April 25 is the 115th day of the year (116th in leap years). 250 days remain until the end of the year. Today also marks World Malaria Day. Find out some of the important events that occurred on this day in history.

 

Historical dates

1449 — Anti-pope Felix V resigns.

1507 — German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller is the first to use the name America on his world map “Universalis Cosmographia”.

1614 — Amsterdam Bank of Loan forms.

1644 — Last Ming Emperor Chongzhen hangs himself from a tree on Jing Mountain, Beijing, rather than be captured by forces of Li Zicheng.

1660 — English Convention Parliament meets and votes to restore Charles II.

1684 — Patent granted for thimble.

 

 

 

1719 — Daniel Defoe publishes “Robinson Crusoe”.

1742 — Elizabeth of Russia crowns herself Empress in the Dormition Cathedral in Moscow.

1792 — Guillotine first used in France, executes highwayman Nicolas Pelletier.

1792 — Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle composes “La Marseillaise” in Strasbourg. It later becomes the national anthem of France.

1846 — Open conflict begins over the disputed border of Texas, triggering the Mexican-American War.

1867 — Tokyo opens for foreign trade.

1881 — 250,000 Germans petition to bar foreign Jews from entering Germany.

1886 — Father of Psychology Sigmund Freud opens practice at Rathausstrasse 7, Vienna.

 

 

1896 — Sidney Jones and Harry Greenbacks musical premieres in London.

1898 — The United States declares a state of war on Spain effective from 21st April.

 

25th April in the 20th Century

1901 — New York becomes the first state requiring automobile license plates at a $1 fee.

1905 — Whites win right to vote in South Africa.

1925 — Paul von Hindenburg is elected the President of Germany.

1926 — Giacomo Puccini’s opera “Turandot” premieres in Milan.

1926 — Persian cossack officer Reza Chan crowns himself Shah Palawi.

1928 — Buddy, a German Shepherd, becomes the first guide dog for a US citizen Morris Frank.

1932vRose Franken’s “Another Language” premieres in NYC.

1941 — Operation Merkur: Hitler orders conquest of Kreta.

1944 — United Negro College Fund incorporates.

1945 — 45 countries convene UN Conference on Intenational Organisation in San Francisco.

1950 — Chuck Cooper becomes the first African American to be drafted into the NBA (for Boston Celtics).

1953 — “Nature” magazine publishes Francis Crick and James Watson’s discovery of the double helix structure of DNA.

 

 

1954 — Bell labs announces the 1st solar battery made from silicon. It has about 6% efficiency.

1954 — The US performs an atmospheric nuclear test at Bikini Island.

1957 — First experimental sodium nuclear reactor operated.

1957 — Ibrahim Hashim forms Jordanian government.

1961 — Mercury/Atlas rocket lifted off with an electronic mannequin.

1961 — Unmanned Mercury test explodes on launch pad.

1962 — US Ranger spacecraft crash lands on Moon.

 

More dates

1964 — 11th National Film Awards (India): “Shehar Aur Sapna” wins the Golden Lotus.

1967 — Abortion legalised in Colorado.

1978 — Supreme Court rules pension plans can’t require women to pay more.

1980 — A’s manager Billy Martin restrained by umpires from attacking a fan.

1980 — Firestone World Bowling Tournament of Champions won by Wayne Webb.

1981 — More than 100 workers are exposed to radiation during repairs of a nuclear power plant in Tsuruga, Japan.

1982 — Great Britain performs a nuclear test at the Nevada Test Site.

1982 — In accordance with Camp David, Israel completes Sinai withdrawal.

1983 — “Nightline” expands from ½ hour to a full hour.

1985 — West German Parliament rules it is illegal to deny the Holocaust.

1991 — “Grand Hotel” closes at Beck Theater NYC after 1018 performances.

1993 — Russia elects Boris Yeltsin leader.

1994 — Mexican businessman and billionaire Angel Losada kidnapped.

 

21st Century

2005 — Final piece of the Obelisk of Axum is returned to Ethiopia after theft by the invading Italian army in 1937.

2007 — Boris Yeltsin’s funeral. It is the first sanctioned by the Russian Orthodox Church for a head of state since the funeral of Emperor Alexander III in 1894.

2009 Elijah Wood is honoured with the Midnight Award by the San Francisco International Film Festival

2011 — At least 300 people killed in the deadliest tornado outbreak in the Southern United States since the 1974 Super Outbreak.

2012 — The United Kingdom dips back into recession after the economy shrank 0.2% in the first quarter of 2012

2015 — 7.8-magnitude earthquake near Kathmandu in Nepal, killing 8000, leaving over 100,000 homeless, destroying many historic sites.

2018 — Indian religious leader Asaram Bapu sentenced to life for r****g a 16-year old girl.

2018 — Danish inventor Peter Madsen found guilty of killing and desecrating the body of journalist Kim Wall aboard a submarine. He gets life imprisonment sentence.