1542 Portuguese under Christovão da Gama occupied Bacento in northern Ethiopia. He was the son of Vasco de Game, himself an explorer and adventurer. I did not realise the Portuguese had gone inland at the Horn of Africa. The image below of Christovão da Game is on the monument to Portuguese explorers at Belem. Been there.
1653 New Amsterdam was incorporated as a city and a wall built to keep the English out. In 1674 the English took over. It became Wall Street. Been there. New York City, that is.
1709 Alexander Selkirk was rescued after being marooned on an island for five years. His story inspired “Robinson Crusoe.” Daniel DeFoe’s novel is full of ideas that have been drained from every film version I have seen. Read that.
1899 The Australian Premiers’ Conference in Melbourne decided to locate Australia’s capital in a brown field. Rivalries and jealousies being to the fore, all agreed it could not be located in any existing city. Ergo a new city would be built for the new country in Canberra. Been there many times. The lore is that Jervis Bay on the coast was the preferred choice for access to the sea. However, that was also considered too vulnerable to attack from the sea. Some of that area is now a national park with its long white sand beaches. Been there, too.
1922 James Joyce published ‘Ulysses’ in Paris in a print run of 1,000. I have read it and listened to scores of Frank Delany’s podcasts, some while Dr Painless was drilling my teeth. There is an entry on this book elsewhere on the blog. Get clicking. One of these Parisian editions today would sell for $USD 75,000.
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