23rd February 1903: US President Theodore Roosevelt leases Guantanamo Bay from Cuba in perpetuity
Although Cuba retained sovereignty over Guantanamo Bay, the arrangement ensured that the United States maintained a strategic military presence in the Caribbean. The 45 square mile area was selected as most suitable for a naval base and coaling station due to its deep-water harbour and strategic location on Cuba’s south-eastern ...
23 Feb 0s
22nd February 1797: The last invasion of Britain takes place, leading to the Battle of Fishguard
The last invasion of Britain by a hostile foreign force began when French troops under the command of the Irish-American Colonel William Tate landed near the Welsh town of ...
22 Feb 0s
21st February 1804: World’s first recorded locomotive-hauled railway journey takes place at the Penydarren Ironworks in South Wales
On 21 February 1804, Richard Trevithick’s steam locomotive successfully pulled a load of ten tons of iron, as well as several passengers and workmen, along a 9.75 mile route from Penydarren Ironworks in South Wales in just over 4 ...
21 Feb 0s
20th February 1472: Orkney and Shetland Isles given to Scotland as a wedding dowry
The Northern Isles, which consist of the two island groups of Shetland and Orkney, have been inhabited since prehistoric times but were formally annexed by the Norwegian king Harald Hårfagre in around 875 after he subdued the Vikings who used the islands as a base from which to raid Norway and ...
20 Feb 0s
19th February 1942: President Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066, allowing the military to place Japanese Americans in internment camps
Executive Order 9066 was issued two months after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbour and primarily targeted Japanese Americans, leading to their forced relocation and internment during World War ...
19 Feb 0s
18th February 1885: Mark Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” published in the United States
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, under his pen-name Mark Twain, had previously published the novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer in which the character of Huckleberry “Huck” Finn is introduced for the first ...
18 Feb 0s
17th February 1936: ‘The Phantom’ comic strip published for the first time, widely regarded as the first costumed superhero
The Phantom's distinctive appearance of a skin-tight purple costume, domino mask, and striped trunks became iconic, influencing later superheroes in comic book ...
17 Feb 0s
16th February 1937: Organic chemist Wallace Carothers is awarded a patent for nylon
The DuPont company’s organic chemist Wallace Carothers received a patent for linear condensation polymers, the basis of the material better known as ...
16 Feb 0s
