This Day in History – 19th April

This Day in History is DUE’s daily dose of trivia for all the history buffs out there. So sit back and take a ride to all the fascinating things that happened today!

People are trapped in history and history is trapped in people, and hence, every day has been a significant one in the foibles of History. Let’s take a tour of “This Day in History – 19th of April”.

1451 Alam Shah of Delhi resigns throne

Alam Shah was the fourth and last ruler of the Sayyid dynasty which ruled the Delhi Sultanate. Born Ala-ud-Din, he succeeded his father, Muhammad Shah to the throne and took on the regnal name of Alam Shah (“world king”).

1770 British explorer Captain James Cook first sights Australia

After observing the transit of Venus in Tahiti and mapping the North and South Islands of New Zealand, James Cook’s Endeavour sailed west. The crew first sighted the mainland of Australia on 19 April 1770.

1775 Shot Heard Round the World: American Revolution begins

The American Revolutionary War began on April 19, 1775, with a battle between British soldiers and American revolutionaries at Concord and Lexington in Massachusetts. The first shot of the war – the so-called “shot heard ’round the world” is not actually known to history. The term comes from a poem, “Concord Hymn”, by Ralph Waldo Emerson.

The war would end eight years later with the independence of a new country born of the Thirteen Colonies – the United States of America.

1810 Venezuela achieves home rule

Vicente Emparan, Governor of the Captaincy General is removed by the people of Caracas and a Junta is installed.

1839 Treaty of London constitutes Belgium an independent kingdom & Luxembourg a Grand Duchy

The Treaty of London of 1839, also called the First Treaty of London, the Convention of 1839, the Treaty of Separation, the Quintuple Treaty of 1839, or the Treaty of the XXIV articles, was a treaty signed on 19 April 1839 between the Concert of Europe, the United Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Kingdom of Belgium. The Grand Duchy of Luxemburg was in a personal union with the Netherlands and simultaneously a member of the German Confederation. The treaty partitioned the grand duchy. It lost two-thirds of its territory to Belgium’s new Province of Luxembourg.

1852 California Historical Society forms

The California Historical Society collection highlights, pictorial essays, book reviews, a full-page photographic feature, and an editor’s column. On this day in History, it was born.

1870 Princess Vera Gedroits is born

Princess Vera Ignatievna Gedroits was a Russian doctor of medicine and author. She was the first female military surgeon in Russia, the first female professor of surgery, and the first woman to serve as a physician in the Imperial Palace of Russia. Above all, Google dedicates a doodle to celebrate her 151st birth anniversary.

1911 George Bernard Shaw’s “Fanny’s First Play” premieres in London

On this day in History, it opened at the Little Theatre in the Adelphi in London and ran for 622 performances.

1919 French assembly decides on an 8-hour workday

The 8-hour day was enacted in France by Georges Clemenceau. It was succeeded by strong French support during the writing of the International Labour Organization Convention of 1919.

1923 New Egyptian law allows suffrage for men

The new Egyptian law allowed suffrage for men, making soldiers an exception. Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise is the right to vote in public, political elections. In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to vote is called active suffrage, as distinct from passive suffrage, which is the right to stand for election.

1936 First day of the Great Uprising in Palestine

The uprising was all about anti-Jewish riots. The strike began on this day in History in Nablus, where an Arab National Committee was formed, and by the end of the month, National Committees had been formed in all of the towns and some of the larger villages.

Read more about it here.

1943 Beginning the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

Jews refuse to surrender the Warsaw Ghetto to SS officer Jürgen Stroop, who then orders its destruction. Consequently, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising takes place.

1945 Diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and Guatemala are established

Guatemala had diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union on this day in History, during the Cold War era. On January 4, 1991, a joint communique about the exchange of diplomatic missions was signed.

1954 7-time winner of Boston Marathon runs his last race

7-time winner of the Boston Marathon, 65-year-old Clarence DeMar, runs his last race at Boston finishing 78th.

1955 Volkswagen of America is born

The German automaker Volkswagen, after six years of selling cars in the United States, founds Volkswagen of America in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey to standardize its dealer and service network.

1971 Sierra Leone becomes a republic (National Day)

Sierra Leone was a sovereign state with Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state between independence on 27 April 1961. It becomes the Republic of Sierra Leone on this day in History.

1975 India launches 1st satellite with help of USSR

The Aryabhata spacecraft, named after the famous Indian astronomer, was India’s first satellite. It was completely designed and fabricated in India and launched by a Soviet Kosmos-3M rocket from Kapustin Yar.

1987 Last wild condor captured in California wildlife reserve

A 7-year-old male condor, known to biologists as “AC-g,” was captured on Sunday, April 19 at 10:15 A.M. PDT on Bitter Creek National Wildlife Refuge with a cannon net and transported to the San Diego Wild Animal Park where veterinarians pronounced it healthy and in good condition.

1996 South Africa defeat India to win the Pepsi Cup in Sharjah

The 1996 Pepsi Sharjah Cup was a triangular ODI cricket competition held in Sharjah, the United Arab Emirates from 12 to 19 April 1996. It featured the national cricket teams of South Africa, Pakistan and India. Its official sponsor was Pepsi. The tournament was won by South Africa, which defeated India in the final.

2011 Fidel Castro resigns from the Communist Party of Cuba’s central committee

On this day in History, Fidel Castro resigns from the Communist Party of Cuba’s central committee after 45 years of holding the title.

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