ON THIS DAY

1534 Henry VIII is recognised as supreme head of the Church of England.

1671 Cape Governor Isbrand Goske dispatches an expedition to Hottentots Holland to decide whether the district is suitable for permanent settlement.

1842 The Nepaul, a British ship of

462 ton, runs aground while leaving Swartvlei Bay on the Cape coast. Three sailors die.

1900 The second British offensive of the Second Anglo-Boer War begins with a British invasion of the Orange Free State.

1916 Germany and Austria-Hungary notify the US that they will sink any armed merchant ships from March 1.

1929 The Vatican City, the world’s smallest country, is made an enclave of Rome.

1946 The Reverend John Langalibalele Dube (Mafukuzela), politician and founder and first editor of the Zulu newspaper Ilanga lase Natal (now Ilanga), dies in uMhlanga, Natal. He was the first black person to receive a DPhil honoris causa from a SA university.

1951 Kwame Nkrumah wins the first parliamentary election on the Gold Coast (Ghana).

1978 China lifts a ban on works by Aristotle, William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens.

1982 A call for a 30-minute work stoppage, in protest after the death in detention of a white South African,

Dr Neil Aggett, is supported by virtually all independent black unions, and tens of thousands of workers. Outrage cuts across racial lines, with demands for the end of prolonged detention without trial.

1990 Underdog Buster Douglas stuns the boxing world by knocking out “Iron” Mike Tyson to claim the world heavyweight title.

1990 Nelson Mandela walks free after 27 years’ imprisonment.

2001 A Dutch programmer launched the Anna Kournikova computer virus, infecting millions of emails via a trick photo of the tennis star.

2013 Pope Benedict XVI announces his resignation from February 28, the first pope to do so since 1415.

2015 Francesco Schettino, captain of the cruise ship Costa Concordia that he ran aground, is convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 16 years.