Some of the more interesting things that happened on this day.
1824 Retired Royal Navy officer, Lieutenant Francis Farewell, hoists the Union Jack at Port Natal (Durban) and claims it for Britain.
1883 A chain of natural disasters that will be felt across the world for years comes into play following the explosion of Krakatoa. Following on from the previous day’s gargantuan upheaval, four more eruptions beginning at 5.30am prove cataclysmic. The ash is propelled to a height of 80km. Fine dust from the explosion drifts across the Earth, causing spectacular sunsets and forming an atmospheric veil that lowers temperatures worldwide by several degrees. Of the 36 000 deaths, at least 31 000 were caused by tsunamis created when much of the island sank 850m below the surface of the sea. Waves from the blast are registered around the world.
1896 Britain defeats Zanzibar in a 38-minute war, the shortest in history.
1900 During the Battle of Bergendal, British General Sir Redvers Buller defeats the Boers under General Louis Botha. It is the last set-piece battle of the Anglo Boer War and the last time that the Boers’ four 155mm ‘Long Tom’ guns were used in the same battle.
1928 Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi, Zulu prince, leader of the IFP, and prime minister of the Zulu nation, is born.
1950 The US accepts a South African offer to send a fighter squadron to Korea in support of the UN involvement in the peninsula.
1966 Francis Chichester sets off in his yacht. He becomes the first person to sail single-handed around the world by the clipper route and the fastest circumnavigation, in nine months and one day overall.
1979 The Earl Mountbatten of Burma, cousin to Queen Elizabeth II, is killed by the IRA when his boat is blown up off Ireland.
1987 Three men accused of plotting to kidnap ANC leaders in London and fly them to SA say the British government was involved.
1996 Seven Iraqi hijackers surrender aboard a Sudanese airliner at London’s Stansted Airport.
2018 The UN releases a report saying that Myanmar military leaders should face genocide and crimes against humanity charges for violence against the Rohingya.
2020 Australian terrorist Brenton Tarrant is sentenced to life without parole, for the killing of 51 mosque worshippers in Christchurch, New Zealand. It is the first time the country imposes the sentence.
2019 Race car driver Jessi Combs dies while setting the fastest women's land speed record of 841k\ph at Alvord Desert, Oregon. The award is posthumously awarded in 2020. She was known as “the fastest woman on four wheels”.
2021 Britain's Prince Andrew is served with a US federal lawsuit alleging that he sexually abused a teenager 20 years ago.