ON THIS DAY FEBRUARY 19
1600 The Peruvian stratovolcano Huaynaputina explodes in the most violent and catastrophic eruptions recorded, affecting the world’s climate – 1601 was the coldest year in six centuries, causing famine in Russia and the collapse of the German wine industry. The volcano killed more than 1 500 people, and ash buried 10 villages. Regional agricultural economies took about 150 years to recover.
1884 More than 60 tornadoes strike the Southern US and kill 800 people.
1896 Eighty people die and 500 are injured when a goods train and a train carrying dynamite collide in Braamfontein, Johannesburg.
1900 British troops occupy Hlangwane, Natal. 1906 Will Keith Kellogg and Charles D Bolin found the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company, now the multinational food manufacturer Kellogg’s.
1910 “Typhoid Mary” is freed from her first periods of forced isolation but goes on to cause several further outbreaks of typhoid in the New York area. She is then locked up for the rest of her life. An asymptomatic carrier of the disease, Mary Mallon never showed any symptoms.
1913 Pedro Lascuráin becomes president of Mexico for 45 minutes.
1942 Nearly 250 Japanese warplanes attack Darwin, Australia, killing 243 people.
1945 About 30 000 US Marines storm ashore on the Japanese stronghold of Iwo Jima.
1945 About 980 Japanese soldiers, hiding in mangrove swamps to escape advancing British troops, are reportedly killed by crocodiles in two days on Ramree Island, Burma.
1954 The Politburo of the Soviet Union orders the transfer of Crimea to Ukraine.
1978 Egyptian forces raid Larnaca International Airport to intervene in a hijacking, without asking the Republic of Cyprus authorities. The Cypriot army and police kill 15 Egyptian commandos in open combat.
1986 The Sri Lankan Army massacres 80 Tamil farmworkers in eastern Sri Lanka. 1994 Gunmen kill 18 ANC supporters in KZN. 2007 Blogging website Tumblr is founded. 2012 A Mexican prison brawl kills 44 people. 2018 At least 17 people die when a garbage mound collapses in Maputo, Mozambique.