Today in History

1506 – The first contingent of 150 Swiss Guards arrives at the Vatican.

1517 – Ottoman troops capture

Cairo.

1689 – Prince William of Orange, right, (future William III) summons England’s Convention Parliament to discuss ruling jointly with his wife Mary.

1771 – Spain cedes Falkland Islands to Britain.

1840 – The New Zealand Company’s first settler ship, Aurora, arrives at Petone, marking the founding of the settlement that will become Wellington.

1879 – King Cetewayo and 20,000 heavily armed Zulu warriors assault British troops at Isandlwana in South Africa, where 139 soldiers repel attacks for almost 12 hours.

1901 – Death of Queen Victoria, aged 81.

1905 – Tsarist troops fire on protesters in St Petersburg, killing up to 240 people, in what becomes known as ‘‘Bloody Sunday’’.

1944 – Allied forces begin landing at Anzio, on Italian mainland.

1946 – US President Harry Truman sets up the Central Intelligence Agency.

1953 – Opening performance of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, in New York.

1973 – In its Roe v. Wade decision, the US Supreme Court legalises abortions.

1986 – Three Sikhs convicted of 1984 assassination of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi are sentenced to death.

2008 – Death of Australian actor Heath Ledger, from accidental prescription drug overdose.