TODAY in HISTORY

Today is Wednesday, June 6, the 157th day of 2018. There are 208 days left in the year.

913 Emperor Alexander III dies of exhaustion while playing the game tzykanion ( Byzantine name for polo). He is succeeded by his 8- year- old nephew Constantine VII. 1523 Gustav Vasa, the Swedish regent, is elected King of Sweden, marking a symbolic end to the Kalmar Union. This is the Swedish national day.

1654 Queen Christina abdicates the Swedish throne and is succeeded by her cousin Charles X Gustav.

1674 Shivaji, founder of the Maratha Empire, is crowned.

1762 Seven Years' War: British forces begin a siege of Havana, Cuba, and temporarily capture the city in the Battle of Havana.

1813 War of 1812: Battle of Stoney Creek: A British force of 700 under John Vincent defeats an American force twice its size under William Winder and John Chandler.

1832 The June Rebellion in Paris is put down by the National Guard. The Young Men's Christian Association ( YMCA) is founded in London. 1857 Sophia of Nassau marries the future King Oscar II of Sweden– Norway.

1859 Australia: Queensland is established as a separate colony from New South Wales ( Queensland Day).

1894 Governor Davis H. Waite orders the Colorado state militia to protect and support the miners engaged in the Cripple Creek miners' strike.

1909 French troops capture Abéché ( in modernday Chad) and install a puppet sultan in the Ouaddai Empire.

1912 The eruption of Novarupta in Alaska begins. It is the largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century. 1934 New Deal: The U. S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 into law, establishing the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

1946 The Basketball Association of America is founded in New York City; the BAA was the precursor to the modern National Basketball Association

1971 Soyuz program: Soyuz 11 is launched.

1974 A new Instrument of Government is promulgated making Sweden a parliamentary monarchy.

2004 Tamil is established as a "classical language" by the President of India, Dr A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, in a joint sitting of the two houses of the Indian Parliament.

2005 In Gonzales v. Raich, the United States Supreme Court upholds a federal law banning cannabis, including medical marijuana.