TODAY in HISTORY
Today is Wednesday, May 10, the 130th day of 2017. There are 235 days left in the year.
28BC A sunspot is observed by Han dynasty astronomers during the reign of Emperor Cheng of Han, one of the earliest dated sunspot observations in China. AD70 Siege of Jerusalem: Titus, son of emperor Vespasian, opens a full-scale assault on Jerusalem and attacks the city’s Third Wall to the northwest. 1655 England, with troops under the command of Admiral William Penn and General Robert Venables, annexes Jamaica from Spain.
1768 John Wilkes is imprisoned for writing an article for The North Briton severely criticizing King George III. This action provokes rioting in London. 1773 Parliament of Great Britain passes the Tea Act, designed to save the British East India Company by granting it a monopoly on the North American tea trade. 1774 Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette become King and Queen of France. 1801 The Barbary pirates of Tripoli declare war on the USA. 1857 In India, the first war of Independence begins. Sepoys mutiny against their commanding officers in Meerut.
1872 Victoria Woodhull becomes the first woman nominated for the US President. 1877 Romania declares itself independent from the Ottoman Empire. 1893 The US Supreme Court rules in Nix v. Hedden that a tomato is a vegetable, not a fruit, under the Tariff Act of 1883. 1904 The Horch & Cir. Motorwagenwerke AG is founded. It would eventually become the Audi company. 1908 Mother’s Day is observed for the first time in the United States, in Grafton, West Virginia. 1924 J. Edgar Hoover is appointed first director of the FBI, and remains so until his death in 1972. 1940 World War II: Germany invades Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. 1948 The Republic of China implements ‘temporary provisions’ granting President Chiang Kai-shek extended powers to deal with the Communist uprising; they will remain in effect until 1991. 1994 Nelson Mandela is inaugurated as South Africa’s first black president.
2002 FBI agent Robert Hanssen is sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for selling US secrets to Russia for $1.4 million in cash and diamonds. One World Trade 2013 Center becomes the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.