ON THIS DAY DECEMBER 4

771 Austrasian king Carloman I dies, leaving his brother Charlemagne king of the Frankish Kingdom.

1154 The only Englishman to become a pope, Nicholas Breakspear, is elected Pope Adrian IV.

1619 Thirty-eight English colonists disembark in Virginia and give thanks to God. This is considered by many to be the first Thanksgiving in the Americas.

1642 The highly influential Cardinal Richelieu, the true power behind the French throne, and who more than lived up to the prediction by Pope Paul V that “he will prove a great rascal”, dies.

1791 Britain’s The Observer, the oldest Sunday newspaper in the world, is first published.

1829 The British ban the practice of “suttee” in India in which Indian females traditionally burnt themselves to death on their husband’s funeral pyre.

1851 The 158-ton ship Diadem is stranded near Plettenberg Bay – all on board are saved.

1872 The crewless American ship Mary Celeste is found by the Canadian brig Dei Gratia. The former had been abandoned for nine days, but was only slightly damaged.

1893 A patrol of 34 British South Africa Company soldiers is ambushed and annihilated by more than 3 000 Matabele warriors on the Shangani River in Matabeleland.

1954 The first Burger King is opened in Miami, Florida.

1977 Jean-Bédel Bokassa, president of the Central African Republic, crowns himself Emperor Bokassa I of the Central African Empire.

1981 South Africa grants independence to the Ciskei “homeland”, but no other government recognises it.

1991 The last American hostage held in Lebanon is released. AP journalist Terry Anderson had been kidnapped in March 1985 and held for 2 454 days by Islamic Jihad (Holy War) captors. He was one of 15 Americans held hostage for periods ranging from two months to more than six years. Three of the hostages: William Buckley, Peter Kilburn and Lt-Col William Higgins, were slain in captivity. Others were released one or two at a time.

2017 The Winklevoss twins become the first Bitcoin billionaires. They had sued Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg for stealing their idea from their social website ConnectU, which is now the popular social media site, in 2004. | THE HISTORIAN