A Brief History On August 22, 1639, the British East India Company founded a city they called Madras in Southern India on the Bay of Bengal on land they bought from local Nayak leaders, a mere 3 mile strip that would become one of the world’s great cities. Digging Deeper Known as “The Detroit of south Asia” because of its thriving automobile industry, the city today has a population of over 4,500,000 and a metro area population of over 8,500,000. Despite the present day giant size of the city, the 4th largest in India and 36th largest in the world,…
Read More
A Brief History On August 21, 1961, Motown Records of Detroit, Michigan released what became their first #1 hit song, “Please Mr. Postman” by the Marvelettes. Founded by record making genius Berry Gordy, Jr., Motown was an African-American oriented enterprise with a cross-racial appeal that helped bridge the musical gap between Black and White Americans in the turbulent 1960’s. Digging Deeper A relatively small company, Motown was now on its way to major success, owning the crossover soul to pop market. The 1960’s saw 79 Motown hits make the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. Gordy moved the record…
A Brief History On August 19, 1953, United States and British covert spy agencies CIA and MI-6 overthrew the government of Iran led by democratically elected Mohammad Mossaddegh and reinstated the Shah (King), Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Digging Deeper Pahlavi had first taken power when his father abdicated during World War II. The impetus for overthrowing the elected government by the US and Britain was not only to gain an important ally on the borders of the Soviet Union during the Cold War, but also because Iran was attempting to nationalize their oil industry to the detriment of American and British…
A Brief History On August 18, 1945, Indonesia, now the world’s 4th most populous country (and the largest island nation) inaugurated Sukarno as the nation’s first president. Indonesia had just received their independence the day before this historic event. Digging Deeper Indonesia had been a colony of the Netherlands since 1800, after a two hundred year period of gradual hegemony. A source of natural resources such as oil, nutmeg, cloves, tin, copper and gold, Indonesia was a prize highly valued by industrialized nations, a fact that led the Japanese to invade and conquer the islands during World War II. The…
A Brief History On August 17, 1498, Cesare Borgia, the son of reigning Pope Alexander VI, resigned his office as Cardinal of the Catholic Church, becoming the first cardinal to do so. Digging Deeper The incredible intrigues, corruption and machinations of the Holy Father and his family were portrayed in graphic detail in the Showtime premium cable television series The Borgias which ran from 2011 to 2013. The patriarch of the family, the power-hungry Pope Alexander VI, born Rodrigo Borgia, was anything but saintly and engaged in murder, war, political maneuvering and adultery. With a former wife whom he ditched in order…