Did You Know? This Day in History: From Human Rights and Nobel Prizes to Mandela’s Constitution
South African President Nelson Mandela (R) signs the country's new constitution while ANC's chief negociator during the drafting process Cyril Ramaphosa looks on, at Sharpville stadium near Vereeniging 10 December 1996. The venue has a double significance: In the same town, in 1902 the Treaty of Vereeniging which ended the Anglo-Boer War was signed and in 1960 police shot dead 69 people during an anti-apartheid demonstration in the township of Sharpville.
Image: AFP PHOTO ADIL BRADLOW
Did you know?
On average, a person walks the equivalent of three times around the world in their lifetime.
On this day in history, December 10
1510 The Muslim residents of Goa surrender to Portuguese forces, who promptly slaughter them.
1799 France is the first country to adopt the metric system.
1851 American librarian Melvil Dewey is born in Adams Center, New York. He invents the Dewey decimal book classification system and urges the use of the metric system.
1896 Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel dies in San Remo, Italy. His will stipulates that income from his $9 million estate be used to award those who have made valuable contributions to humanity, given on his death anniversary.
1907 The worst night of the Brown Dog riots in London, when 1 000 medical students clash with 400 police officers over a memorial for animals that have been vivisected.
1926 The second part of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf, which he has a working title of Four-and-a-Half Years (of Struggle) Against Lies, Stupidity and Cowardice, is published.
1932 The ‘Great Emu War’ ends in Western Australia. Defeated military commander Major Meredith compares the flightless birds to Zulus: ‘If we had a military division with the bullet-carrying capacity of these birds it would face any army... They are like Zulus, whom even dum-dum bullets could not stop.’
1936 Britain’s King Edward VIII abdicates to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson.
1941 The Royal Navy’s capital ships HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse, sailing to help with the defence of Singapore, are sunk by Japanese planes off Malaya.
1948 The General Assembly of the UN adopts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
1978 Israel’s Prime Minister Begin and Egypt’s President Sadat win the Nobel Peace Prize.
1996 President Mandela signs the new Constitution, guaranteeing equal rights to all. Analysts call it one of the world’s most liberal.
2016 Musician Bob Dylan wins the Nobel Prize for Literature, but doesn’t go to collect it.
2024 The Franklin Fire in Malibu, California, rages out of control, prompting officials to order an evacuation of 20 000 people.
2024 The national campaign 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children ends.
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