#TodayInHistory – May 10

May 10 – Some important events on this day

1497 👉🏼 Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci leaves for his first voyage to the New World 🗺
1503 👉🏼 Christopher Columbus discovers Cayman Islands 🇰🇾
1752 👉🏼 Benjamin Franklin tests the lightning conductor with his kite-flying experiment
1775 👉🏼 Second Continental Congress convenes in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and issues paper currency for 1st time
1801 👉🏼 First Barbary War: The Barbary pirates of Tripoli declare war on the United States of America (1st US foreign war)

1857 👉🏼 Indian mutiny against rule by the British East India Company begins with the revolt of the Sepoy soldiers in Meerut.
By 1857, India – in whole or in part – had been under the rule of the British East India Company (on behalf of the Crown) for nearly a century. The assumption of British rule over this vast, diverse territory was not without the bloodshed and anguish that marked the era of imperialism.
The simmering anger at British rule is symbolized best by the rebellion of 1857. On 10 May of that year, sepoys in the town of Meerut mutinied against the Company. This was swiftly followed by other rebellions and uprisings across the country, but mainly in northern and central India. The rebellion against the British was not a unanimous uprising: many Indians fought for the British, and wholesale destruction laid waste to cities like Delhi and Lucknow.
Cruelty was widespread on both sides, and British reprisals after the fact confirmed the original grievances of many that had taken part. After the rebels were defeated, in 1858, the East India Company was disestablished and direct rule was formed, leading to the creation of the British Raj.

1869 👉🏼 Transcontinental railroad completed, unifying United States.
1872 👉🏼 Victoria Woodhull becomes 1st woman nominated for US presidency by Equal Rights Party at Apollo Hall, NYC
1908 👉🏼 1st Mother’s Day observed (Philadelphia) 🌷
1915 👉🏼 Canadian physician Cluny MacPherson first presents his gas mask invention to the British War Office
1940 👉🏼 Winston Churchill succeeds Neville Chamberlain as British Prime Minister
1960 👉🏼 US atomic submarine USS Triton completes 1st submerged circumnavigation of the globe
1994 👉🏼 Nelson Mandela sworn in as South Africa’s 1st black president

2017 👉🏼 United States Geological Survey (USGS) releases a report saying that some glaciers in Montana have receded by 85% in the last 50 years.
This means that many of them are no longer technically glaciers, as they need to be larger than 25 acres. Glaciers are in decline all around the world. Some glaciers have disappeared altogether. This is expected to have hazardous effects on the environment, contributing to sea level rise and badly impacting animals and irrigation that depend on glacial water.