Today in History: French transport the 1st African slaves to Louisiana

The following are some of the major events to have occurred on June 6:

1716 - French transport the 1st African slaves to Louisiana.

1944 – Operation Overlord, the landing of Allied forces on the coast of Normandy, France, took place. It was the largest sea-borne invasion in history and was better known as “D-Day”.

1954 – Eurovision, a network created by linking television stations across Europe, made its first broadcast — from the Festival of Flowers in Switzerland.

1966 – The U.S. Gemini 9 spacecraft splashed down after a three-day mission during which astronaut Eugene Cernan walked in space for a record two hours eight minutes.

1982 - 30,000 Israeli troops invade Lebanon to drive out the PLO.

1994 – U.S. President Bill Clinton makes a cross from pebbles on Normandy beach marking 50 years since D-Day landing.

1996 – Hungary’s world arm-wrestling champion Arpad Nick enters record books by pulling a 17-tonne airplane with his teeth.

1999 – Sri Lankan tailors attempt to make the world’s longest trousers.

2002 – Indian security forces shot dead Mohammed Rafiq Lone, head of the Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islami rebel group which is fighting for Indian Kashmir’s merger with Pakistan.

2003 – The UN signed a landmark agreement with Cambodia to set up special courts to try the leaders of the 1970s “Killing Fields” genocide of the Khmer Rouge.

2004 – German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder visited Normandy marking D-Day celebrations and joining Germany’s former World War Two enemies for the first time in the tribute to those killed on both sides during the conflict.

2005 – Bolivian President Carlos Mesa resigned after weeks of crippling protests by indigenous leaders demanding that he nationalise the country’s energy resources.

2013 – St. Petersburg’s Marinsky theatre hosts world’s first live broadcast of ballet in 3D.