On This Day for April 19 - American Revolution begun, Charles Darwin is featured, and more

This message contains graphics. If you do not see the graphics, click here to view. April 19 FEATURED BIOGRAPHY Charles Darwin READ MORE   FEATURED EVENT 1775 American Revolution begun READ MORE   Advertisement Advertisement   MORE EVENTS ON THIS DAY 2018: King Mswati III announced that he was changing his country's name from the Kingdom of Swaziland to the Kingdom of Eswatini. [Can you match these African leaders to the countries they led?] 2005: Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected to succeed Pope John Paul II, who had died some two weeks earlier; Ratzinger took the name Benedict XVI. [ Take our quiz about popes.] 1995: In what was the worst act of terrorism in U.S. history up to that time, a truck bomb nearly destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City , killing 168 and injuring more than 500 people. 1993: After a 51-day standoff with U.S. federal agents, some 80 members of the millennialist Branch Davidian religious group perished in a fire at their compound near Waco, Texas. [ How much do you know about U.S. history?] 1975: Aryabhata, the first uncrewed Earth satellite built by India, was launched from the Soviet Union by a Russian-made rocket. [ Sort fact from fiction in our space objects quiz.] 1943: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, an act of resistance by Polish Jews under Nazi occupation, began this day and was quelled four weeks later, on May 16. [ Test your knowledge of World War II.] SEE ALL EVENTS ON THIS DAY ALSO BORN ON THIS DAY 1957 Mukesh Ambani Indian businessman 1987 Maria Sharapova Russian tennis player 1935 Dudley Moore British actor, comedian, and musician 1972 Rivaldo Brazilian athlete 1903 Eliot Ness American crime fighter 1937 Joseph Estrada president of the Philippines SEE ALL BIOS ON THIS DAY   Advertisement   FOLLOW: To unsubscribe from Britannica e-mails, click here. Encyclopædia Britannica 325 N. LaSalle Street, Suite 200 Chicago, Illinois 60654 United States © 2021 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. Privacy Policy • Help