ON THIS DAY

MARCH 6

632 The Farewell Sermon (Khutbah, Khutbatul Wada’) of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.

1799 Napoleon captures Jaffa, Palestine, after a five-day siege, defeating the Ottoman Empire.

1836 After 13 days of fighting, 1 500-3 000 Mexican soldiers overwhelm the Alamo, killing 182-257 Texans, including Wild West legends Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett.

1892 Isaac Wauchope is ordained as a pastor of the Congregational Native Church of Fort Beaufort and Blinkwater. He was killed aboard the troopship SS Mendi in 1917.

1881 A provisional armistice between the generals Wood and Joubert is agreed to and the British government recognises the Boer leaders as representatives of their people.

1889 The German firm Bayer patents the medicine aspirin.

1918 US naval boat Cyclops disappears in the Bermuda Triangle.

1921 The Natal Indian Congress is resuscitated at a meeting in Durban, with Ismail Gora as president.

1945 Operation Spring Awakening, the last major German offensive of the war, begins.

1953 Georgy Malenkov succeeds Joseph Stalin as premier of the Soviet Union.

1964 Boxing legend Cassius Clay joins the Nation of Islam and changes his name to Muhammad Ali, rejecting his “slave name”.

1974 An Italian industrialist loses a record $1.9 million at roulette in Monte Carlo Casino.

1976 WBA light welterweight champion Antonio Cervantes of Colombia is beaten by 17-year-old Puerto Rican Wilfred Benítez, who becomes the youngest world champion.

1988 Three IRA terrorists are shot dead by the SAS in Gibraltar.

1997 Correctional Services Commissioner, K Sithole floats the idea of incarcerating SA’s worst criminals in disused mine shafts.

2006 SA film Tsotsi receives the Oscar for the best foreign film at the Academy Awards.

2014 The Crimean parliament votes unanimously to join Russia.

2018 The world’s oldest message in a bottle is found in Western Australia after it was thrown from the German ship, Paula,

132 years before (on June 12, 1886).

2018 British health officials tells the country it’s time “to get on a diet” and urge manufacturers to reduce calories in foods.

2018 Forbes names Amazon founder Jeff Bezos the world’s richest person for the first time at $112 billion, Bill Gates is second. | The Historian