Today:
1783 – A powerful earthquake strikes Calabria, southern Italy, killing around 50,000 people.
1852 – The Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia, one of the largest and most prestigious museums in the world, opens to the public.
1869 – The largest alluvial gold nugget in history, called the “Welcome Stranger,” is discovered in Victoria, Australia.
1885 – King Leopold II of Belgium establishes the Congo Free State as his personal possession, leading to decades of brutal colonial rule.
1917 – The U.S. Congress passes the Immigration Act of 1917, which imposes strict restrictions, including a literacy test and barring immigrants from much of Asia.
1924 – The Royal Greenwich Observatory begins broadcasting the hourly time signal known as the “BBC pips,” which are still used today.
1958 – A hydrogen bomb is lost near Tybee Island, Georgia, after a U.S. Air Force B-47 bomber accidentally drops it during a training mission.
1971 – Astronauts from Apollo 14, Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell, land on the Moon and conduct two moonwalks.
1988 – The Panamanian Parliament names Manuel Noriega as the head of state, despite increasing U.S. pressure for his removal.
2021 – Myanmar’s military blocks access to Facebook and other social media platforms following a coup that ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s government.