August 11 - Events

Events

• 3114 BC – The Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, used by several pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilizations, notably the Mayans, begins.
• 2492 BC – Traditional date of the defeat of Bel by Hayk, progenitor and founder of the Armenian nation.
• 106 – The south-western part of Dacia (modern Romania) becomes a Roman province: Roman Dacia.
• 355 – Claudius Silvanus, accused of treason, proclaims himself Roman Emperor against Constantius II.
• 490 – Battle of Adda: The Goths under Theodoric the Great and his ally Alaric II defeat the forces of Odoacer on the Adda River, near Milan.
• 1332 – Wars of Scottish Independence: Battle of Dupplin Moor – Scots under Domhnall II, Earl of Mar are routed by Edward Balliol.
• 1675 – Franco-Dutch War: forces of the Holy Roman Empire defeat the French in the Battle of Konzer Brücke.
• 1786 – Captain Francis Light establishes the British colony of Penang in Malaysia.
• 1804 – Francis II assumes the title of first Emperor of Austria.
• 1812 – Peninsular War: French troops engage British-Portuguese forces in the Battle of Majadahonda.
• 1858 – The Eiger in the Bernese Alps is ascended for the first time by Charles Barrington accompanied by Christian Almer and Peter Bohren.
• 1898 – Spanish–American War: American troops enter the city of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico.
• 1918 – World War I: the Battle of Amiens ends.
• 1919 – The constitution of the Weimar Republic is adopted.
• 1920 – The Latvian–Soviet Peace Treaty, which relinquished Russia's authority and pretenses to Latvia, is signed, ending the Latvian War of Independence.
• 1929 – Babe Ruth becomes the first baseball player to hit 500 home runs in his career with a home run at League Park in Cleveland, Ohio.
• 1934 – The first civilian prisoners arrive at the Federal prison on Alcatraz Island.
• 1942 – Actress Hedy Lamarr and composer George Antheil receive a patent for a Frequency-hopping spread spectrum communication system that later became the basis for modern technologies in wireless telephones and Wi-Fi.
• 1947 – Muhammad Ali Jinnah, founding father of Pakistan, gives a speech to the Constituent Assembly, the contents and meaning of which remain contentious today.
• 1952 – Hussein bin Talal is proclaimed King of Jordan.
• 1959 – Sheremetyevo International Airport, the second-largest airport in Russia, opens.
• 1960 – Chad declares independence.
• 1961 – The former Portuguese territories in India of Dadra and Nagar Haveli are merged to create the Union Territory Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
• 1965 – Race riots (the Watts Riots) begin in the Watts area of Los Angeles, California.
• 1968 – The last steam hauled train runs on British railways
• 1972 – Vietnam War: the last United States ground combat unit leaves South Vietnam.
• 1975 – East Timor: Governor Mário Lemos Pires of Portuguese Timor abandons the capital Dili, following a coup by the Timorese Democratic Union (UDT) and the outbreak of civil war between UDT and Fretilin.
• 1982 – A bomb explodes on Pan Am Flight 830, en route from Tokyo, Japan to Honolulu, Hawaii, killing one teenager and injuring 15 passengers.
• 1984 – "We begin bombing in five minutes" - United States President Ronald Reagan, while running for re-election, jokes while preparing to make his weekly Saturday address on National Public Radio.
• 1999 – The Salt Lake City Tornado tears through the downtown district of the city, killing one.
• 2003 – NATO takes over command of the peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, marking its first major operation outside Europe in its 54-year-history.
• 2003 – Jemaah Islamiyah leader Riduan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali, is arrested in Bangkok, Thailand.
• 2012 – The Municipality of Ilagan becomes a component city in the province of Isabela in the Philippines.
• 2012 – At least 306 people are killed and 3,000 others injured in a pair of earthquakes near Tabriz, Iran.