August 30: Facts & Historical Events On This Day

The last American military evacuation plane left Kabul, ending the brutal 20-year-long War in Afghanistan.

Amateur astronomer Gennady Borisov discovered a strange comet in another star system.

The discovery appeared to be the second of its kind, and it was named C/2019 Q4 (Borisov) after the Ukrainian astronomer. The comet was moving so fast that it was presumed to be an interstellar interloper, which is an object in space that is not bound by a star's gravity.

Argentina raised interest rates to 60% to try and maintain the Peso.

The late author Terry Pratchett’s unfinished novels were destroyed by a steamroller, as it was his last dying wish.

Pratchett passed away aged 66 in 2015 after a battle with Alzheimer's disease.

Rapper Kanye West publicly announced his plans to run for president at the MTV Video Music Awards.

Period drama movie “12 Years a Slave” premiered and went on to win Best Picture at the Telluride Film Festival in 2014.

Danny Boyle and Loveleen Tandan’s Slumdog Millionaire premiered at Colorado’s Telluride Film Festival.

The British drama loosely adapted Vikas Swarup's novel Q & A. It won eight of the ten Academy Awards it was nominated for, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay. It also won seven BAFTA awards.

The second-largest mosque in Africa officially opened in Casablanca, Morocco.

The mosque, named Hassan II, has a capacity of up to 105,000 persons, with 25,000 being inside and 80,000 within the grounds.

Casey Stengel announced that he was retiring from managing the New York Mets after 55 years in baseball.

Fanny Kaplin, a Ukrainian Jewish Socialist Revolutionary, attempted to assassinate Vladimir Lenin.

Kaplin approached Lenin as he departed a factory in Moscow and shot at him three times. While badly injured, Lenin survived the attack. Kaplin refused to name any accomplices, calling Lenin a "traitor to the revolution," and was executed several days later.

Honolulu became an official city.

Before foreigners came to Hawaii, Honolulu was known as Kulolia. However, on this day, King Kamehameha III changed the name to Honolulu and made it the capital city of the Kingdom of Hawaii. Honolulu means "sheltered bay," and the name had been used for many years to describe the location.

The first Europeans started the first permanent settlement of Melbourne.

On this day, the crew arrived aboard the Enterprize ship from Tasmania and founded Melbourne.

HMS Pandora sank at The Great Barrier Reef after a voyage to hunt down the Bounty mutineers in 1790.

The sinking of the HMS Pandora is considered one of the most significant shipwrecks in the Southern Hemisphere.

Captain William Penn set sail from Deal, England, on his famous voyage to the New World on his ship named “Welcome.”

Captain Penn was a writer and captain of the ship "Welcome," which 100 men crewed. This voyage aimed to reach the New World. Unfortunately, around one-third of the crew died en route from an outbreak of smallpox.