SortStack #2424 — 2033-01-27

By year · Order from earliest to most recent.

1. The Prophet Muhammad migrates from Mecca to Medina 622

   This journey, the Hijra, marks year one of the Islamic calendar — which is lunar, so it gains on the solar calendar by about eleven days per year.

2. Copernicus publishes his book putting the Sun at the center of the cosmos 1543

   Legend says a finished copy was placed in his hands on his deathbed. The Catholic Church didn't formally suspend the book until 73 years later.

3. Abraham Lincoln is shot at Ford's Theatre 1865

   General Grant declined an invitation to join Lincoln in the box that night. Booth, a famous actor, knew the play well enough to time his shot to a big laugh line.

4. The volcanic island of Krakatoa explodes in Indonesia 1883

   The blast was heard nearly 4,800 km away — likely the loudest sound in recorded history — and its ash turned sunsets blood-red worldwide for months.

5. The Titanic strikes an iceberg and sinks on her maiden voyage 1912

   The lookouts had no binoculars — the key to the locker holding them left the ship with a reassigned officer in Southampton.

6. Disneyland opens its gates in Anaheim, California 1955

   Opening day was a fiasco insiders called 'Black Sunday': heat melted the fresh asphalt, fountains failed, and thousands entered with counterfeit tickets.

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