#TodayInHistory – June 15

June 15 – Some important events on this day.

763 BC 👉🏼 Assyrians record a solar eclipse that will be used to fix the chronology of Mesopotamian history.

1215 👉🏼 King John signs Magna Carta.
The Magna Carta or “the Great Charter” in Latin was agreed by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on this day.
First drafted by the Archbishop of Canterbury to make peace between the unpopular King and a group of rebel barons, it promised the protection of church rights, protection for the barons from illegal imprisonment, access to swift justice, and limitations on feudal payments to the Crown, to be implemented through a council of 25 barons.
Neither side stood behind their commitments, and the charter was annulled by Pope Innocent III, leading to the First Barons’ War.
The charter was later revived and eventually became part of English political life, typically being renewed by each monarch in turn.
This document, one of only four surviving is held at the British Library and is identified as “British Library Cotton MS Augustus II.106”.
Originally authenticated with the Great Seal of King John, the original wax seal has been lost over the centuries.

1219 👉🏼 Dannebrog is the flag of Denmark and the oldest national flag in the world. According to legend, it fell from the sky during the Battle of Lyndanisse (now Tallinn) in Estonia, and turned the Danes’ luck. 🇩🇰
Today, exactly 801 years after the battle in Estonia, the red-and-white flag has gained widespread use among the population of Denmark for birthdays, funerals and practically everything in between and, up until today, in many homes in Denmark, parents tell their children the legend of how the flag came about.
In the early 13th century, the Danish king Valdemar Sejr (the Victorious) led his army on a crusade in present-day Estonia. During a battle on this day, the Danes were on the defensive when suddenly a red banner with a white cross fell from the sky. As a result, the luck changed, the Danish army won, and Denmark got its flag.
The legend was first mentioned by historians in the early 16th century and, since 1913, the flag (and the legend of its origin) is celebrated annually on June 15, which is named Valdemar’s Day after the late king. That day, as on many other days, the flag is raised across the country.

1775 👉🏼 George Washington appointed commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, the day after Congress establishes the force

1846 👉🏼 U.S.-Canadian border established.
Representatives of Great Britain and the United States sign the Oregon Treaty, which settles a long-standing dispute with Britain over who controlled the Oregon territory. The treaty established the 49th parallel from the Rocky Mountains to the Strait of Georgia as the boundary between the United States and British Canada. The United States gained formal control over the future states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana, and the British retained Vancouver Island and navigation rights to part of the Columbia River.

1876 👉🏼 Tsunamis after earthquake floods NE coast of Japan, kills 28,000

1878 👉🏼 World’s first moving pictures caught on camera (used 12 cameras, each taking 1 picture) done to see if all 4 of a horse’s hooves leave the ground.
The late 19th century saw nascent motion picture technology develop at a rapid pace as cameras and other technology slowly became mainstream. One of the earliest attempts at a moving image was the result of a test by the film pioneer Eadweard Muybridge.
The purpose of the 24 rapidly taken photographs of a galloping horse was to see whether a horse lifts all four of its feet off the ground during a gallop, which human eyes cannot see at a certain speed. The images showed that a horse sometimes has all 4 feet off the ground simultaneously.
In 1880 Muybridge showed the images at the California School of Fine Arts – the first ever motion picture exhibition. The late 19th century saw nascent motion picture technology develop at a rapid pace as cameras and other technology slowly became mainstream. One of the earliest attempts at a moving image was the result of a test by the film pioneer Eadweard Muybridge.
The purpose of the 24 rapidly taken photographs of a galloping horse was to see whether a horse lifts all four of its feet off the ground during a gallop, which human eyes cannot see at a certain speed. The images showed that a horse sometimes has all 4 feet off the ground simultaneously.
In 1880 Muybridge showed the images at the California School of Fine Arts – the first ever motion picture exhibition.

1896 👉🏼 Tsunami strikes Shinto festival on beach at Sanriku, Japan; 27,000 are killed, 9,000 injured and 13,000 houses destroyed.
1924 👉🏼 Ford Motor Company manufactures its 10 millionth automobile.
1940 👉🏼 World War II: France surrenders to NAZI Germany, German troops occupy Paris
1991 👉🏼 Climactic eruption of the Mount Pinatubo volcano in the Philippines, the second-largest volcanic eruption on Earth of the 20th century 🌋
2002 👉🏼 Near earth asteroid 2002 MN missed the Earth by 75,000 miles (120,000 km), about one-third of the distance between the Earth and the Moon 🌝