The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
On this day
1498: Vasco da Gama arrived at Calicut, southern India, after discovering a route via the tip of southern Africa.
1506: Christopher Columbus, in Valladolid, Spain.
1799: Honore de Balzac, a French novelist who produced 85 novels in 20 years, was born at Tours.
1840: York Minster was badly damaged by fire.
1867: The foundation stone of the Royal Albert was laid.
1903: Kew Bridge over the opened by Edward VII. Genoese explorer, River Thames was died Hall 1932: Amelia Earhart became the first woman make a solo air crossing of the Atlantic.
1941: Germany began an aerial invasion of Crete.
1956: America dropped its first hydrogen bomb over Bikini Atoll in the Pacific.
1991: In the USSR, the government passed a new law allowing Soviet citizens to leave the country of their own free will.
ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: A new campaign to protect the UK’s oak trees from threats including pests and diseases was launched at the Chelsea Flower Show. to