Panama Canal opens to shipping (1914), and Shannon Faulkner becomes first female cadet at The Citadel (1995). Born on this day: Napoleon I, Jennifer Lawrence and Sir Walter Scott. Died: Grazia Deledda, Gerd Müller and René Magritte.
33 events, 80 births and 51 deaths on this date.
The Panama Canal began operating on this day, after a decade of digging and construction. It let ships cross between the Atlantic and Pacific without the long, dangerous voyage around the tip of South America.
User:Stan Shebs · CC BY-SA 3.0Shannon Faulkner entered The Citadel, the South Carolina military college, as its first woman cadet, after years of legal fighting to be admitted. She left within a week, but her case opened the college's doors to women.
A Bavarian noble, Erchana of Dahauua, handed the town of Dachau over to the Diocese of Freising. It is one of the earliest recorded transfers of land in the region, and it shows how closely church and local rule were bound together in early medieval Bavaria.
Spanish colonists under Juan de Salazar de Espinosa established a settlement on the eastern bank of the Paraguay River. It became the base for later expeditions that founded many other South American cities, earning it the nickname Mother of Cities.
Apple unveiled the iMac, an all-in-one machine with a translucent coloured shell that broke sharply from the beige boxes of the time. Its design helped revive the company, which had been losing money and was then led by Steve Jobs.
Spanish conquistador Pedro Arias Dávila founded the settlement that became Panama City. It soon served as a launching point for expeditions into Peru and a stop on the route that carried Spanish-mined silver and gold.
For the full day, download Chunks today. Every date, the stories behind them, and a new day each morning. Free to start.
Napoleon Bonaparte was born on Corsica to a family of Italian origin, and rose from artillery officer to Emperor of the French. He is remembered for his military campaigns across Europe and for the civil law code that shaped French legal life.
Jacques-Louis David · Public domain
American actress and producer known for Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games and for winning the Academy Award for Best Actress for Silver Linings Playbook. Her films have grossed over six billion dollars worldwide.
Ciné Zooms 2 · CC BY 3.0
Scottish novelist, poet and playwright who wrote the Waverley novels, once among the most widely read books in Europe. He helped establish the historical novel as a form, and his narrative poems were equally popular in their day.
Henry Raeburn · Public domain
She wrote novels and stories set in Sardinia, the island where she grew up. In 1926 she became the first Italian woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, and only the second woman to win it after Selma Lagerløf in 1909.
Nobel Foundation · Public domain
Gerd Müller was a German striker famed for his goals inside the six-yard box, holding the Bundesliga scoring record for years. He won the 1974 World Cup with a winning goal in the final for West Germany.
Unknown author Unknown author · Public domain
Belgian painter who placed everyday objects in strange, unexpected settings, such as a pipe captioned as not being a pipe. His surreal images questioned how we tell what is real from what is only shown to us.
Unknown author Unknown author Restored by Giovanni Cardinali · CC0
Download on iOS
Download on Android