Wednesday, July 24, 2013

On this Day in History - July 24 Machu Picchu discovered

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!

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

July 24, 1911: Machu Picchu discovered

On July 24, 1911, American archeologist Hiram Bingham gets his first look at Machu Picchu, an ancient Inca settlement in Peru that is now one of the world's top tourist destinations.  

Tucked away in the rocky countryside northwest of Cuzco, Machu Picchu is believed to have been a summer retreat for Inca leaders, whose civilization was virtually wiped out by Spanish invaders in the 16th century. For hundreds of years afterwards, its existence was a secret known only to the peasants living in the region. That all changed in the summer of 1911, when Bingham arrived with a small team of explorers to search for the famous "lost" cities of the Incas.  

Traveling on foot and by mule, Bingham and his team made their way from Cuzco into the Urubamba Valley, where a local farmer told them of some ruins located at the top of a nearby mountain. The farmer called the mountain Machu Picchu, which meant "Old Peak" in the native Quechua language. The next day--July 24--after a tough climb to the mountain's ridge in cold and drizzly weather, Bingham met a small group of peasants who showed him the rest of the way. Led by an 11-year-old boy, Bingham got his first glimpse of the intricate network of stone terraces marking the entrance to Machu Picchu.  

The excited Bingham spread the word about his discovery in a best-selling book, sending hordes of eager tourists flocking to Peru to follow in his footsteps up the Inca trail. The site itself stretches an impressive five miles, with over 3,000 stone steps linking its many different levels. Today, more than 300,000 people tramp through Machu Picchu every year, braving crowds and landslides to see the sun set over the towering stone monuments of the "Sacred City" and marvel at the mysterious splendor of one of the world's most famous man-made wonders.

And here's another slice of history, where Kennedy's stated goal for the United States, of safely landing a man on the moon, and returning him home safely, was achieved nearly six years after his assassination.

July 24, 1969: Kennedy's goal accomplished

At 12:51 EDT, Apollo 11, the U.S. spacecraft that had taken the first astronauts to the surface of the moon, safely returns to Earth.  

The American effort to send astronauts to the moon had its origins in a famous appeal President John F. Kennedy made to a special joint session of Congress on May 25, 1961: "I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth."  

Eight years later, on July 16, 1969, the world watched as Apollo 11 took off from Kennedy Space Center with astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin Jr., and Michael Collins aboard. After traveling 240,000 miles in 76 hours, Apollo 11 entered into a lunar orbit on July 19. The next day, at 1:46 p.m., the lunar module Eagle, manned by astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, separated from the command module, where a third astronaut, Michael Collins, remained. Two hours later, the Eagle began its descent to the lunar surface, and at 4:18 p.m. the craft touched down on the southwestern edge of the Sea of Tranquility.  

Armstrong immediately radioed to Mission Control in Houston a famous message: "The Eagle has landed." At 10:39 p.m., five hours ahead of the original schedule, Armstrong opened the hatch of the lunar module. Seventeen minutes later, at 10:56 p.m., Armstrong spoke the following words to millions listening at home: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." A moment later, he stepped off the lunar module's ladder, becoming the first human to walk on the surface of the moon.  

Aldrin joined him on the moon's surface at 11:11 p.m., and together they took photographs of the terrain, planted a U.S. flag, ran a few simple scientific tests, and spoke with President Richard M. Nixon via Houston. By 1:11 a.m. on July 21, both astronauts were back in the lunar module and the hatch was closed. The two men slept that night on the surface of the moon, and at 1:54 p.m. the Eagle began its ascent back to the command module. Among the items left on the surface of the moon was a plaque that read: "Here men from the planet Earth first set foot on the moon--July 1969 A.D--We came in peace for all mankind." At 5:35 p.m., Armstrong and Aldrin successfully docked and rejoined Collins, and at 12:56 a.m. on July 22 Apollo 11 began its journey home, safely splashing down in the Pacific Ocean at 12:51 p.m. on July 24. 

There would be five more successful lunar landing missions, and one unplanned lunar swing-by, Apollo 13. The last men to walk on the moon, astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt of the Apollo 17 mission, left the lunar surface on December 14, 1972. 


French King Louis VII laid siege to Damascus during the Second Crusade. The French defeated William III at Steinkirk. Slavery was abolished in Chile on this date. Brigham Young and his followers arrived at Salt Lake City, in present day Utah. The window tax was abolished in Britain. Machu Picchu, one of the truly great sites of the world,  was discovered. There were race riots in Washington in 1919. American President Hoover signed the Kellogg-Briand Pact, which condemned war as an instrument of foreign policy. The Beatles signed a petition to legalize marijuana. Charles De Gaulle, ona visit to Quebec, proclaims his approval for an independent Quebec. The first men to ever go to the moon were returned back to Earth safely. The US Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Nixon had to submit the tapes that had been subpoenaed.

Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:

1132 - Battle of Nocera between Ranulf II of Alife and Roger II of Sicily.
1148 - Louis VII of France lays siege to Damascus during the Second Crusade.
1411 - Battle of Harlaw, one of the bloodiest battles in Scotland, takes place.
1487 - Citizens of Leeuwarden Neth rebel against ban on foreign beer
1534 - Jacques Cartier, lands in Canada, claims it for France
1567 - Mary Queen of Scots is forced to abdicate & 1-year-old James VI becomes King of Scots
1577 - Spanish army/German mercenaries conquer Namur
1577 - Treason of Don Juan in Brussels
1581 - States of Holland/Zealand recognized by Willem van Orange
1651 - Anthony Johnson, a free black, receives grant of 250 acres in Va
1673 - Edmund Halley enters The Queen's College, Oxford, as an undergraduate
1683 - 1st settlers from Germany to US, leave aboard Concord
1692 - French defeat William III of England at Steinkirk (Enghein)
1701 - Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac found trading post at Ft Pontchartrain, which later becomes the city of Detroit
1704 - English & Dutch troops occupy Gibraltar
1712 - Battle at Denain: France under Villars beat Dutch army
1745 - Bonnie Prince Charlie becomes King James VIII
1758 - George Washington admitted to Virginia House of Burgess
1783 - Georgia becomes a protectorate of tsarist Russia
1793 - France passes 1st copyright law
1799 - William Clark (of Lewis & Clark) is willed the slave York
1823 - Slavery is abolished in Chile.
1824 - Harrisburg Pennsylvanian newspaper publishes results of 1st public opinion poll. Clear lead for Andrew Jackson
1832 - Benjamin Bonneville leads the first wagon train across the Rocky Mountains by using Wyoming's South Pass.
1833 - HMS Beagle departs Maldonado Uruguay
1847 - 
Mormon leader Brigham Young and his followers arrived in the valley of the Great Salt Lake in present-day Utah. 
1847 - Richard M. Hoe patented the rotary-type printing press. 1847 - Rotary-type printing press patents by Richard March Hoe, NYC
1849 - Georgetown University in Washington, DC, presented its first Doctor of Music Degree. It was given to Professor Henry Dielman. 
1851 - Window tax abolished in Britain
1861 - Skirmish at Taylor Mountain, (W)VA - CS Gen Wise retreats
1862 Martin Van Buren, the eighth president of the United States, died in Kinderhook, N.Y. 
1863 - Battle at Battle Mountain, Virginia
1864 - Battle of Winchester, VA US1200 CS600
1866 - 
Tennessee became the first state to be readmitted to the Union after the U.S. Civil War. 
1870 - 1st trans-US rail service begins
1877 - 1st time federal troops are used to combat strikers
1883 - Arabi Pasha declares a holy war in Egypt
1886 - China takes British protectorate of Burma
1893 - For only time in history of US Tennis championships, an event is held off the Eastern seaboard. Men's double championship in Chicago
1900 - Race riot in New Orleans, 2 white policemen killed
1901 - O. Henry is released from prison in Austin, Texas after serving three years for embezzlement from a bank.
1902 - Trumper a century before lunch 4th Test Cricket v England
1905 - Treaty of Bjorko: Emperor Wilhelm II/Tsar Nicholas II
1908 - John Hayes wins 4th olympics marathon (2:55:18.4 world record)
1909 - Bkln Dodger Nap Rucker strikes out 16 Pittsburgh Pirates
1910 - Matador Juan Belmonte (18) kills his 1st bull
1911 - Hiram Bingham discovers Lost City of the Incas
1911 - Cleve's League Park hosts 1st unofficial ML All Star game (benefit game for Addie Joss' family). Cleveland Naps lose to All Stars 5-3
1915 - Excursion ship Eastland capsizes in Lake Michigan, 852 die
1919 - Race Riot in Washington DC (6 killed, 100 wounded)
1921 - Belgium's Leon Scieur wins Tour de France
1923 - 
The Treaty of Lausanne, which settled the boundaries of modern Turkey, was concluded in Switzerland. 
1925 - Scopes guilty of teaching evolution in a Tn HS, fined $100 & costs
1927 - The Menin Gate war memorial is unveiled at Ypres.
1929 - NY to SF foot race ends (2½ months) winner is 60 year old Monteverde
1929 - 
U.S. President Hoover proclaimed the Kellogg-Briand Pact, which renounced war as an instrument of foreign policy. 
1931 - George Gunn gets 183 & son of a gunn George Vernon 100* same innings
1931 - Paavo Nurmi runs world record 2 mile (8:59.6)
1931 - A fire at a home for the elderly in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania kills 48 people.
1933 - German judge Vogt signs deed of accusation against Van der Lubbe
1933 - #1726 Hoffmeister, #2136 Jugta, #2158, #3957 Sugie & #4589 McDowell
1933 - The first broadcast of "The Romance of Helen Trent" was heard on radio. 7,222 episodes were aired. 1933 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave his fourth "Fireside Chat." 
1934 - 1st ptarmigan hatched & reared in captivity, Ithaca, NY
1935 - 1st greeting telegram sent in Britain
1935 - The world's first children's railway opens in Tbilisi, USSR.
1936 - 118°F (48°C), Minden, Nebraska (state record)
1936 - 121°F (49°C), near Alton, Kansas (state record)
1936 - Gen Mola & Cabanellas form Spanish anti-government
1937 - Alabama drops charges 
against five black men accused of raping two white women in the Scottsboro case. 
1938 - Instant coffee invented
1940 - 1st illegal "Newsletter of Pieter It Hen" publishes in Netherlands
1940 - Linthorst Homan, de Quay & Einthoven forms Dutch Union
1941 - FDR demands Japanese troops out of Indo-China
1941 - Nazi execute entire Jewish population of Grodz Lithuania
1941 - Red Sox Lefty Grove, 41, wins his 300th game
1942 - Irving Berlin's musical "This is the Army," premieres in NYC
1943 - RAF bombs Hamburg (20,000 dead)
1944 - 300 allied bombers drop fire bombs on Allied/German positions
1944 - Soviet forces liberate concentration camp Majdanek
1944 - US troops land on Tinian
1945 - US destroyer Underhill torpedoed West of Guam
1946 - 9 Spokane baseball players (Western League), die in a bus crash
1946 - US performs atmospheric nuclear Test at Bikini Island
1948 - 4 Duluth Minn Dukes (St Louis Cards Class C farm team) die in crash
1948 - 
Soviet occupation forces in Germany blockaded West Berlin. The U.S.-British airlift began the following day. 
1949 - Inidian pitcher Bob Lemon hits 2 HRs to beat Senators, 7-5
1950 - V-2/WAC Corporal rocket launch; 1st launch from Cape Canaveral
1952 - 112°F (44°C), Louisville, Georgia (state record)
1952 - Emile Zatopek runs Olympic record 5K (14:06.6)
1952 - Pres Harry Truman settles 53-day steel strike
1953 - KEYT TV channel 3 in Santa Barbara, CA (ABC) begins broadcasting
1955 - Ali Sastroamidjojo of government resigns in Indonesia
1955 - Betty Jameson/Mary Faulk wins Virg Hot Springs 4-Ball Golf Tournament
1956 - Brendan Behan's "Quare Fellow," premieres in London
1956 - Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis ended their team. They ended the partnership a decade after it began on July 25, 1946.  1956 - Dodgers lose to the Reds, 2-1, playing in Jesey City
1957 - KTVC TV channel 6 in Ensign, KS (CBS) begins broadcasting
1957 - US performs nuclear Test at Nevada Test Site
1958 - 14 people named 1st life peers in UK
1958 - Ted Williams is fined $250 for spitting at Boston fans again
1958 - Test Cricket debuts against NZ for Dexter, Illingworth & Subba Row
1959 - 500,000th Dutch TV set registered
1959 - VP Nixon argues with Khrushchev, known as "Kitchen Debate"
1960 - 42nd PGA Championship: Jay Hebert shoots a 281 at Firestone CC Akron
1961 - Beginning of a trend, a US commercial plane is hijacked to Cuba
1961 - Edwin Newman becomes news anchor of Today Show
1961 - Roger Maris hits 4 home runs, in a doubleheader
1963 - 124 Unification church couples wed in Korea
1963 - Dutch government of Marijnen forms
1964 - -27) race riot in Rochester, New York, 4 killed
1965 - "Flora, the Red Menace" closes at Alvin Theater NYC after 87 perfs
1965 - Bob Dylan release "Like a Rolling Stone"
1965 - Casey Stengel resigns as manager of NY Mets
1965 - Rock group "Animals" 1st time on British charts
1966 - 48th PGA Championship: Al Geiberger shoots a 280 at Firestone CC Akron
1966 - Gloria Ehret/Judy Kimball wins LPGA Yankee Women's Golf Open
1967 - 49th PGA Championship: Don January shoots a 281 at Columbine CC Colo
1967 - Beatles sign a petition in Times to legalize marijuana
1967 - Charles de Gaulle says 'Vive le Quebec libre! Long live free Quebec!'
1967 - Chinese army/air force/fleet repress uprising in Wuhan City
1967 - Norway requests European Common Market membership
1967 - Race riots in Cambridge Maryland
1967 - Race riots in Detroit force postponement of Tigers-Orioles game
1968 - Hoyt Wilhelm's 907th breaks Cy Young's record for pitching appearances
1969 - 
The Apollo 11 astronauts splashed down safely in the Pacific Ocean.  
1969 - Hoyt Wilhelm pitches in a record 907th major league game
1969 - Muhammad Ali is convicted for refusing induction in US Army on appeal
1970 - Intl Law Tennis Association institutes 9 point tie break rule
1970 - USSR performs nuclear Test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1971 - WUHQ TV channel 41 in Battle Creek, MI (ABC) begins broadcasting
1972 - Jigme Singye Wangchuk becomes king of Bhutan at 16
1972 - Bugojno group is caught by Yugoslav security forces.
1973 - 44th All Star Baseball Game: NL wins 7-1 at Royals Stadium, KC
1973 - All star MVP: Bobby Bonds (SF Giants)
1974 - 
The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that President Nixon had to turn over subpoenaed White House tape recordings to the Watergate special prosecutor.
1975 - Apollo 18 returns to Earth
1976 - John Naber is 1st to swin 200m backstroke under 2 minutes
1977 - 32nd US Women's Open Golf Championship won by Hollis Stacy
1977 - Pete Rose passes Frankie Frisch as switch-hit leader with 2,881
1977 - Seattle's John Montague pitches 6 2/3 innings of perfect relief tying 2 game record of retiring 33 consecutive batsmen
1978 - "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" premieres in NYC
1978 - Margaret Gardiner, of South Africa, crowned 27th Miss Universe
1978 - Pete Rose ties NL hitting streak of 37 games
1978 - Billy Martin resigns as Yankee manager after "one is a born liar the other a convicted one" comment about Steinbrenner & Jackson. It was
 the first of three times that he was fired as the manager of the New York Yankees baseball team. 
1979 - Pres Carter names Paul Volcker, pres of Federal Reserves
1979 - Red Sox Carl Yastrzemski hits his 400th HR
1981 - Mohammed Ali Rajai elected president of Iran
1982 - "Best Little Whorehouse in Tx" closes at E O'Neill NYC after 63 perfs
1982 - KHJ (LA) & KFRC (SF) become 2nd & 3rd stereo AM stations
1982 - Heavy rain causes a mudslide that destroys a bridge at Nagasaki, Japan, killing 299.
1983 - "Mame" opens at Gershwin Theater NYC for 41 performances
1983 - 21st Tennis Fed Cup: Czech beats Germany in Zurich Switz (2-1)
1983 - Lauren Howe wins LPGA Mayflower Golf Classic
1983 - Laurent Fignon wins Tour de France
1983 - Pine Tar Game: Brett's HR disallowed against Yanks (overturned)
1983 - Sonya Robinson, (Milwaukee), 23, crowned 16th Miss Black America
1985 - Gandhi signs peace contract with Sikh leader Harchand Singh Longowai
1985 - Walt Disney released their 25th full-length cartoon. The work was "The Black Cauldron."
Disney movies, music and books 
1987 - Hulda Crooks, at 91 years of age, climbed Mt. Fuji. Hulda became the oldest person to climb Japan’s highest peak. 
1986 - SF Federal jury convicts navy radioman Jerry Whitworth of espionage
1987 - IBM-PC DOS Version 3.3 (updated) released
1987 - USSR performs underground nuclear Test
1988 - 43rd US Women's Open Golf Championship won by Liselotte Neumann
1988 - US & Jamacia play scoreless tie, in 2nd round of 1990 world soccer cup
1989 - Paula Gwynn, 22, crowned 21st Miss Black America
1990 - Ms. Magazine hits newstands again after an 8 month hiatus
1990 - US warships in Persian Gulf placed on alert after Iraq masses nearly 30,000 troops near its border with Kuwait
1991 - Ottawa Rough Riders Board of Directors resign
1991 - U of Manchester scientist announce finding a planet outside of solar system
1992 - Faye Vincent reinstates Yankee owner George Steinbrenner (eff 3/1/93)
1992 - Vickers Viscount crashes, 70 die
1993 - Met Vince Coleman injures 3 when he throws cherry bomb at Dodger fans
1993 - NY Met Anthony Young loses record 27th straight
1994 - 32nd Tennis Fed Cup: Spain beats USA in Frankfurt Germany (3-0)
1994 - 49th US Women's Open Golf Championship won by Patty Sheehan
1994 - AsociaciĆ³n de Estados del Caribe (AEC) forms
1994 - Bodo kills 37 Moslems in Bashbari NE India
1994 - Miguel Indurain wins Tour de France
1998 - Russell Eugene Weston Jr. bursts into the United States Capitol and opens fire killing two police officers. He is later ruled to be incompetent to stand trial.
1998 - Roy O. Disney received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
2001 - Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the last Tsar of Bulgaria when he was a child, is sworn in as Prime Minister of Bulgaria, becoming the first monarch in history to regain political power through democratic election to a different office.
2002 - James Traficant is expelled from the United States House of Representatives on a vote of 420 to 1.
2002 - Nine coal miners were trapped in a mine in Pennsylvania. All were rescued three days later. 
2007 - Libya frees all six of the Medics in the HIV trial in Libya.
2012 - John Dramani becomes President of Ghana after the death of President John Atta Mills
2012 - Four barrels containing 248 human fetuses are found in Sverdlovsk, Russia


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/jul24.htm

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

http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory

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