Important Events From This day in History – 6 April

Today in History

• 1994 The Rwandan genocide begins

  The assassination of Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian President Cyprien Ntaryamira sparked a massacre of ethnic Tutsis that claimed up to one million lives.

• 1965 The first commercial communications satellite is launched

  When Gemini 6 landed in the Atlantic Ocean, Intelsat I, also known as Early Bird, enabled the first live TV broadcast of a spacecraft splashdown.

• 1924 A team of aviators begins the first round-the-world flight in history

  Four aircraft left Seattle on a westbound route around the globe. 157 days later, two of them reached the same location.

• 1909 Robert Peary allegedly becomes the first person to reach the North Pole

  Peary’s claim was never confirmed and is widely disputed. The 1948 Soviet Sever-2 expedition was the first undisputed journey to the North Pole.

• 1896 The first modern Olympic Games are opened in Athens

  The First Olympiad featured 241 athletes from 14 countries. The event took place more than 1500 years after the last ancient Olympic Games, which were held in Olympia, Greece’s southwesternmost city.