Today in History

1643 – Dutch mariner Abel Tasman ‘‘discovers’’ Fiji Islands.

1685 – Duke of York becomes King James II of England and VII of Scotland on the death of his brother Charles II.

1840 – The Treaty of Waitangi is signed, guaranteeing Ma¯ori tribal chiefs their lands and certain other rights in return for British sovereignty over New Zealand. 1871 – Otago Girls’ High School opens. It is the first public girls’ secondary school in the southern hemisphere.

1899 – Treaty of Paris is ratified, whereby Spain cedes Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines to the United States for $20 million.

1918 – Britain grants the vote to women aged 30 and over.

1935 – Board game Monopoly, left, goes on sale for the first time.

1952 – George VI dies. Succeeded by his daughter, Elizabeth II.

1958 – An air crash in Munich kills 23 passengers, including eight players from the Manchester United football team.

1959 – The United States successfully test-fires a Titan intercontinental ballistic missile.

1964 – England and France agree on constructing Channel rail tunnel.

1983 – Trial begins in France of former Gestapo commandant Klaus Barbie, for crimes during World War II.

1993 – Tennis champion Arthur Ashe dies in New York of complications from Aids.

2006 – Anger over caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad spills violently on to the streets of Afghanistan, where protesters direct their anger against the US. Police gun down at least four people, some as they try to break into a US military base.

Birthdays

Christopher Marlowe, UK poetdramatist (1564-1593); Eric Partridge, NZ-born lexicographer (1894-1979); Babe Ruth, US baseball star (1895-1948); Ronald Reagan, US president (1911-2004); Zsa Zsa Gabor, Hungarian actress (1917-2016); Bob Marley, Jamaican musician (1945-81); Natalie Cole, US singer (1950-2015).