Today in History

1759 – The French formally surrender Quebec to the British. 1793 – George Washington, right, lays the United States Capitol Building’s cornerstone in Washington.

1810 – Chile declares its independence from Spain.

1850 – US Congress passes the Fugitive Slave Act, allowing slave owners to reclaim escapees. 1851 – The New York Times newspaper publishes its first issue.

1906 – A typhoon and tsunami kill an estimated 10,000 people in Hong Kong.

1911 – Russian Premier Pyotr Stolypin dies four days after being shot at the Kiev Opera House.

1937 – The first state house opens in Miramar, Wellington. Most of the Labour Cabinet helped the first tenants move in.

1940 – The British liner SS City of Benares is sunk by a German submarine, claiming the lives of 87 children and 175 adults.

1961 – Swedish UN SecretaryGeneral Dag Hammarskjold, 56, is killed in an air crash in northern Rhodesia, now Zambia, while on a peace mission to the Congo.

1988 – Burma’s military commander San Maung overthrows civilian President Maung Maung in a coup.

1997 – US media magnate Ted Turner pledges to donate US$1 billion to the UN.

2014 – Scotland votes against independence from the United Kingdom, by 55.3 per cent to 44.7.