TODAY IN HISTORY: Artist drowns on canoe trip

In 1629, Spain's King Philip III sent England's King Charles the First an elephant and five camels. Included were instructions that the elephant be given a gallon of wine each day.

In 1654, Jacob Barsimon became the first known Jew to settle in North America when he made his home in New York.

In 1792, John Graves Simcoe was sworn in as the first lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada, now Ontario.

In 1822, Percy Bysshe Shelley, one of the leading English romantic poets, drowned off Leghorn while sailing.

In 1867, "Le Moniteur Acadien," the Maritimes' first French-language newspaper, was published for the first time.

In 1883, workers laid a record 9.6-kilometres of Canadian Pacific Railway track in one day.

In 1889, the Wall Street Journal was first published.

In 1892, a fire in St. John's, Nfld., left 10,000 people homeless.

In 1896, Liberal Leader Sir Wilfrid Laurier became the first French-Canadian prime minister. During his 15 years in office, Laurier led the country through a period of prosperity aided by an aggressive immigration policy. He was knighted at the Jubilee celebrations for Queen Victoria in June, 1896.

In 1906, Winnipeg started offering Sunday streetcar service despite church opposition.

In 1912, American Jim Thorpe replied, "Thanks, King," when told by Swedish King Gustav at the Olympic Games in Stockholm that he was the greatest athlete in the world. Thorpe won both the pentathlon and decathlon at the Games. But he was stripped of his medals the next year after it was learned he had played pro baseball.

In 1913, Louis Hemon, author of the classic novel "Maria Chapdelaine," was struck and killed by a train at Chapleau, Ont. He was 33. "Maria Chapdelaine," which sold more than one million copies, was about the struggle people faced with the inhospitable soil and climate of the Lac-StJean region in Quebec. It became a model for Canadian regional fiction.

In 1917, artist Tom Thomson drowned during a canoe trip in Ontario's Algonquin Park. Born in 1877, Thomson was one of the most brilliant painters in Canadian history. His oils and scenes of desolate northern landscape are among the country's best-known works. Thomson worked closely with most of the future Group of Seven members including A.Y. Jackson, Fred Varley and Arthur Lismer.

In 1943, the burned and beaten body of Canadian gold millionaire Harry Oakes was found in his villa in the Bahamas. The murder was never solved.

In 1947, demolition began in New York to make way for the permanent headquarters of the United Nations.

In 1965, a bomb sent a Canadian Pacific Airlines plane crashing into B.C.'s Gustafsen Lake, killing 52 people.

In 1974, the Liberals under Pierre Trudeau won 141 of 264 seats in a federal election. The vote also saw Nova Scotia's Andy Hogan become the first Roman Catholic priest elected to the Commons.

In 1985, 17-year-old Boris Becker became the youngest player and the first German to win the Wimbledon men's singles title.

In 1987, Statistics Canada released figures showing more than half of Canada's population was over 30.

In 1994, the world's longest-ruling Communist leader, Kim Il Sung of North Korea, died at age 82. He was the only leader the country had known since its was founded in 1948.

In 1995, the Las Vegas Posse hosted the Sacramento Gold Miners in the first CFL game between two U.S.-based teams.

In 1997, NATO leaders voted to formally invite three former Soviet allies – Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic – to join the West's defence alliance.