1821, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua all declared independence from Spain. Actually, that’s kind of anachronistic to say because these five nations didn’t distinguish themselves from each other then. No, inspired by the American, French and Haitian revolutions and taking advantage of a Napoleonic Wars-racked Spain, Spanish Central Americans, properly called criollos or creoles, jointly declared independence from Spain. And despite a brief, one year stint as part of the Mexican Empire, these same creoles met congressionally to form the United Provinces of Central America in 1823. Unfortunately, Central American liberals fought with Roman Catholic conservatives until dissolution 15 years later. The two blue stripes on the flag of that ill-fated nation, and on the flags of the five nations enumerated in the first sentence of this event, depict Central America’s prime location between two oceans. If the Central Americans had spent their time building a canal instead of fighting each other, they would have been too busy counting their money to split up.
1835, Charles Darwin set foot on the Galápagos Islands. Darwin was accompanying a British survey ship, the HMS Beagle, around the Southern Hemisphere, taking notes along the way. Darwin took great interest in the mockingbirds of the islands, noting how they differed from island to island and from those on the mainland. Darwin had read Harper Lee, however, and knew that it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird — but he wasn’t above killing tortoises. Giant tortoises were widely considered the best eating on the high seas, and sailors used tortoises’ urine and stored neck-water as a fresh water source. Darwin loved the taste of tortoise, too; but, if it’s any consolation, not as much as others: “The breast-plate roasted (as the Gauchos do “carne con cuero”), with the flesh on it, is very good; and the young tortoises make excellent soup; but otherwise the meat to my taste is indifferent.” Those words come from Darwin’s journal about his voyage which he published in 1839. He never wrote again …
1894, Japanese forces bested the Chinese at the Battle of Pyongyang in Korea. This was part of the First Sino-Japanese War, which newly modernized Japan won handily, embarrassing the Chinese Qing Dynasty. Ten years later, Russia tried to take Korea from Japan but was ultimately defeated, too. Japan officially annexed Korea in 1910 and controlled the peninsula until the end of World War II, which (spoiler alert) they lost. Then the USSR and U.S. split the peninsula atwo and fought the Korean War — accomplishing nothing, but killing or wounding six million people. Today, Pyongyang is the capital of North Korea and hosts a 105-story skyscraper called the Ryugyong Hotel. It was supposed to be completed in 1989, but new Egyptian investors promise it will be finished in 2012. Even though Kim Jong-il, who has $4 billion, is probably the only person in North Korea who could afford to stay there once it’s finished, because the average North Korean makes $2,000 a year.
1981, the Senate approved Sandra Day O’Connor for the U.S. Supreme Court with a margin of 99-0. Reagan had promised to appoint the first female justice to the Supreme Court if elected president, and he did. O’Connor, who had served in all three branches of Arizona state government, replaced Potter Stewart on the bench. (I can’t think of a more 20th-century American name than Potter Stewart. It reminds me of “It’s A Wonderful Life.”) O’Connor generally voted with the conservative bloc on decisions. Indeed, she ruled in favor of Bush in 2000’s “Bush v. Gore.” Nevertheless, she became more of a swing vote later in her tenure and liked to disagree with Clarence Thomas. She stepped down from the bench in 2006 at which point Samuel Alito, and not Harriet Miers, took her place. Since then, she’s received various accolades, chief of which is the Presidential Medal of Freedom Obama gave her in 2009. Now 81 years old, she lives in Arizona.
2008, Lehman Brothers filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the largest bankruptcy in history. Lehman had over $600 billion in assets when it filed. (The second-largest bankruptcy filing ever came just 11 days later when $300 billion Washington Mutual folded.) Essentially, what did Lehman in was the whole subprime mortgage thing. Realtors convinced people to buy houses they couldn’t afford and then investors, Lehman included, bet on those people being able to afford said houses and pay their mortgages. Standard & Poor’s (S&P) was one of the credit ratings agencies who said mortgage-backed securities — investments relying on people being able to afford houses they couldn’t — were AAA. Since then, S&P’s been trying to salvage their credibility, downgrading European and American debt in turn. While S&P was responding in part to European pressure to downgrade the U.S. to AA+, they were acting ironically by disapproving of national debt they helped cause. The Great Recession rolls on. Let’s just hope it doesn’t take a world war to get out of it.
