Today, in history corner, we bring you the stories of how Christopher Columbus sighted and arrived the Bahamas and how his celebration started. This day also brings to memory the trial of the Nigerian Al-Qaeda loyalist, Umar Abdul-Mutallab, who pleaded guilty to his terror activity of the 2009 Boxing Day. There are other events marking this day, including the good, the bad and the ugly.
October 12, 539 BC
The army of Cyrus the Great of Persia conquered Babylon, ending the Babylonian empire.
October 12, 1279 AD
The Nichiren Shōshū branch of Buddhism was founded in Japan.
October 12, 1492
Christopher Columbus's first expedition made landfall in the Caribbean, specifically on San Salvador Island, located in the Bahamas.
October 12, 1654
The Delft Explosion devastated the city in the Netherlands, killing more than 100 people.
October 12, 1773  
America's first insane asylum opened.
October 12, 1792
The first celebration of Columbus Day was held in New York City.
October 12, 1793
The cornerstone of Old East, the oldest state university building in the United States, was laid at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
October 12, 1799
Jeanne Geneviève Labrosse became the first woman to jump from a balloon with a parachute.
October 12, 1849
The city of Manizales, Colombia, was founded by 'The Expedition of the 20'.
October 12, 1856
An M 7.7–8.3 earthquake off the Greek island of Crete caused major damage as far as Egypt and Malta.
October 12, 1871
The British in India enacted the Criminal Tribes Act, naming many local communities "Criminal Tribes".
October 12, 1892
The Pledge of Allegiance was first recited by students in many US public schools.
October 12, 1901
President Theodore Roosevelt officially renamed the "Executive Mansion" to the White House.
October 12, 1917
World War I: The First Battle of Passchendaele took place, resulting in the largest single-day loss of life in New Zealand history.
October 12, 1918
A massive forest fire killed 453 people in Minnesota.
October 12, 1928
An iron lung respirator was used for the first time at Boston Children's Hospital.
October 12, 1931
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, unveiled its iconic Christ the Redeemer statue. The statue, including the pedestal, is 124 ft (38 m) tall, and its arms are 91.8 ft (28 m) wide. It sits at the peak of Corcovado Mountain, which creates some jaw-dropping views.
October 12, 1945  
The Nazi party was ordered to dissolve by The Allied Control Council and stated that any attempt at its revival in any guise would be considered a criminal offence.
October 12, 1960
Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev pounded his shoe on a desk at the United Nations to protest a Philippine assertion.
October 12, 1960
Japan Socialist Party leader Inejiro Asanuma was stabbed to death during a live Television broadcast.
October 12, 1962
The Columbus Day Storm struck the U.S. Pacific Northwest with record wind velocities. There was at least U.S. $230 million in damages and 46 people died.
October 12, 1964
The Soviet Union launched the Voskhod 1 into Earth orbit as the first spacecraft with a multi-person crew and the first flight without pressure suits.
October 12, 1967
A bomb exploded on board Cyprus Airways Flight 284 while flying over the Mediterranean Sea, killing 66.
October 12, 1970
Vietnam War: Vietnamization continued as President Richard Nixon announced that the United States would withdraw 40,000 more troops before Christmas.
October 12, 1977  
Hua Guofeng succeeded Mao Zedong as paramount leader of China.
October 12, 1979
The world’s strongest storm ever was recorded. The so-called Typhoon Tip storm reached an unfathomable wind speed of 190 miles per hour across the Western Pacific. But what really made this the strongest storm on Earth was its Diameter of Circulation, which covered 1,380 miles, equivalent to the distance from New York City to Dallas!
October 12, 1983
Japan's former Prime Minister, Tanaka Kakuei, was found guilty of taking a $2 million bribe from the Lockheed Corporation, and was sentenced to four years in jail.
October 12, 1984
The Provisional Irish Republican Army failed to assassinate Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her cabinet. The bomb killed five people and wounded 31.
October 12, 1992
A 5.8 earthquake occurred in Cairo, Egypt. At least 510 died.
October 12, 1999
The six billionth living human being was estimated to be born. The United Nations suggested this was the date, although some population experts disagreed.
October 12, 2010
The Finnish Yle TV2 channel's Ajankohtainen kakkonen current affairs program aired controversial Homoilta episode (literally "gay night"), which led to the resignation of almost 50,000 Finns from the Evangelical Lutheran Church.
October 12, 2002
Bombs blamed on al-Qaida-linked militants destroyed a nightclub on the Indonesian island of Bali, killing 202 people, including 88 Australians and seven Americans.
October 12, 2011
A Nigerian al-Qaida operative pleaded guilty to trying to bring down a jetliner with a bomb in his underwear; Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab defiantly told a federal judge in Detroit that he had acted in retaliation for the killing of Muslims worldwide.
October 12, 2016
The cosmetics company Cover Girl featured their first-ever boy on the cover.