This Week In History
Dec 1, 2018
Protesters wearing “gilets jaunes” rampaged through central Paris following two weeks of nationwide protests against fuel taxes and high living costs
1959: The antarctic Treaty, intended to preserve the region for scientific research, was signed
1959: The first colour photograph of the Earth from outer space was taken from a Thor missile 1989: mikhail Gorbachev became the first Soviet leader to visit the Vatican and meet with the Pope
2009: The Treaty of Lisbon, which amended the constitutional basis of the European Union, came into force
Dec 2, 1859
French impressionist artist Georges Seurat was born. He developed the technique of pointillism, as seen in
works like La Grande Jatte (pic)
1804: napoleon bonaparte was crowned Emperor of France
1954: US Senator Joseph Mccarthy was condemned by the Senate for misconduct following his ruthless investigations of suspected communists 1979: Iranian electors voted in favour of a new constitution that gave absolute power to ayatollah Khomeini
1989: US President George HW Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev declared the end of the Cold War
Dec 3, 1984
A toxic gas leak at the Union Carbide pesticide plant near Bhopal, India, killed over 3,700 people. It remains the world’s worst industrial accident 1919:
French Impressionist painter Pierre auguste renoir died
1992: The first ever text message was sent by a test engineer over the Vodafone network in Britain 1999: nasa lost contact with the mars Polar Lander as it reached the red planet due to a faulty sensor
2014: The space explorer Hayabusa2 was launched by Japan’s space agency, JAXA, to collect rock samples from an asteroid
Dec 4, 1954
The first Burger King restaurant opened in Miami, Florida. By the early 21st century, Burger King claimed to have about 14,000 stores in around 100 countries
1799: Income tax was introduced in britain by prime minister William Pitt
1829: Britain abolished the practice of “suttee” in India, by which a widow burns herself to death on her husband’s funeral pyre 1915: The us state of Georgia recognised the Ku Klux Klan, following its revival by white Protestant nativists
1991: US journalist Terry Anderson was released after being held hostage in Lebanon for almost seven years
Dec 5, 1952
Around 4,000 people died when London was enveloped in the Great Smog. The toxic mix of fog and smoke led to a parliamentary act that cut smoke emissions
1484: Pope Innocent VIII issued a papal bull giving the Inquisition explicit authority to prosecute witchcraft
1872: The American brigantine Mary
Celeste was found abandoned and drifting in the Atlantic Ocean 1977: bophuthatswana, the Tswana tribal homeland, gained nominal independence within South africa
2013: Nelson Mandela, the first black president of South Africa and an anti-apartheid icon, died at age 95
Dec 6, 1947
The Everglades National Park, now a World Heritage Site visited by more than one million people every year, was dedicated in southern Florida
1774: austria became the first nation to establish a state education system
1971: India recognised Bangladesh as an independent state from Pakistan
2006: Photographs taken by nasa’s mars Global Surveyor suggested the presence of liquid water on mars
2011: Belgium’s new federal government was sworn in after 541 days of negotiations, the longest in recorded history
Dec 7, 1934
The jet stream, bands of strong winds high above the earth, was supposedly discovered by Wiley Post on a test flight into the stratosphere
1909: The union of South africa was declared
2002: Two early paintings by Vincent van Gogh were stolen from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam
2009: Copenhagen staged a Climate Change summit aiming to secure a new agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol
2010: Julian Assange, founder of the whistleblowing website Wikileaks, was arrested in London over alleged sexual misconduct in Sweden