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This Day in History

Thu, 28 Mar 2024

Constantinople Becomes Istanbul (1930)

The city now known as Istanbul was founded as the Greek colony of Byzantium in the 8th century BCE. Eventually passing to Alexander the Great, it became a free city under the Romans in the 1st century CE. Emperor Constantine I made the city the seat of the Eastern Roman Empire in 330, later naming it Constantinople. It remained the capital of the subsequent Byzantine Empire after the fall of Rome in the late 5th century and then changed hands several times. Why was it renamed Istanbul in 1930? Discuss

Wed, 27 Mar 2024

The Tenerife Disaster (1977)

The Tenerife Disaster was a passenger plane accident that resulted in the highest number of fatalities of any single accident in aviation history, excluding ground fatalities. It occurred when two Boeing 747s, a KLM flight in the midst of takeoff and a PanAm flight taxing in the opposite direction, collided at Los Rodeos Airport on the island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands, killing 583 people. What bombing led both planes to be diverted to the Tenerife airport in the first place?

Tue, 26 Mar 2024

Heaven's Gate Cult Members Found Dead (1997)

Established in 1972, Heaven's Gate was a cult that advocated self-renunciation, to the point of castration, as preparation for the "transition" to a new life on a spaceship, which adherents believed was trailing behind the comet Hale-Bopp. As the comet made its closest approach to Earth, 39 members of the group committed suicide. Authorities found the dead lying neatly in their bunk beds, dressed identically and wearing armbands that read "Heaven's Gate Away Team." Who was their leader?

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