Monday, January 28, 2008

What happened on this day, or in that year?

After writing my "Where were they in 1808" posts here and here, I wondered what happened in the world in 1808. A quick search turned up the fact that Wikipedia has a good summary of what happened in almost every year. 1708 is here. 1808 is here. 1908 is here. 2008 is here (well, part of it!). The information is more complete for later years. Each year has significant births and deaths also.

Then I wondered about each day - what happened on today, 28 January, in history? Wikipedia has that too - January 28 is here. January 29 is here. Did you know that William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet was probably first performed in 1595 on 29 January (now it doesn't indicate Julian or Gregorian calendar, however)? And in one of the most forgettable games ever, the 49ers beat the Chargers in the Super Bowl in 1995 on 29 January. Sack cloth tomorrow in remembrance ...

Oh - 1808 -- here are the January 1808 entries:

* January 1 - Importation of slaves into the United States is banned; this is also the earliest day under the United States Constitution that an amendment could be made restricting slavery.
* January 12 - The organizational meeting that led to the creation of the Wernerian Natural History Society, a former Scottish learned society, was held in Edinburgh.
* 26 January - Rum Rebellion: On the twentieth anniversary of the foundation of the colony of New South Wales, disgruntled military officers of the New South Wales Corps (the "Rum Corps") overthrow and imprison Governor William Bligh and seize control of the colony.

This is pretty cool - I didn't know about any of those historic events before, and I'm not sure that I'll even remember them. I have always wondered where these "On This Day in History..." blurbs came from. The Wikipedia articles are much more complete, I think.

1 comment:

Henk van Kampen said...

There are many other "on this day" websites, e.g. BBC (recent events only), NY Times, reference.com, or On-This-Day.com. Most of these sites ignore Julian/Gregorian calendar issues...

A google search for "29 January" or "January 29" (with quotes) will also give you some "on this day" events.