Browsing: February

A Brief History On February 7, 1992, signatories from the 12 member states of the European Economic Community signed the Maastricht Treaty, so named after the city in which it was signed, Maastricht, The Netherlands, which more or less created a modern United States of Europe, although it is actually called The European Union.  The European Union, or EU, now has a total of 28 nations aligned with each other to a common purpose of open travel and trade and economic unity.  Boasting about a quarter of the entire world’s wealth, the EU is collectively the only other serious economic…

A Brief History On February 6, 60 AD, in the Roman city of Pompeii, an unknown graffiti artist noted that the day was “dies Solis” (Sunday), the first known instance of being able to attach a date to a day of the week.  While this bit of graffito is the earliest recorded account of a day and date being matched up, people had been naming days of the week prior to this incident.  The Romans called Sunday “dies Solis” meaning day of the Sun.  Read on for more about what the names of each day of the week mean and…

A Brief History On February 5, 1933, the crew of the Royal Netherlands Navy ship HNLMS De Zeven Provinciën mutinied while stationed off the coast of Sumatra in the Dutch East Indies.  Fed up with harsh working conditions and an announced cut in pay, the crew consisting of both ethnically Dutch and Indonesian sailors seized control of the cruiser sized ship, not relinquishing control until the ship was bombed by Dutch warplanes 6 days later! Digging Deeper The 1930’s was a time of the Great Depression, and Europe was still recovering from the terrible effects of World War I.  Austerity…

A Brief History On February 4, 1992, Hugo Chavez, leader of the Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement-200, headed an attempted coup against the lawful government of Venezuela.  While the coup attempt failed, another attempt in November of 1992 was also staged, even though Chavez was in prison at the time.  The second attempt also failed, but Chavez was later released from prison after only 2 years and was elected President of Venezuela in 1998, a post he held until his death in 2013.  The Chavez years were no less tumultuous than the political chaos he and his cohorts replaced, and today the…

A Brief History On February 3, 1959, a Beechcraft Bonanza airplane crashed in Clear Lake, Iowa, a crash that would become one of the most famous plane crashes in aviation and music history.  When the light plane hit the ground in wintry weather, the lives of 3 early Rock and Roll stars were lost, an incident often referred to as “The Day the Music Died.”  On that fateful day, music fans lost Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper (aka J.P. Richardson), and the young Ritchie Valens. Digging Deeper The airplane involved in the tragedy was a 1947 model of the Beechcraft…