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Wild West Show

Wild West Show

Buffalo Bill (February 26, 1846 – January 10, 1917) was born William Frederick Cody in the American state of Iowa, near Le Claire . He was one of the most colorful figures of the Old West, and was perhaps a bit misunderstood.

Nickname and work life

He assumed his nickname for supplying Kansas Pacific Railroad workers with buffalo meat. The nickname originally referred to Bill Comstock. Cody won the nickname from him in 1868 in a buffalo killing contest 69 to 48. He claimed to have worked many jobs, including as a trapper, bullwhacker, "Fifty-Niner" in Colorado, a Pony Express rider in 1860, wagonmaster, stagecoach driver, a Civil War soldier, and even a hotel manager, but it's unclear which claims were factual and which were fabricated for purposes of publicity. He became famous for his Wild West Show.

Early years

Buffalo Bill was born in 1846, the year before Mormon pioneers went west to Utah and two years before gold was discovered in California. He was fifteen when he claimed to have worked as a rider on the Pony Express, which went bankrupt the next year (1861), but historian Louis S. Warren disputes this claim in his book 'Buffalo Bill's America'. Shortly after the death of his mother in 1863, Cody enlisted in the 7th Kansas Cavalry regiment and fought with them on the Union side for the rest of the Civil War. From 1868 until 1872 Cody was employed as a scout by the United States Army. Part of this time he spent scouting for Indians, and the remainder was spent gathering and killing buffalo for the U.S. Army and the Union Pacific Railroad. He received the Medal of Honor in 1872 for "gallantry in action" while serving as a civilian scout for the 3rd Cavalry. This medal was revoked on February 5, 1917, 24 days after his death, because he was a civilian and therefore was ineligible for the award under new guidelines for the award in 1917. The medal was restored to him by the army in 1989. 1989 After being a frontiersman, Buffalo Bill entered show business. He toured the United States starring in plays based loosely on his Western adventures. His part typically included an 1876 incident at the Warbonnet Creek where he scalped a Cheyenne warrior, purportedly in revenge for the death of George Armstrong Custer.

Wild West Show

In Omaha, Nebraska in 1883, Cody founded the "Buffalo Bill Wild West Show," a circus-like attraction that toured annually: Annie Oakley and Sitting Bull both appeared in the show. In 1887 he performed in London in celebration of the Jubilee year of Queen Victoria, and toured Europe in 1889. He set up an exhibition near the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 (properly the World's Columbian Exposition), which greatly contributed to his popularity. As the Wild West Show toured North America over the next twenty years it became a moving extravaganza, including as many as 1200 performers. The show began with a parade on horseback, with participants from horse-culture groups that included military, Native American and show performers from North and Central America in their best attire. In addition to this there were Turks, Gauchos, Arabs, Mongols and Cossacks, each showing their own distinctive horses and colorful costumes. Visitors to this spectacle could see main events, feats of skill, staged races and sideshows. Cody's performance typically ended with a melodramatic reenactment of Custer's Last Stand in which Cody himself portrayed General Custer. Many historians claim that, at the turn of the century in 1900, Buffalo Bill Cody was the most recognizeable celebrity on earth. And yet, despite all of the recognition and appreciation Cody's show brought for the Western and Native American cultures, Buffalo Bill saw the American West change dramatically during his tumultuous life. Buffalo herds, which had once numbered in the millions, were now threatened with extinction. Railroads crossed the plains, barbed wire and other types of fences now divided the land for farmers and ranchers, and the once-threatening Indian tribes were now almost completely confined to reservations. Wyoming's resources of coal, oil and natural gas were beginning to be exploited towards the end of his life. Even the Shoshone River was dammed for hydroelectric power as well as for irrigation. Builders called it the Buffalo Bill Dam.

Death

Cody died on January 10, 1917. By his own request he was buried on Colorado's Lookout Mountain, west of the city of Denver, located on the edge of the Rocky Mountains and overlooking the Great Plains.

Legacy

Great Plains] Buffalo Bill may have been a rough-hewn outdoorsman, but was also something of a liberal, pushing for the rights of American Indians and women. In addition, despite his history of killing the buffalo, he supported their conservation by speaking out against hide-hunting and pushing for a hunting season. Having been a frontier scout who respected the natives, he once said, :"Every Indian outbreak that I have ever known has resulted from broken promises and broken treaties by the government." Despite the depiction of Native Americans in his Wild West shows, he was a supporter of their rights. He employed many more natives than just Sitting Bull, feeling his show offered them a better life, calling them "the former foe, present friend, the American." The city of Cody, Wyoming was founded in 1896 by Cody and some investors, and is named for him. It is the home of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. Fifty miles from Yellowstone National Park, it became a tourist magnet with many dignitaries and political leaders coming to hunt. Buffalo Bill became a hero of the Bills, a Congolese youth subculture of the late 1950s who idolised Western movies.

In film and television

1950s] Buffalo Bill has been represented in the movies by:
- Himself (1898 and 1912)
- George Waggner (1924)
- John Fox, Jr. (1924)
- William Fairbanks (1928)
- Jack Hoxie (1926)
- Roy Stewart (1926)
- Tom Tyler (1931)
- Douglass Dumbrille (1933)
- Earl Dwire (1935)
- Moroni Olsen (1935)
- Ted Adams (1936)
- James Ellison (1936)
- Carlyle Moore (1938)
- Jack Rutherford (1938)
- Roy Rogers (1940)
- Joel McCrea (1944)
- Richard Arlen (1947)
- Enzo Fiermonte (1949)
- Monte Hale (1949)
- Louis Calhern (1950)
- Tex Cooper (1951)
- Clayton Moore (1952)
- Charlton Heston (1953)
- William O'Neal (1957)
- Malcolm Atterbury (1958)
- James McMullan (1963)
- Gordon Scott (1964)
- Guy Stockwell (1966)
- Rufus Smith (1967)
- Matt Clark (1974)
- Michel Piccoli (1974)
- Paul Newman (1976)
- Buff Brady (1979)
- R. L. Tolbert (1979)
- Ted Flicker (1981)
- Ken Kercheval (1984)
- Jeffrey Jones (1987)
- Brian Keith (1993)
- Dennis Weaver (1994)
- Keith Carradine (1995)
- Peter Coyote (1995)
- J. K. Simmons (2004)
- Frank Conniff (2005)

"Buffalo Bill's / defunct"

A famous free verse poem on mortality by e. e. cummings uses Buffalo Bill as an image of life and vibrancy. The poem is untitled, but commonly known by its first two lines: "Buffalo Bill's / defunct". The poem uses expressive phrases to describe Buffalo Bill's showmanship, referring to his "watersmooth-silver / stallion", and using a staccato beat to describe his rapid shooting of a series of clay pigeons.

Other Buffalo Bills


- Buffalo Bill is also the name of a fictional character from Thomas Harris's The Silence of the Lambs, who was also parodied in the movie Joe Dirt under the name Buffalo Bob
- Two television series, Buffalo Bill, Jr. (1955–6) starring Dickie Jones and Buffalo Bill (1983–4) starring Dabney Coleman, had nothing to do with the historic person.
- The Buffalo Bills are an NFL team, based in Buffalo, New York.
- The Buffalo Bills are a barbershop-quartet singing group consisting of Vern Reed, Al Shea, Bill Spangenberg, and Wayne Ward. They appeared in the original Brodway cast of The Music Man (opened 1957) and in the 1962 motion-picture version of that play.

See also


- Bills
- Sitting Bull
- Annie Oakley
- Katherine Clemmons

External links


- [http://www.buffalobill.org/ buffalobill.org]
-
- [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=211 Find-A-Grave profile for Buffalo Bill]
- [http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/AMS/963/amst2010/studproj/theatre/bill~1.htm University of Wyoming on Buffalo Bill]
- [http://www.americanwest.com/pages/buffbill.htm Americanwest.com on Buffalo Bill]
- [http://www.gutenberg.net/etext/10030 The Life of Hon. William F. Cody] (1879) and [http://www.gutenberg.net/etext/12740 An Autobiography of Buffalo Bill] (1920) from Project Gutenberg.
- [http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gdc/mtfgc.19551 The life of Hon. William F. Cody, known as Buffalo Bill, the famous hunter, scout and guide. An autobiography.] (1879); Digitized page images & text from the Library of Congress.
- [http://www.buffalo-bill.co.uk Buffalo Bill UK] William Frederick 'Buffalo Bill' Cody Historical Fan Site
- [http://freeclassicaudiobooks.com/audiobooks/Buffalo_Bill/mp3/BuffaloBillmp3.htm Free mp3 files of the Autobiography of Buffalo Bill]
- [http://www.tnais.com/bbis/bb.html The Scottish National Buffalo Bill Archive]
- [http://www.tnais.com/bbis/north_scot.html Northern Scot and Moray & Nairn Express, 27 August 1904 - Buffalo Bill's Show: Next Week's Visit to Elgin]
- [http://www.chicago-scots.org/clubs/History/Newsletters/2001/July01-4.htm Scottish-American History Club Newsletter - Buffalo Bill Cody and Harry Lauder] Bill, Buffalo Category:American folklore Bill, Buffalo Bill, Buffalo Bill, Buffalo Bill, Buffalo Bill, Buffalo ja:バッファロー・ビル

February 26

February 26 is the 57th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 308 days remaining, 309 in leap years.

Events


- 747 BC - Epoch (origin) of Ptolemy's Nabonassar Era.
- 364 - Valentinian I is proclaimed Roman Emperor.
- 1266 - Battle of Benevento: An army led by Charles, Count of Anjou, defeats a combined German and Sicilian force led by King Manfred of Sicily. Manfred is killed in the battle and Pope Clement IV invests Charles as king of Sicily and Naples.
- 1794 - Christiansborg Castle, Copenhagen burns down.
- 1797 - The Bank of England issues the first one-pound note.
- 1815 - Napoleon Bonaparte escapes from Elba.
- 1848 - The second French Republic is proclaimed.
- 1863 - U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signs the National Currency Act into law.
- 1870 - In New York City, the first pneumatic-subway opens.
- 1887 - At the SCG, George Lohmann becomes the first bowler to take eight wickets in a Test innings.
- 1919 - An act of the U.S. Congress establishes most of the Grand Canyon as a United States National Park (see Grand Canyon National Park).
- 1929 - The Grand Teton National Park is created.
- 1935 - The Luftwaffe is reformed.
- 1935 - Robert Watson-Watt carried out a demonstration which led directly to the development of RADAR in Britain.
- 1936 - In the February 26 Incident, young Japanese military officers attempt to stage a coup against the government.
- 1944 - Shooting begins of the Nazi propaganda film, "The Fuhrer Gives a Village to the Jews" in Theresienstadt.
- 1952 - United Kingdom Prime Minister Winston Churchill announces that his nation has an atomic bomb.
- 1966 - Apollo Program: Launch of AS-201, the first flight of the Saturn IB rocket
- 1970 - National Public Radio incorporates as a non-profit corporation.
- 1971 - Secretary-General U Thant signs United Nations proclamation of the vernal equinox as Earth Day.
- 1972 - Buffalo Creek Flood caused by a burst dam kills 125 in West Virginia.
- 1986 - Robert Penn Warren is named poet laureate of the United States.
- 1987 - Iran-Contra affair: The Tower Commission rebukes American President Ronald Reagan for not controlling his national security staff.
- 1990 - The Sandinistas are defeated in Nicaraguan elections.
- 1991 - Tim Berners-Lee introduces WorldWideWeb, the first web browser.
- 1991 - Gulf War: On Baghdad Radio Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein announces the withdrawal of Iraqi troops from Kuwait.
- 1992 - Xocali slaughter. More than 600 people of the town of Xocali, Azerbaijan, are killed by Armenian forces during war in Karabakh.
- 1993 - World Trade Center bombing: In New York City, a truck bomb parked below the North Tower of the World Trade Center goes off, killing 6 and injuring over a thousand. The buildings would be destroyed in a subsequent attack on September 11, 2001.
- 1995 - The United Kingdom's oldest investment banking firm, Barings Bank collapses after a securities broker, Nick Leeson, loses $1.4 billion by speculating on the Singapore International Monetary Exchange using futures contracts.
- 2001 - The Taliban destroy two giant Buddha statues in Bamiyan, Afghanistan.
- 2004 - The United States lifts a ban on travel to Libya, ending travel restrictions to the nation that had lasted for 23 years.
- 2004 - Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski is killed in a plane crash near Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- 2005 - Hosni Mubarak the president of Egypt orders the constitution changed to allow multi-candidate presidential elections before September 2005 by asking Egyptian parliament to amend Article 76 of the constitution.

Births


- 1361 - Wenceslaus, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia (d. 1419)
- 1564 - Christopher Marlowe, English dramatist (d. 1593)
- 1587 - Stefano Landi, Italian composer (d. 1639)
- 1671 - Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury, English politician and philosopher (d. 1713)
- 1672 - Antoine Augustine Calmet, French theologian (d. 1757)
- 1714 - James Hervey, English clergyman and writer (d. 1758)
- 1715 - Claude Adrien Helvétius, French philosopher (d. 1771)
- 1720 - Gian Francesco Albani, Italian Catholic cardinal (d. 1803)
- 1786 - François Arago, French mathematician
- 1802 - Victor Hugo, French writer (d. 1885)
- 1808 - Honoré Daumier, French painter, illustrator, and sculptor (d. 1879)
- 1829 - Levi Strauss, German-born clothing designer (d. 1902)
- 1846 - Buffalo Bill, American pioneer, officer, and hunter (d. 1917)
- 1857 - Émile Coué, French psychologist (d. 1926)
- 1861 - King Ferdinand of Bulgaria (d. 1948)
- 1879 - Frank Bridge, English composer (d. 1941)
- 1882 - Husband E. Kimmel, American admiral (d. 1968)
- 1885 - Aleksandras Stulginskis, President of Lithuania (d. 1969)
- 1887 - Grover Cleveland Alexander, baseball player (d. 1950)
- 1887 - William Frawley, American actor (d. 1966)
- 1893 - I. A. Richards, English literary critic (d. 1979)
- 1902 - Albert Anastasia, Italian-born gangster (d. 1957)
- 1903 - Giulio Natta, Italian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1979)
- 1907 - Dub Taylor, American actor (d. 1994)
- 1908 - Tex Avery, American cartoonist (d. 1980)
- 1908 - Jean-Pierre Wimille, French race car driver (d. 1949)
- 1909 - King Talal of Jordan (d. 1972)
- 1914 - Robert Alda, American actor (d. 1986)
- 1916 - Jackie Gleason, American actor, writer, composer, and comedian (d. 1987)
- 1918 - Theodore Sturgeon, American writer (d. 1985)
- 1919 - Mason Adams, American actor
- 1919 - Rie Mastenbroek, Dutch swimmer (d. 2003)
- 1920 - Tony Randall, American actor (d. 2004)
- 1921 - Betty Hutton, American actress
- 1927 - Tom Kennedy, American game show host
- 1928 - Fats Domino, American musician
- 1928 - Anatoli Filipchenko, cosmonaut
- 1930 - Lazar Berman, Russian pianist (d. 2005)
- 1932 - Johnny Cash, American singer (d. 2003)
- 1934 - Robert Novak, American political columnist
- 1941 - Tony Ray-Jones, British photographer (d. 1972)
- 1943 - Bill Duke, American actor and director
- 1945 - Marta Kristen, Norwegian actress
- 1946 - Ahmed H. Zewail, Egyptian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1947 - Sandie Shaw, British singer
- 1950 - Helen Clark, Prime Minister of New Zealand
- 1951 - Lee Atwater, American political operative (d. 1991)
- 1954 - Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister of Turkey
- 1954 - Michael Bolton, American singer
- 1956 - Keisuke Kuwata, Japanese singer
- 1956 - Michel Houellebecq, French novelist
- 1959 - Rolando Blackman, Panamanian basketball player
- 1962 - Greg Germann, American actor
- 1971 - Erykah Badu, American singer
- 1973 - Marshall Faulk, American football star
- 1973 - Jenny Thompson, American swimmer
- 1973 - Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Norwegian footballer
- 1974 - Sébastien Loeb, French race car driver
- 1984 - Natalia Lafourcade, Mexican singer

Deaths


- 1154 - King Roger II of Sicily (b. 1093)
- 1266 - King Manfred of Sicily
- 1360 - Roger de Mortimer, 2nd Earl of March, English military leader (b. 1328)
- 1525 - Cuauhtémoc, Aztec ruler
- 1552 - Heinrich Faber, German composer
- 1561 - Jorge de Montemayor, Spanish writer
- 1577 - King Eric XIV of Sweden (b. 1533)
- 1608 - John Still, English bishop
- 1630 - William Brade, English composer (b. 1560)
- 1638 - Claude Gaspard Bachet de Méziriac, French mathematician (b. 1681)
- 1723 - Thomas d'Urfey, English writer (b. 1653)
- 1726 - Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria (b. 1662)
- 1770 - Giuseppe Tartini, Italian composer (b. 1692)
- 1802 - Esek Hopkins, American Revolutionary War admiral (b. 1718)
- 1813 - Robert Livingston, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1746)
- 1815 - Prince Josias of Coburg, Austrian general (b. 1737)
- 1903 - Richard Jordan Gatling, American inventor (b. 1818)
- 1913 - Felix Draeseke, German composer (b. 1835)
- 1921 - Carl Menger, Austrian economist (b. 1840)
- 1931 - Otto Wallach, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1847)
- 1961 - King Mohammed V of Morocco (b. 1909)
- 1966 - Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Indian freedom fighter and writer (b. 1883)
- 1969 - Levi Eshkol, Prime Minister of Israel (b. 1895)
- 1969 - Karl Jaspers, German psychiatrist (b. 1883)
- 1971 - Fernandel, French actor (b. 1903)
- 1981 - Howard Hanson, American composer (b. 1896)
- 1985 - Tjalling Koopmans, Dutch economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1910)
- 1993 - Constance Ford, American actress (b. 1923)
- 1994 - Bill Hicks, American comedian (b. 1961)
- 1997 - David Doyle, American actor (b. 1929)
- 1998 - Theodore Schultz, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
- 2002 - Lawrence Tierney, American actor (b. 1919)
- 2004 - Shankarrao Chavan, Indian politician (b. 1920)
- 2004 - Adolf Ehrnrooth, Finnish general (b. 1905)
- 2004 - Boris Trajkovski, President of the Republic of Macedonia (b. 1956)
- 2005 - Jef Raskin, American computer scientist (b. 1943)

Holidays and observances


- Bahá'í Faith - Day 1 of Ayyám-i-Há (Intercalary Days) - days in the Bahá'í calendar devoted to service and gift giving.
- Nation of Islam - Saviour's Day - commemoration of the birthdate of Wallace Fard Muhammad, believed to be Allah in human form, the saviour of the black race.
- Liberation Day in Kuwait (1991)

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/26 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/20050226.html The New York Times: On This Day] ---- February 25 - February 27 - January 26 - March 26 -- listing of all days ko:2월 26일 ms:26 Februari ja:2月26日 simple:February 26 th:26 กุมภาพันธ์

1846

1846 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar).

Events


- January 5 - The United States House of Representatives votes to stop sharing the Oregon Territory with the United Kingdom
- February 5 - The Oregon Spectator becomes the first newspaper on the Pacific coast of the United States.
- February 10 - Many Mormons begin their migration west from Nauvoo, Illinois to Great Salt Lake led by Brigham Young
- February 19 - In Austin, Texas the newly-formed Texas state government is officially installed.
- March 10 - Prince Osahito, fourth son of deceased Emperor Ninko of Japan, becomes Emperor Komei of Japan.
- April 25 - Mexican-American War: Open conflict begins over border disputes of Texas' boundaries.
- April 27 - The first arrival of a train to Celje.
- May 8 - Mexican-American War: The Battle of Palo Alto - Zachary Taylor defeats a Mexican force north of the Rio Grande at Palo Alto, Texas in the first major battle of the war.
- May 13 - Mexican-American War: The United States declares war on Mexico.
- 16 May - Under the leadership of British Prime Minister Robert Peel, the British Parliament repeals the Corn Laws, replacing the old Colonial mercantile trade system with Free Trade.
- May 17 - The Saxophone is patented by Adolphe Sax
- June 10 - Mexican-American War: The California Republic declares independence from Mexico.
- June 10 - Grinnell College: The first American college or university to the West of the Mississippi River is founded.
- June 14 - Bear Flag Revolt begins - American settlers in Sonoma, California start a rebellion against Mexico and proclaim the California Republic.
- June 15 - The Oregon Treaty establishes the 49th parallel as the border between the United States and Canada, from the Rocky Mountains to the Strait of Juan de Fuca.[http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/resources/archives/two/oretreat.htm]
- June 21 - Pope Pius IX ascends to the Holy See.
- July 7 - Acting on instructions from Washington, DC, Commodore John Drake Sloat orders his troops to occupy Monterey and Yerba Buena thus beginning the United States annexation of California.
- August 14 - The Cape Girardeau meteorite, a 2.3 kg chondrite type meteorite struck earth 7.5 miles (12 km) south of the town of Cape Girardeau in Cape Girardeau County, Missouri.
- September 23 – Neptune discovered by German astronomers Johann Gottfried Galle and Heinrich Louis d'Arrest, although the planet did not get its current name for many years.
- October 16 - Boston dentist William T.G. Morton uses ether anesthesia for the first time when he assist in removal of a tumor in the Massachusetts General Hospital
- December 28: Iowa is admitted as the 29th U.S. state.
- The portion of the District of Columbia that was ceded by Virginia in 1790 is re-ceded to Virginia.
- Potato crop fails in Ireland
- Electric Telegraph Company founded in Britain
- Liberia declares independence as a republic
- Elias Howe patents the sewing machine
- Railway Mania in Britain reaches its zenith
- Rotary printing press invented making rapid printing of newspapers possible

Ongoing events


- Mexican-American War (1846-1848)
- Irish Potato Famine (1845-1849)

Births


- January 5 - Rudolf Christoph Eucken, German writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1926)
- February 2 - Francis Marion Smith, American borax magnate (d. 1931)
- February 9 - Wilhelm Maybach, German automobile designer (d. 1929)
- February 18 - Wilson Barrett, English actor (d. 1904)
- February 26 - Buffalo Bill, American hunter and entertainer (d. 1917)
- April 4 - Comte de Lautreamont, French writer (d. 1870)
- May 5 - Henryk Sienkiewicz, Polish author, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1916)
- June 27 - Charles Stewart Parnell, Irish political leader (d. 1891)
- July 17 - Tokugawa Iemochi, Japanese shogun (d. 1866)
- November 25 - Carrie Nation, American temperance advocate (d. 1911)

Deaths


- February 21 - Emperor Ninko of Japan (b. 1800)
- March 17 - Friedrich Bessel, German mathematician and astronomer (b. 1784
- June 1 - Pope Gregory XVI (b. 1765)
- June 8 - Rodolphe Töpffer, Swiss author, painter, and caricature artist (b. 1799)
- November 6 - Karol Marcinkowski, Polish physician and social activist (b. 1800) Category:1846 ko:1846년 th:พ.ศ. 2389

1917

1917 (MCMXVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar.

Events

January-February

Julian calendar
- January 2 - The Royal Bank of Canada takes over Quebec Bank.
- January 22 - World War I: President Woodrow Wilson calls for "peace without victory" in Europe.
- January 25 - The Danish West Indies is sold to the United States for $25 million
- January 25 - Anti-prostitution drive in San Francisco attracts huge crowds to public meetings. At one meeting attended by 7000 people, 20000 are kept out for lack of room. In a conference with Rev. Paul Smith, an outspoken foe of prostitution, 300 prostitutes make a plea for toleration explaining they had been forced into the practice by poverty. When Smith asked if they would take other work at $8 to $10 a week, the ladies laughed derisively, which lost them public sympathy. The police close about 200 houses of prostitution shortly thereafter [http://www.zpub.com/sf50/sf/hbtbc12.htm]
- January 26 - The sea defences at the village of Hallsands, Devon are breached, leading to all but one of the houses becoming uninhabitable
- January 28 - The United States ends search for Pancho Villa
- January 30 - Pershing's troops in Mexico begin to withdraw to USA. They reach Columbus, New Mexico February 5
- January 31 - World War I: Germany announces its U-boats will engage in unrestricted submarine warfare.
- February 3 - World War I: The United States breaks off diplomatic relations with Germany
- February 5 - The constitution of Mexico is adopted.
- February 13 - Mata Hari is arrested for spying
- February 23 - The Russian Revolution begins with the overthrow of the Tsar.
- February 24 - World War I: United States ambassador to the United Kingdom Walter H. Page is given the Zimmermann Telegram, in which Germany offers to give the American Southwest back to Mexico if Mexico will declare war on the United States.

March-April


- March 1 - U.S. government releases the plaintext of the Zimmermann Telegram to the public
- March 1 - Japanese city Omuta, Fukuoka is founded
- March 2 - The enactment of the Jones Act grants Puerto Ricans United States citizenship.
- March 4 - Jeannette Rankin of Montana becomes the first woman member of the United States House of Representatives.
- March 8 - The United States Senate adopts the cloture rule in order to limit filibusters.
- March 11 - Mexican Revolution - Venustiano Carranza elected president of Mexico - USA gives recognition of his government de jure
- March 15 - Tsar Nicholas II of Russia abdicates.
- March 21 - The Danish West Indies become the Virgin Islands when Denmark transfers control over the islands to the United States after the purchase of the islands on January 25.
- March 26 - World War I: First Battle of Gaza - British cavalry troops retreat after 17,000 Turks block their advance.
- March 31 - The United States takes possession of the Virgin Islands after paying $25 million to Denmark.
- April 2 - World War I: US President Woodrow Wilson asks U.S. Congress for a declaration of war on Germany.
- April 6 - World War I: United States declares war on Germany. [http://wikisource.org/wiki/Woodrow_Wilson_declares_war_on_Germany text]
- April 9-12 - World War I: Canadian troops win the Battle of Vimy Ridge.
- April 10 - Ammunition factory explodes in Chester, Pennsylvania - 133 dead
- April 11 - World War I: Brazil severs relations with Germany
- April 16 - Lenin arrives in Petrograd
- April 16 - The Nivelle Offensive commences.

May-October


- May 9 - The Nivelle Offensive was abandoned.
- May 13 - Three peasant children claim to see the Virgin Mary above a holm oak tree in Cova da Iria near Fatima, Portugal.
- May 18 - World War I: The Selective Service Act passes the U.S. Congress giving the President the power of conscription.
- May 27 - Over 30.000 French troops refuse to go to the trenches in Missy-aux-Bois
- June 1 - French infantry regiment seizes Missy-aux-Bois and declares anti-war military government. French army soon apprehend them
- June 5 - World War I: Conscription begins in the United States as "Army registration day."
- June 13 - World War I: First major German bombing raid on London left 162 dead and 432 injured
- June 15 - The United States enacts the Espionage Act.
- July 6 - Arabian troops led by T.E. Lawrence capture Aqaba from the Turks.
- July 7 - Aleksandr Kerensky forms the Provisional Government in Russia after the deposing of the tsar.
- July 12 - Phelps Dodge Corporation deports over 1000 suspected IWW members from Bisbee, Arizona
- July 17 - King George V of the United Kingdom issues a Proclamation stating that the male line descendants of the British royal family will bear the surname Windsor.
- July 20 - Corfu Declaration that enabled post-war Kingdom of Yugoslavia was signed by the Yugoslav Committee and Kingdom of Serbia
- July 25 - Sir Thomas Whyte introduces the first income tax in Canada as a "temporary" measure (lowest bracket is 4% and highest is 25%).
- August 29 - World War I: The Military Service Act is passed in the Canadian House of Commons giving the Canadian government the right to conscript men into the army.
- October 15 - World War I: At Vincennes outside of Paris, Dutch dancer Mata Hari is executed by firing squad for spying for Germany.
- October 19 - Love Field in Dallas, Texas is opened.
- October 26 - World War I: Brazil declared in state of war with Germany.

November


- November - Don Republic declares independence from Soviet Russia
- November 2 - Zionism: The Balfour Declaration proclaims British support for Jewish settlement in Palestine.
- November 6 - World War I: Third Battle of Ypres ends: After three months of fierce fighting, Canadian forces take Ypres in Belgium.
- November 7 - October Revolution begins: The workers of St.Peterburg in Russia, with leaders the Bolsheviks and the Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin attacked against the ineffective Kerensky Provisional Government (Russia was still using the Julian Calendar at the time, so period references show a October 25 date. The Soviets of Workers, Farmers and Soldiers took for the first time in history the economy and the administration of a country.
- November 7 - World War I: Third Battle of Gaza ends - United Kingdom forces capture Gaza from the Ottoman Empire.
- November 15 - Finland takes a step towards full sovereignty recognizing the personal union with Russia finished after the Tsar being dethroned.
- November 16 - British troops occupy Tel Aviv and Jaffa in Palestine.
- November 16 - Georges Clemenceau becomes prime minister of France
- November 20 - World War I: Battle of Cambrai begins - British forces make early progress in an attack on German positions but are soon beaten back.
- November 20 - Ukraine is declared a republic.
- November 22 - In Montreal, Canada, the National Hockey Association breaks up (on November 26 it was replaced with the National Hockey League).
- November 26 - The National Hockey League is formed.
- November 29 - Striking coal miners at Rostov declare Don Soviet Republic - it lasts two weeks.

December


- December 3 - After nearly 20 years of planning and construction, the Quebec Bridge opens to traffic (the bridge partially collapsed on August 29 1907 and September 11 1916).
- December 6 - Finland's declaration of independence.
- December 6 - Halifax Explosion: Two freighters collide in the harbour at Halifax, Nova Scotia and cause a huge explosion that kills at least 1963 people, injures 9000 and destroys part of the city. Until Hiroshima, this was the biggest manmade explosion.
- December 11 - British troops take Jerusalem from the troops of the Ottoman Empire
- December 25 - Why Marry?, first dramatic play to win a Pulitzer Prize, opens at the Astor Theatre in New York City.
- December 26 - United States president Woodrow Wilson uses the Federal Possession and Control Act to take control of nearly all American railroads under the United States Railroad Administration so they can be more efficiently used to transport troops and materials for the war effort.

Unknown dates


- Lions Clubs International is formed.
- First commercially issued recordings of jazz music, by Original Dixieland Jazz Band.
- Tolkien starts writing the original Book of Lost Tales (the first version of the Silmarillion), thus Middle-earth is first written this year (After the war, Tolkien tries to publish the stories, but he is neglected, as writers call his work a "fairy tale"; unsuitable for adult readership).
- Conscription crisis in Canada.
- Female suffrage in the Netherlands

Ongoing events


- World War I (1914-1918)
- Armenian Genocide (1915-1918)
- Encephalitis lethargica (1917-1928)

Births

January-March


- January 2 - Vera Zorina, German dancer and actress (d. 2003)
- January 3 - Roger W. Straus, Jr., American publisher (d. 2004)
- January 10 - Jerry Wexler, American record producer
- January 19 - John Raitt, American actor and singer (d. 2005)
- January 24 - Ernest Borgnine, American actor
- January 25 - Ilya Prigogine, Russian-born physicist and chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (d. 2003)
- February 4 - Yahya Khan, President of Pakistan (d. 1980)
- February 6 - Zsa Zsa Gabor, Hungarian-born actress
- February 11 - Sidney Sheldon, American author
- February 14 - Herbert A. Hauptman, American mathematician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
- February 19 - Carson McCullers, American author (d. 1967)
- February 25 - Anthony Burgess, English author (d. 1993)
- February 27 - John Connally, Governor of Texas (d. 1993)
- February 28 - Fidel Sánchez Hernández, President of El Salvador (d. 2003)
- March 1 - Harry Caray, baseball broadcaster (d. 1998)
- March 1 - Robert Lowell, American poet (d. 1977)
- March 2 - Desi Arnaz, Cuban-born actor, bandleader, and musician (d. 1986)
- March 19 - Dinu Lipatti, Romanian pianist (d. 1950)
- March 20 - Dame Vera Lynn, English actress and singer
- March 24 - John Kendrew, British molecular biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (d. 1997)
- March 26 - Rufus Thomas, American singer (d. 2001)
- March 27 - Cyrus Vance, American politician (d. 2002)

April-October


- April 5 - Robert Bloch, American writer (d. 1994)
- April 10 - Robert B. Woodward, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1979)
- April 12 - Helen Forrest, American jazz singer (d. 1999)
- April 17 - Bill Clements, Governor of Texas
- April 25 - Ella Fitzgerald, American jazz singer (d. 1996)
- May 14 - Lou Harrison, American composer (d. 2003)
- May 20 - Bergur Sigurbjörnsson, Icelandic politician (d. 2005)
- May 21 - Raymond Burr, Canadian actor (d. 1993)
- May 22 - Georg Tintner, Austrian conductor (d. 1999)
- May 28 - Papa John Creech, fiddler (d. 1994)
- May 29 - John F. Kennedy, President of the United States (d. 1963)
- June 1 - William S. Knowles, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- June 15 - John Fenn, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- June 15 - Lash La Rue, American cowboy actor (d. 1996)
- June 17 - Dean Martin, American actor (d. 1996)
- June 17 - Atle Selberg, Norwegian mathematician
- July 4 - Manolete, Spanish bullfighter (d. 1947)
- July 7 - Fidel Sánchez Hernández, President of El Salvador (d. 2003)
- July 19 - William Scranton, American politician
- August 15 - Jack Lynch, President of Ireland (d. 1999)
- August 18 - Caspar Weinberger, United States Secretary of Defence
- August 22 - John Lee Hooker, American blues musician (d. 2001)
- August 28 - Jack Kirby, American comic book artist (d. 1994)
- August 29 - Isabel Sanford, American actress (d. 2004)
- September 7 - John Cornforth, Australian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- September 10 - Miguel Serrano, Chilean fascist ideologist
- September 11 - Ferdinand Marcos, President of the Philippines (d. 1989)
- September 13 - Robert Ward, American composer (d. 1994)
- September 25 - Johnny Sain, baseball pitcher
- October 2 - Christian de Duve, English-born biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- October 8 - Danny Murtaugh, baseball player and manager (d. 1976)
- October 8 - Rodney Robert Porter, English biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1985)
- October 15 - Jan Miner, American actress (d. 2004)
- October 21 - Dizzy Gillespie, American musician (d. 1993)
- October 30 - Maurice Trintignant, French race car driver (d. 2005)
- October 31 - Thomas Hill, Canadian actor

November-December


- November 11 - Madeleine Damerment, French World War II heroine (d. 1944)
- November 19 - Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India (d. 1984)
- November 22 - Andrew Huxley, English scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- December 6 - Kamal Jumblatt, leader of the Lebanese Druze (d. 1977)
- December 9 - James Rainwater, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1986)
- December 10 - Sultan Yahya Petra, King of Malaysia (d. 1979)
- December 20 - David Bohm, American-born physicist, philosopher, and neuropsychologist (d. 1992)
- December 21 - Heinrich Böll, German writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1985)
- December 22 - Gene Rayburn, American television personality (d. 1999)
- December 27 - Onni Palaste, Finnish writer
- December 30 - Seymour Melman, American industrial engineer (d. 2004)

Unknown dates


- Ben Bubar, American Presidential candidate (d. 1995)

Deaths


- January 2 - Edward Burnett Tylor, English anthropologist (b. 1832)
- January 10 - William F. Cody (Buffalo Bill), American frontiersman (b. 1846)
- January 16 - George Dewey, U.S. admiral (b. 1837)
- February 10 - John William Waterhouse, Italian-born artist (b. 1849)
- March 8 - Ferdinand von Zeppelin, German inventor (b. 1838)
- March 17 - Franz Brentano, German philosopher and psychologist (b. 1838)
- March 31 - Emil Adolf von Behring, German winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1854)
- April 1 - Scott Joplin, American musician and composer (b. 1868)
- April 14 - L. L. Zamenhof, Polish creator of Esperanto (b. 1859)
- May 17 - Charles Anthoni Johnson Brooke, ruler of Sarawak (b. 1829)
- May 20 - Philipp von Ferrary, Italian stamp collector (b. 1850)
- June 30 - Antonio de La Gandara, French painter (b. 1861)
- July 27 - Emil Kocher, Swiss medical researcher, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1841)
- August 13 - Eduard Buchner, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1860)
- August 20 - Adolf von Baeyer, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1835)
- August 30 - Alan Leo, British astrologer (b. 1860)
- September 27 - Edgar Degas, French painter (b. 1834)
- October 13 - Florence La Badie, Canadian actress (b. 1888)
- October 15 - Mata Hari, Dutch dancer and spy (executed) (b. 1876)
- October 23 - Eugène Grasset, Swiss artist (b. 1845)
- October 28 - Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein (b. 1831)
- November 8 - Colin Blythe, English cricketer (b. 1879)
- November 11 - Queen Liliuokalani of Hawai'i (b. 1838)
- November 17 - Auguste Rodin, French sculptor (b. 1840)
- December 8 - Mendele Moykher Sforim, Russian Yiddish and Hebrew writer (b. 1836)

Nobel Prizes


- Physics - Charles Glover Barkla
- Chemistry - not awarded
- Medicine - not awarded
- Literature - Karl Adolph Gjellerup, Henrik Pontoppidan
- Peace - International Committee of the Red Cross Category:1917 ko:1917년 ms:1917 ja:1917年 simple:1917 th:พ.ศ. 2460

United States

:For alternative meanings, see the disambiguation page for US, USA, United States, or American. The United States of America is a federal democratic republic situated primarily in central North America. It comprises 50 states and one federal district, and has several territories. It is also referred to, with varying formality, as the United States, the U.S., the U.S.A., the States, or simply and most commonly, America. The official founding date of the United States is July 4, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress—representing thirteen British colonies—adopted the Declaration of Independence. However, the structure of the government was profoundly changed in 1788, when the states replaced the Articles of Confederation with the United States Constitution. The date on which each of the fifty states adopted the Constitution is typically regarded as the date that state "entered the Union" (became part of the United States). Since the mid-20th century, following World War II, the United States has emerged as a dominant global influence in economic, political, military, scientific, technological, and cultural affairs.

Geography and climate

The United States shares land borders with Canada (to the north) and Mexico (to the south), and territorial water boundaries with Canada, Russia, the Bahamas, and numerous smaller nations. It is otherwise bounded by the Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea, in the west; the Arctic Ocean, in the northernmost areas; and the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea, in the eastern and southeastern areas. Forty-eight of the states are in the single region between Canada and Mexico; this group is referred to, with varying precision and formality, as the continental or contiguous United States, sometimes abbreviated CONUS, and as the Lower 48. Alaska, which is not included in the term contiguous United States, is at the northwestern end of North America, separated from the Lower 48 by Canada. The archipelago of Hawaii is in the Pacific Ocean. The capital city, Washington, District of Columbia is a federal district located on land donated by the state of Maryland. (Virginia also donated land, but it was returned in 1847.) The United States also has overseas territories with varying levels of independence and organization. When inland water is included in the total area, only Russia and Canada are larger than the United States; if inland water is excluded, China ranks third and the U.S. ranks fourth. The United States' total area is 3,718,711 square miles (9,631,418 km²), of which land makes up 3,537,438 square miles (9,161,923 km²) and water makes up 181,273 square miles (469,495 km²). The United States' landscape is one of the most varied among those of the world's nations: among its many features are temperate forestland and rolling hills, on the east coast; mangrove, in Florida; the Great Plains, in the center of the country; the Mississippi–Missouri river system; the Great Lakes, four of the five of which are shared with Canada; the Rocky Mountains, west of the Great Plains; deserts and temperate coastal zones, west of the Rocky Mountains; and temperate rain forests, in the Pacific northwest. Alaska's tundra, and the volcanic, tropical islands of Hawaii add to the geographic diversity. Hawaii The climate varies along with the landscape, from tropical in Hawaii and southern Florida to tundra in Alaska and atop some of the highest mountains. Most of the North and East experience a temperate continental climate, with warm summers and cold winters. Most of the South experiences a subtropical humid climate with mild winters and long, hot, humid summers. Rainfall decreases markedly from the humid forests of the Eastern Great Plains to the semi-arid shortgrass prairies on the high plains abutting the Rocky Mountains. Arid deserts, including the Mojave, extend through the lowlands and valleys of the southwest, from westernmost Texas to California and northward throughout much of Nevada. Some parts of California have a Mediterranean climate. Rainforests line the windward mountains of the Pacific Northwest from Oregon to Alaska.

History

American history started with the migration of people from Asia across the Bering land bridge approximately 12,000 years ago following large animals that they hunted into the Americas. These Native Americans left evidence of their presence in petroglyphs, burial mounds, and other artifacts. It is estimated that 2-9 million people lived in the territory now occupied by the U.S. before European contact, and the subsequent introduction of foreign diseases such as small pox that greatly diminished the native populations. Some advanced societies were the Anasazi of the southwest, who inhabited Chaco Canyon, and the Woodland Indians, who built Cahokia, located near present-day St Louis, a city with a population of 40,000 at its peak in AD 1200. Vikings first visited North America around 1000, but did not settle permanently. Following the discovery voyages of Christopher Columbus around 1492, other Europeans began to explore and settle there. During the 1500s and 1600s, the Spanish settled parts of the present-day Southwest and Florida, founding St. Augustine, Florida in 1565 and Santa Fe (in what is now New Mexico) in 1607. The first successful English settlement was at Jamestown, Virginia, also in 1607. Within the next two decades, several Dutch settlements, including New Amsterdam (the predecessor to New York City), were established in what are now the states of New York and New Jersey. In 1637, Sweden established a colony at Fort Christina (in what is now Delaware), but lost the settlement to the Dutch in 1655. This was followed by extensive British settlement of the east coast. The British colonists remained relatively undisturbed by their home country until after the French and Indian War, when France ceded Canada and the Great Lakes region to Britain. Britain then imposed taxes on the 13 colonies, widely regarded by the colonists as unfair because they were denied representation in the British Parliament. Tensions between Britain and the colonists increased, and the thirteen colonies eventually rebelled against British rule. British Parliament, George Washington (1789-1797).]] In 1776, the 13 colonies split from Great Britain and formed the United States, the world's first constitutional and democratic federal republic, after their Declaration of Independence of that year, and the Revolutionary War (1775 to 1783). The original political structure was a confederation in 1777, ratified in 1781 as the Articles of Confederation. After long debate, this was supplanted by the Constitution in 1789, forming a more centralized federal government. Prior to all these was the Albany Congress in 1754, in which a union was first seriously proposed. From early colonial times, there was a shortage of labor, which encouraged unfree labor, particularly indentured servitude and slavery. In the mid-19th century, a major division occurred in the United States over the issue of states' rights and the expansion of slavery. The northern states had become opposed to slavery, while the southern states saw it as necessary for the continued success of southern agriculture and wanted it expanded to the territories. Several federal laws were passed in an attempt to settle the dispute, including the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850. The dispute reached a crisis in 1861, when seven southern states seceded1 from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America, leading to the Civil War. Soon after the war began, four more southern states seceded. During the war, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, mandating the freedom of all slaves in states in rebellion, though full emancipation did not take place until after the end of the war in 1865, the dissolution of the Confederacy, and the Thirteenth Amendment took effect. The Civil War effectively ended the question of a state's right to secede, and is widely accepted as a major turning point after which the federal government became more powerful than state governments. Thirteenth Amendment). The title of the painting, from a 1726 poem by Bishop Berkeley, was a phrase often quoted in the era of Manifest Destiny, expressing a widely held belief that civilization had steadily moved westward throughout history. [http://americanart.si.edu/t2go/1lw/1931.6.1.html (more)] ]] During the 19th century, many new states were added to the original 13 as the nation expanded across the continent. Manifest Destiny was a philosophy that encouraged westward expansion in the United States. As the population of the Eastern states grew and as a steady increase of immigrants entered the country, settlers moved steadily westward across North America. In the process, the U.S. displaced most American Indian nations. This displacement of American Indians continues to be a matter of contention in the U.S. with many tribes attempting to assert their original claims to various lands. In some areas American Indian populations were reduced by foreign diseases contracted through contact with European settlers, and US settlers acquired those emptied lands. In other instances American Indians were removed from their traditional lands by force. Though some would say the U.S. was not a colonial power until the Spanish-American War when it acquired Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines, the dominion exercised over land in North America the United States claimed is essentially colonial. The Philippines became independent in 1946. During this period, the nation also became an industrial power. This continued into the 20th century, which has been termed "the American Century" because of the nation's overriding influence on the world. The US became a center for innovation and technological development; major technologies that America either developed or was greatly involved in improving include the telephone, television, computer, the Internet, nuclear weapons, nuclear power, aviation, and aeronautics. In addition to the Civil War, another major traumatic experience for the nation was the Great Depression (1929 to 1939). The nation has also taken part in several major foreign wars, including World War I and World War II (in both of which the US later joined the Allies). During the Cold War, the US was a major player in the Korean War and Vietnam War, and, along with the Soviet Union, was considered one of the world's two "superpowers". With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the US emerged as the world's leading economic and military power. Beginning in the 1990s, the United States became very involved in police actions and peacekeeping, including actions in Kosovo, Haiti</