Today in History for April 19:
In 1529, eight years after the Diet of Worms was convened by the Holy Roman Emperor, a protestation was published against it by several cities including Strasbourg, Nuremberg and Ulm, and from that evolved the term Protestant.
In 1775, the American Revolutionary War began with the battles of Lexington and Concord.
In 1824, English poet Lord Byron died in Greece of malaria at age 36.
In 1839, the Treaty of London made Belgium and Holland separate countries.
In 1850, Britain and the United States signed a treaty to build the Panama Canal. Washington later built the canal on its own.
In 1862, Simon Fraser, who explored the B.C. river that bears his name, died in St. Andrews West, Ont., at 85.
In 1877, Ole Evinrude, the Norwegian-American who invented the outboard motor in 1909, was born.
In 1882, Charles Darwin, originator of the theory of organic evolution through natural selection, died at age 73.
In 1883, Quebec's Parliament buildings burned down.
In 1897, the first Boston Marathon was held. Winner John J. McDermott ran the course in two hours, 55 minutes and 10 seconds.
In 1904, fire raged through downtown Toronto, causing an estimated $12 million in damage and destroying 104 buildings. Amazingly, there were no deaths.
In 1906, Pierre Curie, who with his wife Marie discovered radium, was struck and killed by a cart in Paris. He was 47.
In 1907, Tom Longboat, from Ontario's Six Nations Onondaga Reserve, became the first Canadian to win the Boston Marathon.
In 1910, after weeks of being viewed through telescopes, "Halley's Comet" was reported visible to the naked eye on the Caribbean island of Curacao.
In 1912, Nova Scotia's mystery man, "Jerome," died at age 58. He was found on a beach with both legs amputated. He refused to talk or write, and died unidentified.
In 1927, the New Brunswick government took control of liquor sales in the province.
In 1939, Connecticut became the last of the original 13 colonies to ratify the Bill of Rights, 147 years after it took effect.
In 1943, thousands of Jews living in the Warsaw Ghetto began an uprising against Nazi occupation forces after they discovered they would be moved to the gas chambers at Treblinka. By the time the Nazis crushed the revolt by May 16th, more than 40,000 Jews had been killed or deported.
In 1948, Gerard Cote of St. Barnabe, Que., won the Boston Marathon for the fourth time.
In 1951, General Douglas MacArthur, relieved of his Far East command by U.S. President Harry S. Truman, bid farewell in an address to Congress in which he quoted a line from a ballad: "Old soldiers never die; they just fade away."
In 1967, women competed in the Boston Marathon for the first time, but not as official entrants.
In 1982, astronauts Sally K. Ride and Guion S. Bluford Jr. became the first woman and first African-American to be tapped for U.S. space missions.
In 1990, Nicaragua's nine-year civil war neared an end as the Contra guerrillas, Sandinistas and incoming government agreed to a truce and a deadline for the rebels to disarm.
In 1992, after six days, engineers plugged a tunnel leak under the Chicago River. The leak had caused an underground flood that virtually shut down business in the heart of the city.
In 1993, Branch Davidian leader David Koresh and 80 cult members died in a fire that broke out when federal officers tried to end a 51-day siege at their compound near Waco, Texas.
In 1994, a Los Angeles jury awarded Rodney King US$3.8 million in damages for his 1991 beating by police.
In 1995, 168 people died and hundreds were injured in the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City. Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols chose the date to coincide with the anniversary of the Waco tragedy, which some U.S. militia groups blamed on the American government. McVeigh was tried, convicted and executed, while Nichols received a life sentence.
In 2001, Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield began his second spaceflight as the shuttle "Endeavour" was launched. On the fourth day of the 13-day mission, Hadfield became the first Canadian to walk in space.
In 2005, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany was elected Pope in the first conclave of the new millennium. The 78-year-old cardinal, who chose the name Benedict XVI, was installed the 265th Pope on April 24. He resigned on Feb. 28, 2013, the first pontiff to do so since 1415.
In 2005, Canada became the first country in the world to approve a cannabis-based drug called Sativex for the relief of neuropathic pain in adults with multiple sclerosis.
In 2005, Kuwait's parliament approved a law to allow women to vote and run for the first time in municipal elections, a measure that required more legislative action before it became law a month later.
In 2008, the first-ever UFC event in Canada took place in Montreal at the Bell Centre. Jonathan "The Road Warrior" Goulet made history, becoming the first Canadian fighter to win a UFC bout on home soil when he stopped Kuniyoshi Hironaka. Montreal's George St. Pierre defeated Matt Sera to become the undisputed Welterweight Champion.
In 2010, Toyota Motor Corp. agreed to a fine of more than US$16 million, the largest government penalty levied to date against an automaker, for a four-month delay in telling U.S. federal authorities about defective gas pedals on its vehicles. (In December, Toyota agreed to an additional $32.5 million in fines to settle the investigation.)
In 2011, Waterloo-Ont.-based Research in Motion (now BlackBerry) launched its new BlackBerry PlayBook tablet in Canada to little fanfare. Few lined up to buy it, a stark contrast to the hoopla surrounding the launch of Apple's iPad and iPad 2 tablets.
In 2011, Raul Castro was named first secretary of Cuba's Communist party, with his aging brother Fidel not included in the leadership for the first time since the party's creation 46 years ago.
In 2016, Brian Pallister's Progressive Conservatives routed Premier Greg Selinger and the New Democrats to put an end to 16 years of NDP governments in the province. The Tories won 40 of the 57 seats, the NDP held on to just 14 and the Liberals took three. Selinger resigned as a result of the defeat.
In 2018, the Supreme Court of Canada unanimously upheld a New Brunswick law against importing alcohol from another province. In 2012, a New Brunswick man was fined $292 for having a trunkload of beer and liquor from neighbouring Quebec.
In 2018, Miguel Mario Diaz-Canel Bermudez replaced Raul Castro as the president of Cuba, launching a new political era as a government led by a single family for six decades tried to ensure the long-term survival of one of the world's last communist states. Castro, 86, remained head of the Communist Party.
In 2018, the prosecutor in the Minnesota county where Prince died said no criminal charges would be filed in the musician's death, effectively ending the state's two-year investigation into how Prince got a counterfeit painkiller that contained the fentanyl that killed him.
In 2019, the Quebec government called for federal assistance — including Canadian Forces soldiers on the ground — as the province braced for heavy spring flooding over the Easter weekend. The brunt of the flooding began Sunday as warming temperatures and melting snow caused water levels to rise. By the 22nd, Urgence Quebec said six major floods were threatening Quebecers, with 2,389 residences across the province flooded and more than 1,500 people forced from their homes.
In 2020, a tiny community in rural Nova Scotia was torn apart by the worst mass murder in modern Canadian history. The shooting and police chase began the previous night in Portapique and stretched into the morning. In the end, 22 people were killed, including an RCMP officer, a teacher, two nurses and two correctional officers, who were killed in their home 50 kilometres away. The attacker, 51-year-old Gabriel Wortman, was shot and killed by police after being intercepted at a gas station. Police said he had worn what looked like a police uniform and drove a vehicle resembling an RCMP cruiser. Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil condemned the mass shooting as one of the ''most senseless acts of violence'' in the history of the province. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the country mourns with the families of the victims.
In 2022, Canada pledged to send heavy artillery to Ukraine and slapped sanctions on 14 more Russians for their close ties to President Vladimir Putin. The new sanctions included Putin's two adult daughters.
In 2023, tens of thousands of federal public servants went on strike for more money and clarity around remote work arrangements. The union told a news conference in Ottawa that picket lines would be going up at more than 250 locations across the country.
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The Canadian Press
