This Day in History
Yasir 'Arafat.
1988: Palestinian statehood proclaimed by Yasir 'Arafat
Meeting at Algiers, the Palestine National Council, at the urging of PLO chairman Yasir 'Arafat, issued a declaration of independence for a state of Palestine in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on this day in 1988.
More events on this day
1938: A farewell parade was held in Barcelona, Spain, for the volunteers of the International Brigades who fought for the Republicans during the Spanish Civil War.
1891: W. Averell Harriman, a statesman and leading U.S. diplomat in relations with the Soviet Union during World War II and the Cold War, was born.
1889: Emperor Pedro II of Brazil was forced to abdicate by a group of military officers led by Manuel Deodoro da Fonseca.
1885: St. Joseph Mukasa, one of the Martyrs of Uganda, was beheaded by order of Mwanga, kabaka (ruler) of Buganda.
1884: The Berlin West Africa Conference opened, in which the major European nations met to decide all questions connected with the Congo River basin of Central Africa.
1848: Pellegrino Rossi, a former member of the Carbonaria, was assassinated in Rome during the Revolutions of 1848.
1818: The Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle, the first of four congresses held by Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, Russia, and France following the Napoleonic Wars, concluded.
1630: Johannes Kepler, the German astronomer who discovered three major laws of planetary motion, died in Regensburg.
1315: The Swiss Confederation achieved its first great military success against the Austrian Habsburgs at the Battle of Morgarten. |
