On April 18, 1906, a violent earthquake followed by fires devastated the city of San Francisco (United States), causing the death of more than 3,000 people and leaving 250,000 homeless.
OTHER EVENTS
1506.- Pope Julius II lays the first stone of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
1847.- In the war of the United States against Mexico, the troops of General Santa Anna are defeated by those of American General Scott in the Battle of Cerro Gordo.
1877.- Thomas Edison presents his sound recording technique, the phonograph.
1898.- The House of Representatives and the Senate of the United States jointly approve the war against Spain because of Cuba.
1902.- An earthquake destroys the city of Quezaltenango, the second most important city in Guatemala.
1909.- Beatification ceremony of Joan of Arc in Rome.
1938.- First edition of Actions Comic magazine, where Superman appears for the first time.
1942.- World War II: The United States undertakes Operation Doolittle, the first North American air offensive to reach Japan.
1946.- The League of Nations is dissolved, which transfers its functions to the UN.
1949.- Official proclamation of the Republic of Ireland (Eire) in Dublin.
1951.- Constitution of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), germ of the European Economic Community.
1955.- Beginning of the International Conference in Bandung (island of Java), attended by delegates from 29 Afro-Asian countries. It was the prelude to the Non-Aligned Movement.
1961.- Demonstrations in Argentina, Chile, Mexico and Venezuela in favor of the Cuban regime and against the United States.
1980.- Zimbabwe inaugurates its independence.
1982.- Declared International Day for Monuments and Sites, approved by the General Assembly of UNESCO.
1983.- 63 people die when several floors of the United States Embassy in Beirut are blown up.
1988.- The United States launches Operation Praying Mantis against the Iranian army.
1999.- The Swiss support the complete reform of the Federal Constitution during a referendum.
2001.- The UN Commission on Human Rights condemns the situation in Cuba.
2002.- King Mohamed Zahir returns to Kabul after 30 years of exile.
2007.- Four car bombs cause nearly 200 deaths in Baghdad (Iraq)
2016.- The Washington Post and Tampa Bay in Florida win the main Pulitzer Prizes.
2017.- Egyptian archaeologists discover the intact pharaonic tomb with eight mummies, 10 sarcophagi and hundreds of funerary statuettes.
2018.- Ecuador ceases to be the guarantor of the peace process between the Colombian government and the National Liberation Army (ELN).
– Street protests begin in Nicaragua against social security reform (later repealed), with the death toll between 325 and 545, according to human rights organizations.
BIRTHS
1734. – Ramon de Pignatelli, Spanish engineer and writer.
1867.- Luis Millet, Spanish composer and choirmaster.
1917.- Federica of Greece, Queen of the Hellenes and mother of Queen Sofía of Spain.
1927.- Tadeusz Mazowiecki, Polish politician.
1947.- James Woods, American actor.
1953.- Rick Moranis, American actor and singer.
DEATH
1905.- Juan Valera, Spanish novelist, politician and diplomat.
1936.- Ottorino Respighi, Italian composer.
1951.- Antonio Oscar Carmona, Portuguese general and President of the Republic.
1955.- Albert Einstein, American nationalized German physicist, author of the theory of relativity and Nobel Prize in Physics 1921.
1986.- Eduardo Pisano, Spanish painter.
1991.- Gabriel Celaya, Spanish poet and writer.
1995.- Arturo Frondizi, Argentine politician, former President of the Republic.
1996.- Manuel López Villaseñor, Spanish realist painter.
2002.- Thor Heyerdahl, Norwegian adventurer.
2018.- Pedro Sorela, Spanish writer and journalist.
2022.- José Luis Cortés, Cuban musician, known as “El Tosco”. ECE
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