This Day in History on Travel - Page 2 of 17

Are Canary Birds from the Canary Islands?

By Major Dan on April 29, 2019 April 29, Military, Politics, Travel

A Brief History On April 29, 1483, the Kingdom of Castile captured the main island of the Canary Islands, Gran Canaria, leading to Spanish ownership of the islands to this day. Consisting of many smaller islands as well as the 7 “main” islands, the largest island is Tenerife, and Gran Canaria is the third largest island with an area of 600 square miles. (For comparison, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, home to Cleveland, has an land area of 457 square miles, and Cook County, Illinois, home to Chicago, has a land area of 945 square miles. With 596.7 square miles of land,…

Is Timbuktu a Real Place?

By Major Dan on April 20, 2019 April 20, Travel

A Brief History On April 20, 1828, French explorer René Caillié became the first European to return alive from a visit to the ancient African city of Timbuktu. Yes, this ancient city located in Mali is indeed a real place, a mysterious and fabled city of almost mythological proportions to 19th Century Europeans, enough so that the Société de Géographie in Paris offered a 10,000 Franc award to any European that could travel to Timbuktu and return alive with an account of the mystery city. Digging Deeper Africa was still “The Dark Continent” to Europe in 1828, largely unexplored and…

Where Can Students Travel – The 11 Best Places

By Diana Clark on April 18, 2019 April 21, Travel

A Brief History On April 21, 2019, millions of Christian students across the United States of America will celebrate Easter. Given the holiday’s significance, many colleges and universities give students up to a week off of classes so students can spend time with their families. Whether Christians or not, millions of American students will also seize the opportunity from being free from classes to travel. With so many wonderful destinations in the world, it is a shame not to use your student years to travel abroad. Nowadays, there are cheap airfares and accommodation options that make student travel an actual,…

Famous London Landmark is an Imposter!

By Major Dan on April 10, 2019 April 10, Inventions, Travel

A Brief History On April 10, 1858, the original bell called “Big Ben” in the clock tower at the North end of Westminster Palace was removed because it had cracked when tested. The giant 14.5 metric ton bell was replaced with a smaller version, weighing only 13.76 metric tons (or 30,300 pounds for Yankees), but also called Big Ben. Built by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, the bell called Big Ben is often confused with either the tower the giant clock sits in or the tower itself. Big Ben is really just the bell that chimes the hours. Digging Deeper Like…

When Did Terrorists Start Taking Down Airliners?

By Major Dan on March 28, 2019 Crime, March 28, Travel, Vehicles

A Brief History On March 28, 1933, the first known incident of an airliner airplane being taken down by the actions of a passenger occurred when the City of Liverpool (airplanes, trains and the like used to have names like ships are named), a biplane operated by Imperial Airways was taken down because of a fire set by a passenger. Ever since then, terrorists, a\saboteurs and assorted criminals have taken down airliners, usually with bombs, but also by commandeering the plane and flying it into the ground or other object, most notably the aerial hijackings of September 11, 2001 in…