the "La Scala" opera house opened in Milan.
In 1858, English explorer John Speke discovered
Lake Victoria, the source of the Nile River.
In 1860, Joseph Howe was elected premier of Nova Scotia.
In 1876, the first telephone call from one building to another took place in Mount Pleasant, Ont. Alexander Graham Bell called his uncle in Brantford, Ont.
In 1914, Germany declared war on France and Belgium at the outset of the First World War.
In 1916, Sir Roger Casement was hanged in London after being convicted of treason for plotting to win Irish independence by revolution. Casement had sought German aid for a rebellion that was planned for Easter of 1916. But the seizure of an arms shipment and Casement's capture doomed the uprising to failure.
In 1940, Latvia became the 14th Soviet republic.
In 1949, the National Basketball Association was formed by a merger of the Basketball Association of America and the National Basketball League.
In 1958, the American atomic submarine “Nautilus” became the first vessel to cross the
North Pole underwater.
In 1960, the African country of Niger achieved full independence from French rule.
In 1961, Saskatchewan Premier Tommy Douglas was elected national leader of the newly formed New Democratic Party at its founding convention in Ottawa.
In 1972, Britain's 42,000 striking dockworkers, who had brought port operations to a halt and caused a state of emergency in the country, went back to work.
In 1977, the Canadian government rejected aboriginal demands for their own political territory in the Northwest Territories. Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau said Ottawa would never agree to a political territory based solely on race.
In 1980, the Moscow Summer Olympics, boycotted by the United States and many other western countries, ended. Russia and East Germany captured most of the medals.
In 1996, Donovan Bailey anchored Canada's victory in the men's 400-metre relay final at the Atlanta Olympics.