November 14: The Congress of Colombia commemorated, in 1967, the death of the heroine Policarpa Salavarrieta, nicknamed "La Pola" and declared November 14 as the "Day of the Colombian Woman".

Policarpa Salavarrieta: Heroine of the Colombian Independence Movement

Today is the anniversary of the death of the heroine Policarpa Salavarrieta, affectionately nicknamed "La Pola". Policarpa was a spy for the New Granada independence from the Spanish Empire.

Statue of "La Pola" in La Candelaria, Bogotá. 1910 by Dionisio Cortés Mesa. Bogotá. 

"La Pola" brought information to the revolutionary movement, carrying weapons and ammunition, helping prisoners to escape, until the Almeyda brothers were captured and it seems that they betrayed Policarpa so she was captured and eventually executed by high treason.

$10,000 Colombian Pesos banknote, in circulation.

For that reason, she is considered a hero and martyr of Colombian Independence. Policarpa was arrested and locked in the “Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Señora del Rosario” in Bogota, which had been converted into a prison.

Policarpa Salavarrieta, ca. 1900. Colección Museo Nacional de Colombia.      

At 9 am on November 14, 1817, Policarpa Salavarrieta was shot to death with other fellow spies of the independence.


The Congress of Colombia commemorated the 150th anniversary of the death of "La Pola" in 1967 and declared November 14 as "Day of the Colombian Woman".

Oil painting by José María Espinosa.

Colombian females, happy day!

November 13: Today is the anniversary of the anti-Vietnam “March Against Death” held in Washington D.C. 1969.

On November 13, 1969, US anti-war campaigners staged a ‘March Against Death’ in Washington DC, as a symbolic and peaceful protest against the continuing war in Vietnam.

More than 250,000 university students from different universities gathered in the US capital to participate in a symbolic and peaceful march called "March Against Death". Buttons sold for $ 10 and $ 12 grounds relating to life.

The march started at 6pm on Thursday November 13 and continued until 7.30am on the Saturday, ending at the Capitol, where the placards were placed into coffins.

Actually it was believed that the march would be the prelude to the end of the war against the communists in Vietnam.

1969 — Following a symbolic three-day “March Against Death,” the second national “moratorium” opens with mass demonstrations in San Francisco and Washington ...

It was a protest of 40 hours during which people walked the names of 40,000 US soldiers killed in combat, in front of the White House. The youth demanded the immediate withdrawal of the troops and the end of the war.

Students and workers demanded the withdrawal of troops from Vietnam. Young "hippies" demanded the early withdrawal from the war and began to exhibit signs of peace and love: Make love, not war!

“Two, four, six, eight–now it’s time to smash the state!” chanted the angry mob.

November 12: Today is the anniversary of the signing of the first Treaty of Rapallo, on November 12, 1920, between the Kingdom of Italy and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, which became known as Yugoslavia.

Map of the border changes in the Julian March: with the Treaty of Rapallo, Italy received most of the Austrian Littoral, part of Inner Carniola, and some border areas of Carinthia.

During the Great War of 1914-1918, (World War I) both Italy and Serbia had received territorial promises of the allies Britain and France, once the war was over. France and Britain failed to meet their promises. Serbia then joined with neighboring Slavic ethnicity and thus formed a kingdom later known as Yugoslavia.

The Treaty of Rapallo and the Italianization of ethnic Slovene areas, which included a quarter of Slovene ethnic territory and approximately 327,000 out of a total population of 1.3 million Slovenes, on the map of present-day Slovenia with its traditional regions' boundaries.

After the Great War, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was dissolved; then Italy occupied the “promised land”, to the northeast, which belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. As a result, Italy came into conflict with Slavs, who mostly occupied these territories, known as the High Adriatic.

Fortunately, they reached an agreement that is based on the 1920 Treaty of Rapallo. Italy received much of the Austrian coast of the interior of Carniola and some areas of Carinthia.

Revolution, end of World War I and the Treaty of Rapallo

The main actor of the Treaty was the US President Woodrow Wilson. Not to be confused with a second Rapallo Treaty signed in 1922 between Russia and Germany, supposedly of cooperation and friendship!

During the Great War, Italy and Serbia had been given conflicting promises of territory by the Allies.  When the War ended, Serbia united with other Slavic states to form the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (or Yugoslavia) while Italy occupied the lands it had been promised, many of which had large Slavic populations. Disputes between the two countries, especially over the status of the city of Fiume, led to the 1920 Treaty of Rapallo.

November 11: Today is anniversary of the Treaty of Granada in 1500 under which Louis XII of France and Ferdinand II of Aragon to split the Kingdom of Naples between them.

Ferdinand II of Aragon was also king of Sicily in its own right since 1468 and King of Aragon from 1479. But, by marrying Isabel of Castile, the title of king of Castile won uxoris jure (by right of his wife) and he adopted the name of Ferdinand V.

The kingdom of Naples was clumsily divided in the Treaty of Granada. The center part was unassigned, and both Ferdinand and Louis preferred to take it all by force rather than negotiate its proper division.

When Louis XII ascended to the French crown, he demanded his rights to the Duchy of Milan, because he was the grandson of Valentina Visconti, Duchess of Orleans and Princess of Milan. He also claimed rights to the kingdom of Naples by a descendant of the house of Anjou, which led to an escalation towards the Italian war between 1499 and 1501.

Louis XII, King of France

The Treaty of Granada of November 11, 1500, was a secret pact between the two monarchs by which they split southern Italy between them, after eliminating Frederick IV of Naples.

Ferdinand the Catholic, King of Castile and Leon, King of Aragon, Naples and Navarra.

The company did not prosper and Frederick abdicated in favor of Luis XII which caused the French defeat by the Aragonese Ferdinand II.

After the war of Naples, Ferdinand had the victory, unified Sicily and Naples, and called them: The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

November 10: Bill Gates introduces Windows 1.0 in 1983.

Screenshot of Microsoft Windows 1.0 operating environment showing MS-DOS Executive and other applications.

Windows 1.0 is a graphical operating system for personal computers developed by Microsoft and renamed Microsoft Windows. Windows 1.0 had four versions of improvement and capability up to the creation of Microsoft Windows version 1.04, in 1987 when it was replaced by Windows 2.0.

Screenshot of Microsoft Windows 1.0 operating environment showing MS-DOS Executive and other applications.

As predicted by its creator Bill Gates: "Windows 1.0 is 90% of the Personal Computers operating systems by the end of 1984" and it was, indeed.

On December 31, 2001, Windows 1.0 was officially declared obsolete and Microsoft stopped supporting it.

Screenshot of Microsoft Windows 1.0 operating environment showing MS-DOS Executive and other applications.

Paul Allen and Bill Gates formed a computer company in 1975 with the view that they were a team on every desk and in every home.

Microsoft Windows 1.0 brochure, printed in January 1986

"In June 1980, Gates and Allen hired former classmate at Harvard, Steve Ballmer, to help them in the company. The next month, IBM approached Microsoft with a project code-named "Chess".

MS-DOS Executive file manager.

In response, Microsoft focused on a new operating system, the software that managed and run the computer hardware and also served as a bridge between the hardware and computer programs such as a word processor.

HP150 from 1983 running Microsoft Windows 1.0 

It is the foundation on which computer programs can run. Gates baptized the new operating system as "MS DOS."

Bill Gates introducing Windows 1.0, 1983.

When it became available in 1981, the IBM team with MS DOS, introduced a completely new language to the general public, Type "C:" and various commands encryption gradually became part of daily work. People discovered the inverted slash key (\).

Gates tired but satisfied.

MS DOS was efficient, but also difficult to understand for many people. There had to be a better way to develop an operating system…

Bill Gates y Windows 1.0

Geek Trivia: MS DOS stands for Microsoft Disk Operating System ".

Bill Gates with the first windows 1.0.

Taken literally: http://windows.microsoft.com/es-CO/windows/history#T1=era0

Bill Gates talking with Steve Ballmer in Gates' Bellevue office, 1985.

November 9: Today is anniversary of the beginning of the Meiji Restoration when the Tokugawa Shogun (Great General) transferred power to the legal Emperor of Japan in 1867 who took the name of “Meiji” ("enlightened rule").

Review of Japanese Social Structure (Before Meiji Restoration)

The nobility of Japan, the daimyo, took the signature of trade agreements with the hated foreigners called "barbarians" to ally the Emperor Mutsuhito and force the resignation of Tokugawa shogun. This revolution is sometimes called the Meiji Restoration but most call it the Meiji Revolution. The period that followed is called the Meiji Era.

Emperor Meiji at age 27.

The Emperor Meiji, Mutsuhito, ended the samurai warrior class a term originally referred to the imperial guard, but with the advent of the feudal class, the term encompassed the entire military establishment, including the samurai warriors, feudal lords, or Daimyos, for the most demanding, and the shogun. In fact, the emperor’s name was Mutsuhito; but, after the revolution and restoration, he changed his name for Meiji.

The Meiji Restoration, also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution, Reform or Renewal, was a chain of events that restored imperial rule to Japan in 1868. The Restoration led to enormous changes in Japan´s political and social structure, and spanned both the late Edo period (often called Late Tokugawa shogunate) and the beginning of the Edo period.

Matsuhito began to modernize Japan. He built thousands of schools with a system of compulsory education since 1872. It created a new army and a modern army with compulsory service in 1873; He promoted the mining, manufacturing, transportation and banking. He invited American and European experts from different disciplines to teach Japanese and Western methods processes.

The government was modernized by a Constitution proclaimed in 1889, for which the Emperor became the head of state. The Emperor appoints senior government officials to respond to him. The Constitution provided for the creation of a cabinet headed by a prime minister; an adviser; and a parliament with two chambers.

In 1884, a new dignity or nobility was established through the creation of five ranges: Prince, Marquis, Earl, Viscount, and Baron.

November 8: The murderer and conqueror Hernan Cortes entered Tenochtitlan in 1519 where Moctezuma, the great chief of the Aztec Empire, offers a welcome with a lavish celebration.

The great city of Tenochtitlan

Hernán Cortés experienced so much admiration and recognition by the Aztecs, just like a god.

Cortes and his troops invade the sacred city of Tenochtitlán

Cortes arrived in huge ships unknown by the natives, and then riding horses with iron armor, white bearded made the conquerors unimaginable teams. That is, thugs, rude, vulgar.

Hernán Cortés, marqués del Valle de Oaxaca, was a Spanish conquistador who overthrew the Aztec empire and won Mexico for the crown of Spain.

Moctezuma became Hernán Cortés’ prisoner and forced him to identify the location of mines and wineries precious treasures. In addition, as a pirate and plunderer, he wanted to force Moctezuma to swear allegiance and submission to King Charles V of Spain.

The main reason for European exploration was the desire for new sources of wealth.  The Muslims and the Italians controlled the trade of goods from East to West.  The Italian merchants resold the items of trade at increased prices to merchants throughout Europe.  Other Europeans did not like such high prices.  So by the 1400s, European merchants were exploring trying to find a sea route directly to Asia.

Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, conqueror of Cuba, was the highest authority and who authorized Hernán Cortés to explore Mexico.

"The Torture of Cuauhtémoc", a 19th-century painting by Leandro Izaguirre

But Velazquez knew Cortes's ambitions and sent 1400 troops to arrest him. However, Cortes defeated Velazquez’ troops and convinced the survivors to join him.