• 1500  -  Portuguese navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral becomes the first European to discover Brazil.

Pedro Álvares Cabral

Cabral is credited with being the first European to discover Brazil.  As a navigator for Portugal he was charged with establishing commercial relationships and introducing christianity in foreign lands, by any means.  He left Lisbon with a fleet of thirteen ships March 9, 1500.  He landed on the coast of Brazil April 22.

• 1836  -  Mexican General Santa Anna is captured by Sam Houston and the Texas revolutionaries following the Battle of San Jacinto.

General Santa Anna

General Santa Anna was known as the “Napoleon of the west.”  He was captured the day after the Battle of San Jacinto.  Santa Anna and acting president of Texas, David G. Burnet, signed the Treaties of Velasco “in his official character as chief of the Mexican nation, he acknowledged the full, entire, and perfect Independence of the Republic of Texas.”

• 1945  -  Prisoners of the Croatian concentration camp, Jasenovac, revolt.  520 were killed while 80 of them managed to escape.

Serb prisoners

The NDH legislation in fascist Croatia during WWII mirrored the ideology of Nazi Germany.  Jasenovac extermination camp, established by the Ustaše regime in August 1941.  Among the ethnic Serbs, Jews, communists and Bosnians imprisoned at Jasenovac, the Serbs were the majority.

• 1970  -  First Earth Day

Environmental Awareness

Founded by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson, Earth Day was first celebrated on April 22, 1970 with the intention of raising awareness to our role in the environment we live in.  It is now celebrated all over the world.

• 1992  -  Explosion in Guadalajara, Mexico

1992 Guadalajara Explosion

Three days prior to the explosions, citizens of Guadalajara, Mexico complained of smelling gasoline coming from the sewers and sometimes even in the water.  Tests were conducted that found high levels of gasoline fumes in the sewer system, but the mayor did not feel an explosion was imminent and did not evacuate the city.  On April 22, the fumes ignited and 206 people were killed, almost 500 were injured and 15,000 were left homeless.

• 2000  -  Federal agents seize six-year-old Elian Gonzalez in Miami, Florida

Federal agent seize Elian Gonzalez

Federal agents raid the home of Cuban relatives of Elian Gonzalez in Miami, Florida on April 22 and seize the young boy for deportation back to Cuba.  In November 1999, Elian and his mother boarded an aluminum boat with about 12 others leaving Cuba and were headed for the coast of Florida.  During the trip, Elian’s mother and 10 others perished.  What ensued thereafter was a media circus testing the morals of the American government.  A district court ruled that the Miami relative could not petition for asylum on the boy’s behalf and was upheld by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta.

• 2008  -  The United States Air Force retire the F-117 Nighthawk from service.

Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk

Stealth ground attack aircraft, the Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk has flown missions since October 1983.  It wasn’t even known of publicly until five years later in 1988.  She will be missed.