The Rudd Concession, a written concession for exclusive mining rights in
Matabeleland, Mashonaland and other adjoining territories in southern
Africa, was granted by King Lobengula of Matabeleland to Charles Rudd
(pictured), James Rochfort Maguire and Francis Thompson, three agents
acting on behalf of the politician and businessman Cecil Rhodes, on 30
October 1888. The concession conferred on the grantees the sole rights
to mine throughout Lobengula's country, as well as the power to defend
this exclusivity by force, in return for weapons and a regular monetary
stipend. Despite Lobengula's retrospective attempts to disavow it on the
grounds of alleged deceit by the concessionaires regarding the settled
terms, it proved the foundation for the royal charter granted by the
United Kingdom to Rhodes' British South Africa Company in October 1889,
and thereafter for the Pioneer Column's occupation of Mashonaland in
1890, which marked the beginning of white settlement, administration and
development in the country. The Company officially named the territory
Rhodesia, after Rhodes, in 1895, and governed it until 1923.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudd_Concession>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1226:
Tran Thu Do, head of the Tran clan of Vietnam, forced Ly Hue
Tong, the last emperor of the Ly dynasty, to commit suicide.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tran_Thu_Do>
1863:
Seventeen-year-old Danish Prince Vilhelm arrived in Athens to
become George I (pictured), King of Greece.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_I_of_Greece>
1973:
Istanbul's 1,510-metre (4,950 ft) long Bosphorus Bridge was
completed, connecting the continents of Europe and Asia over the
Bosphorus Strait.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosphorus_Bridge>
1983:
As the military dictatorship came to an end, Argentina's first
democratic election in a decade resulted in Raúl Alfonsín being
elected President of Argentina.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argentine_general_election,_1983>
1993:
The Troubles: Three members of the Ulster Defence Association
opened fire in a crowded pub during a Halloween party, killing eight
civilians and wounding thirteen.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greysteel_massacre>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
trainiac:
(informal) A railway enthusiast.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/trainiac>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
The Revolution was effected before the war commenced. The
Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people; a change in their
religious sentiments, of their duties and obligations... This radical
change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the
people was the real American Revolution.
--John Adams
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Adams>