20130906 This Day In History, September 6

394: Theodosius became the sole ruler of the East and West Roman empires after defeating Eugenius at the Battle of the River Frigidus. After he died however, the Roman empire again divided - as illustrated in the two legs of the great prophetic statue seen in Nebuchadnezzar's dream in Daniel 2:31-25 (see Nebuchadnezzar's Dream and What Is The Mark Of The Beast?).

1492: Christopher Columbus sailed from La Gomera in the Canary Islands, his last stop before crossing the Atlantic for the first time. All of the voyages of Columbus to "America" were actually only to the islands of the Caribbean Sea.

1522: One of the five ships that set out in Ferdinand Magellan's voyage around the world returned to Spain. Only 15 of the original 265 men that set out survived. Magellan was killed by natives in the Philippines.

1620: The "Pilgrims" left Plymouth, England, bound for the New World (see also Thanksgiving In History and Prophecy).

1898: Queen Wilhelmina of The Netherlands was coronated.

1901: U.S. President William McKinley was shot at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. He died a week later.

1914: During the First World War, the first Battle of the Marne began along a 500 kilometer (300 mile) front when the French launched a counter-offensive against the German advance.

1941: The Nazi government issued an order that all Jews in Germany were to wear a yellow Star of David at all times in public.

1945: Amidst surrendered Japanese forces, Russian forces brought about the proclamation of The Korean People's Republic (North Korea). To avoid a power vacuum in the south, the U.S. ordered the surrendered Japanese military command to maintain authority until U.S. forces arrived, which they did 2 days later.

1948: Princess Juliana became Queen of The Netherlands following her mother's (Queen Wilhelmina) abdication.

1949: Howard Unruh, a former U.S. Army sharpshooter during the Second World War (1939-1945, the U.S. entered in December 1941 when Pearl Harbor was attacked), killed 13 people in Camden, New Jersey. He is regarded as the first U.S. single-episode mass murderer.

1970: Palestinian terrorists hijacked four airliners traveling to New York from Europe. One Pan Am Jumbo was blown up the next day in Cairo, and two Boeing 707s which landed at Dawson's field in Jordan were blown up on September 12. The fourth plane landed in London.

1977: Leslie MacFarlane died at age 74. The Canadian author from Whitby, Ontario (near Toronto) wrote the first 20 books of the popular "Hardy Boys" series.

1977: Highway signs across Canada were converted to metric. As of 2010, the U.S. is the only country that still uses the old system of pounds, miles and fractions (e.g. writing 9/10 instead of .9).

1991: After 67 years as Leningrad, the name St. Petersburg was restored to the Russian city.

1997: The funeral of Princess Diana. Great numbers of people lined the streets of London to view the procession, and hundreds of millions of people around the world watched on television. One of the biggest funerals in human history. She was later that day buried on the Spencer family property in the Northamptonshire countryside.