ON THIS DAY, OCTOBER 18

1009 The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem is destroyed by the Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, who hacks the church’s foundations down to bedrock. 1356 The Basel earthquake is the most significant historic seismological event north of the Alps.

1540 Spanish conquistadors destroy the fortified town of Mabila in present-day Alabama, killing Tuskaloosa, the local paramount chief.

1565 Ships belonging to the Matsura clan of Japan fail to capture a Portuguese trading carrack in the Battle of Fukuda Bay – it is the first recorded naval battle between Japan and the West.

1653 Abraham van Riebeeck is born at the Dutch Cape Colony to parents Jan van Riebeeck, commander of the Cape, and Maria van Riebeeck. He went on to become

Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies from 1709 until his death in 1713.

1813 The armies of Russia, Prussia, Austria, and Sweden, led by Russian Tsar Alexander I and Austrian field marshal Karl Philipp, thump Napoleon’s Army at Leipzig.

1867 The Russian Empire transfers Alaska to the US in exchange for $7.2 million.

1922 The British Broadcasting Company (later Corporation), or BBC, is founded. 1954 Texas Instruments unveils the first transistor radio.

1967 The Soviet spacecraft Venera-4 enters the Venusian atmosphere and discovers the planet is inhospitable for humans.

1977 West German commandos liberate a Boeing 737 with 86 hostages onboard at Mogadishu, Somali.

2007 After 8 years in exile, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto returns to Pakistan.

On the same night, suicide bombers indiscriminately blow themselves up near Bhutto’s convoy, killing 149 people, including 20 police officers, and injure 402 people. Bhutto escapes, but is assassinated in December.

2011 Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit is released by Hamas as part of a prisoner exchange deal, after having been held captive for more than five years. | THE HISTORIAN