August 21

Sunday 21, 2005:

Pope Benedict XVI concludes World Youth Day with a mass. Over 800,000 people attended the closing liturgy.

Saturday 21, 2004:

A grenade attack on Bangladesh Awamee League, the bigest political party in Bangladesh kills 22 and injures more than a thousand, including party president Sheikh Hasina.

Wednesday 21, 2002:

Jean Chrétien, Prime Minister of Canada, announces that he will not seek re-election and would resign within eighteen months.

Tuesday 21, 2001:

The Red Cross announces that a famine is striking Tajikistan, and calls for international financial aid for Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Friday 21, 1998:

The United States destroys a pharmaceutical plant (erroneously believed to be a chemical weapons plant) in Sudan.

Thursday 21, 1997:

The British Rock Group Oasis release album, Be Here Now.

Saturday 21, 1993:

NASA loses contact with the Mars Observer spacecraft.

Wednesday 21, 1991:

Coup attempt against Mikhail Gorbachev collapses.

Friday 21, 1987:

Hard rock band Guns 'N Roses release their classic debut Appetite for Destruction.

Thursday 21, 1986:

Toxic gas erupts from volcanic Lake Nyos in Cameroon, killing over 1700 people.

Saturday 21, 1976:

Operation Paul Bunyan at Panmunjeom, Korea

Saturday 21, 1971:

Black Panther George Jackson is shot and killed in the prison yard at California's San Quentin prison.

Wednesday 21, 1968:

Soviet Union-dominated Warsaw Pact troops invade Czechoslovakia.

Friday 21, 1959:

President Eisenhower signs an executive order proclaiming Hawaii the 50th state of the union.

Monday 21, 1944:

Dumbarton Oaks Conference, prelude to the United Nations, begins.

Monday 21, 1911:

The Mona Lisa was stolen by a Louvre employee.

Tuesday 21, 1888:

The first successful adding machine in the United States was patented by William Seward Burroughs.

Thursday 21, 1879:

The Virgin Mary, along with St. Joseph and St. John the Evangelist reportedly appear to the people of Knock, County Mayo, Ireland.

Wednesday 21, 1878:

The American Bar Association is founded

Friday 21, 1863:

Lawrence, Kansas is destroyed by Confederate guerillas Quantrill's Raiders in the Lawrence Massacre.

Thursday 21, 1862:

The Vienna Stadtpark opens its gates.

Saturday 21, 1858:

The Lincoln-Douglas debates begin

Thursday 21, 1856:

America's first consul to Japan, Townsend Harris, arrives in Shimoda. (Traditional Japanese date: July 21, 1856)

Saturday 21, 1852:

Tlingit Indians destroy Fort Selkirk, Yukon Territory

Sunday 21, 1842:

The city of Hobart, Tasmania, is founded.

Saturday 21, 1841:

The venetian blind is first patented in the United States by John Hampson.

Sunday 21, 1831:

Nat Turner leads slave revolt in Southampton County, Virginia

Friday 21, 1772:

King Gustav III completes his coup d'etat by adopting a new Constitution, ending half a century of parliamentary rule in Sweden and installing him as an enlightened despot.

Tuesday 21, 1770:

James Cook formally claims eastern Australia for Great Britain, naming it New South Wales.

Wednesday 21, 1680:

Pueblo Indians capture Santa Fe from Spanish during the Pueblo Revolt

Friday 21, 1192:

Minamoto Yoritomo becomes Seii Tai Sh?gun and the de facto ruler of Japan. (Traditional Japanese date: July 12, 1192)

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