Page 127 - 100 Events That Made History
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1848 California Gold Rush 1975 Microsoft founded
When a few flakes of gold were found in the US computer expert Bill Gates dropped out of
American River, near San Francisco, many college at the age of 20, and teamed up with his
people across America, and later the world, friend Paul Allen to start the software company
dreamed of making their fortunes. Burning MICROSOFT. This grew into one of the world’s
with “gold fever,” hundreds of thousands of largest technology companies, and made Gates
men left their jobs and families and raced for and Allen billionaires.
California. Some did strike gold, but most
WENT HOME BROKE and exhausted. 2007 iPhone launched
Californian technology wizard
1865–77 Reconstruction Steve Jobs turned the mobile
At the end of the Civil War, the Southern states phone into a pocket-sized
that had broken away from the United States computer that had a touch-
were all but RUINED. Reconstruction was a screen keyboard, and combined
period during which war damage was repaired, phone, e-mail, Internet, and
and efforts were made to bring the South back camera. It seemed almost
into the Union. New laws making slavery illegal magical at the time of its
helped ex-slaves begin free lives. launch—but iPhones have
quickly become A PART
1867 Purchase of Alaska OF EVERYDAY LIFE.
The home of polar bears, and RUSSIAN
TERRITORY at this time, was up for sale, 2015 Flyby of Pluto
all 586,412 sq miles (1,518,800 sq km) of it. On July 14, after a nine-year journey of 3 billion
Russia offered the land to the USA for miles (5 billion km), NASA’s NEW HORIZONS
$7.2 million. The deal, agreed by the Secretary space probe made the first flyby of Pluto, a
dwarf planet in the far regions of the solar
of State William Seward, was seen by many as
crazy—until gold was discovered in Alaska system. Racing at 31,000 mph (50,000 km/h),
30 years later. the probe flew within 7,800 miles (12,500 km)
of Pluto, sending back close-up shots and
1903 Ford Motor Company founded collecting data for later transmission.
One of the biggest and best-known car
manufacturers in the world opened for
production with just one kind of car, the
Ford Model A. The Ford company would
go on to become one of the most
SUCCESSFUL COMPANIES of all time.
Jailhouse
1910 First movie made in Hollywood
HOLLYWOOD was just a small village when Rock
director D.W. Griffith got the cameras rolling
for the first-ever movie made there. It was a
silent 17-minute film titled In Old California,
set in the first half of the 19th century.
1956 Elvis’s first major TV show
After a few minor TV appearances, the “KING”
had his first big moment on The Ed Sullivan
Show. He alarmed the producers because of his More than 80 percent of the US TV
hip-swiveling dancing while performing. To
avoid scandal Presley was filmed from the waist audience watched Elvis’s performance
up. The performance rocketed Elvis to
international stardom.
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