Everyday is special - 16 July 2009

The full name of the city was originally Nuestra Señora de La Paz (meaning Our Lady of Peace).

Today is the anniversary of the birth of Roald Amundsen. Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen (1872-1928) was a Norwegian explorer of the polar regions who led the first successful Antarctic expedition to the South Pole between 1910 and 1912. He disappeared in June 1928 while taking part in a rescue mission. With Douglas Mawson, Robert Falcon Scott, and Ernest Shackleton, Amundsen was a key expedition leader during the heroic age of Antarctic exploration.

Today is the anniversary of the final day of the Romanov family in Russia. The family, which had produced the tsars of Russia for over three centuries, was executed by the Bolsheviks on this day in 1918. The Romanovs ascended to power in 1613 and continued to rule the country up until the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. The last tsar, Nicholas II, and his immediate family were executed a year later.

On this day in 622, the Prophet Muhammad migrated to Yathrib, a city some 450 kilometers north of his hometown of Mecca. The city of Yathrib was populated by pagans, Jews and Christians at the time, and new converts to Islam invited the Prophet to the security of their city. The city was renamed Madinat an-Nabi (The City of the Prophet) and eventually became known simply as Medina (City). This migration is known in Islamic history as the Hijra and is taken as the beginning of the Muslim Hijri calendar.

Gregorian Calendar: 16 July 2009 C.E. 

Hijri Calendar: 24 Rajab 1430 A.H. 1430 A.H.

Hebrew Calendar: 24 Tamuz 5769

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