ON THIS DAY

MARCH 5

1046 Inspired by a dream, renowned Persian writer Nasir Khusraw begins a seven-year, 19 000km Middle Eastern journey. The graphic description of the journey is contained in the

Safarnama, which possesses special value among books of travel, as it contains the most authentic account of the state of the Muslim world in the middle of the 11th century.

1496 English King Henry VII grants John Cabot – who is actually a Venetian merchant called Giovanni Caboto – a commission to explore for new lands. Cabot is considered the first European to land on the North American continent since the Vikings.

1836 Samuel Colt manufactures the first pistol, a 34-calibre “Texas” model.

1872 George Westinghouse patents a triple air brake for trains.

1908 The first ascent of the highest peak in Antarctica, Mount Erebus, takes place.

1912 Italian forces are the first to use airships for military purposes, using them for reconnaissance behind Turkish lines.

1916 South African troops led by General Jan Smuts invade East Africa in their confrontation with German forces in World War I.

1921 The Durban Land Alienation Ordinance is passed, allowing the Durban City Council to exclude Indians from ownership or occupation of property in white areas.

1924 The first one-day flight between Cape Town and Pretoria takes place.

1936 The prototype of the world-famous Spitfire fighter makes its first flight.

1940 Top politburo members, including Joseph Stalin, sign an order for the execution of 25 700 Polish intelligentsia, including

14 700 POWs, in what will become known as the Katyn massacre.

1953 Feared Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, having collapsed after a drunken party at his Volynskoe dacha in Moscow four days earlier, dies, supposedly of a stroke (new evidence suggests he was poisoned to prevent a nuclear war with the US). At his funeral, some 2 000 people are crushed to death.

1970 The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons goes into effect.

1981 The ZX81, a pioneering British home computer, is launched by Sinclair Research and goes on to sell more than 1.5 million units across the world.

1994 Nelspruit sets a world record with the largest milkshake made – it includes

7 400 litres of liquid chocolate.

1995 The graves of the last royal leader of Russia, Tsar Nicholas II, and family – executed by the Bolsheviks– are found in St Petersburg.

2012 Tropical Storm Irina kills more than 75 as it passes through Madagascar.