TODAY IN history

In 1626, French explorer Samuel de Champlain sailed from Dieppe on his 11th voyage to Canada.

In 1898, Spain declared war on the United States after rejecting America’s ultimatum to withdraw from Cuba. The United States responded in kind the next day.

In 1915, Turkey began the mass deportation of Armenians during the First World War. Hundreds of thousands of Armenians are believed to have died en route.

In 1928, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that women were not persons under the British North America Act and therefore could not hold office. In 1929, the ruling was overturned by the British Privy Council.

In 1942, ``Anne of Green Gables’’ author Lucy Maud Montgomery died in Toronto at age 68.

In 1952, the first shipment of oil from Alberta by pipeline and freighter arrived in Sarnia, Ont.

In 1953, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was knighted by Queen Elizabeth.

In 1967, Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov became the first known space fatality when his re-entry parachute tangled.

In 1970, China launched its first satellite, which transmitted a popular Communist song, ``The East is Red.’’

In 1980, an attempt to rescue American hostages in Iran ended in tragedy. Eight U.S. servicemen died when an army helicopter collided with a transport plane in the Iranian desert. The mission’s eight helicopters that were recalled had been called back after three suffered technical failures.