Compass
Some extraordinary people sharing a bit of travel advice, insights and experiences from Moscow to the Camino de Santiago and destinations in between take us to some surprising places.
On April 11, 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson made history by signing the 1968 Civil Rights Act into law.
On April 10, 1912 the RMS Titanic set sail on its maiden voyage. The ship departed Southampton, England, bound for New York City, New York, with Captain Edward J. Smith in command and 2,223 people aboard. The Titanic stopped in France and Ireland to pick up additional passengers. Among the passengers were many famous names: John Jacob Astor and his wife; Denver millionairess Margaret "Molly" Brown; Benjamin Guggenheim; Macy's owner Isidor Straus along with the White Star Line's director J. Bruce Ismay and the ship's builder Thomas Andrews. In the Titanic, there were three classes of passengers; many in third class were Irish and British immigrants looking to a new life in America. On Sunday, April 14, the ship altered course slightly south in response to iceberg warnings. A number of subsequent warnings from other ships were received, but not acted upon. At 11:40 pm, lookouts spotted an iceberg directly [...]
General Robert Edward Lee commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia during the American Civil War. When Lee took command in 1862 he emerged as a shrewd tactician and battlefield commander and won most of his battles against superior Union armies.
The Irish Government Bill of 1886 was the British parliament's first substantial attempt to create home rule for Ireland. It was introduced on April 8, 1886 by Prime Minister William Gladstone for the purpose of creating a devolved Irish assembly. The Irish Parliamentary Party under Charles Stewart Parnell had been campaigning for home rule for Ireland since the 1870s. The bill, like his Irish Land Act 1870, was very much the work of Gladstone, who excluded both the Irish MPs and his own ministers from participation in the drafting.
The World Health Organization (WHO) was established by the United Nations to act as an international coordinating authority on April 7, 1948. Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, WHO succeeded the role of the Health Organization, its predecessor under the League of Nations.
Picture this: You are in Aleppo, standing in front of what is left of your house. You are reeling with the loss of your mother, your father, your brother, or if the world is particularly cruel, more than one family member. An edgily dressed 19-year-old British boy on his gap year comes up to you and, instead of offering help, asks if he can take a picture with his expensive camera. You gawk in disbelief and struggle to comprehend why someone whose government was involved in the war is standing before you, asking for a piece of your dignity.
The Games of the I Olympiad were held from April 6 to April 15, 1896 in Athens, Greece, the first Olympic Games in modern times. The first Olympics, or "I Olympiad" also established the International Olympic Committee.
Young men once rode horses to carry mail from Missouri to California in the unprecedented time of only 10 days! This relay system along the Pony Express National Historic Trail crossing eight states was the most direct and practical means of east-west communications in 1860. From Missouri to California the Pony Express riders could deliver a letter faster than ever before.
Along with the Sphinx and the Great Pyramid, there may be no more instantly recognizable man-made structure than the Eiffel Tower, inaugurated on this date in 1889. The grand tower was built for the Universal Exhibition held that year in celebration of the French Revolution.
Lesser known and far less populated than the long distance trail in British Columbia, the East Coast Trail stretches for more than 300 kilometers from Cappahayden in the south to Cape
Tourists visiting the Taj Mahal are faced with a new kind of threat – a herd of monkeys that will scratch, bite and even kill.
