Independence of Barbados
Barbados, an island nation in the Caribbean situated about 100 miles (160 km) east of the Windward Islands, had gained internal self-rule in 1961 and achieved its full independence from Britain on this day in 1966. 1966.
The hunt for the Green River Killer ended as Gary Ridgway was arrested in Washington, and he later pled guilty to killing 48 women, though he claimed to have murdered as many as 80; he was the deadliest convicted serial killer in the United States. 2001.
Exxon and Mobil formally merged, becoming ExxonMobil, one of the world’s leading oil and energy businesses. 1999.
A block of gray sandstone known as the Stone of Scone was returned to Scotland, 700 years after it had been taken to England as war booty by King Edward I. 1996.
American singer and songwriter Michael Jackson released Thriller, which became the best-selling album in the world and won a record-setting eight Grammy Awards. 1982.
After Finland refused to grant the Soviet Union a naval base and other concessions in the fall of 1939, Soviet troops totaling about one million men attacked Finland on several fronts, initiating the Russo-Finnish War. 1939.
Politician Shirley Chisholm, the first African American woman to be elected to the U.S. Congress, was born. 1924.
Britain and the United States signed the preliminary articles of the Treaty of Paris as part of the Peace of Paris, a collection of treaties concluding the American Revolution. 1782.
Charles XII, king of Sweden, was killed during a siege of the fortress of Fredriksten, east of Oslo Fjord, ending Sweden’s “Age of Greatness.” 1718.
