Today in History: Oct. 11

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1138 – A massive earthquake strikes Aleppo. 1142 – A peace treaty between the Jin dynasty and Southern Song dynasty is formally ratified when a Jin envoy visits the Song court during the Jin–Song wars. 1311 – The Ordinances of 1311 are published, imposing a series of regulations upon King Edward II of England by the peerage and clergy. 1531 – Huldrych Zwingli is killed in battle with the Roman Catholic cantons of Switzerland. 1582 – Due to the adoption of the Gregorian calendar, this day does not exist in this year in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain. 1614 – Adriaen Block and 12 Amsterdam merchants petition the States General for exclusive trading rights in the New Netherland colony. 1634 – The Burchardi flood: "The second Grote Mandrenke" killed around 15,000 men in North Friesland, Denmark and Germany. 1649 – Sack of Wexford: After a ten-day siege, English New Model Army troops (under Oliver Cromwell) stormed the town of Wexford, killing over 2,000 Irish Confederate troops and 1,500 civilians. 1727 – George II and Caroline of Ansbach are crowned King and Queen of Great Britain. 1767 – Surveying for the Mason–Dixon line separating Maryland from Pennsylvania is completed. 1776 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Valcour Island: On Lake Champlain a fleet of American boats is defeated by the Royal Navy, but delays the British advance until 1777. 1797 – Battle of Camperdown: Naval battle between Royal Navy and Royal Netherlands Navy during the French Revolutionary Wars. The outcome of the battle was a decisive British victory. 1809 – Along the Natchez Trace in Tennessee, explorer Meriwether Lewis dies under mysterious circumstances at an inn called Grinder's Stand. 1811 – Inventor John Stevens' boat, the Juliana, begins operation as the first steam-powered ferry (service between New York City, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey). 1852 – The University of Sydney, Australia's oldest university, is inaugurated in Sydney. 1862 – American Civil War: In the aftermath of the Battle of Antietam, Confederate General J. E. B. Stuart and his men loot Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, during a raid into the north. 1865 – Paul Bogle led hundreds of black men and women in a march in Jamaica, starting the Morant Bay rebellion. 1890 – In Washington, D.C., the Daughters of the American Revolution is founded. 1899 – Second Boer War begins: In South Africa, a war between the United Kingdom and the Boers of the Transvaal and Orange Free State erupts. 1899 – The Western League is renamed the American League. 1906 – San Francisco public school board sparks a diplomatic crisis between the United States and Japan by ordering Japanese students to be taught in racially segregated schools. 1910 – Former President Theodore Roosevelt becomes the first U.S. president to fly in an airplane. He flew for four minutes with Arch Hoxsey in a plane built by the Wright brothers at Kinloch Field (Lambert–St. Louis International Airport), St. Louis, Missouri. 1912 – First Balkan War: The Greek Army liberates the city of Kozani. 1918 – The 7.1 Mw San Fermín earthquake shakes Puerto Rico with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), killing 76–116 people. A destructive tsunami contributed to the damage and loss of life. 1941 – Beginning of the National Liberation War of Macedonia. 1942 – World War II: Battle of Cape Esperance: On the northwest coast of Guadalcanal, United States Navy ships intercept and defeat a Japanese fleet on their way to reinforce troops on the island. 1944 – Tuvan People's Republic, formerly Tannu Tuva, is annexed by the U.S.S.R. 1950 – Television: CBS's mechanical color system is the first to be licensed for broadcast by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. 1954 – First Indochina War: The Viet Minh take control of North Vietnam. 1957 – Space Race: Operation Moonwatch scientists calculate Sputnik 1's booster rocket's orbit. 1958 – Pioneer program: NASA launches the lunar probe Pioneer 1 (the probe falls back to Earth and burns up). 1962 – Second Vatican Council: Pope John XXIII convenes the first ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church in 92 years. 1968 – Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 7, the first successful manned Apollo mission, with astronauts Wally Schirra, Donn F. Eisele and Walter Cunningham aboard. 1972 – A race riot occurs on the United States Navy aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk off the coast of Vietnam during Operation Linebacker. 1975 – The NBC sketch comedy/variety show Saturday Night Live debuts. 1976 – George Washington's appointment, posthumously, to the grade of General of the Armies by congressional joint resolution Public Law 94-479 is approved by President Gerald R. Ford. 1984 – Aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger, astronaut Kathryn D. Sullivan becomes the first American woman to perform a space walk. 1984 – An Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-154 crashes into maintenance vehicles upon landing in Omsk, Russia, killing 178. 1986 – Cold War: U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet in Reykjavík, Iceland, in an effort to continue discussions about scaling back their intermediate missile arsenals in Europe. 1987 – First public display of AIDS Memorial Quilt on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., during the Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. 1987 – Start of Operation Pawan by Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka that killed thousands of ethnic Tamil civilians and hundreds of Tamil Tigers and Indian Army soldiers. 1994 – Korn releases their self-titled debut album, which has been considered to start the whole nu metal genre. 2000 – NASA launches STS-92, the 100th Space Shuttle mission, using Space Shuttle Discovery. 2001 – The Polaroid Corporation files for federal bankruptcy protection. 2002 – A bomb attack in a shopping mall in Vantaa, Finland kills seven. 2013 – A migrant boat sinks in the Channel of Sicily with at least 34 people dead.