Today in History ...

Posted
1534 – The city of Quito in Ecuador is founded by Spanish settlers led by Sebastián de Belalcázar. 1865 – The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, banning slavery. 1877 – The first edition of The Washington Post is published. 1884 – The Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., is completed. 1917 – Finland declares independence from Russia. 1933 – U.S. federal judge John M. Woolsey rules that James Joyce's novel Ulysses is not obscene. 1953 – Vladimir Nabokov completes his controversial novel Lolita. 1971 – Pakistan severs diplomatic relations with India following New Delhi's recognition of Bangladesh. 1973 – The Twenty-fifth Amendment: The United States House of Representatives votes 387 to 35 to confirm Gerald Ford as Vice President of the United States. (On November 27, the Senate confirmed him 92 to 3.) 1988 – The Australian Capital Territory is granted self-government. 1997 – A Russian Antonov An-124 cargo plane crashes into an apartment complex near Irkutsk, Siberia, killing 67. 2006 – NASA reveals photographs taken by Mars Global Surveyor suggesting the presence of liquid water on Mars. 2008 – The 2008 Greek riots break out upon the killing of a 15-year-old boy, Alexandros Grigoropoulos, by a police officer.