October 11

Events1531 - Huldrych Zwingli is killed in battle with the Roman Catholic cantons of Switzerland.1582 - Because of the implementation of the Gregorian calendar, this day does not exist in this year in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain.1614 - Adriaen Block and 12 Amsterdam merchants petition the States General for exclusive trading rights in the New Netherland colony.1776 - American Revolution: Battle of Valcour Island - On Lake Champlain 15 American gunboats are defeated but give Patriot forces enough time to prepare defenses of New York City.1809 - Along the Natchez Trace in Tennessee, explorer Meriwether Lewis dies under mysterious circumstances at an inn called Grinder's Stand. 1811 - Inventor John Stevens' boat, the Juliana, begins operation as the first steam-powered ferry (service between New York, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey).1852 - The University of Sydney, Australia's oldest university, is inaugurated in Sydney.1862 - American Civil War: In the aftermath of the Battle of Antietam,  Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart and his men loot Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, during a raid into the north.1864 - Campina Grande  , Brazil was established as a city.1865 - Paul Bogle led hundreds of black men and women in a march in Jamaica, starting the Morant Bay rebellion.1890 - In Washington, DC, the Daughters of the American Revolution is founded. 1899 - Second Boer War begins: In South Africa, a war between the United Kingdom and the Boers of the Transvaal and Orange Free State erupts.1906 - San Francisco public school board sparks United States diplomatic crisis with Japan by ordering Japanese students to be taught in racially segregated schools.1910 - Ex-president Theodore Roosevelt becomes the first U.S. president to fly in an airplane. He flew for four minutes with Arch Hoxsey in a plane built by the Wright Brothers at Kinloch Field (Lambert-St. Louis International Airport), St. Louis, Missouri.1929 - JC Penney opens store #1252 in Milford, Delaware, making it a nationwide company with stores in all 48 U.S. states.1930 - Collingwood Football Club in Melbourne, Australia, won the VFL premiership for the fourth consecutive year.1939 - Franklin D. Roosevelt receives letter from Einstein about atom bomb.1941 - Beginning of the National Liberation War of Macedonia.1942 - World War II: Battle of Cape Esperance - On the northwest coast of Guadalcanal, United States Navy ships intercept and defeat a Japanese fleet on their way to reinforce troops on the island.1944 - Tuvinian People's Republic or formerly Tannu Tuva was annexed by the U.S.S.R1950 - The U.S. Federal Communications Commission issues the first license to broadcast television in color, to CBS (RCA will successfully dispute and block the license from taking effect, however). 1954 - First Indochina War: The Viet Minh take control of North Vietnam. 1957 The Orbit of the last stage of the R-7 Semyorka rocket carrying Sputnik I was first successfully calculated on an IBM 704 computer by teams at The M.I.T. Computation Center and Operation Moonwatch, Cambridge, Massachusetts.1958 - Pioneer program: NASA launches the lunar probe Pioneer 1 (the probe falls back to Earth and burns up). 1962 - Second Vatican Council: Pope John XXIII convenes the first ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church in 92 years. 1967 - Afghan Prime Minister Mohammad Hashim Maiwandwal resigns for health reasons1968 - Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 7, the first successful manned Apollo mission, with astronauts Wally Schirra, Donn F. Eisele and Walter Cunningham aboard. 1975 - The NBC sketch comedy/variety show Saturday Night Live debuts with George Carlin as the host and Janis Ian and Billy Preston as musical guests. 1982 - The Mary Rose, a Tudor gunship which sunk on July 18 1545, is raised from the sea bed in the Solent Channel, near Portsmouth.1984 - Aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger, astronaut Kathryn D. Sullivan becomes the first American woman to perform a space walk. 1986 - Cold War: U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet in Reykjavík, Iceland, in an effort to continue discussions about scaling back their intermediate missile arsenals in Europe.1987 - March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights attracts an estimated 200,000 people to protest the Bowers v. Hardwick decision and the U.S. government's handling of the AIDS epidemic; first public display of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt.1998 - A Congo Airlines Boeing 727 is shot down by rebels in Kindu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, killing 402000 - The 100th Space Shuttle mission (STS-92) is flown.2001 - The Polaroid Corporation files for federal bankruptcy protection.2002 - A bomb attack in a shopping mall in Vantaa, Finland kills seven.
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