TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON: DEC 26

2004 – Under the Indian Ocean, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake sent 500-mph waves across the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal. The tsunami killed at least 283,000 people in a dozen countries, including Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Sumatra, Thailand and India.

1492 – 1st Spanish settlement La Navidad in the New World is founded by Christopher Columbus (modern Môle-Saint-Nicolas in Haiti)

1606 – First known performance of William Shakespeare’s tragedy “King Lear” before the court of King James I at Whitehall, London

1620 – The Pilgrim Fathers landed at New Plymouth, MA, to found Plymouth Colony, with John Carver as Governor.

1705 – Fateh Singh (6) and Zorawar Singh (7), sons of Guru Gobind Singh, are murdered by Wazir Khan for refusing to convert to Islam; they are now among the most hallowed martyrs in Sikhism

1773 – Expulsion of tea ships from Philadelphia

1776 – The British suffered a major defeat in the Battle of Trenton during the American Revolutionary War.

1792 – Trial of French King Louis XVI, court hears the kings defense brought by Raymond Desèze

1799 – George Washington is eulogized by Colonel Henry Lee as “1st in war, 1st in peace & 1st in hearts of his countrymen”

1811 – A theater fire in Richmond, Virginia kills the Governor of Virginia George William Smith and the president of the First National Bank of Virginia Abraham B. Venable.

1825 – Decembrist uprising in Russia against Tsar Nicholas I begins

1854 – Treaty of Medicine Creek signed by Nisqually, Puyallup and Coast Salish peoples with Isaac Ingalls Stevens, Governor of Washington Territory, giving up 2.5 million acres to preserve fishing and gathering rights

1862 – Largest mass execution in US history: 38 Dakota men were executed via hanging in the aftermath of the U.S.-Dakota War in Mankato, Minnesota.

1865 – The coffee percolator was patented by James H. Mason.

1898 – Marie and Pierre Curie discovered radium.

1908 – Texan boxer “Galveston Jack” Johnson knocked out Tommy Burns in Sydney, Australia, to become the first black boxer to win the world heavyweight title.

1914 – US Government protests British interference with American merchant ships at sea, on the same day Germans announce they will treat food as contraband, subject to seizure; weakens America’s protest

1917 – During World War I, the U.S. government took over operation of the nation’s railroads.

1918 – After spending Christmas with American troops in France, Wilson goes to London for preliminary discussions about the forthcoming peace conference

1921 – The Catholic Irish Free State became a self-governing dominion of Great Britain.

1941 – Winston Churchill became the first British prime minister to address a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress.

1941 – U.S. President Roosevelt signed a resolution that set the a fixed-date, the fourth Thursday of November, for the Federal Thanksgiving Day holiday.

1947 – Heavy snow blanketed the Northeast United States, burying New York City under 25.8 inches of snow in 16 hours. The severe weather was blamed for about 80 deaths.

1954 – “The Shadow” airs for last time on radio

1956 – Fidel Castro attempted a secret landing in Cuba to overthrow the Batista regime. All but 11 of his supporters were killed.

1963 – US furnishes cereal to USSR

1966 – First Kwanzaa celebrations, The week-long cultural holiday is celebrated among African diaspora in the United States and was created by Maulana Karenga, a professor of Africana Studies and a key figure in the Black Power movement. The holiday is celebrated annually from December 26 to January 1, and it is a recognition of African culture and heritage.

1968 – Arab terrorists in Athens fire on El Al plane, kills 1

1979 – Soviet Special forces take over presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan.

1982 – The Man of the Year in “TIME” magazine was a computer. It was the first time a non-human received the honors.

1986 – Captured Iraqi Airways Boeing-737 in Saudi Arabia, about 60 killed

1986 – “Search for Tomorrow” was seen for the last time on CBS-TV. The show had been on the air for 35-years.

1991 – Militant Sikhs kill 55 & wound 70 in India

1991 – The Soviet Union’s parliament formally voted the country out of existence.

1995 – Israel turned dozens of West Bank villages over to the Palestinian Authority.

1996 – Six-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey was found beaten and strangled in the basement of her family’s home in Boulder, CO.

1998 – Iraq announced that it would fire on U.S. and British warplanes that patrol the skies over northern and southern Iraq.

2001 – Crude oil prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) record one of their largest 1-day jumps of the year as traders become convinced that OPEC will follow through on production cuts

2002 – The first cloned human baby was born. The announcement was made the December 27 by Clonaid.

2004 – Under the Indian Ocean, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake sent 500-mph waves across the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal. The tsunami killed at least 283,000 people in a dozen countries, including Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Sumatra, Thailand and India.

2018 – American Colin O’Brady is the first person to cross Antarctica solo and unassisted after 54 days at the Ross Ice Shelf

REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com