Today in History: 5th February

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In 816, February 5, the Frankish Emperor Louis had granted immunity to the then Archbishop Salzburg. This was the first major event in recent history that has been recorded against this day of the year. In 1428 another important event had taken place on this day. King Alfonso V had ordered the Jews living in Sicily to attend the conversion ceremony and convert to Christianity.

The German Emperor Maximilian I was a very famous ruler of the country at that time. But circumstances forced him to flee from the country. He was unable to stay free for long, as in 1488, on this day he was captured in Belgium. Japan also could not stay away from killing Christians. In 1597, February 5, the newly formed Japanese Government orders the killing of many of the early Christians in Japan. This was done as the government thought that the Christians were a threat to the stability and prosperity of the government and the Japanese society.

February 5, 1679 saw the ushering in of peace between Germany and France. The German Emperor Leopold I sighed a peace treaty with the French government thus ending years of bloodshed and enmity. In 1782, the Spanish forces took over Minorca in the western Mediterranean region from the clasps of the British on this day.

In 1850, the first adding machine was patented in New Paltz, New York on this day. The specialty of the machine was that it had depressible keys. It was the earliest form of the modern day calculator. Palmerston had formed his government in England on February 5, 1855.

February 5, 1861 is a day of patents. The first patent was registered in the name of Samuel Goodale as he invented the first moving peep show machine. The second patent was in the name of Coleman Sellers of Philadelphia. He had invented the first kinematoscope. The first motion picture was shown to a theatre full of audience as early as February 5, 1870, in Philadelphia.

The Treaty of Panama Canal was signed between the United States and the United Kingdom on this day, in 1900. This treaty had been instrumental in removing obstructions in the way of the creation of the Panama Canal, which was and still is very important for shipping and navigation. Three years later, on this day, the American occupation of Cuba ended. Cuba became an independent country, but the problems of poverty, illiteracy, malnutrition and civil war still persisted.

The Yankees had purchased a 20 acre plot of land in Bronx in order to build the Yankee Stadium. The plot of land was registered to the Yankees on February 5, 1921. On the very next year, and the same day, the Reader' Digest magazine was first published. The Apollo 14 of the United States had landed on the moon with Sheppard and Mitchell on board, on this day in 1971. In 2008, February 5, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the Indian guru and founder of the Transcendental Meditation had passed away.