This day in #History
October 19th
202 BC - Battle of Zama: Hannibal Barca, leader of the invading Carthaginian army, defeated by Roman legions under Scipio Africanus.
439 - The Vandals, led by King Gaiseric, take Carthage in North Africa.
1453 - 2nd Battle at Castillon: French beats English, end of hundred year war
1466 - The Thirteen Years' War ends with the Second Peace of Thorn, Germany
1492 - Columbus sites "Isabela" (Fortune Island, Bahamas)
1512 - Martin Luther becomes a doctor of theology (Doctor in Biblia).
1576 - Dutch provinces begin consultation about Spanish existence
1722 - Frenchman C Hopffer patents fire extinguisher
1781 - British General Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown at 2 pm; Revolutionary War ends
1812 - Napoleon begins his retreat from Moscow
1822 - In Parnaíba; Simplício Dias da Silva, João Cândido de Deus e Silva and Domingos Dias declare the independent state of Piauí.
1853 - 1st flour mill in Hawaii begins operations
1872 - World's largest gold nugget (215 kg) found in New South Wales
1879 - Afghan's emir Mohammed Yakub forced to resign
1879 - Thomas Edison demonstrates electric light
1901 - Santos-Dumont proves airship maneuverable by circling Eiffel Tower
1912 - Tripoli (Libya) passes from Turkish to Italian control
1915 - Russia/Italy declares war on Bulgaria
1925 - Italian army takes Somalia
1926 - John C Garand patents semi-automatic rifle
1926 - Russian Politburo throws out Leo Trotsky & followers
1960 - France grants Mauritania independence
1960 - Martin Luther King Jr arrested in Atlanta sit-in
1960 - US imposes embargo on exports to Cuba
1962 - Stalin monument removed in Prague
1974 - Niue becomes self - govering, in association
with New Zealand
1976 - Battle of Aishiya in Lebanon . The same day ,
the Chimpanzee (Pan Troglodytes) is placed on the
List of Endangered Species .
1981 - Nicolaas Bloembergen & Arthur Schawlow win
Nobel for physics (laser)
1983 - Senate establishes Martin Luther King Jr federal holiday
1988 - 3 Americans win Nobel in physics ; 3 W
Germans win chemistry Nobel
2005 - Saddam Hussein goes on trial in Baghdad for
crimes against humanity .
FAMOUS BIRTHDAYS
1868 - Bertha Landes, 1st woman elected mayor of a major US city (Seattle)
1899 - Miguel Asturias, Guatemala, poet/diplomat (Hombres de Maiz, Nobel 67), (d. 1974)
1910 - Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, India, astrophysicist (Nobel 1983)
1962 - Evander Holyfield, Atmore Ala , boxer (Oly - bronze-1988 )/ champ (1990 -92)
1967 - Amy Carter, Pres Carter's daughter/ peace
activist
FAMOUS DEATHS
1937 - Ernest Rutherford, New Zealand physicist (Nobel 1908), dies at 66
1993 - Roy Armstrong, English historian (Traditional buildings), dies at 91
1994 - Munavarsjo Nazrijev, vice-president of Tadzjikistan, dies
1994 - Oldrich Cernik, Czechoslovakia premier (1968-70), dies at 72
2003 - Alija Izetbegović, President of Bosnia-Herzegovina (b. 1925)