A Brief History On July 3, 1996, Prime Minister John Major of the United Kingdom made an announcement most Scots would find long overdue. Major announced that the Stone of Scone would be returned to Scotland after being held in England since 1296. Digging Deeper Not to be confused with the delicious breakfast pastry, the stone gets its name from Scone Abbey in Scone, Scotland, where the red sandstone block once resided. A sacred relic, the stone has been used in the coronation ceremonies of Scottish, English, and British monarchs. It has a cross carved on it and metal rings…
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A Brief History This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on July 2nd. For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event. Digging Deeper On July 2, 1776, The Thirteen British Colonies voted to declare themselves independent from the crown. On July 2, 1777, Vermont became the first territory in what had just (kind of) become the United States to abolish slavery. On July 2, 1816, a French sailing ship, the Méduse, struck bottom off the coast of Mauritania, dooming the vessel. On July 2, 1937,…
A Brief History On July 2, 1990, 1,426 faithful Muslims attending the annual pilgrimage to Mecca called the “Hajj,” were trampled and suffocated to death in a tunnel. Sadly, the Hajj is no stranger to such disasters, although not necessarily on this scale. Digging Deeper The incident happened as several people fell off a pedestrian bridge over a huge column of other faithful passing through the 550 meter long tunnel. When the crowd below had people land on them, a rush followed causing constriction of the crowd in the tunnel, resulting in trampling and suffocation. The tunnel, designed for only…
A Brief History This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on July 1st. For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event. Digging Deeper On July 1, 1863, the battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania began, perhaps the most important battle of the US Civil War. Pursuant to the British North America Act, on July 1, 1867, the colonies of Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia joined to form the semi-autonomous federal Dominion of Canada, which began an accretion of provinces and territories to the mostly self-governing Dominion…
A Brief History On July 1, 1980, Canada officially adopted “O Canada” as its national anthem. Dating back to 1880, “O Canada” became the informal national anthem of Canada in 1939. The English form of the lyrics have been amended several times, including in 2018, while the French words remained the same. Digging Deeper Other countries have well known stirring anthems, and we list a few for you to pick from as your favorite: France, “La Marseillaise,” 1792. Germany, ”Deutschland Über Alles,” 1922. United Kingdom, “God Save the King (or Queen),” 1745. United States, “Star-Spangled Banner,” written 1814, adopted 1931.…