TODAY in HISTORY

Today is Saturday, May 19, the 139th day of 2018. There are 226 days left in the year.

1445 John II of Castile defeats the Infantes of Aragon at the First Battle of Olmedo. 1499 Catherine of Aragon is married by proxy to Arthur, Prince of Wales. Catherine is 13 and Arthur is 12.. 1535 French explorer Jacques Cartier sets sail on his second voyage to North America with three ships, 110 men, and Chief Donnacona’s two sons ( whom Cartier had kidnapped during his first voyage).

1649 An Act of Parliament declaring England a Commonwealth is passed by the Long Parliament. England would be a republic for the next eleven years.

1743 Jean- Pierre Christin developed the centigrade temperature scale which helps to measure temperature. 1802 Napoleon Bonaparte founds the Legion of Honour.

1828 U. S. President John Quincy Adams signs the Tariff of 1828 into law, protecting wool manufacturers in the United States. 1919 Mustafa Kemal Atatürk lands at Samsun on the Anatolian Black Sea coast, initiating what is later termed the Turkish War of Independence. 1934 Zveno and the Bulgarian Army engineer a coup d’état and install Kimon Georgiev as the new Prime Minister of Bulgaria.

1950 Egypt announces that the Suez Canal is closed to Israeli ships and commerce. 1959 North Vietnam Army establishes Group 559. 1962 A birthday salute to U. S. President John F. Kennedy takes place at Madison Square Garden, New York City. The highlight is Marilyn Monroe’s rendition of “Happy Birthday”.

1971 Mars probe program: Mars 2 is launched by the Soviet Union. 1986 The Firearm Owners Protection Act is signed into law by

U. S. President Ronald Reagan. 1991 Croatians vote for independence in a referendum.

1997 The Sierra Gorda biosphere, the most ecologically diverse region in Mexico, is established as a result of grassroots efforts. 2007 President of Romania Traian Basescu survives an impeachment referendum and returns to office from suspension.

2010 The Royal Thai Armed Forces concludes its crackdown on protests by forcing the surrender of United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship leaders. 2012 Three gas cylinder bombs explode in front of a vocational school in the Italian city of Brindisi, killing one person and injuring five. 2015 The Refugio oil spill deposited 142,800 U. S. gallons of crude oil onto an area in California considered most biologically diverse coastlines.