This Week In History
Dec 16, 1773
American colonists protesting against taxes boarded a British ship and dumped over 300 chests of tea overboard in what became known as the Boston Tea Party 2000: A stream high in the Andes of southern Peru was confirmed as the exact source of the Amazon River 2008: City ruins from the Wari culture, which ruled Peru from the 7th-12th centuries, were found in the Andes 2011: Japan’s crippled Fukushima reactors were stabilised nine months after a devastating tsunami 2014: Russia’s central bank raised interest rates from 10.5% to 17% to halt the collapse of the rouble
Dec 17, 1903
Bicycle manufacturers Wilbur and Orville Wright made the first successful controlled flight in a powered aircraft on the beach at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina 1843: Charles Dickens’ popular tale, A Christmas Carol, was published 1996: China’s last imperial eunuch, died at age 93. Eunuchs were the only males allowed to live in the Inner Court of the Forbidden City 2008: The 12-member OPEC group agreed a record cut in oil production of two million barrels per day 2014: The United States and Cuba began the process of re-establishing diplomatic relations
Dec 18, 1943
Keith Richards, co-founder of British rock band the Rolling Stones, was born. With singer Mick Jagger he is responsible for writing most of the band’s songs 1991: The first international project to save the world’s rainforests was launched in Brazil 1997: The Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line, a toll expressway linking the cities of Kawasaki and Kisarazu, was opened 2008: India successfully test-fired its supersonic cruise missile BrahMos for the first time 2009: The Spanish region of Catalonia voted to ban the controversial sport of bullfighting
Dec 19, 1903
The Williamsburg suspension bridge, connecting Brooklyn and Manhattan, opened in New York. Until 1924 it was the world’s longest suspension bridge 1863: Londoner Frederick Walton patented linoleum floor covering 1999: China resumed sovereignty over the territory of Macao after 442 years of Portuguese colonial rule
2016: Russia’s ambassador to Turkey was assassinated in Ankara after several days of protests over Russian involvement in the Syrian civil war 2016: A stolen truck was rammed into a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12 people and injuring 56
Dec 20, 1933
The dance partnership of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers was born in the movie Flying Down To Rio. They made 10 films, including Roberta, from 1933-49
1699: Peter the Great announced a reorganisation of the Russian calendar decreeing that the New Year begin on Jan 1 rather than Sept 1 1803: The United States took formal possession of the territory of Louisiana from France 1998: The first set of octuplets to be born alive in the US were delivered 2013: Bolivia’s Chinese-built Tupac Katari 1 telecommunications satellite was successfully launched in China
Dec 21, 1988
A terrorist bomb exploded on board Pan Am flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, killing all 259 people on board and 11 on the ground 1913: The first crossword puzzle was published in the weekend edition of the New York World 1958: Charles de Gaulle was elected the first president of the Fifth Republic of France 1968: Apollo 8 was launched from Cape Kennedy to carry out the first manned flight around the moon 1990: Albania tore down the last statues of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin to be found in Eastern Europe
Dec 22, 2015
Aerospace company SpaceX made history by sending the first orbital rocket into space and successfully landing the first stage back on the ground 1943: Beatrix Potter, author of The Tale of Peter Rabbit and other well loved children’s books, died 1988: An historic US-mediated pact was signed, granting independence to Namibia from South Africa 1993: Residents of a small Spanish town won 32 billion pesetas (US$230mil) in the world’s biggest lottery 1993: The Australian Government voted to allow aborigines to reclaim rights to land seized by European settlers©