This Day in History - April 21

Once again, it should be reiterated, that this does not pretend to be a very extensive history of what happened on this day (nor is it the most original - the links can be found down below). If you know something that I am missing, by all means, shoot me an email or leave a comment, and let me know!

The very biggest single significant thing that happened on this date in history was the founding of the Roman Empire, at least according to tradition. To that end, www.history.com (The History Channel's website) wrote a brief synopsis about it, and I figured that I would offer it here, as well as the link below. I will continue with the rest of the "On This Day in History" below all of that:

753 BC - Rome Founded (see description below, taken from the www.history.com website:

According to tradition, on April 21, 753 B.C., Romulus and his twin brother, Remus, found Rome on the site where they were suckled by a she-wolf as orphaned infants. Actually, the Romulus and Remus myth originated sometime in the fourth century B.C., and the exact date of Rome's founding was set by the Roman scholar Marcus Terentius Varro in the first century B.C.

According to the legend, Romulus and Remus were the sons of Rhea Silvia, the daughter of King Numitor of Alba Longa. Alba Longa was a mythical city located in the Alban Hills southeast of what would become Rome. Before the birth of the twins, Numitor was deposed by his younger brother Amulius, who forced Rhea to become a vestal virgin so that she would not give birth to rival claimants to his title. However, Rhea was impregnated by the war god Mars and gave birth to Romulus and Remus. Amulius ordered the infants drowned in the Tiber, but they survived and washed ashore at the foot of the Palatine hill, where they were suckled by a she-wolf until they were found by the shepherd Faustulus.

Reared by Faustulus and his wife, the twins later became leaders of a band of young shepherd warriors. After learning their true identity, they attacked Alba Longa, killed the wicked Amulius, and restored their grandfather to the throne. The twins then decided to found a town on the site where they had been saved as infants. They soon became involved in a petty quarrel, however, and Remus was slain by his brother. Romulus then became ruler of the settlement, which was named "Rome" after him.

To populate his town, Romulus offered asylum to fugitives and exiles. Rome lacked women, however, so Romulus invited the neighboring Sabines to a festival and abducted their women. A war then ensued, but the Sabine women intervened to prevent the Sabine men from seizing Rome. A peace treaty was drawn up, and the communities merged under the joint rule of Romulus and the Sabine king, Titus Tatius. Tatius' early death, perhaps perpetrated by Romulus, left the Roman as the sole king again. After a long and successful rule, Romulus died under obscure circumstances. Many Romans believed he was changed into a god and worshipped him as the deity Quirinus. After Romulus, there were six more kings of Rome, the last three believed to be Etruscans. Around 509 B.C., the Roman republic was established.

Another Roman foundation legend, which has its origins in ancient Greece, tells of how the mythical Trojan Aeneas founded Lavinium and started a dynasty that would lead to the birth of Romulus and Remus several centuries later. In the Iliad, an epic Greek poem probably composed by Homer in the eighth century B.C., Aeneas was the only major Trojan hero to survive the Greek destruction of Troy. A passage told of how he and his descendants would rule the Trojans, but since there was no record of any such dynasty in Troy, Greek scholars proposed that Aeneas and his followers relocated.

In the fifth century B.C., a few Greek historians speculated that Aeneas settled at Rome, which was then still a small city-state. In the fourth century B.C., Rome began to expand within the Italian peninsula, and Romans, coming into greater contact with the Greeks, embraced the suggestion that Aeneas had a role in the foundation of their great city. In the first century B.C., the Roman poet Virgil developed the Aeneas myth in his epic poem the Aeneid, which told of Aeneas' journey to Rome. Augustus, the first Roman emperor and emperor during Virgil's time, and Julius Caesar, his great-uncle and predecessor as Roman ruler, were said to be descended from Aeneas.

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/rome-founded



Okay, so, there was quite a bit on the significance of this date with the founding of Rome. But other things have happened on this date in history, as well. Here is the list compiled:

43 BC - Battle of Mutina: Mark Antony is again defeated in battle by Aulus Hirtius, who is killed. Antony fails to capture Mutina and Decimus Brutus is murdered shortly after.

1453 - Turkish fleet sinks ships Golden Receiver in Constantinople

1509 - Henry the VIII becomes King of England

1521 - Battle at Villalar: Emperor Charles I beats Communards

1526 - Battle at Panipat: Mogol Emperor Babur soundly defeats the Indian Army of  sultan Ibrahim Lodi

1572 - France & England sign anti-Spanish military covenant

1649 - The Maryland Toleration Act was passed, allowing all freedom of worship for Christians, and an important step towards greater religious tolerance in general.

1689 - William III and Mary II were crowned joint king and queen of England, Scotland and Ireland.

1785 - Russian tsarina Catharina II ends noble privileges

1789 - John Adams was sworn in as the first vice president of the United States - nine days before Washington was sworn in as first President.

1792 - Tiradentes, a revolutionary leading movement for Brazil's independence, is hanged, drawn and quartered.

1794 - NYC formally declares coast of Ellis Island publicly owned, so they can build forts to protect NYC from British

1816 - Charlotte Bronte, author of "Jane Eyre," was born in Thornton, England.

1828 - Noah Webster publishes 1st American dictionary

1836 - Battle of San Jacinto, in which Texas wins independence from Mexico, with Sam Houston leading the way.

1856 - The Mississippi River was crossed by a rail train for the first time (between Davenport, IA, and Rock Island, IL).

1862 - The U.S. Congress established the U.S. Mint in Denver, Colorado

1865 - U.S. President Abraham Lincoln's funeral train left Washington.

1898 - The Spanish-American War began

1910 - Famed writer and speaker Samuel Anghorne Clemmens, better known as Mark Twain, died at the age of 75.

1918 - German fighter ace Manfred von Richthofen, "The Red Baron," was shot down and killed during World War I.

1941 - Greece surrenders to Germany

1943 - U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt announced that several Doolittle pilots had been executed by the Japanese.

1945 - Allied troops occupy German nuclear laboratory; He Shima Okinawa conquered in 5 days, 5,000 die;  Ivor Nivello's "Perchance to Dream," premieres in London;  Russian army arrives at outskirts of Berlin; US 7th Army occupies Neurenberg

1956 - Elvis Presley's first hit record, "Heartbreak Hotel," becomes #1

1960 - Brazil inaugurated its new capital, Brasilia, transferring the seat of national government from Rio de Janeiro.

1961 - The French army revolted in Algeria.

1967 - In Athens, Army colonels took over the government and installed Constantine Kollias as premier.

1972 - Apollo 16 astronauts John Young and Charles Duke explored the surface of the moon.

1975 - South Vietnam president, Nguyen Van Thieu, resigned, condemning the United States.

2000 - North Carolina researchers announced that the heart of a 66 million-year-old dinosaur was more like a mammal or bird than that of a reptile.

2009 - UNESCO launched The World Digital Library. The World Digital Library (WDL) is an international digital library operated by UNESCO and the United States Library of Congress.


http://www.historyorb.com/today/

http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/on-this-day/april-21/

http://www.historyorb.com/day/april/21

http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/apr21.htm