March 18th marks a date woven with historical significance across various continents, join us on a journey through some of the notable events that unfolded on March 18th, offering insights into the diverse facets of human endeavor and the enduring impact of key moments in history.
- 1314: Jacques de Molay, the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, was burned at the stake in Paris by order of King Philip IV of France.
- 1766: The British Parliament repealed the Stamp Act, which had imposed taxes on American colonists, leading to widespread protests and unrest.
- 1850: American Express was founded by Henry Wells and William Fargo in Buffalo, New York, initially as an express mail business.
- 1922: Mohandas Gandhi was sentenced to six years in prison for civil disobedience in India, but he was released after serving two years.
- 1965: The first spacewalk by a Soviet cosmonaut, Alexei Leonov, took place during the Voskhod 2 mission.
- 1990: The theft of 13 works of art, including paintings by Vermeer and Rembrandt, from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Massachusetts, occurred. The stolen artwork’s whereabouts remain unknown.
- 2018: A pedestrian bridge under construction at Florida International University in Miami collapsed, killing six people and injuring several others.
STORY BY ; PORTIA AKU SHIKA GAFAH
