Today in History

1807 - US Congress passes an act to abolish African slave trade.

1836 - Texas declares its independence from Mexico.

1865 - German missionary Carl Volkner is killed and decapitated by followers of a new Māori religion, Pai Mārire, near Ōpōtiki.

1877 - Just two days before inauguration, the US Congress declares Rutherford B Hayes the winner of the 1876 US presidential election even though Samuel J Tilden had won the popular vote.

1882 - Queen Victoria narrowly escapes an assassination attempt by Roderick Maclean in Windsor.

1901 - United States Steel Corporation is founded as a result of a merger between Carnegie Steel Company and Federal Steel Company, which became the first corporation in the world with a market capital over US$1 billion.

1939 – Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli is elected Pope and takes the name Pius XII.

1943 - The Battle of the Bismarck Sea begins.

1944 - Train stops in a tunnel near Salerno, Italy, and more than 500 people suffocate and die due to locomotives burning lowgrade coal substitutes.

1946 - Ho Chi Minh is elected president of North Vietnam.

1949 - A US team led by Captain James Gallagher makes the first non-stop flight around the world.

1958 - Dr Vivian Fuchs completes first land crossing of Antarctica.

1959 - Work begins on the Sydney Opera House.

1969 - Concorde makes its maiden flight, from Bristol in England.

1972 - US spacecraft Pioneer 10 is launched on a mission to explore the planet Jupiter.

1978 - Grave robbers steal the body of Charlie Chaplin from a Swiss cemetery. Two men are later arrested and the body found buried close by.

1981 - The discovery of minor planet 5020 Asimov.

1983 – Compact discs and players are released for the first time in the United States and other markets. They had previously been available only in Japan.

1992 - UN General Assembly welcomes nine new members, eight of them former Soviet republics.

1998 - Titanic becomes the first film to earn US$1 billon.

2003 - Team NZ defence of the America's Cup ends in a 5-0 defeat by the Swiss syndicate Alinghi.

2022 – Russian forces capture the city of Kherson during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Birthdays

Adrian VI, Netherlands, first non-Italian pope (1459-1523); Theodor Geisel (Dr Seuss), US author (1904-91); Mikhail Gorbachev, Soviet president (1931-2022); Lou Reed, US musician (1942-2013); Karen Carpenter, US musician (1950-83); Jon Bon Jovi, US musician (1962-); Kelvin Davis, NZ politician (1967-); Daniel Craig, UK actor (1968-); Chris Martin, UK musician (1977-); Rebel Wilson, Australian actor (1980-); Dan Wootton, NZ journalist (1983-).