On today’s edition of history corner, CEOAFRICA looks at some remarkable events. They range from the outage of Facebook and its Meta family for some hours on this day in 2021, the first visit of Nigeria to the United Nations, as an independent country, the introduction of the Gregorian calendar, used today, and many more.
October 4, 1535
The first complete English Bible translation was published. William Tyndale and Miles Coverdale completed the Matthew Bible.
October 4, 1582
Pope Gregory XIII introduced the concept of the Gregorian Calendar to Europe. Some European countries didn't adopt the calendar until October 15 due to a delay in communication.
October 4, 1582 
Last Julian calendar day in Spain, Portugal and pontifical states. To synchronize to the Gregorian calendar, 10 days were skipped and the next date was Oct 15.
October 4, 1675
The pocket watch patent was awarded to Dutch mathematician and scientist, Christiaan Huygens. Huygens also patented the first pendulum clock in 1656.
October 4, 1777 
Battle of Germantown: Gen. George Washington's troops attacked and were defeated by the British at Germantown, Pennsylvania.
October 4, 1854 
Abraham Lincoln made his 1st political speech at Illinois State Fair.
October 4, 1864 
National black convention met in Syracuse, New York.
October 4, 1883 
First meeting of the Boys' Brigade in Glasgow, Scotland.
October 4, 1921 
League of Nations refused to assist starving Russians.
October 4, 1940 
Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini conferred at Brenner Pass in the Alps, a border pass, between Italy and Austria.
October 4, 1956 
Great Britain performed nuclear test at Maralinga Australia.
October 4, 1957 
Soviet Union launched Sputnik I, the 1st artificial Earth satellite into elliptical low Earth orbit.
October 4, 1960
A 14-man Nigerian delegation headed by the Prime Minister of the Federation, Alhaji Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, left Lagos for the United Nations.
October 4, 1965
Pope John Paul IV visited New York, becoming the first Pope to visit the Western Hemisphere.
October 4, 1993 
Troops and tanks of President Boris Yeltsin shell and occupied the Russian White House in Moscow, the house of government of the Russian Federation.
October 4, 2001
143 people were killed in a Siberian Airlines plane crash that was shot down by Ukrainian Missiles over the Black Sea.
October 4, 2006 
WikiLeaks was launched, created by internet activist Julian Assange. WikiLeaks is a website that archives documents, often of a sensitive, governmental nature.
October 4, 2008 
Mark Zuckerberg announced the appointment of Google executive, Sheryl Sandberg, as Facebook COO.
October 4, 2011 
US State Department listed Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (ISIL) as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, with a $10 million reward for information leading to his capture.
October 4, 2012 
Turkey’s parliament approved cross-border military operations in Syria.
October 4, 2017
UK Prime Minister Theresa May was “pink-slipped” during her speech at the Conservative National Conference. Officially it was a P45 Termination of Employment paper.
October 4, 2021 
Fumio Kishida assumed office as Japan's new Prime Minister after, taking over as leader of the Liberal Democratic Party.
October 4, 2021 
Global outage of Facebook and its apps, including Instagram and WhatsApp, for six hours.
October 4, 2021 
Three years’ worth of rain (14 inches or 300 mm) fell in 12 hours in city of Al Khaburah, Oman, in the wake of tropical cyclone Shaheen.