1626 New Amsterdam, History: Dutch colonist Peter Minuit arrived on the wooded island of Manhattan in present-day New York City. Hired by the Dutch West India Company to oversee its trading and colonising activities in the Hudson River region, Minuit is famous for purchasing Manhattan from resident Algonquin Indians for the equivalent of $24. The transaction was a mere formality, however, as the Dutch had already established the town of New Amsterdam at the southern end of the island. Still he treated courteously with the natives, unlike many who followed.
1675 Greenwich, Science: King Charles II commissioned the building of an observatory on the prime meridian.
1904 Panama, Technology. Construction began on the Panama Canal. The US took over a French project started in 1881 which had cost many lives for little progress, working mostly by hand. With the Americans came TNT, pile drivers, steam dredges, and more TNT.
1948 New York City, Literature: Norman Mailer published his first novel, ‘The Naked and the Dead.’ It is a remarkable book, certainly worthy of a Pulitzer Prize, if not more. I read it about 1977 and I can still recall three vivid scenes worthy of Dante’s ‘Inferno.’ His later work never equalled this. Mailer became a limelight seeking egomaniac.
1979 London, Politics: Margaret Thatcher took the floor of the House of Commons as Prime Minister. The first woman to hold that post.
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