A dream takes a poet 19 000km, a heinous law is passed in Durban, the graceful and deadly Spitfire takes to the skies, and the Tsar’s final resting place is found. These are some of the things that happened back in the day on March 5. There are more, read on....
1046 Inspired by a dream, the Persian poet Nasir Khusraw begins a seven-year, 19 000km Middle Eastern journey. The graphic description of this journey is contained in the Safarnama (Book of Travels), which still possesses special value among books of travel, as it contains the most authentic account of the state of the Muslim world in the middle of the 11th century.
1496 English King Henry VII grants John Cabo – who is a Venetian merchant called Giovanni Caboto – a commission to explore for new lands. He is the first European to land on the North American Continent since the Vikings.
1836 Samuel Colt manufactures the first pistol – the .34-calibre ‘Texas’ model.
1872 George Westinghouse patents the triple air brake for trains.
1908 The first ascent of the highest peak in Antarctica, the volcanic Mt Erebus, takes place.
1916 SA troops invade East Africa in their confrontation with German forces.
1921 The Durban Land Alienation Ordinance is passed, allowing the Durban City Council to exclude Indians from ownership or occupation of property in white areas.
1924 The first one-day flight between Cape Town and Pretoria takes place.
1936 The prototype of the world-famous Spitfire fighter makes its first flight.
1940 Top Soviet politburo members sign an order for the execution of 25 700 Polish intelligentsia, leading to the Katyn massacre.
1953 Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, having collapsed four days earlier, dies.
1981 The ZX81, a British home computer, is launched by Sinclair Research and goes on to sell over 1.5 million units around the world.
1994 Nelspruit sets a world record with the largest milkshake – it includes 7 400 litres of liquid chocolate.
1995 The graves of the last tsar of Russia, Nicholas II, and his family – executed by the Bolsheviks– are finally found in St Petersburg.
2019 Second-ever person ‘cured’ of HIV after stem cell transplant treatment in London, England results published in Nature.
2019 Bugatti announces the most expensive new car ever made: the 1 of 1 La Voiture Noire (the black car), which costs €16.7 million. The only one is snapped up by football mega-star Cristiano Ronaldo, who bought the eye-wateringly expensive car as a gift to himself.