TODAY IN history

In 1610, English explorer Henry Hudson discovered Hudson Bay. In his ship ``Discovery,’’ Hudson explored the eastern shore of the bay and then wintered in the extreme south of James Bay. His crew mutinied the following spring, and Hudson was set adrift in an open boat with his son and several ill crewmembers. Nothing is known of their fate.

In 1786, James Strange claimed Vancouver Island for Britain.

In 1858, British Columbia was constituted as a Crown colony. The first permanent European settlement came in the early 19th century with the development of the fur trade but gold rushes in 1858 and 1862 brought thousands of settlers into the colony. B.C. entered Confederation in 1871.

In 1858, the administration of India was transferred from the East India Company to Britain.

In 1862, Victoria, B.C., was incorporated as a city.

In 1865, ”Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’’ by Lewis Carroll was published, but it was soon withdrawn because of bad printing. Only 21 copies of the first edition survive, making it one of the rarest 19th century books.

In 1870, London opened the world’s first subway system. In 1873, inventor Andrew S. Hallidie successfully tested a cable car he had designed for the city of San Francisco.

In 1876, U.S. frontiersman and lawman Wild Bill Hickok was fatally shot in the back while playing poker at a saloon in Deadwood, S.D. by Jack Mccall, who was later hanged.