ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

630 The prophet Muhammad and his followers conquer the city of Mecca.

1569 The first recorded lottery in England is drawn in St Paul’s Cathedral, London.

1693 Mt Etna in Sicily erupts, killing about 60 000 people.

1879 Three columns of British troops enter Zululand, marking the beginning of the Anglo-Zulu War.

1904 Samuel Maharero orders all Ovaherero chiefs to take up arms against the Germans, but orders them to “refrain from touching missionaries, English, Basters, Berg-Damaras, Namas and Boers”.

1935 Amelia Earhart becomes the first person to fly solo from Hawaii to California.

1942 Japan captures Kuala Lumpur, the capital of the Federated Malay States.

1962 An avalanche on the Peruvian mountain Huascarán kills about 4 000 people.

1964 The US surgeon-general publishes a landmark report saying that smoking may be hazardous to health, sparking national and worldwide anti-smoking efforts.

1972 East Pakistan becomes Bangladesh. 1974 The Rosenkowitz sextuplets are born in Cape Town, the first in the world where all six babies survive.

2013 A French soldier and 17 militants are killed in a failed attempt by commandos to free a French hostage in Somalia. | The Historian