TODAY in HISTORY

Today is Wednesday, August 1, the 213th day of 2018. There are 152 days left in the year.

527 Justinian I becomes the sole ruler of the Byzantine Empire 607 Ono no Imoko is dispatched as envoy to the Sui court in China ( Traditional Japanese date: July 3, 607). 1469 Louis XI of France founds the chivalric order called the Order of Saint Michael in Amboise. 1498 Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to visit what is now Venezuela.

1571 The Ottoman conquest of Cyprus is concluded, by the surrender of Famagusta. 1620 Speedwell leaves Delfshaven to bring pilgrims to America by way of England. 1664 Ottoman forces are defeated in the battle of Saint Gotthard by an Austrian army led by Raimondo Montecuccoli, resulting in the Peace of Vasvár.

1714 George, Elector of Hanover, becomes King George I of Great Britain, marking the beginning of the Georgian era of British history. 1774 British scientist Joseph Priestley discovers oxygen gas, corroborating the prior discovery of this element by GermanSwedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele. 1801 First Barbary War: The American schooner USS Enterprise captures the Tripolitan polacca Tripoli in a singleship action off the coast of modern- day Libya.

1855 The first ascent of Monte Rosa, the second highest summit in the Alps.

1894 The First SinoJapanese War erupts between Japan and China over Korea. 1907 The start of the first Scout camp on Brownsea Island, the origin of the worldwide Scouting movement.

1936 The Olympics opened in Berlin with a ceremony presided over by Adolf Hitler.

1957 The United States and Canada form the North American Aerospace Defense Command ( NORAD). 1960 Islamabad is declared the federal capital of the Government of Pakistan. 1961 U. S. Defense Secretary Robert McNamara orders the creation of the Defense Intelligence Agency ( DIA), the nation's first centralized military espionage organisation.

1981 MTV begins broadcasting in the United States and airs its first video, “Video Killed the Radio Star” by The Buggles.

1993 The Great Mississippi and Missouri Rivers Flood of 1993 comes to a peak.

2007 The I- 35W Mississippi River bridge spanning the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota, collapses. 2008 The Beijing– Tianjin Intercity Railway begins operation as the fastest commuter rail system in the world.