#TodayInHistory – January 29
2 min read
January 29 – Some important events on this day
661 ππΌ Rashidun Caliphate, then the largest empire in history, ends with the death of its leader, Ali. Succeeded by the Umayyad Caliphate.
1595 ππΌ William Shakespeare’s play “Romeo and Juliet” is thought to have been first performed. Officially published early 1597.
1840 ππΌ First Governor of New Zealand and co-author of the Treaty of Waitangi Captain William Hobson arrives in the Bay of Islands, NZ.
Designed to share sovereignty between the British Crown and MΔori chiefs the Treaty of Waitangi is the founding document of New Zealand.
Although intended to create unity, different translations, understandings of the treaty and breaches of it, have caused conflict.
From the 1970s the New Zealand public gradually came to know more about the treaty and efforts to honour the treaty and its principles expanded.
1850 ππΌ Senator Henry Clay drafts the Compromise of 1850 to defuse tensions between slave states and free states over territories won during the MexicanβAmerican War.
1856 ππΌ Victoria Cross established to acknowledge valour in the face of the enemy (United Kingdom and Commonwealth countries)
1886 ππΌ Karl Benz patents the “Benz Patent-Motorwagen” in Karlsruhe, Germany, the world’s 1st automobile with a burning motor
1892 ππΌ The Coca-Cola Company is incorporated in Atlanta, Georgia
1896 ππΌ Emile Grubbe is the first doctor to use radiation treatment for breast cancer
1905 ππΌ Tsar Nicolas II of Russia, unsettled by the rising violence and protest, enacts reforms to improve the conditions of workers; these changes will do little to stop disorder throughout Russia in ensuing months
1959 ππΌ Walt Disney’s “Sleeping Beauty” released
1978 ππΌ Sweden outlaws aerosol sprays due to their harmful effect on the ozone layer, becoming the first nation to enact such a ban.
2002 ππΌ US President George W. Bush in his State of the Union address describes “regimes that sponsor terror” an “Axis of Evil”, which includes Iraq, Iran and North Korea
2014 ππΌ Cristiano Ronaldo becomes the 1st non-Spanish player to captain Real Madrid, making his 500th appearance for the club
2015 ππΌ Malaysia officially declares the disappearance of missing flight MH370 an accident
2020 ππΌ Number of COVID-19 cases passes those of SARS with over 7,700 cases in China confirmed, with 170 deaths