Today in History: First Stone Laid on the Statue of Liberty at the Entrance to New York Harbor

August 5 is the 217th (218th in leap years) day of the year according to the Gregorian calendar. The number of days left until the end of the year is 148.

Railways

• 5 August 1935 Fevzi Pasha-Diyarbakir Line reached Ergani-Maden Station. The line was opened on November 22, 1935 by the Deputy of Nafia Ali Çetinkaya. 504 km. There are even 64 tunnels, 37 stations and 1910 culverts and bridges. On this line, an average of 5000 to 18.400 people worked per month. Its cost is around 118.000.000 pounds.

Events

• 1583 - Humphrey Gilbert establishes the first English colony in North America: present-day Newfoundland.
• 1634 – IV. Murad had the taverns demolished by declaring a ban on alcohol.
• 1858 - The first transatlantic cable is drawn between the USA and Europe.
• 1882 - Martial law declared in Japan.
• 1884 - The first stone of the Statue of Liberty at the entrance to New York Harbor is laid.
• 1897 - Edison produced the first commercial.
• 1912 – Sultan Reşat abolished the Parliament and the Ottoman Assembly could not convene until 14 May 1914.
• 1914 – In Cleveland, Ohio, the first electric traffic lights are put into service.
• 1920 – A congress was held in Pozantı with the participation of Mustafa Kemal.
• 1921 – Gazi Mustafa Kemal was elected as the Commander-in-Chief of the Turkish Armies.
• 1927 - Demonstrations against the death penalty of Sacco-Vanzettti in New York. Italian-American anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were sentenced to death in 1921 for robbery and murder they did not commit.
• 1940 – II. World War II: Latvia became a protectorate of the Soviet Union.
• 1945 – France's Algerian Massacre: 45 thousand Algerians were massacred.
• 1949 – Earthquake in Ecuador: 50 villages destroyed, more than 6000 dead.
• 1960 – Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta) declared independence from France.
• 1962 - Nelson Mandela went to prison. (released in 1990).
• 1968 – Bolu Cement Factory was established.
• 1969 – Workers occupied the Istanbul Silahtarağa Demirdöküm Factory. The police intervened; 64 policemen and 14 workers were injured.
• 1989 – General elections were held in Nicaragua. The Sandinista National Liberation Front won the majority.
• 1995 – Türk-İş organized a “Respect for Labor” rally in Ankara. Nearly 100 workers attended the rally.
• 2003 – A car bomb explodes in Jakarta, Indonesia; 12 people were killed and 150 injured.
• 2013 – The trial in which the final decision will be announced in the Ergenekon Case has begun.
• 2016 – Ethiopian protests, which lasted until October, began.

Births

• 79 BC – Tullia, Roman orator and politician (d. 45 BC)
• 1623 – Antonio Cesti, Italian composer (d. 1669)
• 1746 – Antonio Codronchi, Italian priest and archbishop (d. 1826)
• 1802 – Niels Henrik Abel, Norwegian mathematician (d. 1829)
• 1809 – Alexander William Kinglake, English statesman and historian (d. 1891)
• 1811 Ambroise Thomas, French opera composer (d. 1896)
• 1813 – Ivar Aasen, Norwegian poet (d. 1896)
• 1826 – Şinasi, Ottoman journalist, publisher, poet and playwright (d. 1871)
• 1827 – Manuel Deodoro da Fonseca, Brazilian general and first President of the Brazilian Republic (d. 1892)
• 1844 – Ilya Repin, Russian painter (d. 1930)
• 1850 Guy de Maupassant, French writer (d. 1893)
• 1860 – Louis Wain, English artist, painter, and printmaker (d. 1939)
• 1862 – Joseph Merrick, British citizen (d. 1893)
• 1877 – Tom Thomson, Canadian painter (d. 1917)
• 1889 – Conrad Aiken, American poet, short story writer, novelist, and critic (d. 1973)
• 1906 – John Huston, American director (d. 1987)
• 1906 – Wassily Leontief, Russian economist and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1999)
• 1907 – Eugène Guillevic, French poet (d. 1997)
• 1928 – Johann Baptist Metz, German Catholic theologian (d. 2019)
• 1930 – Neil Armstrong, American lunar astronaut and first person to set foot on the Moon (d. 2012)
• 1930 – Michal Kováč, former President of Slovakia and politician (d. 2016)
• 1931 – Ülker Köksal, Turkish playwright, novelist and short story writer
• 1936 – John Saxon, American actor (d. 2020)
• 1937 – Akın Çakmakçı, Turkish bureaucrat (d. 2001)
• 1938 – Serol Teber, Turkish psychiatrist (d. 2004)
• 1939 – Aysel Tanju, Turkish actress (d. 2003)
• 1939 – Bob Clark, American film director (d. 2007)
• 1941 – Airto Moreira, Brazilian drummer and percussionist
• 1944 – Selçuk Alagöz, Turkish pop-rock singer, composer and lyricist
• 1947 – Osman Durmuş, Turkish medical doctor and politician (d. 2020)
• 1948 – Cemil İpekçi, Turkish fashion designer
• 1948 – Ray Clemence, legendary English football goalkeeper (d. 2020)
• 1952 – Tamás Faragó, Hungarian former water polo player
• 1957 – Shigeru Ban, Japanese architect and designer
• 1959 – Pete Burns, English singer-songwriter (d. 2016)
• 1959 – Pat Smear, American musician
• 1961 Janet McTeer, English actress
• 1962 – Patrick Ewing, American basketball player
• 1964 – Zerrin Tekindor, Turkish actress
• 1964 – Adam Yauch, American hip hop singer and director (d. 2012)
• 1966 – James Gunn, American director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1966 – Suzan Seçkiner, First female FIDE referee
• 1968 Colin McRae, Scottish rally driver (d. 2007)
• 1968 – Marine Le Pen, French politician
• 1971 – Valdis Dombrovskis, Latvian politician, former Prime Minister of Latvia
• 1972 – Darren Shahlavi, English actor (d. 2015)
• 1972 – Theodore Whitmore, Jamaican football player and manager
• 1973 – Bora Öztoprak, Turkish musician
• 1974 – Alvin Ceccoli, former Australian footballer
• 1974 - Kajol Devgan, Indian actress
• 1975 – Eicca Toppinen, songwriter
• 1977 – Beyza Durmaz, Turkish singer
• 1978 – Rita Faltoyano, Hungarian porn star
• 1978 – Kim Gevaert, former Belgian sprinter
• 1979 – David Healy, former Northern Irish football player
• 1980 – Wayne Bridge, English football player
• 1980 – Salvador Cabañas, Paraguayan national football player
• 1980 – Jason Culina, Australian football player
• 1981 – Travie McCoy, American rapper
• 1981 Jesse Williams, American actress and model
• 1984 – Helene Fischer, German singer and entertainer
• 1985 – Laurent Ciman, Belgian international football player
• 1985 – Salomon Kalou, Ivory Coast football player
• 1985 – Erkan Zengin, Turkish-Swedish football player
• 1986 – Asif Mammadov, Azerbaijani football player
• 1988 - Federica Pellegrini, Italian swimmer
• 1989 – Ryan Bertrand, English football player
• 1991 - Esteban Gutiérrez, Mexican Formula 1 driver
• 1991 – Andreas Weimann, Austrian football player
• 1994 – Martín Rodríguez, Chilean football player
• 1995 – Pierre Højbjerg, Danish football player
• 1996 – Takakeishō Mitsunobu, Japanese professional sumo wrestler
• 1997 – Olivia Holt, American singer and actress
• 1998 – Mimi Keene, English actress
• 1999 – Meltem Yıldızhan, Turkish female basketball player

Deaths

• 824 – Heizei, 51 in Japan's traditional succession (b. 773)
• 917 – Efthimios I, Patriarch of Constantinople from 907 to 912 (b. 834)
• 1364 – Kōgon, first Northern Claimant during the Nanboku-chō period in Japan (b. 1313)
• 1633 – George Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1562)
• 1729 – Thomas Newcomen, English inventor (b. 1663)
• 1862 – Félix de Muelenaere, Belgian Roman Catholic politician (b. 1793)
• 1895 – Friedrich Engels, German political philosopher (b. 1820)
• 1901 – Victoria, German empress, queen and royal princess of Prussia (b. 1840)
• 1929 – Millicent Fawcett, English feminist (b. 1847)
• 1946 – Wilhelm Marx, German lawyer, statesman (b. 1863)
• 1950 – Emil Abderhalden, Swiss biochemist and physiologist (b. 1877)
• 1955 – Carmen Miranda, Portuguese-born Brazilian actress and samba singer (b. 1909)
• 1957 – Heinrich Wieland, German chemist (b. 1877)
• 1961 – Kenan Yılmaz, Turkish bureaucrat and politician (b. 1900)
• 1962 – Marilyn Monroe, American actress (b. 1926)
• 1964 – Moa Martinson, Swedish writer (b. 1890)
• 1967 – Mustafa Inan, Turkish civil engineer, academic and scientist (b. 1911)
• 1970 – Sermet Çağan, Turkish theater artist and journalist (b. 1929)
• 1982 – Faruk Gürtunca, Turkish educator, journalist and politician (b. 1904)
• 1984 – Richard Burton, English actor (b. 1925)
• 1991 – Soichiro Honda, Japanese businessman (b. 1906)
• 1995 – Izet Nanic, brigade commander during the Yugoslav war (b. 1965)
• 1998 – Münif İslamoğlu, Turkish physician, politician and Minister of Health and Social Welfare (b. 1917)
• 1998 – Otto Kretschmer, German soldier and U-boot captain in the German Navy (b. 1912)
• 1998 – Todor Zhivkov, Bulgarian statesman (b. 1911)
• 2000 – Alec Guinness, English actor (b. 1914)
• 2006 – Daniel Schmid, Swiss director (b. 1941)
• 2008 – Neil Bartlett, English chemist (b. 1932)
• 2011 – Francesco Quinn, American actor (b. 1963)
• 2012 – Chavela Vargas, Mexican singer (b. 1919)
• 2013 – İnal Batu, Turkish diplomat and politician (b. 1936)
• 2014 – Marilyn Burns, American actress (b. 1949)
• 2015 – Nuri Ok, Turkish lawyer (b. 1942)
• 2015 – Ellen Vogel, German stage, film and TV actress (b. 1922)
• 2017 – Irina Berezhna, Ukrainian politician (b. 1980)
• 2017 – Dionigi Tettamanzi, Cardinal of Italy (b. 1934)
• 2018 – Ellen Joyce Loo, Canadian-born Hong Kong-Chinese female singer, musician, and songwriter (b. 1986)
• 2018 – Alan Rabinowitz, American zoologist and scientist (b. 1953)
• 2018 – Charlotte Rae, American actress, comedian, singer, and dancer (b. 1926)
• 2019 – Teresa Ha, Hong Kong film and TV actress (b. 1937)
• 2019 – Josef Kadraba, Czechoslovak national football player (b. 1933)
• 2019 – Toni Morrison, American author and Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1931)
• 2020 – Hawa Abdi, Somali human rights activist and physician (b. 1947)
• 2020 – Eric Bentley, British-American theater critic, playwright, singer, broadcaster, and translator (b. 1916)
• 2020 – Sadia Dehlvi, Indian journalist, columnist and activist (b. 1956)
• 2020 – Pete Hamill, American journalist, author, publisher, and educator (b. 1935)
• 2020 – Agathonas Iakovicis, Greek singer (b. 1955)
• 2020 – Cecil Leonard, American Football player (b. 1946)
• 2020 – Blanca Rodríguez, Former Venezuelan first lady and nobleman (b. 1926)
• 2020 – Aritana Yawalapiti, Brazilian Kasike (b. 1949)
• 2021 – Reg Gorman, Australian actor and comedian (b. 1937)
• 2021 – Yevhen Marchuk, Ukrainian statesman and politician (b. 1941)