October 11 - Events

Events

• 1138 – A massive earthquake strikes Aleppo, Syria.
• 1531 – Huldrych Zwingli is killed in battle with the Roman Catholic cantons of Switzerland.
• 1582 – Because of the implementation of the Gregorian calendar, this day does not exist in this year in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain.
• 1614 – Adriaen Block and 12 Amsterdam merchants petition the States General for exclusive trading rights in the New Netherland colony.
• 1634 – The Burchardi flood – "the second Grote Mandrenke" killed around 15,000 men in North Friesland, Denmark and Germany.
• 1649 – Sack of Wexford: After a ten-day siege, English New Model Army troops (under Oliver Cromwell) stormed the town of Wexford, killing over 2,000 Irish Confederate troops and 1,500 civilians.
• 1727 – George II and Caroline of Ansbach are crowned King and Queen of Great Britain.
• 1767 – Surveying for the Mason–Dixon Line separating Maryland from Pennsylvania is completed.
• 1776 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Valcour Island – On Lake Champlain a fleet of American boats is defeated by the Royal Navy, but delays the British advance until 1777.
• 1797 – Battle of Camperdown: Naval battle between Royal Navy and Royal Netherlands Navy during the French Revolutionary Wars. The outcome of the battle was a decisive British victory.
• 1809 – Along the Natchez Trace in Tennessee, explorer Meriwether Lewis dies under mysterious circumstances at an inn called Grinder's Stand.
• 1811 – Inventor John Stevens' boat, the Juliana, begins operation as the first steam-powered ferry (service between New York City, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey).
• 1833 – A big demonstration at the gates of the legislature of Buenos Aires forces the ousting of governor Juan Ramón Balcarce and his replacement with Juan José Viamonte.
• 1852 – The University of Sydney, Australia's oldest university, is inaugurated in Sydney.
• 1862 – American Civil War: In the aftermath of the Battle of Antietam, Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart and his men loot Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, during a raid into the north.
• 1864 – Campina Grande, Brazil is established as a city.
• 1865 – Paul Bogle led hundreds of black men and women in a march in Jamaica, starting the Morant Bay rebellion.
• 1890 – In Washington, DC, the Daughters of the American Revolution is founded.
• 1899 – Second Boer War begins: In South Africa, a war between the United Kingdom and the Boers of the Transvaal and Orange Free State erupts.
• 1899 – The Western League is renamed the American League.
• 1906 – San Francisco public school board sparks a diplomatic crisis between the United States and Japan by ordering Japanese students to be taught in racially segregated schools.
• 1910 – Former President Theodore Roosevelt becomes the first U.S. president to fly in an airplane. He flew for four minutes with Arch Hoxsey in a plane built by the Wright Brothers at Kinloch Field (Lambert-St. Louis International Airport), St. Louis, Missouri.
• 1912 – First Balkan War: The Greek Army liberates the city of Kozani.
• 1918 – San Fermín earthquake hits western Puerto Rico.
• 1929 – JC Penney opens store #1252 in Milford, Delaware, making it a nationwide company with stores in all 48 U.S. states.
• 1941 – Beginning of the National Liberation War of Macedonia.
• 1942 – World War II: Battle of Cape Esperance – On the northwest coast of Guadalcanal, United States Navy ships intercept and defeat a Japanese fleet on their way to reinforce troops on the island.
• 1944 – Tuvinian People's Republic or formerly Tannu Tuva is annexed by the U.S.S.R
• 1950 – Television: CBS's mechanical color system is the first to be licensed for broadcast by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.
• 1954 – First Indochina War: The Viet Minh take control of North Vietnam.
• 1957 – Space Race: M.I.T. scientists calculate Sputnik I's booster rocket's orbit.
• 1958 – Pioneer program: NASA launches the lunar probe Pioneer 1 (the probe falls back to Earth and burns up).
• 1962 – Second Vatican Council: Pope John XXIII convenes the first ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church in 92 years.
• 1968 – Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 7, the first successful manned Apollo mission, with astronauts Wally Schirra, Donn F. Eisele and Walter Cunningham aboard.
• 1972 – A race riot occurs on the United States Navy aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk off the coast of Vietnam during Operation Linebacker.
• 1975 – The NBC sketch comedy/variety show Saturday Night Live debuts with George Carlin as the host and Andy Kaufman, Janis Ian and Billy Preston as guests.
• 1976 – George Washington's appointment, posthumously, to the grade of General of the Armies of the United States by congressional joint resolution Public Law 94-479 is approved by President Gerald R. Ford.
• 1982 – The Mary Rose, a Tudor carrack which sank on July 19, 1545, is salvaged from the sea bed of the Solent, off Portsmouth.
• 1984 – Aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger, astronaut Kathryn D. Sullivan becomes the first American woman to perform a space walk.
• 1986 – Cold War: U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet in Reykjavík, Iceland, in an effort to continue discussions about scaling back their intermediate missile arsenals in Europe.
• 1987 – Start of Operation Pawan by Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka that killed thousands of ethnic Tamil civilians and hundreds of Tamil Tigers & Indian Army soldiers.
• 1996 – Pala accident: a wood lorry and school bus collide in Jõgeva county, Estonia, killing eight children.
• 2000 – NASA launches STS-92, the 100th Space Shuttle mission, using Space Shuttle Discovery.
• 2001 – The Polaroid Corporation files for federal bankruptcy protection.
• 2002 – A bomb attack in a shopping mall in Vantaa, Finland kills seven.
• 2012 – International Day of the Girl Child (United Nations).