TODAY in HISTORY

Today is Monday, May 21, the 141st day of 2018. There are 224 days left in the year.

878 Syracuse, Sicily, is captured by the Muslim Aghlabids after a nine- month siege. 996 Sixteen- year- old Otto III is crowned Holy Roman Emperor. 1349 Dušan’s Code, the constitution of the Serbian Empire, is enacted by Dušan the Mighty.

1659 In the Concert of The Hague, the Dutch Republic, the Commonwealth of England and the Kingdom of France set out their views on how the Second Northern War should end.

1660 The Battle of Long Sault concludes after five days in which French colonial militia, with their Huron and Algonquin allies, are defeated by the Iroquois Confederacy. 1674 The nobility elect John Sobieski King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania. 1758 Ten- year- old Mary Campbell is abducted in Pennsylvania by Lenape during the French and Indian War. She is returned six and a half years later.

1851 Slavery is abolished in Colombia, South America. 1863 American Civil War: The Union Army succeeds in closing off the last escape route from Port Hudson, Louisiana, in preparation for the coming siege.

1864 Russia declares an end to the RussoCircassian War and many Circassians are forced into exile. The day is designated the Circassian Day of Mourning.

1879 War of the Pacific: Two Chilean ships blocking the harbor of Iquique ( then belonging to Peru) battle two Peruvian vessels in the Battle of Iquique. 1904 The Fédération Internationale de Football Association ( FIFA) is founded in Paris. 1934 Oskaloosa, Iowa, becomes the first municipality in the United States to fingerprint all of its citizens.

1937 A Soviet station, North Pole- 1, becomes the first scientific research settlement to operate on the drift ice of the Arctic Ocean.

1966 The Ulster Volunteer Force declares war on the Irish Republican Army in Northern Ireland. 2001 French Taubira law is enacted, officially recognizing the Atlantic slave trade and slavery as crimes against humanity.

2005 The tallest roller coaster in the world, Kingda Ka opens at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson Township, New Jersey. 2010 JAXA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, launches the solarsail spacecraft IKAROS aboard an HIIA rocket. 2011 Radio broadcaster Harold Camping predicted that the world would end.