Henry Stanley finds David Livingstone at Ujiji (1871), and Nigeria hangs Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight Ogoni activists (1995). Born on this day: Martin Luther, Friedrich Schiller and George II. Died: Kemal Atatürk, Leonid Brezhnev and Arthur Rimbaud.
35 events, 66 births and 64 deaths on this date.
The journalist Henry Stanley reached Livingstone at Ujiji, on Lake Tanganyika, after the Scottish explorer had been out of contact for years. The encounter turned Livingstone's disappearance into a story that gripped the British public.
Thomas Annan / Adam Cuerden · Public domainKen Saro-Wiwa, a writer who campaigned against oil pollution in the Niger Delta, was executed by the military government with eight fellow Ogoni activists. Their deaths drew worldwide condemnation and led to Nigeria's suspension from the Commonwealth.
Khmer Rouge fighters struck the Cambodian capital and its flight hub, leaving 44 dead and at least 30 hurt. Nine aircraft were damaged in the attack, which hit the capital during the civil war that would bring the Khmer Rouge to power.
NASA gave up on the Phoenix lander once contact was lost, more than five months after it touched down on Mars. The robotic probe had been studying the Martian surface, and its silence closed out its work there.
Gates announced Windows 1.0, a graphical extension to MS-DOS that would grow into the Windows family of operating systems. Windows later became the most widely used desktop operating system, shaping how most people used personal computers.
The educational children's series mixed live action, animation and Jim Henson's Muppets. It was the first children's show built around educational goals and a curriculum, and the first whose learning effects were formally studied.
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Martin Luther was a German priest and theologian whose challenge to Catholic teachings on indulgences and papal authority launched the Protestant Reformation. His ideas became the foundation of Lutheranism.
Lucas Cranach the Elder · Public domain
Born in Marbach, he wrote The Robbers while studying medicine in Stuttgart, and the play became a hit. He is counted among the country's foremost classical dramatists, and he co-founded the Weimar Theatre with Goethe.
Ludovike Simanowiz · Public domain
George II was the last British monarch born outside Britain and the last to lead an army into battle, at Dettingen in 1743. Born in northern Germany, he ruled as king from 1727 to 1760 while Parliament held most domestic power.
John Shackleton · Public domain
Atatürk founded the Republic of Turkey in 1923 and led it as president until his death. He drove sweeping secular reforms that pushed the country toward industry and a new national identity.
Unknown author Unknown author · Public domain
Brezhnev led the Soviet Union for almost two decades, second only to Stalin in length of tenure as General Secretary of the Communist Party. He is remembered for a long period of stability at home and a stagnating economy that his successors inherited.
Vladimir Musaelyan · CC0
Rimbaud, the French poet, gave up writing literature at twenty and spent his last years trading and travelling across three continents. His restless, unconventional verse, including A Season in Hell and Illuminations, went on to shape modern poetry and surrealism.
Étienne Carjat · Public domain
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