539 BC The army of Cyrus the Great of Persia takes Babylon
1492 Christopher Columbus’s expedition makes landfall on a Caribbean island he names San Salvador (likely Watling Island, Bahamas). The explorer believes he has reached East Asia (OS 21 Oct)
1772 Conversion of Benjamin Abbott, who will become an American revival leader. His conversion to Christianity came after fearful mental struggles, influenced by the preaching of Abraham Whitworth.
1864 War of the Triple Alliance begins with Brazilian troops under the command of Gen. João Propício Mena Barreto invading Uruguay
1894 Carl Strehlow, German missionary to Australia, arrives at Hermannsburg station where he is appointed head of the mission and will translate the Bible into three aboriginal languages.
1900 The first modern submarine is commissioned by the U.S. Navy as the USS Holland, named for its designer John Philip Holland
1915 Ford Motor Company under Henry Ford manufactures its 1 millionth automobile at the River Rouge plant in Detroit
1951 Simon Kimbangu dies after being imprisoned for years by Belgian authorities in Congo Free State. Baptist-trained, he had preached a Christian gospel of one God, healed the sick, and alarmed colonial administrators.
1999 The Day of Six Billion: the proclaimed 6 billionth living human in the world is born
Today’s Historical Events
Today in Film & TV
1960 Japanese politician Inejiro Asanuma is assassinated with a sword during a televised debate live on TV by 17-year old nationalist Otoya Yamaguchi
Today in Music
1987 George Harrison releases single “Got My Mind Set On You”, becomes his third solo #11 hit and the last by any of the Beatles
Today in Sport
1968 IXX Summer Olympic Games open at Mexico City, Mexico; first Olympics in Latin America
Do you know this fact about today? Did You Know?
Children’s rhyme “Three Blind Mice” is published in London in a book edited by and possibly written by Thomas Ravenscroft, on this day in 1609
Would you believe this fact about today? Would You Believe?
King John of England loses his crown jewels in The Wash as the flood tide swamps his wagons, probably near Fosdyke, perhaps near Sutton Bridge, on this day in 1216
