Some of the significant events which took place on August 21 taken from the leaf of History:

1129 – The warrior Yoritomo was made Shogun without equal in Japan.

1165 – Philip II Augustus, 1st great Capetian king of France (1179-1223), was born.

1525 -Estavao Gomes returned to Portugal after failing to find a clear waterway to Asia.

1560 – Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) became interested in astronomy.

1660 – Hubert Gautier, engineer, wrote 1st book on bridge building, was born in Nimes, France.

1680 – Pueblo Indians took possession of Santa Fe, N.M., after driving out the Spanish. They destroyed almost all of the Spanish churches in Taos and Santa Fe.

1765 – William IV (d.1837), king of England (1830-37) the “sailor king,” was born.

1789-Augustin-Louis Baron Cauchy, French mathematician, was born.

1794-France surrendered the island of Corsica to the British.

1798 – Jules Michelet, French historian was born in Paris to a family with Huguenot traditions. He wrote the 24-volume “Historie de France”.

1807 – Robert Fulton’s North River Steamboat set off from Albany on its return trip to New York, arriving some 30 hours later.

1808 – Napoleon Bonaparte’s General Junot was defeated by Wellington at the first Battle of the Peninsular War at Vimiero, Portugal.

1810 – Sweden’s Riksdag elected Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, Marshal of France under Napoleon, as heir apparent to the Swedish throne.

1831 – Nat Turner led a rebellion in Southampton county, Va. This became known as “Nat Turner’s Rebellion” or the “Southampton Slave Revolt.” Turner and about seven followers murdered 55 white people, including the entire family of his owners, the Joseph Travis’s. Turner had been taught to read by the Travis children and his studies of the bible led him to have visions of insurrection. Turner was later executed. A 1998 play by Robert O’Hara “Insurrection: Holding History” centered on the event.

1841- John Hampson of New Orleans patented the Venetian blind.

1853 – Henry Wellcome (d.1936) was born in Wisconsin. In 1880 Henry went to London to join Silas Burroughs and set up a successful pharmaceutical firm called Burroughs, Wellcome & Co.

1858 – The first of seven debates between Illinois senatorial contenders Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas took place in Ottowa, Ill. Douglas went on to win the Senate seat in November, but Lincoln gains national visibility for the first time. Douglas stated in the 1st debate: “I believe this government was made on the white basis. I believe it was made by white men for the benefit of white men and their posterity forever, and I am in favor of confining citizenship to white men.”
1863 – William Clarke Quantrill (d.1865), a pro-Confederate guerrilla fighter during the American Civil War, attacked Lawrence, Kansas, with a force estimated at anywhere from 200 to 450 raiders. Though Senator Lane, a prime target of the raid, managed to escape through a cornfield in his nightshirt, the bushwhackers killed an estimated 150-200 men and boys, dragging many from their homes to kill them before their families. When Quantrill rode out at 9 a.m., most of Lawrence’s buildings had been burned, including all but two businesses; his raiders looted indiscriminately and also robbed the town’s bank. The raid would become notorious in the North as one of the most vicious atrocities of the Civil War.

1864 – Confederate General A.P. Hill attacked Union troops south of Petersburg, Va., at the Weldon railroad. His attack was repulsed, resulting in heavy Confederate casualties.

1872 – Aubrey Beardsley (d.1898), English artist (Salome), was born in Brighton.

1878 -The American Bar Association was founded in Saratoga, N.Y.

1887 – Mighty (Dan) Casey Struck-out in a game with the NY Giants.

1890 – Bill Henry, newscaster (Who Said That?), was born in SF, Calif.

1896 – Roark Bradford, writer, humorist (Ol’ Man Adan an’ His Chillun), was born.

1904 – William “Count” Basie, American band leader and composer, was born.

1906 – U.S.A Illegal Abortion: Scandal rocked polite Virginia society when it was discovered that a local optician, a dentist, and a doctor performed an illegal abortion on a prominent woman. Miss Keener who had the abortion worked as a receptionist at Dr. Badgley’s dental office. Each of the doctors had to post a bond of $3,000 each and were to appear in court later.

1911 – The Mona Lisa, the famous portrait by Leonardo da Vinci also called (La Gioconda) was stolen today from the Louvre in Paris. The painting was stolen by Vincenzo Peruggia an employee of the Louvre who believed Leonardo’s painting should be returned to Italy for display in an Italian gallery. The Mona Lisa was recovered two years later when he tried to sell it to an Italian Gallery.

1924 – Russian Turkestan Earthquake: An earthquake in the Oah area of Russian Turkestan left 8,000 homeless and killed 41 people. Also, 4,000 houses were destroyed. Turkestan has 5 provinces and an area of 721,277 square miles.

1938 – President Roosevelt publicly pledged to defend Canada should it be invaded by an enemy and in return he expected Canada to come to American aid if the U.S. was attacked. Canada and the U.S. did not have any formal allegiance, but Roosevelt said the two countries had a mutual interests in defending each other. The former Munroe doctrine was stripped of its paternalism and encouraged an allegiance between, “free peoples which geographical proximity strengthens in the case of Canada and the United States.”

1942 – France Allied Landing Dieppe Disaster: The British attack on Dieppe was a disaster and German radio boasted that there had been, “a complete liquidation of the British landing attempt.” According to a German broadcast from Berlin, “The attitude of the French population showed the fullest confidence in German defenses and considered the British action as a mere nuisance.” Apparently, the stores opened at 6:00 p.m. and the inhabitants of Dieppe went on as normal, the broadcast claimed.

1953 – The President of Japan’s Chamber of Commerce, Aiichiro Fujiyama claimed that Japan would not need to do business with Red China if trade with the United States could be stepped up. Prior to the war, Japan’s business was done mainly with China and Southeast Asia. Fujiyama asserted that Japan’s silk industry and their economy was nearly destroyed by the American production of synthetic fabrics. He recommended that the U.S. buy tuna from Japan and that in turn Japan would develop the light sewing machine industry to trade with America.

1959 – U.S.A. Hawaii: Hawaii becomes the 50th state in the United States.

1961 – Kenya Jomo Kenyatta Released: Jomo Kenyatta, leader of the Kenyan independence movement, is released by British authorities after nearly nine years of imprisonment and detention. Two years later, when Kenya achieved independence Kenyatta became prime minister.

1961 – Israel Adolf Eichmann: In Israel, Adolf Eichmann, a Nazi henchman, was transferred from Jerusalem to a police prison near Haifa where he was to await his trial for war crimes committed during World War II.

1972 – Egypt Israeli Peace Proposals: In Egypt the Soviet Union’s military officials were kicked out by Anwar Sudat. Israeli Prime Minister Mosha Dayan said that she would give Egypt 50% of the Sinai Peninsula back as an incentive for peace. Anwar Sudat spoke about a “new imitative” and seemed to favor peace with Israel. Sudat said, “We have come out of the closed circuit and stagnant waters we were in, and what we need now is to move with the Soviet Union, the U.S., Western Europe, non-aligned Arab nations.”

1972- Wildlife Protection Act is passed by the Indian Parliament.

1983 – Philippines Opposition Leader Assassinated: The Philippines opposition leader, Benigno Aquino, is assassinated after returning home from a self-imposed exile in the United States. He had returned home to contest next year’s elections.

1985 – South Africa White Supremacy: The Afrikaners in South Africa owned 87% of the fertile land, beaches, and mines, leaving the black population with 15% of worthless land. Pieter Botha, South African president and white supremacist, led his fellow Afrikaners to commit numerous murders and atrocities against blacks in that country. President Both refused to talk with Desmond Tutu, Nobel Prize winner and peace activist.

1986 – Cameroon Lethal Gas Kills 1,500: Lethal gas from the volcanic Lake Nyos in Cameroon, West Africa has killed every living thing within a 15 mile radius including 1,500 people within the area affected by the gas which contains high levels of carbon dioxide, hydrogen and sulphur.

1987 – U.S.A. Dow Reaches 2772.4: Following a record run on Wall Street The Dow reaches an all-time high 2772.4 but later in October as interest rates continue to increase the bull market ends with large drops and a single day loss of 508 points on October 19th.

1996 – Rwanda Refugees Return: Sixty United Nations trucks plowed through mud, bringing 8,000 Rwandan refugees back to the country they left two years ago. Some of the Hutu refugees were frightened of returning to face the new Tutsi government. During the genocide Hutus slaughtered a half million Tutsis. Thirty-five thousand Rwandans remained in Burundi refugee camps.

1998 – Quebec Quest For Independence: The Separatist quest for independence by French Speaking Quebec has been unanimously been turned down by the unanimously the Supreme Court of Canada who have declared Quebec has no legal right to declare independence from the rest of Canada.

2002 – Musharraf Overrides Pakistan Supreme Court:  The Pakistan prime minister General Pervez Musharraf has declared new changes to the constitution via executive decree including appoint prime ministerial power to appoint the chiefs of the armed forces, new clause in the constitution allowing him to remain the country’s president and chief of the army for another five years. His latest declarations leave him at odds with the Supreme Court and Parliament in the country.

2003 – California Governor Race Heating Up: Arnold Schwarzenegger better known for his role in American movies is gaining ground in the job of California’s Governor should the recall for Mr Davis succeed. California is facing a severe economic crisis and the recall for Mr Davis is likely to succeed opening the way for dozens of potential candidates for the position, Arnold Schwarzenegger is considered one of the front runners in the race.

2004 – Michael Phelps 6th Gold Medal: Michael Phelps gets his 6th gold medal at the Athens 2004 Olympics when the USA wins the men’s 4x100m medley relay final breaking the world record at the same time.

2006 – North Korea Humanitarian Aid: South Korea sent over 230 million dollars’ worth of humanitarian aid to North Korea which was hit by severe flooding. The North claims only hundreds of people were killed by the floods, but South Korean aid agencies think it is more like 58,000 dead or lost. Seoul suspended regular aid to the North because of Kim Jong Il’s Missile tests, but decided to make the flood disaster a special case.

2006 – Iraq Saddam Hussein Trial: Saddam Hussein’s genocide and crimes against humanity trial began on this day. The former Iraqi leader did not enter a plea in protest against the questionable fairness of the trial. The judge entered a plea of not guilty on Hussein’s behalf.

2008 – Swaziland Protests:: Protests were held in the capital of Swaziland by hundreds of women. The women protested against a shopping trip to Europe and the Middle East by nine of the king’s wives. As one of the poorest countries in the world, the protesters believed the money could be spent in a better way.

2011 – Vanuatu Earthquake hits South Pacific: An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.1 struck off the coast of the South Pacific island of Vanuatu. There were no reported damages or injuries but the islands experienced several aftershocks that created the possibility of local tsunamis.

2012 – US Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has called for Representative Todd Akin to drop out of the Missouri senate race after Akin made controversial statements about rape and pregnancy. Akin made a comment stating that he believed women’s bodies could prevent pregnancy in cases of “legitimate rape” and has been defying pressure by his own party to drop out of the race.

2013 – United States Bradley Manning Sentenced: US soldier, Bradley Manning was sentenced to thirty-five years in prison after sharing sensitive information with Wikileaks. Manning was accused of sharing hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables and battlefield reports to the Julian Assange headed group.

2017: Americans witnessed their first full-blown coast-to-coast solar eclipse since World War I, with eclipse-watchers gathering along a path of totality extending 2,600 miles across the continent from Oregon to South Carolina.

2017- In a national address, President Donald Trump reversed his past calls for a speedy exit from Afghanistan and recommitted the United States to the 16-year-old conflict, saying U.S. troops must “fight to win.”

2017- A collision between the destroyer USS John McCain and an oil tanker near Singapore left ten U.S. sailors dead.