by .
A huge earthquake devastated the southern Moroccan city of Agadir killing thousands. It lasted for more than 10 seconds and was accompanied by a massive tidal wave which added to the destruction. Fire broke out across the city soon afterwards. Offers of financial, medical and military assistance flooded in from around the world in the days following the disaster. Two days after the earthquake the Moroccan authorities ordered the total evacuation of Agadir in a bid to avoid the spread of disease. The final death toll was 12,000. The earthquake was the worst to ever hit Morocco. More...
2012 - The world's tallest tower is completed
The Tokyo Skytree measures 634 m (2080 ft). It is also the world's second tallest man-made structure, after Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
2004 - Jean-Bertrand Aristide is removed as President of Haiti
The country's first democratically elected president was toppled in a coup d'etat following the assassination of a gang leader. Aristide went into exile in South Africa and returned to Haiti in 2011.
1996 - The siege of Sarajevo is lifted after nearly 4 years
The siege of Bosnia and Herzegovina's capital during the Bosnian War was the longest lasting siege of a capital city in the history of modern warfare.
1996 - A Boeing 737 crashes in the Andes, killing all 123 on board
A wrong barometric altimeter setting caused the pilots to fly too low during an approach to Rodríguez Ballón International Airport in Arequipa, Peru.
Historic Trivia pick
Crafty Columbus Plays a Leap Year Trick
Anyone born on February 29th would not consider themselves lucky. For a start, they have a real birthday only once every four years when it is a leap year, such as 2016. The list of famous people born on this day is short, if not almost non-existent. Research shows that rapper Ja Rule as possibly the most well known.
Nevertheless, leap years are considered by some to be lucky and it is said that any enterprise started on February 29th is certain to succeed.
Italian explorer Christopher Columbus, the man who discovered America, certainly found this to be true in 1504. Nine months earlier he had become marooned on the island that we now know as Jamaica, his ship fatally damaged by a woodworm epidemic.
Fortunately, the native people – Arawak Indians – were friendly and were happy to provide food and shelter for Columbus and his crew. At first.
But as the months went by the Arawaks grew tired of this one-sided arrangement and were not happy, according to some historians, by the “arrogant and overbearing” attitude of Columbus himself. Things came to a head when some Arawaks were killed in a fight with the crew. So they stopped the supply of food to the castaways.
Facing starvation, the explorer came up with an ingenious plan. After consulting an almanac in his cabin, he learned that a total lunar eclipse would occur on Thursday, February 29, 1504 – in just three days’ time.
He then told the Arawaks that his Christian God was angry with them for stopping the food and that as a sign of His anger He would soon make the moon appear “inflamed with wrath” as a signal to them of the punishments He would inflict.
Sure enough, on the third night, the normally bright new moon appeared as a bloody and dim ball in the sky. According to Columbus’s son, Ferdinand, the Arawaks were terrified and "with great howling and lamentation came running to the ship laden with provisions and beseeching the Admiral to intercede with his God on their behalf”.
Columbus said he would have to think about it and went to his cabin. He did not emerge for nearly an hour – shortly before the end of the eclipse – and then told the Arawaks that his God had pardoned them.
And, just as Columbus told them it would, the moon – in reality emerging from the Earth’s shadow – slowly began to reappear in its normal form and brightness. The awestruck Arawaks kept Columbus and his men well fed until a relief ship took them away four months later.
Huge Earthquake Devastates the Southern Moroccan City of Agadir
A huge earthquake devastated the southern Moroccan city of Agadir killing thousands. It lasted for more than 10 seconds and was accompanied by a massive tidal wave which added to the destruction. Fire broke out across the city soon afterwards. Offers of financial, medical and military assistance flooded in from around the world in the days following the disaster. Two days after the earthquake the Moroccan authorities ordered the total evacuation of Agadir in a bid to avoid the spread of disease. The final death toll was 12,000. The earthquake was the worst to ever hit Morocco. More...
2012 - The world's tallest tower is completed
The Tokyo Skytree measures 634 m (2080 ft). It is also the world's second tallest man-made structure, after Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
2004 - Jean-Bertrand Aristide is removed as President of Haiti
The country's first democratically elected president was toppled in a coup d'etat following the assassination of a gang leader. Aristide went into exile in South Africa and returned to Haiti in 2011.
1996 - The siege of Sarajevo is lifted after nearly 4 years
The siege of Bosnia and Herzegovina's capital during the Bosnian War was the longest lasting siege of a capital city in the history of modern warfare.
1996 - A Boeing 737 crashes in the Andes, killing all 123 on board
A wrong barometric altimeter setting caused the pilots to fly too low during an approach to Rodríguez Ballón International Airport in Arequipa, Peru.
Historic Trivia pickCrafty Columbus Plays a Leap Year Trick
Anyone born on February 29th would not consider themselves lucky. For a start, they have a real birthday only once every four years when it is a leap year, such as 2016. The list of famous people born on this day is short, if not almost non-existent. Research shows that rapper Ja Rule as possibly the most well known.
Nevertheless, leap years are considered by some to be lucky and it is said that any enterprise started on February 29th is certain to succeed.
Italian explorer Christopher Columbus, the man who discovered America, certainly found this to be true in 1504. Nine months earlier he had become marooned on the island that we now know as Jamaica, his ship fatally damaged by a woodworm epidemic.
Fortunately, the native people – Arawak Indians – were friendly and were happy to provide food and shelter for Columbus and his crew. At first.
But as the months went by the Arawaks grew tired of this one-sided arrangement and were not happy, according to some historians, by the “arrogant and overbearing” attitude of Columbus himself. Things came to a head when some Arawaks were killed in a fight with the crew. So they stopped the supply of food to the castaways.
Facing starvation, the explorer came up with an ingenious plan. After consulting an almanac in his cabin, he learned that a total lunar eclipse would occur on Thursday, February 29, 1504 – in just three days’ time.
He then told the Arawaks that his Christian God was angry with them for stopping the food and that as a sign of His anger He would soon make the moon appear “inflamed with wrath” as a signal to them of the punishments He would inflict.
Sure enough, on the third night, the normally bright new moon appeared as a bloody and dim ball in the sky. According to Columbus’s son, Ferdinand, the Arawaks were terrified and "with great howling and lamentation came running to the ship laden with provisions and beseeching the Admiral to intercede with his God on their behalf”.
Columbus said he would have to think about it and went to his cabin. He did not emerge for nearly an hour – shortly before the end of the eclipse – and then told the Arawaks that his God had pardoned them.
And, just as Columbus told them it would, the moon – in reality emerging from the Earth’s shadow – slowly began to reappear in its normal form and brightness. The awestruck Arawaks kept Columbus and his men well fed until a relief ship took them away four months later.
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61-BLUES
