December 6: Today in history

1492: Christopher Columbus lands on Santo Domingo Island in search of gold.

1812: Napoleon Bonaparte’s Grand Armeé staggers into Vilna, Lithuania, ending the failed Russian campaign

1862: US President Abraham Lincoln orders the hanging of 39 of the 303 convicted Indians participating in the Sioux Uprising in Minnesota.

1865: The 13^th Amendment of the US Constitution is ratified, abolishing slavery.

1877: Thomas A. Edison makes the first sound recording. He recites “Mary had a Little Lamb” into his phonograph machine.

1917: The Bolsheviks imprison Czar Nicholas II, his family in Tobolsk.

1921: 26 southern counties of Ireland become independent from Britain to form the Irish Free State.

1938: France, Germany sign a treaty of friendship.

1957: Vanguard TV3 explodes on the launch-pad. It thwarted the first US attempt to launch a satellite into the Earth’s orbit.

1967: Adrian Kantrowitz performs the first human heart transplant in the United States.

1971: Pakistan severs diplomatic relations with India after the latter recognizes the state of Bangladesh.

1992: India’s Babri Mosque in Ayodhya destroyed during a riot.

2006: NASA reveals photographs from Mars Global Surveyor suggesting the presence of water on Mars.