This day in history - September 8

[seamusTX]

1522 - Spanish Captain Juan Sebastian de Elcano returned to Spain in the only surviving ship of Magellan's fleet of five, completing the first circumnavigation of the globe. Though he had attempted mutiny during the voyage, he was hailed as a hero.

1565 - Spanish explorers established the first permanent European settlement in North America. It eventually became St. Augustine, Florida.

1664 - The Netherlands surrendered New Amsterdam to the British, who renamed it New York.

1858 - In a speech in Clinton, Illinois, Abraham Lincoln may have said, "You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time."

Like most public speakers, Lincoln probably used similar phrases at different times and in different places throughout his debates with Stephen Douglas, and they are often misquoted.

1900 - The deadliest hurricane in U.S. history struck Galveston, killing around 6,000 people.

Storms were not named at that time. It is universally called "The 1900 Storm."

1935 - Louisiana Senator Huey Long, nicknamed "Kingfish," was shot by an assassin in Baton Rouge. He died two days later.

The generally accepted account is that a relative of a political rival shot Long. Long's bodyguards shot the man dead on the spot. Differing accounts say that the man tried to punch Long, and one of the bodyguards shot Long accidentally.

1941 - The siege of Leningrad began. It is often described as "the 900 days," though it didn't last quite that log. It was one of the deadliest and most barbaric episodes of WW II, killing over a million civilians by violence, disease, and starvation.

1943 - The surrender of the Italian government to the Allies was announced. The actual surrender had occurred five days earlier. Fighting involving various Italian factions and the German military continued until 1945.

1944 - The first V-2 missile landed in London. It was a terrifying weapon that gave no notice of its impending arrival, because it was supersonic and descended at a high inclination.

1966 - The first episode of the "Star Trek" TV series was broadcast.

These were the years when Apollo missions were progressing toward a moon landing, and to naive kids like myself, Star Trek really seemed like a glimpse into the future.

1974 - President Ford pardoned former President Nixon.

[Kevinf2349]

195X - 'She who must be obeyed' was born.

[Wisewr]

You mentioned Magellan and just out of curiosity I pulled the wikipedia out on him. It says he was killed in the Battle of Mactan. I don't know where I got this from, but I was always under the impression that he feel victim to cannibalism.

[seamusTX]

I've also heard that Magellan was killed by cannibals. The bit of research that I just did seems to indicate that he was not, but you can find references to Magellan and cannibals on many unauthoritative web sites (a lot of them look like term-paper cheat sites).

It was common in the age of exploration for European explorers who got their butts kicked by natives to return home and give exaggerated accounts of how fierce their enemies were. These stories often included cannibalism, witchcraft, and superhuman feats of strength.

I had forgotten or never really knew that Magellan was killed in what is now the Philippines, and the chief who drove off the Spanish is still considered a Filipino national hero.

- Jim

[Wisewr]

Why are the natives of the Philippines called Filipinos instead of Philippinos?

[seamusTX]

I don't know the exact history of that.

The Philippines are named after one of several King Philips of Spain. Philippines is an English word, not a Spanish one.

At some point, the Spanish Royal Academy decreed phonetic spelling. They changed ph's to f's, so Philip became Felipe.

In Spanish the Philippines are called Las Islas Filipinas. A person who lives there is filipino.

For whatever reason, when the U.S. took control of the Philippines during the Spanish-American War, they preferred Philippines to Filipinas. Later, English became the official language of the islands, and they kept the English name.

I hope that makes sense.

- Jim

[Wisewr]

I'll buy it.

Sounds like it's just one of those things.

[seamusTX]

There's a lot of weird stuff like this. The Japanese call their country Nippon, so where did Japan come from?

- Jim

[Purplehood]

There's a lot of weird stuff like this. The Japanese call their country Nippon, so where did Japan come from?

- Jim

The Portuguese borrowed the Malay name for Nippon or Nihon, which they called Jepang.

(Hey I just looked it up)

[OldCurlyWolf]

195X - 'She who must be obeyed' was born.

You do realize that you just told every one on this board that she is a minimum of 52 today and maybe as much as 61. You should have left out the decade.

[The Annoyed Man]

Why are the natives of the Philippines called Filipinos instead of Philippinos?

It's especially mystifying when they themselves pronounce it "pillipinos" (no "ph").

[seamusTX]

Most adult Filipinos are not native speakers of English, although English is taught in school there from an early age. Some may be pronouncing the p in Philippines phonetically. I don't know.

This kind of drift occurs all the time. The name of our chosen state once was pronounced like TAY-hass and sometimes spelled Tejas. Probably the name of Bexar county will eventually come to be pronounced as it is spelled in English, with accent on the first syllable.

- Jim

[n5wd]

1966 - The first episode of the "Star Trek" TV series was broadcast.

I'm dating myself, but I sat there on Sunday night and enjoyed every minute of that show, probably one of a handful of people across the United States that did! And then I got to watch that first show, again, 4 years later when AFVN broadcast it in Saigon!

[seamusTX]

The first episode of Star Trek aired late (Eastern time) on a Thursday—but memory is like that.

I wouldn't remember this. I didn't get to watch much television on school nights. I only discovered it the following summer as reruns.

- Jim

[Oldgringo]

I think people are making up things as they go. Who's next?