November 1: Facts & Historical Events On This Day

Collins Dictionary announced “AI” as the most notable word in 2023.

Palau’s archipelago became the first country in the world to ban the use of sunscreen containing harmful chemicals that destroy reefs.

Australia, Canada, and Turkey announced they would send armed forces to Afghanistan.

The three nations joined the US in its war on Afghanistan after the Al Qaeda terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. The war ended nearly twenty years later, on August 30, 2021.

The Maastricht Treaty came into effect, and with it, the European Union was formed.

The original twelve nations that signed the treaty were Spain, Portugal, Germany, the Irish Republic, France, Denmark, Great Britain, Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Greece.

A leak at a chemical factory in Basel, Switzerland, caused the Rhine to turn red.

After a fire broke out and caused damage to a storage unit, thousands of highly poisonous chemicals leaked into the Rhine river, causing it to turn red. The substances killed over half a million fish.

The Arecibo Ionospheric Observatory in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, was officially opened.

The observatory held the largest single-aperture telescope in the world until China's Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope surpassed it. The observatory was initially constructed to study the Earth's ionosphere so that the US Department of Defence could better detect incoming missiles.

President Ulysses S. Grant founded the US Weather Bureau.

The president ordered for national weather observations to be made after a range of natural disasters occurred. Initially, forecasts were only given 24 hours in advance but gave the public chance to prepare.

The first WHSmith railway bookstore opened at London Euston Railway Station, London, UK.

US President John Adams became the first president to move into the White House.

William Shakespeare had his first known performance of “The Tempest.”

The performance was at the Whitehall Palace and performed for James I and his English Royal Court.

The first known performance of William Shakespeare’s “Othello” occurred at Whitehall Palace, London.

The All Saints’ Day Flood destroyed the Dutch and German coastlines.

A tremendous series of severe storms created gigantic waves that drowned 20,000 people in the floods and left tens of thousands more homeless.

Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan became the first European to discover the Strait of Magellan.

The Strait of Magellan is the passage located south of mainland South America, connecting the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans.

Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling mural was presented to the public.

King John of England taxed all of England’s Jews for 66,000 Francs and imprisoned those who couldn’t pay.