May 9
Fourth and final voyage of Christopher Columbus launched
Reenactment of Christopher Columbus conferring with the Spanish court.
1502: After he failed to find the strait to India or King Solomon's gold mines on his third voyage (1494–1500) to the Caribbean islands and Central and South America, Christopher Columbus convinced his royal patrons, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, to allow him one more trip. On this day he set out from Cádiz with four ships to sail to the Western Hemisphere one last time.
1974: The U.S. House Judiciary Committee launched a formal impeachment investigation of President Richard M. Nixon.
1960: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first birth-control pill.
1939: American track-and-field athlete Ralph Boston, the first man to jump more than 27 feet (8.23 metres), was born in Laurel, Mississippi.
1936: Seven months after invading Ethiopia and driving Emperor Haile Selassie I into exile, Italy annexed Ethiopia as part of Italian East Africa.
1860: British dramatist Sir James Barrie, the creator of Peter Pan, was born in Kirriemuir, Angus, Scotland.
1800: American abolitionist John Brown was born in Torrington, Connecticut.
Howard Carter
Tutankhamen, gold funerary mask found in the king's tomb, 14th century ; in the Egyptian …
Born this day in 1873, British archaeologist Howard Carter made one of the richest and most celebrated contributions to Egyptology: the discovery (1922) of the largely intact tomb of King Tutankhamen.
"At last have made wonderful discovery in Valley; a magnificent tomb with seals intact; re-covered same for your arrival; congratulations."
Howard Carter, telegram to Lord Carnarvon following the discovery of the entrance to Tutankhamen's tomb, November 5, 1922 |
