On this day: 8 April

Selected events and births on 8 April, from Wikipedia’s “On this day”.

Events

• 1630 – Kiliaen van Rensselaer purchased land near present-day Albany, New York, to establish Rensselaerswyck, which became the most successful patroonship under the Dutch West India Company. Read more: Kiliaen van Rensselaer (merchant) Albany, New York Rensselaerswyck
• 1820 – The Venus de Milo, an ancient Greek statue of a woman with its arms missing, was discovered on the island of Milos. Read more: Venus de Milo Milos
• 1904 – Longacre Square in Midtown Manhattan was renamed Times Square after the New York Times building. Read more: Midtown Manhattan Times Square The New York Times
• 1911 – American cartoonist Winsor McCay released the silent short film Little Nemo (featured), one of the earliest animated films. Read more: Winsor McCay Little Nemo (1911 film)
• 1933 – The Australian state of Western Australia voted to secede from the federation, but efforts to implement the result proved to be unsuccessful. Read more: Western Australia 1933 Western Australian secession referendum
• 1959 – A team of computer scientists and others met to discuss the creation of a common business-oriented programming language, which became COBOL. Read more: Computer science Programming language COBOL
• 1973 – The Progress Party was founded in a movie theater in Oslo, Norway. Read more: Progress Party (Norway)
• 2008 – On board Soyuz TMA-12, Yi So-yeon became the first Korean astronaut. Read more: Soyuz TMA-12 Yi So-yeon

Born on this day

• 1939 – Martin J. Schreiber, American politician, 39th Governor of Wisconsin Read more: Martin J. Schreiber Governor of Wisconsin
• 1947 – Pascal Lamy, French businessman and politician, European Commissioner for Trade Read more: Pascal Lamy European Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security
• 1951 – Geir Haarde, Icelandic economist, journalist, and politician, 23rd Prime Minister of Iceland Read more: Geir Haarde Prime Minister of Iceland
• 1965 – Steven Blaney, Canadian businessman and politician, 5th Canadian Minister of Public Safety Read more: Steven Blaney Minister of Public Safety
• 1966 – Evripidis Stylianidis, Greek lawyer and politician, Greek Minister for the Interior Read more: Evripidis Stylianidis Ministry of the Interior (Greece)
• 1998 – Lavinia Valbonesi, Ecuadorian nutritionist, businesswoman and First Lady of Ecuador Read more: Lavinia Valbonesi First ladies and gentlemen of Ecuador
• 1999 – CeeDee Lamb, American football player Read more: CeeDee Lamb
• 2002 – Jamie Drysdale, Canadian ice hockey player Read more: Jamie Drysdale
• 2002 – Viktória Forster, Slovak track and field athlete Read more: Viktória Forster
• 2002 – Skai Jackson, American actress Read more: Skai Jackson
• 2005 – Zaccharie Risacher, French basketball player Read more: Zaccharie Risacher
• 2013 – Big Justice, American social media personality Read more: A.J. & Big Justice

Text from Wikipedia: Selected anniversaries / April 8 and the linked articles, via the Wikimedia “On this day” feed, under CC BY-SA 4.0. We leave out entries about wars, violence and disasters to keep this page family-friendly.