This Day in History

Date: 28 December 2020 - 21:16

News ID: ۸۵۹۸۲

(December 29)

Today is Tuesday; 9th of the Iranian month of Dey 1399 solar hijri; corresponding to 14th of the Islamic month of Jamadi al-Awwal 1442 lunar hijri; and December 29, 2020, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.
1842 solar years ago, on this day in 178 AD, the Roman city of Izmir on the Aegean Sea coast of Asia Minor, in what is now Turkey, was flattened due to a major quake. This quake killed almost half of the city’s pagan population, while making numerous others homeless. Izmir was later rebuilt by Roman Emperor, Marcus Aurelius.
512 solar years ago, on this day in 1508 AD, Portuguese naval commander, Francisco de Almeida, attacked the port of Dabhol on the Konkan coast of India, and massacred its inhabitants, both Muslims and Hindus, to avenge the death of his marauding son, Lorenzo de Almeida, who was killed earlier in the year in the Battle of Chaul, which was won by a joint Egyptian-Indian naval force, led by Mir Hussain Kurdi, the admiral of the Mamluk Dynasty, and the Zamorin of Kerala’s Muslim ambassador, Mayimama Marakkar. Dabhol (also known as Dabul) was the main Arabian Sea port of the Bahmani Empire of Iranian origin of the Deccan, and later fell under the jurisdiction of the Adel-Shahi kingdom of Bijapur – also of Iranian origin.
207 solar years ago, on this day in 1813 AD, British soldiers burned Buffalo, the second largest city in New York State, during the War of 1812.
185 solar years ago, on this day in 1835 AD, the Treaty of New Echota was imposed on Amerindians by the white Anglo-Saxon government in Washington that forced the Cherokees to cede all the lands east of the Mississippi River to the United States of America. The US has a bleak, black and bloody history of genocide against the natives, who were almost exterminated and their homelands seized.
175 solar years ago, on this day in 1845 AD, the United States annexed the Republic of Texas, which had been independent since the Texas Revolution of 1836, and thereupon made it the 28th state. Texas was a Spanish and consequently Mexican state in which the US first instigated a rebellion to set up an independent republic and then annexed it as part of its expansionist policies.
130 solar years ago, on this day in 1890 AD, the Wounded Knee Massacre, the last major conflict of the Amerindian War, occurred on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, resulting in the cold-blooded massacre of over 300 men, women, and children of the Lakota tribe of the Sioux Nation by the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the US commanded by Major Samuel M. Whitside. To pour salt on the wounds of the natives, the US army awarded twenty Medals of Honor, its highest commendation, to officers of the 7th Cavalry – similar to the Medal of Honor given to Captain Will Rogers of the Vincennes for his cowardly shooting down of the Iranian passenger plane with some 300 men, women and children on board. In 2001, the National Congress of Amerindians passed two resolutions condemning the awards and calling them "Medals of Dishonor”. It has demanded that the US government withdraw these medals.
130 lunar years ago, on this day in 1312 AH, the hadith scholar and preacher, Mullah Ismail Sabzevari, passed away in Tehran. He was born in the northeastern Iranian city of Sabzevar. He learned philosophy under the prominent philosopher, Mullah Hadi Sabzevari, and later left for the Najaf Seminary to complete higher studies. After attaining the status of Ijtehad – independent reasoning based on Holy Qur’an and Prophet’s Hadith – he returned to Tehran. He has left behind numerous compilations, including "Majma an-Noorayn”, and "Nawader al-Asaar”.
116 lunar years ago, on this day in 1326 AH, the Iranian mathematician, Mirza Abdul-Ghaffar Tehrani, titled "Najm od-Dowlah” passed away. A product of the famous Dar ul-Fonoun, where he taught mathematics for many years, books authored by him, include "Bedayat al-Hesaab” and "Usoul-e Hendesa” on geometry.
106 solar years ago, on this day in 1914 AD, famous Bengali painter, Zain ul-Abedin, was born in Kishoreganj in what is now Bangladesh.
90 solar years ago, on this day in 1930 AD, the famous poet-philosopher of the Subcontinent, Mohammad Iqbal Lahori, in his address in Allahabad as President of the Muslim League, outlined a vision for the creation of Pakistan, by joining together the overwhelmingly Muslim majority northwestern parts of the Subcontinent. He said: "I would like to see the Punjab, North-West Frontier Province, Sind and Baluchistan (all overwhelmingly Muslim regions) amalgamated into a single state... the formation of a consolidated Northwest Indian Muslim state appears to me to be the final destiny of the Muslims (of these areas).” Iqbal also considered Kashmir to be part of his vision of Pakistan, although he did not make any specific comment on the other Muslim majority areas of India like Bengal and parts of United Provinces (Uttar Pradesh). He rejected secularism and nationalism, and was also critical of his Muslim League colleague, Mohammad Ali Jinnah (the future Founder of Pakistan), for politicizing the issue of the rights of Muslims throughout India.
83 solar years ago, on this day in 1937 AD, the accord for independence of the Irish Republic from British occupation was signed. However, on the pretext of outbreak of World War II two years later in 1939, the British regime did not implement the accord. In 1949, four years after the end of World War II, the Irish Republic officially announced its independence from Britain. The independence was the result of eight centuries-long struggle of the Irish people against Britain, which continues to occupy the six northern counties of Ireland on the pretext that the Protestant sect of Christianity has a relative majority in these areas. Catholics, however, have refused to acknowledge British rule, and continue their struggle for the exit of British forces and nationals.
48 solar years ago, on this day in 1972 AD, Operation Linebacker II ended after the most intensive US bombing campaign of the entire Vietnam War with over 100,000 bombs dropped on Hanoi and Haiphong. Fifteen of the 121 B-52s participating in the air raid were shot down by the North Vietnamese defenders. Some 1318 men, women, and children were killed by the US bombing that failed to dent the resolve of the defenders who eventually triumphed in the long drawn war.
42 solar years ago, on this day in 1978 AD, following failure of the military cabinet of General Gholam Reza Azhari to suppress the popular Islamic uprising in Iran, the British-installed and US-backed Shah named Shapour Bakhtiar as Prime Minister. The people called Bakhtiar a stooge of foreign powers. In his message from exile, the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA), declared Bakhtiar’s cabinet as illegitimate and called on people to continue their struggle for overthrow of the British-installed and US-supported Pahlavi regime.
12 solar years ago, on this day in 2008 AD, a day after the Zionist army launched its 22-day holocaust on the besieged Gaza Strip, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, issued a fatwa (religious decree) saying that anyone killed while defending Palestinians in Gaza would be considered a martyr. Despite the brutality of its attack that resulted in the death of almost 1,500 men, women, and children, and destruction of the infrastructure, in addition to several thousand wounded, the illegal Zionist entity failed to topple the popularly elected Hamas-led Palestinian government.
11 solar years ago, on this day in 2009 AD, millions of Tehranis gathered on streets adjoining Tehran University Campus, while millions more held rallies in various towns and cities of Iran, to denounce sedition and renew allegiance to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, following his call for demonstration of national unity in the face of the plots of the internal and external enemies of Iran, in the aftermath of the presidential elections held on June 12. This grand display of national solidarity exposed the seditionists in their true colours and frustrated the plots of Global Arrogance.