On This Day in History: From the Cradle of Humankind to World-Changing Moments on December 20

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The Cradle of Humankind, near Johannesburg, is one of the most important archaeological sites in the world.

On this day in history, December 20

1699 Czar Peter the Great changes the Russian New Year from September 1 to January 1.

1852 Sir George Cathcart, governor and commander-in-chief at the Cape, is defeated by Moshesh at Berea Mountain, in Basutoland.

1880 The Battle of Bronkhorstspruit takes place and a British detachment is cut to pieces.

1900 Having had ceasefire offers rebuffed, Britain orders concentration camps for Boer non-combatants – 27 827 people, including 14 100 blacks, would die in them. Concentration camps (Spanish: reconcentrados) were first used by the Spanish military in Cuba during the Ten Years' War (1868-1878).Britain picks up on the idea during the Boer War, before being used by the Fascists during and after the Spanish Civil War (1936–1947). Most people, though, think of them as a purely German invention, one in which nearly 6 million Jews, as well as Russians, political dissidents, homosexuals, the mentally ill and other 'undesirables', die.

1914 Rebel commando leader Jopie Fourie is shot for high treason, but it was a potent factor in teh rise of the National Party, as his death only served to stir up even already bitter feelings among the Boers, still smarting from losing the Boer War and the way the women and children were treated in the concentration camps.

1915 The last Australian troops are evacuated from Gallipoli, Turkey.

1941 The Flying Tigers, the American Volunteer Group squadron, has their first battle against Japanese invaders in Kunming, China.

1942 The Japanese air forces bombs Calcutta.

1951 An Idaho power station becomes the first nuclear plant to generate electricity, powering four light bulbs.

1952 South African ichthyologist, Professor JLB Smith receives a cable from the captain of a fishing boat, who says that he has caught a coelacanth (an ancient fish species thought dead for millions of years) in the Comoros. So important a find is it that Prime Minister DF Malan arranges a military aircraft to fly Smith to the islands so that he can retrieve it for further study.

1971 Doctors Without Borders is founded.

1987 A ferry sinks after hitting an oil tanker in the Philippines, killing about 4 000 people.

1989 The US invades Panama so they can arrest its leader, Manuel Noriega, who they want on drug-trafficking charges.

1991 Archaeologists discover a fleet of 5 000-year-old, ships near the Nile.

2019 The US Space Force – an armed forces branch – is founded.

2017 Singer Lady Gaga lands a Las Vegas residency deal for $75 million – the most lucrative deal ever offered in ‘Sin City’. The deal sees the world’s biggest star earn $1m per show.

2019 US Space Force founded, an armed forces branch dedicated to space warfare.

2022 The ruling Taliban suspend university education for female students in Afghanistan, part of a wider crackdown on women’s rights in the country.

DAILY NEWS