A look back at historical events that took place on 12 January

Pulp magazine publisher Martin Goodman founded Timely comics on 12 January 1939 in New York. He later started the company Marvel Comics under the name Timely publications. Image courtesy: Wikipedia

Since the beginning of human civilisation each day on the calendar has witnessed the happening of one of the other historical events. While some etch their place in the history books so that future generations can know the same, many dates turn out to be a nightmare after witnessing a natural calamity. Similarly, 12 January has also experienced a varied variety of historical events taking place. From the beginning of the Anglo-Zulu War in 1879 to American entrepreneur, media proprietor, investor, and commercial astronaut Jeff Bezos being born in 1964, 12 January holds immense importance in history. On this day in 1773, the oldest public museum in the United States was established in colonial Charleston. Therefore, let’s take a detailed look at some of the historical events of 12 January that took place in the 20th Century:

First woman elected to the US Senate

It was on this day in 1932, Hattie Caraway of Arkansas became the first female to win the election to the United States Senate. After her husband Thaddeus H. Caraway passed away in November 1931, the governor appointed Hattie to fill her husband’s seat until a special election could be held. Therefore, Hattie filled in a few remaining months of her late husband’s term, and later in 1932, she won re-election in her own right.

Timely Comics (later Marvel) was founded

Pulp magazine publisher Martin Goodman founded Timely comics in 1939 in New York. He later started the company Marvel Comics under the name Timely publications. Timely comics is the precursor of Marvel Comics, which began in the early 1960s. If you are wondering, Stan Lee, with the help of his uncle Robbie Solomon became an assistant at Timely comics in 1939.

Hundreds killed in Hajj Stampede

Sadly, the day in 2006 turned out to be a nightmare for thousands of Hajj pilgrims, after a stampede broke out during the Stoning of the Devil ritual on the access ramps to the Jamarat Bridge. As per the then Guardian report, about 345 people lost their lives and around 1000 were injured in a stampede on the last day of Mecca’s Hajj pilgrimage. There have been deadly terrifying stampedes at the Muslim holy site earlier. In 1990, 1,426 people were killed, and a further 244 pilgrims died in February 2004.

Haiti severely damaged by the earthquake

On this day in 2010, a large-scale violent earthquake devastated the Caribbean nation Haiti, especially its national capital Port-au-Prince, resulting in the death of more than 200,000. The earthquake of magnitude 7 left more than 1,000,000 homeless. It was the most devastating natural disaster that Haiti ever experienced. Even after 13 years of the incident, the nation has still been recovering from the nightmare. One factor that resulted in the number of casualties in the aftermath of the earthquake was a lack of medical supplies, damage to hospitals, and a shortage of medical and rescue personnel.

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