Anniversary Countdown for 2007
A Critical Year in British and American History
This year, 2007, has a number of anniversaries of critical historical events at almost every major interval, primarily from the history of Britain and the US.
The Muslims in particular appear to think that 2007 will be a critical year because, in their theology, their ancient leader, the twelfth imam, is supposed to appear this year. However, the Western world has a number of reasons to consider 2007 an interesting year as well due to anniversaries of many critical events in history.
From oldest to most recent, these events include:
- 500 years since the continent of America was named after Amerigo Vespucci (1507)
- 400 years since Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in America, was settled (1607)
- 300 years since Great Britain was established (1707)
- 220 years since the US Constitution was ratified (1787)
- 200 years since the abolition of the slave trade in Great Britain (1807)
- 100 years since the maximum day of immigration to the US at Ellis Island (1907)
- 90 years since three children saw visions of the Virgin Mary at Fatima, Portugal (1917)
- 80 years since Saudi Arabia became independent of British rule and the Great Mississippi flood occurred (1927)
- 70 years since the disappearance of Amelia Earhart (1937)
- 60 years since India, Pakistan, and New Zealand became independent of British rule (1947)
- 50 years since the establishment of Ghana, the first colonial African country to become independent, and the Russian launch of Sputnik, the first artificial satellite to orbit Earth (1957)
- 40 years since the Six-Day War, when Jerusalem officially became the capital of Israel (1967)
- 30 years since the eradication of smallpox and the first flight of the US Space Shuttle (1977)
- 20 years since the Harmonic Convergence, a New Age rite based on a date from the Mayan calendar set 26 years before the "end date" in 2012 (1987)
- 10 years since the death of Princess Diana (1997)
It has been 100 years since the day of maximum (legal) immigration through Ellis Island, and yet today the United States finds itself overrun with thousands of illegal immigrants. Already 30 years have passed since the last natural case of smallpox, but there still exist a number of even deadlier diseases, such as mad cow disease, bird flu, or even cancer and AIDS.
It has been 300 years since Britain was established as a nation, and since then it has risen far and fallen farther. Once it was said that the sun never set on the British Empire, but 2007 is also the anniversary of several dates when large pieces of that empire broke away.
Finally, in Jewish writings, in particular the Old Testament, forty years is considered symbolic of a time of testing or preparation. On June 10, it will have been forty years since Israel took back her capital city, Jerusalem.
Coincidence?
