Today in History: April 25, Spanish-American War declared
Today is Saturday, April 25, the 115th day of 2026. There are 250 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On April 25, 1898, the United States Congress declared war against Spain. The 16-week Spanish-American War resulted in an American victory, after which the U.S. took possession of the Philippines, Puerto Rico and Guam.
Also on this date:
In 1507, a world map produced by German cartographer Martin Waldseemueller contained the first recorded use of the term “America,” in honor of Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci (veh-SPOO’-chee).
In 1859, ground was broken in Egypt for construction of the Suez Canal.
In 1915, during World War I, Allied soldiers invaded the Gallipoli (guh-LIH’-puh-lee) Peninsula in an unsuccessful attempt to take the Ottoman Empire out of the war.
In 1945, during World War II, delegates from 50 countries opened a conference in San Francisco to create the Charter of the United Nations.
In 1959, the St. Lawrence Seaway opened to commercial traffic, connecting all five Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean.
In 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope was deployed in orbit from the space shuttle Discovery. (It was later discovered that the telescope’s primary mirror was flawed, requiring the installation of corrective components to achieve optimal focus.)
In 2014, city officials in Flint, Michigan, changed the source of its water supply from Lake Huron (provided by the city of Detroit) to the Flint River in a cost-cutting move. The river water exposed Flint residents to dangerous levels of lead and bacteria, leading to a public health crisis that took five years to resolve.
In 2015, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake rocked Nepal, killing nearly 9,000 people, injuring more than 22,000 others and damaging some 1 million houses and buildings.
In 2022, the world's richest person, Elon Musk, reached an agreement to buy Twitter for roughly $44 billion, promising a more lenient approach to policing content on the social media platform that he would rebrand as X.
Today’s Birthdays: Actor Al Pacino is 86. Musician-producer Björn Ulvaeus (ABBA) is 81. Actor Talia Shire is 80. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is 64. Actor Hank Azaria is 62. Sportscaster Joe Buck is 57. Actor Gina Torres is 57. Actor Renée Zellweger is 57. Actor Jason Lee is 56. Basketball Hall of Famer Tim Duncan is 50. Singer and actor Sara Paxton is 38. NFL safety Jordan Poyer is 35. Actor Allisyn Snyder is 30.
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