ON THIS DAY
The Farewell Sermon (Khutbah, Khutbatul Wada’) of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
Napoleon captures Jaffa, Palestine. After 13 days of fighting, Mexican soldiers overwhelm the Alamo Fort, killing 600 Texans, including Wild West legends Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett.
Isaac Wauchope is ordained as pastor of the Congregational Native Church of Fort Beaufort and Blinkwater. He was killed aboard the troopship SS Mendi in 1917. He is best known for leading the “death drill” aboard the troopship as it sank, allegedly urging: “Be quiet and calm, my countrymen, for what is taking place is exactly what you came to do. You are going to die… but that is what you came to do… Brothers, we are drilling the death drill. I, a Xhosa, say you are my brothers. Swazis, Pondos, Basutos, we die like brothers. We are the sons of Africa. Raise your war cries, brothers, for though they made us leave our assegais in the kraal, our voices are left with our bodies.”
An armistice between the generals Wood and Joubert is agreed upon and the British government recognises the Boer leaders as representatives of their people. German firm Bayer patents aspirin. US naval boat Cyclops disappears in the Bermuda Triangle.
The Natal Indian Congress is resuscitated at a meeting in Durban.
Operation Spring Awakening, the last major German offensive of World War II, begins.
An Italian industrialist loses a record $1.9million at roulette during five hours in a Monte Carlo Casino.
WBA light welterweight champion Antonio Cervantes is beaten by Puerto Rican Wilfred Benítez, 17, who becomes the youngest world champion.
Three IRA terrorists are shot dead by the SAS in Gibraltar.
The SA film Tsotsi receives the Oscar for the best foreign film.
The Crimean parliament votes unanimously to rejoin Russia.
The world’s oldest message in a bottle is found in western Australia after it was thrown from a German ship, Paula, 132 years before on June 12, 1886.
Forbes names Amazon’s Jeff Bezos the world’s richest person for the first time, at $112billion; Bill Gates is second.
Ash Wednesday – the start of Lent.