DECEMBER 16TH

By Marcellus Smith

1497- DOM VASCO DA GAMA,

1st Count of Vidigueira, was aPortuguese explorer. He is one of the most famous and celebrated explorers from the Age of Discovery, being the first European to reach India by sea. This discovery was very significant and paved the way for the Portuguese to establish a long-lasting colonial empire in Asia. The route meant that the Portuguese would not need to cross the highly disputed Mediterranean nor the dangerous Arabian Peninsula, and that the whole voyage would be made by sea.

1575
The 1575 Valdivia earthquake occurred in Chile and caused the subsequent flood of Valdivia. It occurred at 14:30 local time on December 16, 1575. It had an estimated magnitudeof 8.5 on the surface wave magnitude scale. Pedro Mario de Lobera, who was corregidor of Valdivia by that time, wrote that the waters of the river opened like the Red Sea, one part flowing upstream and one downstream. Mario de Lobera also evacuated the city until the dam at Laguna de Anigua burst. At that moment he wrote that, while many Indians died, no Spaniards did, as the settlement of Valdivia was moved temporarily away from the riverside.

1708- THE HEI ERUPTION OF MOUNT FUJI

The Hei Eruption of Mount Fuji started on 16 December 1707) and ended about 1 January 1708 during the Edo period. Although it brought no lava flow, the Hoei eruption released some 800 million cubic metres, of volcanic ash, which spread over vast areas around the volcano, even reaching Edo almost 100 kilometres (60 mi) away. Cinders and ash fell like rain in Izu, Kai, Sagami, and Musashi provinces. In Edo, the volcanic ash was several centimetres thick. The eruption is rated a 5 on the Volcanic Explosivity Index. The eruption occurred on Mount Fuji's eastnorth-east flank and formed three new volcanic vents, named No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3 Hei vents. The catastrophe developed over the course of several days; an initial earthquake and explosion of cinders and ash was followed some days later with the more forceful ejections of rocks and stones. Mount Fuji has not erupted since. Hokusai's One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji includes an image of the small crater which developed from a secondary eruption site on the southwestern slope. This was called Heizan (Mount Hei) because the eruption occurred in the fourth year of Hei. Today the crater can be visited from Fujinomiya Trail or Gotemba Trail of Mount Fuji.

1773- THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

The American Revolution was a political upheaval that took place between 1765 and 1783 during which the Thirteen American Colonies broke from the British Empire and formed an independent nation, the United States of America. The American Revolution was the result of a series of social, political, and intellectual transformations in American society, government and ways of thinking. Starting in 1765 the Americans rejected the authority ofParliament to tax them without elected representation; protests escalated as in the Boston Tea Party of 1773, and the British imposed punitive lawsthe Intolerable Acts. on Massachusetts in 1774. In 1774 the Patriots suppressed the Loyalists and expelled all royal officials. Each colony now had a new government that took control. The British responded by sending combat troops to re-establish royal control. Through the Second Continental Congress, the Patriots fought the British in the American Revolutionary War

1863- THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR

The American Civil War, also known as the War Between the States, or simply the Civil War in the United States was a civil war fought from 1861 to 1865 in the United States of America after seven Southern slave states declared their secession and formed the Confederate States of America (the "Confederacy" or the "South. The states that remained in the Union were known as the "Union" or the "North". The war had its origin in the fractious issue of slavery, especially the extension of slavery into the western territories. Foreign powers did not intervene. After four years of bloody combat that left over 600,000 soldiers dead and destroyed much of the South's infrastructure, the Confederacy collapsed, slavery was abolished, and the difficult Reconstruction process of restoring national unity and guaranteeing rights to the freed slaves began.

1912- THE FIRST BALKAN WAR

The First Balkan War which lasted from October 1912 to May 1913, pitted the Balkan League against the Ottoman Empire. The combined armies of the Balkan states overcame the numerically inferior and strategically disadvantaged Ottoman armies and achieved rapid success.

As a result of the war, almost all remaining European territories of the Ottoman Empire were captured and partitioned among the allies. Ensuing events also led to the creation of an independent Albanian state. Despite its success, Bulgaria was dissatisfied over the division of the spoils in Macedonia, which provoked the start of the Second Balkan War.

1914- WORLD WAR I (WWI OR WW1),

World War I also known as the First World War, was a global war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918. From the time of its occurrence until the approach of World War II, it was called simply the World War or the Great War, and thereafter the First World War or World War I. In America, it was initially called the European War. More than 9 million combatants were killed; a casualty rate exacerbated by the belligerents' technological and industrial sophistication, and tactical stalemate. It was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, paving the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved.

1920
The earthquake hit at 20:05:53 Beijing time reportedly 7.8 on the Richter magnitude scale, followed by a series of aftershocks for three years. Today's Chinese media claim the earthquake as of magnitude 8.5, although the scale is not specified. It caused total destruction in the Lijunbu Haiyuan Ganyanchi area. Over 73,000 people were killed in Haiyuan County. A landslide buried the village of Sujiahe in Xiji County. More than 30,000 people were killed in Guyuan County. Nearly all the houses collapsed in the cities of Longde and Huining. Damage (VI-X) occurred in 7 provinces and regions, including the major cities of Lanzhou, Taiyuan, Xi'an, Xining and Yinchuan. It was felt from the Yellow Sea toQinghai (Tsinghai) Province and from Nei Mongol, south to central Sichuan Province. About 200 km (125 mi) of surface faulting was seen from Lijunbu through Ganyanchi to Jingtai. There were large numbers of landslides and ground cracks throughout the epicentral area. Some rivers were dammed, others changed course. Seiches from this earthquake were observed in 2 lakes and 3 fjords in western Norway.

1921- SIR DONALD GEORGE BRADMAN

Sir Donald George Bradman, often referred to as "The Don", was an Australian cricketer, widely acknowledged as the greatest Test batsman of all time. Bradman's career Test batting average of 99.94 is often cited as the greatest achievement by any sportsman in any major sport.

The story that the young Bradman practised alone with a cricket stump and a golf ball is part of Australian folklore. Bradman's meteoric rise from bush cricket to the Australian Test team took just over two years. Before his 22nd birthday, he had set many records for top scoring, some of which still stand, and became Australia's sporting idol at the height of the Great Depression

1937- THEODORE "TED" COLE

Theodore "Ted" Cole and Ralph Roe took part in the second documented escape attempt from Alcatraz, in 1937. Although officials were quick to conclude they perished in the attempt, their remains were never found and their fate remains unknown, making the incident the first to shatter Alcatraz's reputation as an "escape-proof" prison.

1941- WORLD WAR II

also known as the Second World War, was a global war. It is generally considered to have lasted from 1939 to 1945, although some conflicts in Asia that are commonly viewed as becoming part of the world war had begun earlier than 1939. It involved the vast majority of the world's nations including all of the great powers eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people, from more than 30 different countries. In a state of "total war", the major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, erasing the distinction between civilian and military resources. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust, the Three Alls Policy, the strategic bombing of enemy industrial and/or population centers, and the first use of nuclear weapons in combat, it resulted in an estimated 50 million to 85 million fatalities. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history.

1971- THE BANGLADESH LIBERATION WAR

The Bangladesh Liberation War was a revolutionary independence war in South Asia during 1971 which established the sovereign, independent state of Bangladesh. The war pitted East Pakistan against West Pakistan, and lasted over a duration of nine months. It witnessed large-scale atrocities, the exodus of 10 million refugees and the displacement of 30 million people.

1978- CLEVELAND
Cleveland- The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately 60 miles (97 km) west of the Pennsylvania border. It was founded in 1796 near the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, and became a manufacturing center owing to its location on the lake shore, as well as being connected to numerous canals and railroad lines. Cleveland's economy has diversified sectors that include manufacturing, financial services, healthcare, and biomedical. Cleveland is home to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

THE 2012 DELHI GANG RAPE

The 2012 Delhi gang rape case involved a rape and fatal assault that occurred on 16 December 2012 in Munirka, a neighbourhood in South Delhi, when a 23-year-old female physiotherapy intern was beaten and gang raped in a private bus in which she was travelling with a male friend. There were six others in the bus, including the driver, all of whom raped the woman and beat her friend. The woman died from her injuries thirteen days later while undergoing emergency treatment in Singapore. The incident generated widespread national and international coverage and was widely condemned, both in India and abroad. Subsequently, public protests against the state and central governments for failing to provide adequate security for women took place in New Delhi, where thousands of protesters clashed with security forces. Similar protests took place in major cities throughout the country.

2013
The accident occurred in the Manila suburb of Paraaque at around 5:15 AM. The bus was traveling on the South Luzon Expressway when it fell six meters and crashed on top of a van that was on the road below. Twenty of the people who were killed were passengers on the bus, and two of the other people killed were passengers in the van. The driver of the bus, Carmelo Catlatcat, was not killed. As a result of the accident, traffic was slowed down on the highway.