
Today in History 08 July 2024
1497: Vasco da Gama sets off on a voyage to India from Lisbon with 4 ships
A year later, he reached the city of Calicut in southern India and became the first European to set foot in India by way of the sea.

1777: Vermont adopted its constitution that abolished slavery, becoming the first region in the now United States to abolish slavery. The constitution was adopted after Vermont declared independence from the British Empire.

1847: The use of the medicine quinine is now recognized as so essential that without it Britain would have to abandon its West African colonies due to malaria deaths. British doctor Alexander Bryson writes in hisย Report on the Climate and Principle Diseases of the African Station: โSo general has the use of quinine now become, that there is hardly any part of Western Africa, where there are resident Europeans, in whose houses it is not to be found; it is considered to be one of the necessaries of life, where life is of all things the most uncertain.โ

1889: Wall Street Journal published for the first time. Three financial reporters named Charles Dow, Edward Jones, and Charles Bergstresser created The Wall Street Journal to supersede a previous periodical called the Customers’ Afternoon Letter.
1930: The first dance band of Gold Coast (Ghana), the Jazz Kings (pic), formed after World War I, along with the newer bands the Cape Coast Sugar Babies and Sekondi Nanshamang are introducing Western jazz influences to the local Highlife jazz style that originated in the late 19th Century. The bands perform for Ghanaโs aristocracy, and a high entrance price and dress code (tuxedoes for men, gowns for women) keep the audience elite and give rise to the musicโs name Highlife.

1949: South Africaโs Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act, Act No 55 of 1949 goes into effect. One of the laws of the new apartheid government, the act bans marriage between whites and other races.

1966: The four-month reign begins of Burundiโs last king, Ntare V, who will be formally installed at age 19 on 3 September. He will be overthrown two months later, in November, in a coup dโรฉtat that will replace the monarchy with military rule.

1992: A movie in the Igbo language, Living in Bondage, directed by Obi Rapu, revolutionises the Nigerian film industry by being released directly to home video, bypassing cinema theatres. This new way of distributing films by selling directly to the public creates a boom in production at what will soon be called Nollywood.

1993: The Sultan of Sokoto made a rare political speech in support of the June 12 election results. Saying: There is no other route away from national catastrophe than swearing in Moshood Abiola on Aug. 27.
1994: Kim Jong-il takes office as the Supreme Leader of North Korea
Popularly known as “Dear Leader” in his country, Kim Jong-il took North Korea’s highest office after the death of his father, Kim Il-sung. He ruled the country with an iron fist until he died in 2011, when his son, Kim Jong-un took his place. Kim Jong-il’s tenure was marred by widespread human rights violations and severe famine in the country.

1996: A patent was filed by two British scientists to use genetically engineered mosquitoes to immunize their victims against malaria by transferring a protein in their saliva.

1998: Widespread highway riots break out in South West of Nigeria after the news of MKO Abiolaโs death yesterday while meeting with a delegation from the United States, headed by Thomas Pickering and Susan Rice. Curfew imposed in Ogun State, Abiolaโs home state.

2000: Venus Williams wins at Wimbledon for the first time. Her victory over defending champion, Lindsay Davenport, made Williams the first Black female Wimbledon champion since Althea Gibson won back-to-back titles in 1957 and 1958.
BIRTHS ON THIS DAY: July 08
John D. Rockefeller (8 July 1839 – 23 May 1937)
John Davison Rockefeller Sr. was an American business magnate and philanthropist. He was one of the wealthiest Americans of all time and one of the richest people in modern history. Rockefeller was born into a large family in Upstate New York who moved several times before eventually settling in Cleveland, Ohio. He died at the age of 97.
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