1664

Today in History 10/28 (Royal Marines)

Members of the Royal Marines drilling on parade grounds in 1927 (© Topical Press Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)(1664) A legendary fighting force forms in Britain
Chartered by King Henry VIII, England’s Honourable Artillery adds a new company to its roster, The Duke of York and Albany’s Maritime Regiment of Foot. They’ll go on to be renamed the Royal Marines almost 100 years later, and emerge as one of the world’s great fighting units.
The Corps of Royal Marines is the amphibious light infantry and one of the five fighting arms or branches of the Royal Navy. The Royal Marines were formed in 1755 as the Royal Navy’s infantry troops. However, the marines can trace their origins back to the formation of the English Army’s “Duke of York and Albany’s maritime regiment of Foot” at the grounds of the Honourable Artillery Company on 28 October 1664.
Founded: Oct 28, 1664
Parent organization: Her Majesty’s Naval Service
Part of: Her Majesty’s Naval Service

Cap badge of the Royal Marines
Cap badge of the Royal Marines
wiki/Royal_Marines
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(1664) A legendary fighting force forms in Britain.
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312 CE | Milvian Bridge battle as Constantine takes on Maxentius after a heavenly vision
The River Tiber’s banks swarm with charging men, clashing metal, and rearing horses as hundreds of thousands fight for control of the Roman Empire in its capital. Some accounts claim Constantine saw a vision from the Christian god the night before, and his side emerges victorious.
1420 | Beijing is capital as construction finishes on China’s new capital city
Seventeen years of a massive building project completed, Beijing is now China’s capital city. Having restored the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Zhu Di desires a power center to match his ambitions, and he’ll get just that as Beijing’s imperial palace, the Forbidden City, opens this year as well.
1886 | Statue of Liberty opened as Lady Liberty lifts a lamp over New York Harbor
‘Liberty Enlightening the World,’ 151-feet of copper neoclassical sculpture, is accepted as a gift from France and dedicated by US President Grover Cleveland after hundreds of thousands of revelers throw the world’s first ticker-tape parade in honor of the new lady of Liberty Island.

Today in History 10/28/17

The Statue of Liberty in New York City, 1930 (© AP)(1886) Lady Liberty lifts a lamp over New York Harbor
'Liberty Enlightening the World,' 151-feet of copper neoclassical sculpture, is accepted as a gift from France and dedicated by US President Grover Cleveland after hundreds of thousands of revelers throw the world's first ticker-tape parade in honor of the new lady of Liberty Island.
The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, in the United States. The copper statue, a gift from the people of France to the people of the United States, was designed by French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and built by Gustave Eiffel. The statue was dedicated on October 28, 1886.
Website: www.nps.gov/stli/
Address: Liberty Island, New York, NY 10004
Phone: (212) 363-3200
Established: Oct 15, 1924
Annual visitors: 4.50 million (2016)
Height: 305 feet (93 m) (Architectural)
Statue of Liberty
Statue of Liberty.

wiki/Statue_of_Liberty
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Today in History 09/08 (New York City)

Illustration of Peter Stuyvesant in 1664 among residents of New Amsterdam, who are pleading with him not to open fire on the British who have arrived in warships to claim the territory for England (© Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)(1664) The Dutch lose New Amsterdam to England and the Duke of York
Dutch governor Peter Stuyvesant peacefully hands over control of New Amsterdam, a small settlement at the tip of North America’s Manhattan Island, to the English after realizing he has no support to fight for it. The colony will be renamed New York City in tribute to England’s Duke of York.
The history of New York City has been influenced by the prehistoric geological formation during the last glacial period of the territory that is today New York City. The area was long inhabited by the Lenape; after initial European exploration in the 16th century, the Dutch established New Amsterdam in 1626. In 1664, the English conquered the area and renamed it New York.
New Amsterdam was a 17th-century Dutch settlement established at the southern tip of Manhattan Island that served as the seat of the colonial government in New Netherland. The factorij became a settlement outside Fort Amsterdam. The fort was situated on the strategic southern tip of the island of Manhattan and was meant to defend the fur trade operations of the Dutch West India Company in the North River.

The Fall of New Amsterdam
The Fall of New Amsterdam
wiki/History_of_New_York_City_(prehistory–1664)
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(1664) The Dutch lose New Amsterdam to England and the Duke of York.
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1900 | Deadly hurricane strikes Texas
The Gulf Coast town of Galveston, Texas, is torn apart by 145-mph winds, as a Category 4 hurricane makes landfall. Along with the wind comes catastrophic flooding, and the combination will result in upwards of 12,000 fatalities, making this the deadliest hurricane in US history.
1935 | Louisiana’s populist politician Huey Long brought down in Baton Rouge
Firebrand, brilliant political tactician, and powerful public speaker, Huey Long, US Senator from Louisiana, is famously controversial, and his over-the-top career now ends as an assassin’s bullets hit him in Louisiana’s State Capitol. Long will succumb to his wounds two days later.
1966 | ‘Star Trek’ boldly goes where no show has gone before
Gene Roddenberry pitched his story of 23rd-century interstellar exploration as a sort of outer space Western, and tonight ‘Star Trek’ makes its TV debut. The series will be cancelled just three seasons in, but reruns in syndication prove that the show will live long and prosper.

Today in History 09/08/17

Galveston, Texas, reduced to rubble after being hit by a surprise hurricane, Sept 8, 1900 (© AP)(1900) Deadly hurricane strikes Texas
The Gulf Coast town of Galveston, Texas, is torn apart by 145-mph winds, as a Category 4 hurricane makes landfall. Along with the wind comes catastrophic flooding, and the combination will result in upwards of 12,000 fatalities, making this the deadliest hurricane in US history.
The Great Galveston Hurricane, known regionally as the Great Storm of 1900, was a Category 4 storm, with winds of up to 145 mph, which made landfall on September 8, 1900, in Galveston, Texas, in the United States. It killed 6,000 to 12,000 people, making it the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history.
Damages: $21 million USD (1900)
Formed: Aug 27, 1900
Dissipated: Sep 17, 1900
Highest winds: 142.92 mph (230 km/h)
Affected areas: Texas · Haiti · Puerto Rico · Dominican Republic · Louisiana · Cuba · Lesser Antilles · New York · Mississippi · Jamaica · Bahamas · Turks and Caicos Islands · Great Lakes region · South Florida · Central United States
Galveston Hurricane (1900)
Galveston Hurricane (1900) SWA

wiki/1900_Galveston_hurricane
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