1653

Today in History 02/02/17

Illustration of New Amsterdam in the 17th century (© Stock Montage/Getty Images)(1653) New Amsterdam, now New York City, is incorporated
A settlement surrounding Fort Amsterdam on the southern tip of Manhattan Island receives municipal rights from its Dutch owners. The English consider New Amsterdam to be a problematic trading post.
New Amsterdam was a 17th-century Dutch settlement established at the southern tip of Manhattan Island, which served as the seat of the colonial government in New Netherland. The factorij became a settlement outside of Fort Amsterdam. Situated on the strategic, fortifiable southern tip of the island of Manhattan, the fort was meant to defend the Dutch West India Company’s fur trade operations in the North River. In 1624 it became a provincial extension of the Dutch Republic and was designated as the capital of the province in 1625.
wiki/New_Amsterdam
File photo of James Joyce's first edition of 'Ulysses' and his original manuscript (© Dan Loh/AP)(1922) James Joyce’s novel ‘Ulysses’ published
On his 40th birthday, Dublin-born author James Joyce sees his modernist novel ‘Ulysses’ released by Paris publisher Sylvia Beach. It will revolutionize fiction writing, but also lead to an obscenity trial.
Ulysses is a modernist novel by Irish writer James Joyce. It was first serialised in parts in the American journal The Little Review from March 1918 to December 1920, and then published in its entirety by Sylvia Beach in February 1922, in Paris. It is considered to be one of the most important works of modernist literature, and has been called “a demonstration and summation of the entire movement”. According to Declan Kiberd, “Before Joyce, no writer of fiction had so foregrounded the process of thinking.”
Author: James Joyce
First published: Feb 02, 1922
ATOS reading level: 7.50
Followed by: Finnegans Wake
Characters: Molly Bloom · Leopold Bloom · Blazes Boylan · Patrick “Paddy” Dignam · Milly Bloom · Gerty MacDowell · Simon Dedalus · Stephen Dedalus · Buck Mulligan · Garrett Deasy · D. B. Murphy · Father John Conmee
Preceded by: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

wiki/Ulysses_(novel)
Major General Idi Amin, the new military leader of Uganda gives his first press conference in Kampala, Jan. 26, 1971 (© Brian Calvert/AP)(1971) General Idi Amin becomes Uganda’s leader in coup
Having overthrown President Milton Obote in a coup the previous week, General Idi Amin consolidates power, naming himself head of the armed forces and president of Uganda. He will initiate brutal political and ethnic slaughter, resulting in 500,000 deaths according to Amnesty International.
Idi Amin Dada was the third president of Uganda, ruling from 1971 to 1979. Amin in 1946 joined the King’s African Rifles, a British colonial regiment, serving in Kenya and Uganda. Eventually, Amin held the rank of major general in the post-colonial Uganda People’s Defense Force and became its commander before seizing power in the military coup of January 1971 that deposed Milton Obote. While he was head of state, he promoted himself to field marshal.
Lived: 1923 – Aug 16, 2003
Height: 6′ 4″ (1.93 m)
Spouse: Sarah Kyolaba (m. 1975 – 2003) · Madina Amin (m. 1972 – 2003) · Nora Amin (m. 1967 – 1974) · Malyamu Amin (m. 1966 – 1974) · Kay Amin (m. 1966 – 1974)
Movies: General Idi Amin Dada
Previous offices: President for Life (1976 – 1979) · President of Uganda (1971 – 1979)
Children: Maimuna Amin (Daughter) · Kato Amin (Son) · Ali Amin (Son) · Mwanga Amin (Son) · Hussein Amin (Son) · Iman Aminu (Daughter) · Taban Amin (Son) · Wasswa Amin (Son) · Jaffar Amin (Son) · Moses Amin
Highlights
  • 1966: He married his first and second wives, Malyamu and Kay, in 1966.

  • 1971: Having learned that Obote was planning to arrest him for misappropriating army funds, Amin seized power in a military coup on 25 January 1971, while Obote was attending a Commonwealth summit meeting in Singapore.

  • 1972: Amin retaliated against the attempted invasion by Ugandan exiles in 1972, by purging the army of Obote supporters, predominantly those from the Acholi and Lango ethnic groups.

  • 1975: It was a British comedy album parodying Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, released in 1975 on Transatlantic Records.

  • 1980: Brian Barron, who covered the Uganda–Tanzania war for the BBC as chief Africa correspondent, together with cameraman Mohamed Amin of Visnews in Nairobi, located Amin in 1980, and secured the first interview with him since his deposition.

  • 2003: Amin’s family decided to disconnect life support and Amin died at the hospital in Jeddah on 16 August 2003.

wiki/Idi_Amin
South African State President F.W. de Klerk, announces the unconditional release of jailed ANC leader Nelson Mandela and the unbanning of the ANC, PAC, and South African Communist party in Cape Town, South Africa, on Feb. 2, 1990 (© Dana Le Roux-Argus/AP)(1990) Ban on anti-apartheid groups lifted, Nelson Mandela promised freedom
South African President F.W. de Klerk outlines sweeping reforms in a parliamentary speech, setting the stage for the dismantling of apartheid. The reforms lift bans on anti-apartheid groups and promise the release of political prisoner Nelson Mandela.
Frederik Willem de Klerk is a South African politician who served as the country’s State President from August 1989 to May 1994. He was the seventh and last head of state of South Africa under the apartheid era. De Klerk was also leader of the National Party from February 1989 to September 1997.
Born: Mar 18, 1936 (age 80) · Johannesburg, South Africa
Height: 5′ 10″ (1.78 m)
Spouse: Elita Georgiades (m. 1998) · Marike de Klerk (m. 1959 – 1998)
Previous offices: Deputy President of South Africa (1994 – 1996) · State President of South Africa (1989 – 1994) · State President of South Africa (1989 – 1994)
Awards: Nobel Peace Prize (1993) · Time Person of the Year (1993) · Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize (1991) · Philadelphia Liberty Medal (1993) · Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation
Parties: National Party · New National Party
Highlights
  • 1990: A couple of months later, in February 1990, he suddenly lifted the bans on the African National Congress (ANC) and the Communist Party of South Africa, released Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners.

  • 1996: He was one of the deputy presidents of South Africa during the presidency of Nelson Mandela until 1996, and is the most recent white South African and Afrikaner to have held the position.

  • 1998: F.W. de Klerk married Elita Georgiades on November 07, 1998.

  • 1999: In 1999, de Klerk established the pro-peace FW de Klerk Foundation of which he is the chairman.

  • 2001: On 4 December 2001, Marike de Klerk was found stabbed and strangled to death in her Cape Town flat.

  • 2003: On 15 May 2003, he received two life sentences for murder, as well as three years for breaking into Marike de Klerk’s apartment.

wiki/F._W._de_Klerk
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