TODAY IN HISTORY: England’s Elizabethan era ends

In 1580, what are believed to have been the first bombs were tossed at the town of Guelderland, Germany.

In 1603, the Elizabethan era ended in England with the death of Queen Elizabeth I. Her 45-year reign is generally regarded as a golden age where theatre and the arts flourished, and England extended its economic clout through exploration. It also flexed its muscle as a political power with the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588. Elizabeth’s death not only marked the end of an era, it also marked the end of the Tudor line of rulers.

In 1634, the first Roman Catholic mass in English North America was celebrated at St. Mary’s, Maryland.

In 1670, silver and copper coins were minted for use in Canada.

In 1761, German soldiers and settlers established Canada’s first Lutheran church in Halifax.

In 1765, Britain enacted the Quartering Act, requiring American colonists to provide temporary housing to British soldiers.

In 1803, famed educator Egerton Ryerson was born in Norfolk County, Upper Canada. He died in Toronto in 1882.

In 1837, Lower Canada, now Quebec, granted blacks the right to vote.

In 1874, escape artist Harry Houdini was born Eric Weiss in Appleton, Wis. He died in 1926.

In 1882, German bacteriologist Robert Koch announced he had isolated the bacillus of tuberculosis. His work helped diagnose T.B. in animals intended for food.

In 1890, Agnes Macphail, Canada’s first female MP, was born. She first won a Commons seat from Ontario in 1921 – the first federal election in which women had the vote. She lost her Commons seat in 1940, but served in the Ontario legislature from 1943-51. She died in Toronto in 1954.

In 1890, U.S. scientist John Rock was born. He developed the birth control pill in 1944.

In 1900, work began on the New York City subway system.

In 1921, the British Empire’s first female cabinet minister was sworn in. Mary Ellen Smith became a minister without portfolio in B.C.. Smith won a 1918 Vancouver byelection following the death of her husband Ralph, the finance minister. Re-elected in 1920, she served in cabinet until November 1921. She was also re-elected in 1924.

In 1933, the first concentration camps were set up by Germany’s Nazi government – the Dachau camp near Munich.

In 1964, Prince Edward Island adopted its flag. The flag design is that of the coat of arms granted to the province in 1905, displaying an island and a great British oak tree centred, with its symbolic descendants to the immediate left. All are protected by the gold British Lion above.

In 2010, Scooter Braun, manager for teen pop sensation Justin Bieber, was arrested in connection with a fan frenzy in November 2009 at a mall in Long Island, N.Y. that sent five people to the hospital with minor injuries. Authorities claimed that Braun didn’t send out a tweet fast enough to let the raucous crowd of 3,000 know that Bieber wouldn’t be making an appearance. (In May 2011, the charges were dropped when Bieber agreed to record a public service announcement on cyberbullying.)

In 2021, one of the world’s biggest cargo ships turned sideways and blocked all traffic in the Suez Canal. About 50 ships per day usually traverse the narrow, man-made waterway that divides continental Africa from the Sinai Peninsula.