Important Events From This day in History – 20 May

Today in History

• 2006 The Three Gorges Dam is officially opened

  In terms of installed capacity, the hydroelectric dam is the world’s largest power station. Despite its advantages, the project is still controversial because it flooded archeological and cultural sites and displaced approximately 1.3 million people.

• 1983 In South Africa, a car bomb planted by anti-Apartheid activists kills 19

  The African National Congress (ANC) military wing carried out the Church Street bombing. It was one of the bloodiest chapters in the ANC’s long and difficult struggle in South Africa against racial segregation and oppression.

• 1940 The first prisoners arrive at Auschwitz concentration camp

  During World War II, Auschwitz was the largest extermination camp. Between 1940 and 1945, the Nazi regime murdered at least 1.1 million people in Germany.

• 1927 Charles Lindbergh takes off on the first solo non-stop transatlantic flight

  He departed from Long Island in the United States and arrived in Paris, France at 22:22 on the next day.

• 1873 Blue jeans are patented

  Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis invented the garment, which today represents one of the most popular types of trousers worldwide.