Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human in space (1961), and Britain annexes the Transvaal (1877). Born on this day: Jacob Zuma, Montserrat Caballé and David Letterman. Died: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Josephine Baker and Charles Messier.
28 events, 73 births and 56 deaths on this date.
Soviet pilot Yuri Gagarin completed a single orbit of Earth in the Vostok 1 capsule, lasting about 108 minutes. The flight showed the Soviet Union had leapt ahead in the Space Race and made him an international celebrity.
В. Жихаренко / ТАСС Обработка: Roman Kubanskiy · CC BY 4.0Britain formally took control of the Transvaal, a Boer republic in southern Africa, on this day in 1877. The move angered local settlers and helped lead to the First Anglo-Boer War, which Britain later lost in 1881.
A Soviet nuclear-powered submarine, the K-33, struck the Finnish merchant ship Finnclipper in the Danish straits. It showed how Cold War naval movements could meet ordinary commercial shipping in busy, narrow waters.
NATO began Operation Deny Flight, which barred unauthorised aircraft from Bosnian skies during the country's war. The United Nations had authorised it, and it was NATO's first military intervention.
Ottoman forces started slaughtering tens of thousands of Greek inhabitants on Chios during the Greek War of Independence. The killings, and the enslavement that followed, shocked Europe and turned opinion against the empire.
The act gave Puerto Rico a civil government and a measure of self-rule, though real power stayed with Washington. Its appointed governor and a US-chosen executive council kept tight control over the island's affairs.
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Jacob Zuma served as South Africa's fourth president from 2009 to 2018, after decades in the anti-apartheid struggle, including ten years as a political prisoner on Robben Island. He is remembered as much for the corruption allegations that dogged his time in office as for his rise through the ANC.
Presidential Press and Information Office / Пресс-служба Президента России · CC BY 4.0
Spanish soprano widely regarded as one of the great singers of the 20th century, especially admired for Verdi and bel canto roles. She is also remembered for her 1987 recording of Barcelona with Freddie Mercury.
Unknown author Unknown author · Public domain
Letterman is an American comedian and television host best known for his late-night talk shows. He hosted them for 33 years, first on NBC and then on CBS, and in total presented more episodes than his mentor Johnny Carson.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from Washington D.C, United States DoD photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley / Released · CC BY 2.0
Roosevelt led the United States through the Great Depression and most of the Second World War, and is the only president elected to four terms. He died at Warm Springs, Georgia, in April 1945, months before the war in Europe ended.
Leon Perskie · CC BY 2.0
Born in St. Louis, Baker became a star dancer and singer in Paris, famed for her banana skirt at the Folies Bergère. She also worked for the French Resistance during the Second World War and was later made a Knight of the Legion of Honour.
Studio Harcourt · Public domain
He was a French astronomer whose catalogue of faint sky objects, compiled to help observers tell permanent features from transient ones, is still in use. Each object is labelled with an M and a number from 1 to 110.
Ansiaux (1729—1786) (??) · Public domain
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