Today in history
1602 — Dutch East India Company is established. During its 96-year history it becomes one of the world’s most powerful companies.
1616 — Sir Walter Raleigh is released from the Tower of London to seek gold in Guiana.
1815 — Napoleon arrives back in Paris from Elba to reclaim power at the start of ‘‘The Hundred Days’’ before defeat at Waterloo.
1846 — The foundation stone of Melbourne’s Princes Bridge is laid.
1916 — Allies agree on partition of Turkey.
1933 — First concentration camp is opened in Germany, at Dachau.
1956 — France recognises independence of Tunisia, with Habib Bourguiba as first president.
1964 — Death of Irish writer Brendan Behan.
1969 — Beatle John Lennon weds Japanese artist Yoko Ono in Gibraltar.
1987 — Italian air force General Livio Giorgieri is shot dead by two youths on motorcycle, an attack attributed to the Red Brigades terrorist group; The US Food and Drug Administration approves the sale of AZT, a drug shown to prolong the lives of some AIDS patients.
1997 — The Swiss National Bank confirms it helped other neutral European countries buy millions of dollars worth of Nazi gold during World War II.
2000 — Germany’s scandalscarred Christian Democrats nominate Angela Merkel as the country’s first woman leader.
2006 — Cyclone Larry lashes the Queensland town of Innisfail and surrounds; Alexander Lukashenko is declared the overwhelming winner of Belarus’s presidential election.
2009 — France submits a formal request to rejoin NATO’S command structure after a 43-year absence.
2010 — Pope Benedict XVI sends an unprecedented letter to Ireland apologising for chronic child abuse within the Roman Catholic church.
2011 — Japanese officials report progress in their battle to gain control over a leaking, tsunami-stricken nuclear complex, though the crisis is far from over; Muammar Gaddafi vows a ‘‘long war’’ as allied forces launch a second night of strikes on Libya.
2016 — Spanish driver Fernando Alonso walks away unhurt from a spectacular crash in the Australian Formula I Grand Prix. The race is won by Germany’s Nico Rosberg, of the Mercedes team. TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Ovid, Latin poet (43 BC-17 AD); Louis Sachar, US children’s author (1954-); Theresa Russell, US actress (1957-); Spike Lee, US filmmaker (1957-); Holly Hunter, US actor (1958-); Dean Geyer, South African-born Australian singer and actor (1986-); Ruby Rose Langenheim, Australian DJ and model (1986-); Catherine Mcneil, Australian model (1989-).