Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/October 12
This is a list of selected October 12 anniversaries that appear in the "On this day" section of the Main Page. To suggest a new item, in most cases, you can be bold and edit this page. Please read the selected anniversaries guidelines before making your edit. However, if your addition might be controversial or on a day that is or will soon be on the Main Page, please post your suggestion on the talk page instead.
Please note that the events listed on the Main Page are chosen based more on relative article quality and to maintain a mix of topics, not based solely on how important or significant their subjects are. Only four to five events are posted at a time and thus not everything that is "most important and significant" can be listed. In addition, an event is generally not posted this year if it is also the subject of the scheduled featured article or picture of the day.
To report an error when this appears on the Main Page, see Main Page errors. Please remember that this list defers to the supporting articles, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.
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October 12: Columbus celebrations in various countries in the Americas and in Spain (1492); Our Lady Aparecida's Day and Children's Day in Brazil;
- 1398 – The Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas the Great and the Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights Konrad von Jungingen signed the Treaty of Salynas, the third attempt after the 1384 Treaty of Königsberg and the 1390 Treaty of Lyck to cede Samogitia to the Knights.
- 1871 – The Criminal Tribes Act entered into force in British India, giving law enforcement sweeping powers to arrest, control, and monitor the movements of the members of 160 specific ethnic or social communities that were defined as "habitually criminal".
- 1915 – A German firing squad executed British nurse Edith Cavell (pictured) for helping Allied soldiers to escape occupied Belgium.
- 1928 – An iron lung medical ventilator, designed by Philip Drinker and colleagues at Children's Hospital, Boston, was used for the first time in the treatment of polio victims.
- 2000 – Two suicide bombers attacked the destroyer USS Cole while it was at anchor in Aden, Yemen, killing 17 of its crew members and injuring 39 others.