August
6
Independence
Day
Bolivia : August 6 1825
Jamaica : August 6 1962
Events
August 6
1284 – The
Republic of Pisa is defeated in the Battle of Meloria by the
Republic of Genoa, thus losing its naval dominance in the Mediterranean.
1506 – The Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeated the Crimean Khanate
in the Battle of Kletsk
1538 – Bogotá, Colombia, is founded by Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada.
1661 – The Treaty of The Hague is signed by Portugal and the
Dutch Republic.
1777 – American Revolutionary War: The bloody Battle of Oriskany
prevents American relief of the Siege of Fort Stanwix.
1787 – Sixty proof sheets of the Constitution of the United
States are delivered to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia.
1806 – Francis II, the last Holy Roman Emperor, abdicates ending
the Holy Roman Empire.
1819 – Norwich University is founded in Vermont as the first
private military school in the United States.
1825 – Bolivia gains independence from Spain.
1845 – The Russian Geographical Society is founded in Saint
Petersburg.
1861 – The United Kingdom annexes Lagos, Nigeria.
1862 – American Civil War: the Confederate ironclad CSS Arkansas
is scuttled on the Mississippi River after suffering damage
in a battle with USS Essex near Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
1870 – Franco-Prussian War: the Battle of Wörth results in a
decisive Prussian victory.
1890 – At Auburn Prison in New York, murderer William Kemmler
becomes the first person to be executed by electric chair.
1901 – Kiowa land in Oklahoma is opened for white settlement,
effectively dissolving the contiguous reservation.
1912 – The Bull Moose Party meets at the Chicago Coliseum.
1914 – World War I: First Battle of the Atlantic – two days
after the United Kingdom had declared war on Germany over the
German invasion of Belgium, ten German U-boats leave their base
in Helgoland to attack Royal Navy warships in the North Sea.
1914 – World War I: Serbia declares war on Germany; Austria
declares war on Russia.
1915 – World War I: Battle of Sari Bair – the Allies mount a
diversionary attack timed to coincide with a major Allied landing
of reinforcements at Suvla Bay.
1917 – World War I: Battle of Mărăşeşti between the Romanian
and German armies begins.
1926 – Gertrude Ederle becomes the first woman to swim across
the English Channel.
1926 – In New York City, the Warner Brothers' Vitaphone system
premieres with the movie Don Juan starring John Barrymore.
1926 – Harry Houdini performs his greatest feat, spending 91
minutes underwater in a sealed tank before escaping.
1930 – Judge Joseph Force Crater steps into a taxi in New York
and disappears never to be seen again.
1940 – Estonia was illegally annexed by the Soviet Union.
1942 – Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands becomes the first
reigning queen to address a joint session of the United States
Congress.
1945 – World War II: Hiroshima is devastated when the atomic
bomb "Little Boy" is dropped by the United States
B-29 Enola Gay. Around 70,000 people are killed instantly, and
some tens of thousands die in subsequent years from burns and
radiation poisoning.
1953 – Venerable Pius XII establishes the Dioceses of Norwich
and Bridgeport and makes the Diocese of Hartford an archdiocese.
1956 – After going bankrupt in 1955, the American broadcaster
DuMont Television Network makes its final broadcast, a boxing
match from St. Nicholas Arena in New York in the Boxing from
St. Nicholas Arena series.
1960 – Cuban Revolution: Cuba nationalizes American and foreign-owned
property in the nation.
1962 – Jamaica becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
1964 – Prometheus, a bristlecone pine and the world's oldest
tree, is cut down.
1965 – US President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights
Act of 1965 into law.
1965 – The largest swimming pool in Europe was opened in Fürstenfeld,
Austria.
1966 – Braniff Airlines Flight 250 crashes in Falls City, NE
killing all 42 on board.
1976 – Zulfikar Ali Bhutto lays the foundation stone of Port
Qasim, Karachi.
1986 – A low-pressure system that redeveloped off the New South
Wales coast dumps a record 328 millimeters (13 inches) of rain
in a day on Sydney.
1988 – The Tompkins Square Park Police Riot in New York City
spurs a reform of the NYPD, held responsible for the event.
1990 – Gulf War: the United Nations Security Council orders
a global trade embargo against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion
of Kuwait.
1991 – Tim Berners-Lee releases files describing his idea for
the World Wide Web. WWW debuts as a publicly available service
on the Internet.
1991 – Doi Takako, chair of the Social Democratic Party, becomes
Japan's first female speaker of the House of Representatives.
1993 – Heavy rains and debris kill 72 in the Kagoshima and Aira
areas of Kyūshū, Japan.
1996 – NASA announces that the ALH 84001 meteorite, thought
to originate from Mars, contains evidence of primitive life-forms.
1997 – Korean Air Flight 801, a Boeing 747-300, crashes into
the jungle on Guam on approach to airport, killing 228.
2001 – Erwadi fire incident, 28 mentally ill persons tied to
chain were burnt to death at a faith based institution at Erwadi,
Tamil Nadu.
2008 – A military junta led by Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz stages
a coup d'état in Mauritania, overthrowing president Sidi Ould
Cheikh Abdallahi.
2011 – A helicopter containing members of Navy SEAL 6 is shot
down in Afghanistan killing 38.
Holidays
and observances
Christian
Feast Day:
Feast of the Transfiguration of Christ
Justus and Pastor
August 6 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
H.H. Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan's Accession Day. (United
Arab Emirates)
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony (Hiroshima, Japan)
Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Bolivia from
Spain in 1825.
Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Jamaica from
the United Kingdom in 1962.
The beginning of Tanabata festival. (Sendai, Japan)
For details, contact Datacentre
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