ON THIS DAY

Astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus is born in Torun, Poland. Considered the founder of modern astronomy, he theorised that the sun, not the earth, was the centre of the solar system.

Peruvian stratovolcano Huaynaputina explodes in the most violent and catastrophic eruption 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.

More than 60 tornadoes strike the southern US and kill 800 people.

Eighty people die and 500 are injured when a goods train and a train carrying dynamite collide in Braamfontein.

British troops occupy Hlangwane,

Will Keith Kellogg and Charles D Bolin found the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company, now the multinational food manufacturer, Kellogg’s.

‘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 locked up for the rest of her life. An asymptomatic carrier of the disease, she never had symptoms.

Pedro Lascuráin becomes President of Mexico for 45 minutes – the shortest term.

Four-year-old Charlotte May Pierstorff is sent by post on from Grangeville, Idaho, to her grandparents’ house 115km away (because it was the cheaper option) in the most famous ‘child in the post’ instance.

Japanese warplanes attack Darwin, Australia, killing 243 people.

Some 30 000 US Marines storm ashore on the island of Iwo Jima.

About 980 Japanese soldiers, hiding in mangrove swamps to escape advancing British troops, are killed by saltwater crocodiles on Ramree Island, Burma.

The Politburo of the Soviet

Union orders the transfer of Crimea to Ukraine.

Egyptian forces raid Larnaca International Airport over a hijacking, without permission. The Cypriot National Guard and police kill 15 Egyptian commandos and destroy the Egyptian C-130 transport plane.

Gunmen kill 18 ANC supporters in KwaZulu-Natal.

2007 Blogging website Tumblr is founded.

2012 Forty-four people die in a prison brawl in Apodaca, Mexico.

At least 17 people die when a pile of rubbish collapses in Maputo, Mozambique. THE HISTORIAN |