On this day in 1979, the nation of Rhodesia took the name Zimbabwe, with Bishop Abel Muzorewa as its first black prime minister, ending 89 years of white rule.
Also on this day in 1979, the Taiwan Provincial Government decided to raise NT$28.82 billion before 1980 for the construction of the South Link Railroad, which would make it possible to travel around the island in just one day.
On this day in 1990, US President George Bush and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev signed a bilateral agreement to stop producing chemical arms and to start destroying existing stocks by the end of 1992.
And on this day in 2003, the world’s largest hydraulic power project, Three Gorges Dam in China, began filling.