This day in history was particularly important in southern Africa. The HMS Beagle, with Charles Darwin inside of it, anchored by the Cape of Good Hope. The doomed Conference of Bloemfontein was on this day, and a year later, the British occupied Johannesburg on this date. The Boer War ended on this date, and South Africa The Union of South Africa was proclaimed, and the Cape of Good Hope became part of South Africa. Much later in the century, South Africa signed an agricultural treaty with the Netherlands. Later still, it became a republic, and withdrew from the British Commonwealth on this date. Zimbabwe declared it's independence. The civil war in Angola ended. A busy day in history for southern Africa indeed.
Other interesting things that happened on this date: Rameses II became Pharaoh of Egypt. Rome captured walls of Jerusalem. Massachusetts annexed Maine. Big Ben went into operation in London. There was a treaty between Hawaii and the United States. American troops entered China to help put down the Boxer Rebellion. The Titanic was launched. Babe Ruth had a disappointing last at bat. British Prime Minister Churchill flew to France to meet with Petain and, two decades later, American President John F. Kennedy went to France to meet with Charles de Gaulle. Eichmann's sentence of hanging was executed in Israel. An earthquake in Peru killed over 50,000 people. Guatemala approved a new constitution.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/big-ben-goes-into-operation-in-london
May 31, 1859: Big Ben goes into operation in London
The famous tower clock known as Big Ben, located at the top of the 320-foot-high St. Stephen's Tower, rings out over the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, London, for the first time on this day in 1859.
After a fire destroyed much of the Palace of Westminster--the headquarters of the British Parliament--in October 1834, a standout feature of the design for the new palace was a large clock atop a tower. The royal astronomer, Sir George Airy, wanted the clock to have pinpoint accuracy, including twice-a-day checks with the Royal Greenwich Observatory. While many clockmakers dismissed this goal as impossible, Airy counted on the help of Edmund Beckett Denison, a formidable barrister known for his expertise in horology, or the science of measuring time.
Denison's design, built by the company E.J. Dent & Co., was completed in 1854; five years later, St. Stephen's Tower itself was finished. Weighing in at more than 13 tons, its massive bell was dragged to the tower through the streets of London by a team of 16 horses, to the cheers of onlookers. Once it was installed, Big Ben struck its first chimes on May 31, 1859. Just two months later, however, the heavy striker designed by Denison cracked the bell. Three more years passed before a lighter hammer was added and the clock went into service again. The bell was rotated so that the hammer would strike another surface, but the crack was never repaired.
The name "Big Ben" originally just applied to the bell but later came to refer to the clock itself. Two main stories exist about how Big Ben got its name. Many claim it was named after the famously long-winded Sir Benjamin Hall, the London commissioner of works at the time it was built. Another famous story argues that the bell was named for the popular heavyweight boxer Benjamin Caunt, because it was the largest of its kind.
Even after an incendiary bomb destroyed the chamber of the House of Commons during the Second World War, St. Stephen's Tower survived, and Big Ben continued to function. Its famously accurate timekeeping is regulated by a stack of coins placed on the clock's huge pendulum, ensuring a steady movement of the clock hands at all times. At night, all four of the clock’s faces, each one 23 feet across, are illuminated. A light above Big Ben is also lit to let the public know when Parliament is in session.
1279 BC - Rameses II (The Great) (19th dynasty) becomes pharaoh of Ancient Egypt.
70 - Rome captures 1st wall of the city of Jerusalem
1223 - Mongol invasion of the Cumans: Battle of the Kalka River - Mongol armies of Genghis Khan lead by Subutai defeat Kievan Rus and Cumans.
1417 - Jacoba van Bavarian becomes countess of Holland/Zealand/Henegouwen
1433 - Sigismund was crowned Holy Roman Emperor (Germany)
1495 - Emperor Maximilian, Pope Alexander VI, Milan, King Ferdinand, Isabella and Venice sign anti-French Saint League
1531 - "Women's Revolt" in Amsterdam: wool house in churchyard aborted
1564 - Battle on Gotland: Lubeck and Denmark beat Sweden
1578 - Martin Frobisher sails from Harwich, England to Frobisher Bay, Canada, eventually to mine fool's gold, used to pave streets in London.
1621 - Sir Francis Bacon thrown into Tower of London for 1 night
1634 - US colony Massachusetts Bay annexes Maine colony
1659 - Netherlands, England and France sign Treaty of The Hague
1665 - Jerusalem's rabbi Sjabtai Tswi proclaims himself Messiah
1669 - Citing poor eyesight, Samuel Pepys records the last event in his diary.
1696 - John Salomonsz elected chief of Saint-Eustatius
1727 - France, England and Netherlands sign accord of Paris
1744 - French troops conquer Kortrijk
1759 - The Province of Pennsylvania bans all theater productions.
1790 - The first U.S. Copyright Law was enacted, protecting books, maps, and other original materials.
1790 - Alferez Manuel Quimper explores the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
1813 - In Australia, Lawson, Blaxland and Wentworth, reached Mount Blaxland, effectively marking the end of a route across the Blue Mountains.
1821 - Cathedral of Assumption of Blessed Virgin Mary, first US Catholic cathedral, is dedicated in Baltimore
1836 - HMS Beagle anchors in Simons Bay, Cape of Good Hope
1837 - Astor Hotel opens in NYC, it later becomes the Waldorf-Astoria
1847 - Rotterdam-Hague Railway opens
1849 - Last edition of Orange sheet "Journal de La Haye"
1853 - Elisha Kane's Arctic expedition leaves NY aboard Advance
1854 - The Kansas-Nebraska Act passed by the U.S. Congress.
1859 - The Philadelphia Athletics were formally organized to play the game of "Town Ball", which would eventually become baseball some twenty years down the line..
1859 - In London, Big Ben went into operation. The name Big Ben initially referred to the bell inside the tower but later came to refer to the tower.
1861 - Gen Beauregard is given command of Confederate Alexandria Line
1861 - Mint at New Orleans closes
1862 - Battle of Seven Pines VA (Fair Oaks)
1864 - Raid at Morgan's Kentucky
1868 - First Memorial Day parade held in Ironton, Ohio
1868 - Dr James Moore (UK) wins 1st recorded bicycle race, (2k) velocipede race at Parc fde St Cloud, Paris
1870 - Congress passes 1st Enforcement Act (rights of blacks)
1870 - E.J. DeSemdt patented asphalt.
1875 - Reciprocity Treaty between US and Hawaii ratified
1878 - German battleship Grosser Kurfurst sinks, 284 killed
1878 - US Congress accept decrease in dollar circulation
1879 - 1st electric railway opens at Berlin Trades Exposition
1879 - New York's Madison Square Garden opened.
1880 - The first U.S. national bicycle society was formed in Newport, RI. It was known as the League of American Wheelman.
1883 - French fleet under Pierre begins siege of Tamatave, Madagascar
1884 - Dr John Harvey Kellogg patented "flaked cereal"
1889 - Johnstown Flood: 2,209 die in Penn after heavy rains caused the South Fork Dam to collapse, sending 20 million tons of water into Johnstown, Pa. The town was nearly destroyed.
1891 - Work on trans-Siberian railway begins
1893 - Whitcomb Judson, Chicago, patents a hookless fastening (zipper)
1899 - -June 5] Conference of Bloemfontein fails
1899 - Bronx acquires Keltch Memorial Park
1900 - British troops under Lord Roberts occupy Johannesburg
1900 - U.S. troops arrived in Peking to help put down the Boxer Rebellion.
1900 - Piet de Law captures Lt-Col Spragges Irish Yeomanry
1900 - Tom Hayward scores 1,000th cricket run of season (sets record 1074)
1902 - Australia Cricket all out 36 v England, Edgbaston, their lowest ever
1902 - The Boer War ended between the Boers of South Africa and Great Britain with the Treaty of Vereeniging. The Treaty of Unity signed, Britain annexes Transvaal
1905 - Emperor Wilhelm II lands in Tanger
1906 - Attack on King Alfonso XIII & Victoria von Battenberg in Madrid
1907 - The first taxis arrived in New York City. They were the first in the United States.
1908 - Miss Pottelsberghe de la Pottery is 1st airplane passenger (Belgium)
1909 - The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) held its first conference (United Charities Building, NYC)
1910 - The Union of South Africa was founded. Cape of Good Hope becomes part of Union of South Africa
1910 - Glenn Curtiss flies from Albany to NYC
1910 - Union of South Africa declares independence from UK
1911 The hull of the R.M.S. Titanic was launched in Belfast. At the ceremony, a White Star Line employee claimed, “Not even God himself could sink this ship.”
1912 - US marines land on Cuba
1913 - Alexis Ahlgren runs world record maraton (2:36:06.6)
1913 - The 17th Amendment went into effect. It provided for popular election of U.S. senators.
1914 - Chic White Sox Joe Benz no-hits Cleve Indians, 6-1
1915 - A German LZ-38 Zeppelin makes an air raid on London
1916 - Battle of Skagerrak: Brit-German sea battle at Jutland (10,000 dead)
1916 - British battle cruiser Invincible explodes, killing all but 6
1917 - 1st jazz record released (Dark Town Strutters Ball)
1919 - NC-4 aircraft commanded by AC Read completes 1st crossing of Atlantic
1921 - Suffy McInnis (1st base) begins an errorless string of 1,700
1923 - China and USSR exchange diplomats
1926 - Portuguese president Bernardino Machedo resigns after coup
1926 - Sesquicentennial Exposition opens in Philadelphia
1927 - Ford Motor Company produced the last "Tin Lizzie" in order to begin production of the Model A.
1927 - Tiger 1st baseman Johnny Neun makes an unassisted triple play
1928 - 1st aerial cross of Pacific takes off from Oakland
1928 - Charlie Hallows scores his 1,000th run of Cricket season
1929 - Atlantic City Convention Center opens
1929 - In Beverly, MA, the first U.S. born reindeer were born.
1930 - Bradman gets his 1,000th run of the English Cricket season
1930 - Building begins on Albert Canal in Belgium
1930 - Comet 73P/1930 (Schwassmann-Wachmann 3) approaches 0.0617 AUs of Earth
1931 - 7.1 magnitude Earthquake destroys Quetta in modern-day Pakistan: 40,000 dead.
1935 - Babe Ruth grounds out in his final at bat
1935 - Quake kills 50,000 in Quetta Pakistan
1937 - 1st quadruplets to finish college (Baylor University)
1937 - Bkln Dodgers snap NY Giant Carl Hubbell's 24-game winning streak
1937 - German battleships bomb Almeria Spain
1938 - Bill Edrich scores his 1,000th run of cricket season, all at Lord's
1940 - Gen-major Bernard Montgomery leaves Duinkerken
1940 - Premier Winston Churchill flies to Paris to meet with Marshal August Pétain who announces he is willing to make a separate peace with Germany
1941 - -June 1) 32.0 cm rain falls on Burlington Kansas (state record)
1941 - The first issue of "Parade: The Weekly Picture Newspaper" went on sale.
1941 - 41 U boats sunk this month (325,000 ton)
1941 - British troops vacate Kreta
1941 - German occupiers forbids Jews access to beach and swimming pools
1941 - A Luftwaffe air raid in Dublin, Ireland claims 38 lives.
1942 - Luftwaffe bombs Canterbury
1943 - "Archie" (best known for comic strip) was aired on the Mutual Broadcasting System for the first time.
1943 - Cards Mort Cooper pitches 1st of back-to-back one-hitters
1944 - Allied breakthrough in Italy
1947 - 79th Belmont: Ruperto Donoso aboard Phalanx wins in 2:29.6
1947 - Communists seized control of Hungary.
1947 - Eastern DC-4 crashes between Ft Deposit & Perryville Md, kills 53
1947 - Italian government of Gasperi forms
1948 - Tommy Lasorda strikes out 25 Amsterdam Rugmakers (in 15 innings)
1949 - Charley Lupica begins stay on 4 foot square platform atop a 60' pole, vowing to stay until Indians clinch pennant. (They don't, and stays 117 days)
1950 - Due to rain, Indy 500 shortened to 345 miles, Johnny Parson wins
1950 - Laker takes 14-12-2-8 in Test Cricket trial
1951 - Neth and; South Africa sign cultural accord
1953 - Lebanese president Camille Shamun disbands government
1953 - WSUN TV channel 38 in St Petersburg-Tampa, FL (IND) 1st broadcast
1955 - Construction begins on Soviet cosmodrome launch facilities
1955 - Great Britain proclaims emergency crisis due to railroad strike
1955 - The U.S. Supreme Court ordered that all states must end racial segregation "with all deliberate speed."
1957 - Great Britain performs nuclear test at Christmas Island (atmospheric)
1958 - Dick Dale invents "surf music" with "Let's Go Trippin"
1958 - US performs nuclear test at Bikini Island (atmospheric tests)
1961 - Benfica wins 6th Europe Cup 1 at Bern
1961 - Chuck Berry's amusement park, Berryland in St Louis, opens
1961 - JFK visits Charles de Gaulle in Paris
1961 - Judge Irving Kaufman orders Board of Ed of New Rochelle, to integrate
1961 - Union of South Africa becomes a republic, leaves Commonwealth
1962 - Adolf Eichmann was hanged in Israel. Eichmann had been a Gestapo official and was executed for his actions in the Nazi Holocaust.
1962 - "Tell It To Groucho" last airs on CBS-TV
1962 - The West Indies Federation dissolves.
1964 - Charles Schmid kills first Pied Piper victim
1964 - SF Giants beat NY Mets, 8-6, in 23 innings (2nd game) (7 hrs 32 mins)
1965 - Jim Clark becomes 1st foreigner in 49 years to win Indy
1967 - Bayern Munchen wins 7th Europe Cup II at Neurenberg
1969 - "Dear World" closes at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC after 132 perfs
1969 - "Gitarzan" by Ray Stevens peaks at #8
1969 - John Lennon and Yoko Ono record "Give Peace a Chance"
1969 - Stevie Wonder releases "My Cherie Amore"
1970 - An earthquake in Peru left more than 50,000 dead. At 03:23 PM, Yungay Peru levelled by 7.75 earthquake (50-70,000 die)
1970 - KDUB TV channel 40 in Dubuque, IA (ABC) begins broadcasting
1971 - WDXR (now WKPD) TV channel 29 in Paducah, KY (PBS) begins broadcasting
1972 - Ajax wins Europe Cup 1 in Rotterdam
1973 - Glenn Turner scores his 1,000th cricket run of English season
1974 - Israel and Syria sign an agreement concerning Golan Heights
1974 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1975 - "Goodtime Charley" closes at Palace Theater NYC after 104 performances
1975 - Fred Newman makes 12,874 baskets in a one-day exhibition
1976 - Loudest PA (76 KW) for Who's Quadrophenia in London
1977 - "Beatlemania" opens at Winter Garden Theater NYC for 920 performances
1977 - Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani becomes heir apparent to throne of Qatar
1977 - The trans-Alaska oil pipeline was finished after 3 years of construction.
1979 - "I Remember Mama" opens at Majestic Theater NYC for 108 performances
1979 - Radio City Music Hall (NYC) reopens
1979 - Zimbabwe proclaims independence
1980 - "Love Stinks" by J Geils Band peaks at #38
1980 - Police and youthful rebels battle in Zurich
1982 - "Best Little Whorehouse in Tx" opens at Eugene O'Neill NYC for 63 perf
1983 - 37th NBA Championship: Phila 76ers sweep LA Lakers in 4 games
1984 - 57th National Spelling Bee: Daniel Greenblatt wins spelling luge
1984 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1984 - Viv Richards hits 189* (170 balls) v England, ODI cricket record
1985 - 41 tornadoes hit Northeast US, killing 88
1985 - Guatemala adopts constitution
1985 - New Orleans Saints are sold for $70,204,000
1985 - Tornados in Penn, Ohio, NY and Canada kill 88 and injured more than 1,000
1985 - 1985 United States-Canadian tornado outbreak: Forty-one tornadoes hit Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Ontario, leaving 76 dead.
1985 - Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) became a Schedule I drug in the United States.
1987 - Cindy Rarick wins LPGA Corning Golf Classic
1987 - Saul Ballesteros drives 3 golf balls off Mt McKinley, Alaska
1987 - Stanley Cup: Edmonton Oilers beat Phila Flyers, 4 games to 3
1989 - "Rambling with Gambling" 20,000th radio program on WOR-AM (NYC)
1989 - First International Rock Awards
1989 - First presentation of rock n roll Elvis awards
1989 - Speaker of House Jim Wright resigns
1990 - 63rd National Spelling Bee: Amy Marie Dimak wins spelling fibranne
1990 - BPAA US Women's Bowling Open won by Dana Miller-Mackie
1990 - NYC's Zodiac killer shoots 3rd victim, Joseph Ponce
1990 - Seinfeld starring Jerry Seinfeld, debuts on NBC as Seinfeld Chronicles
1991 - Sides in Angola sign a treaty ending 16 year civil war
1992 - 46th Tony Awards: Dancing at Lughnasa & Crazy For You win
1992 - 5th Children's Miracle Network Telethon raises $1,060,000
1993 - President Dobrica Cosic of little Yugoslavia flees
1994 - Padres scores 13 in 2nd vs Pirates
1994 - The U.S. announced it was no longer aiming long-range nuclear missiles at targets in the former Soviet Union.
1995 - Bob Dole singled out Time Warner for "the marketing of evil" in movies and music. Dole later admitted that he had not seen or heard much of what he had been criticizing.
1997 - "Once Upon a Matress," closes at Broadhurst Theater NYC after 187 perf 1997 - Donovan Bailey beats Michael Johnson in 150m race
1997 - The Confederation Bridge opens, linking Prince Edward Island with mainland New Brunswick.
2002 - The New Jersey Nets defeat the Boston Celtics 96-88 in Game 6 of the NBA's Eastern Conference Championship, winning the series 4 games to 2 to advance to their first NBA Finals appearance.
2003 - In North Carolina, Eric Robert Rudolph was captured. He had been on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list for five years for several bombings including the 1996 Olympic bombing.
2004 - Alberta Martin, 97, one of the last widows of a U.S. Civil War veteran, died. She had married Confederate veteran William Martin in 1927 when she was 21 and he was 81.
2010 - Nine people are dead after an Israeli navy commando attacks a flotilla of cargo ships and passenger boats on their way to Gaza to provide aid and supplies for the area. Shayetet 13 soldiers tried to stop the flotilla that wanted to break the blockade on Gaza Strip. During the boarding on the MV Mavi Marmara ship, a violent confrontation had started. It caused the death of 9 activists who were on board, and several more injured activists. Moreover, several israeli soldiers were injured.
2012 - Egypt formally ends its 31 year state of emergency
The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:
http://www.historyorb.com/today/events.php
http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/may31.htm
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory
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