1661 Tai Pei, History: The Dutch established a fort called Zeelandia on Formosa to protect the trade of the Dutch East India company in north Asia.
1948 Bogota (CL), Politics; The Organisation of American States treaty was signed by eighteen nations as the successor to the Pan American Union first proposed by José de San Martín and Simón Bolívar in 1826. The OAS was a creature of the Cold War and has fostered peaceful conflict resolution and democratic practices among its now thirty-five members. It has also worked against the traffic in drugs, while promoting freer trade among its members. The image below shows the network of cooperation among its members. Note that Canada did not join until 1990.
1948 Amsterdam (NL), Technology: The Land Rover was revealed in an automobile show. It was built as a general purpose working vehicle that could tow another, take a load, winch itself out trouble, pass through mud holes, and keep going and going, all in para-military green and khaki. Seat cushions, doors, heating, spare tires were not included. In 1976 the one millionth Land Rover came off the assembly line in Birmingham.
1987 Gatineau Park (QC), Politics: The Meech Lake Accords were signed by Canadian Prime Minster Brian Mulroney and the ten premiers. It accommodated Quebec’s ambitions to be a ‘distinct society,’ but left open the future of indigenous peoples. These two features aroused subsequent opposition and ratification by provincial legislatures failed. Intended to quell separatism in Quebec, the result stimulated it. Mulroney went into the conference with the largest majority ever held in the House of Representatives, but by 1993 his Conservative Party was reduced to two seats of 295.
1993 Geneva (CH), Technology: CERN published the protocols of the World Wide Web in the public domain, free to one and all. Get clicking!
Skip to content