October 18: What Happened on This Day in History (High_school Level)?

(Page last edited 10/12/2017)

1. 320 - Pappus of Alexandria, Greek philosopher, observes an eclipse of the sun and writes a commentary on The Great Astronomer (Almagest).
2. 1356 - Basel earthquake, the most significant historic seismological event north of the Alps, destroys the town of Basel, Switzerland.
3. 1540 - Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto's forces destroy the fortified town of Mabila in present-day Alabama, killing Tuskaloosa.
4. 1648 - Boston Shoemakers form first U.S. labor organization.
5. 1851 - Herman Melville's Moby-Dick is first published as The Whale by Richard Bentley of London.
6. 1867 - United States takes possession of Alaska after purchasing it from Russia for $7.2 million. Celebrated annually in the state as Alaska Day.
7. 1922 - The British Broadcasting Company (later Corporation) is founded by a consortium, to establish a nationwide network of radio transmitters to provide a national broadcasting service.
8. 1945 - The USSR's nuclear program receives plans for the United States plutonium bomb from Klaus Fuchs at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
9. 1954 - Texas Instruments announces the first Transistor radio.
10. 1967 - The Soviet probe Venera 4 reaches Venus and becomes the first spacecraft to measure the atmosphere of another planet.
11. Famous Birthdays: Frederick August Otto Schwarz (American entrepreneur), Wendy Wasserstein (American playwright), James Brooks (American painter), Baldassare Galuppi (Italian composer), Edward Winslow (Plymouth Colony founder)

For famous birthdays and other daily events in history, visit our Daily Dose Activities.

Click Here for Yesterday in History: October 17

Click Here for Tomorrow in History: October 19

For more history resources on Internet 4 Classrooms, visit our Social Studies and History index. For Pre K-8th Grade Level History and Social Studies Resources, visit our Grade Level Index.