Hockey player Erik Karlsson

Events in 1990 and 31-5

Events in the world in the birth year of Erik Karlsson

• General Manuel Noriega surrenders in Panama (Jan. 3).
• Yugoslav Communists end 45-year monopoly of power (Jan. 22).
• Communist Party relinquish sole power in Soviet government (Feb. 7). Background: Dissolution of the USSR
• South Africa frees Nelson Mandela, imprisoned 27½ years (Feb. 11).
• US-Soviet summit reaches accord on armaments (June 1).
• Western Alliance ends Cold War and proposes joint action with Soviet Union and Eastern Europe (July 6).
• Iraqi troops invade Kuwait, setting off the Persian Gulf War (Aug. 2 et seq.). Background: The Persian Gulf War
• East and West Germany reunited (Aug. 31 et seq.).
• Margaret Thatcher resigns as British Prime Minister (Nov. 22); John Major succeeds her (Nov. 28).
• Lech Walesa wins Poland's runoff Presidential election (Dec. 9).

Birthday Erik Karlsson (31-5) in history

• Day 31-5 year 1790: The first U.S. Copyright Law was enacted, protecting books, maps, and other original materials.
• Day 31-5 year 1889: Heavy rains caused the South Fork Dam to collapse, sending 20 million tons of water into Johnstown, Pa. Over 2,200 people were killed and the town was nearly destroyed.
• Day 31-5 year 1911: The hull of the Titanic was launched in Belfast. At the ceremony, a White Star Line employee claimed, “Not even God himself could sink this ship.”
• Day 31-5 year 1961: South Africa became an independent republic.
• Day 31-5 year 1962: Former Gestapo official Adolf Eichmann was hanged in Israel.
• Day 31-5 year 1970: An earthquake in Peru left more than 50,000 dead.
• Day 31-5 year 2004: Alberta Martin, 97, one of the last widows of a U.S. Civil War veteran, died. She had married Confederate veteran William Martin in 1927 when she was 21 and he was 81.
• Day 31-5 year 2010: Nine people are dead after an Israeli navy commando attacks a flotilla of cargo ships and passenger boats on their way to Gaza to provide aid and supplies for the area.