330 Constantinople became the capital of the Roman Empire. The Column of Constantine remains as shown below; it marks the spot where he declared it the capital. A giant statue of, who else, Connie surmounted the column. The corner of Turkey on the west side of Bosphorus is called Rumi, and that is a reference to Roman. Been there, seen that.
868 The first recorded reference to the Diamond Sutra, a holy text of Mahayana Buddhism, which is the world oldest surviving, dated, and printed book. It is held in the British Library.
1813 William Lawson, Gregory Blaxland, and William Wentworth led an expedition westward from Sydney over the Blue Mountains. The route is the first opening for European expansion into the continent of Australia. Settlements ascending the Mountains from the coast are named for these three stalwarts.
1947 Akron, Technology: The B. F. Goodrich Company announced the development of tubeless tire that increased the safety and ease of driving. The tire blowouts that figure so prominently in movies before this time became largely a thing of the past.
1997 Technology: Deep Blue defeated the unbeatable Garry Kasparov in chess three games to two with one draw.
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