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From today's featured article

Construction of Grant's Canal, as depicted in Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper

Grant's Canal was a military project to construct a canal through a bend in the Mississippi River opposite Vicksburg, Mississippi, during the American Civil War. Control of Vicksburg and the Mississippi was considered crucial by both the Union and the Confederacy. In June 1862, Union officer Thomas Williams was sent to De Soto Point with his men to dig a canal to bypass the strong Confederate defenses around Vicksburg. Disease and falling river levels prevented completion, and the project was abandoned until January 1863, when Ulysses S. Grant took an interest. The upstream entrance of the canal was moved, but heavy rains and flooding interfered with the project. Work was abandoned in March, and Grant eventually used other methods to capture Vicksburg. In 1876, the Mississippi changed course, cutting across De Soto Point near the route of the old canal and isolating Vicksburg from the river. The city's river access has since been restored. Only a small section of the canal survives. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Muqarnas vault at the Mosque of Ulmas al-Hajib

... that the Mosque of Ulmas al-Hajib has the first "flat" muqarnas vault (pictured) in Cairo?
... that the record label Tidy Trax released an album in 2023 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the death of Tony De Vit, the "godfather of UK hard house"?
... that the city of Tacoma, Washington, incentivized building Seattle–Tacoma International Airport at Bow Lake by contributing $100,000?
... that after dodging censorship for years, The Korea Daily News was finally bought out and turned into a publication of the Japanese colonial government in Korea?
... that the Buddhist-studies scholar Paula Arai suffered racial and sexual discrimination while researching Sōtō Zen laywomen and nuns?
... that Zwycięzcy oceanu, a Polish young-adult adventure book from 1890, features Polish, English, and American characters?
... that Charles Knight's wartime painting activities led to him being mistaken for a German spy?

In the news

Luís Montenegro

In Portugal, the Democratic Alliance (leader Luís Montenegro pictured) wins a narrow plurality of seats in the snap legislative election.
At the Academy Awards, Oppenheimer wins seven awards, including Best Picture.
Japanese manga artist Akira Toriyama, author of Dragon Ball, dies at the age of 68.
Sweden becomes the thirty-second member state of NATO.

On this day

March 15: Ides of March

Julius Caesar

44 BC – Julius Caesar (bust pictured), the dictator of the Roman Republic, was stabbed to death by a group of senators led by Marcus Junius Brutus.
1823 – Sailor Benjamin Morrell erroneously reported the existence of the island of New South Greenland near Antarctica.
1916 – Six days after Pancho Villa and his cross-border raiders attacked Columbus, New Mexico, U.S. General John J. Pershing led a punitive expedition into Mexico to pursue Villa.
1917 – Russian Revolution: Tsar Nicholas II was forced to abdicate in the February Revolution, ending three centuries of Romanov rule.
1943 – The deportation of 50,000 Jews from the Greek city of Thessaloniki began.
1951 – The Iranian oil industry was nationalized in a movement led by Mohammad Mosaddegh.

Albert of Schwarzburg (d. 1327)
Matthew Charlton (b. 1866)
Ignace Tonené (d. 1916)
Ruth Bader Ginsburg (b. 1933)

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From today's featured list

The Philippine television newscast 24 Oras has won thirty-two awards from ninety-three nominations. It premiered on GMA Network on March 15, 2004, and focuses on reportage of present-day events, incorporating disparate segments that appear recurringly. The newscast initially featured Mel Tiangco and Mike Enriquez; the newscast's anchors have changed significantly during its run. It has won five Box Office Entertainment Awards for Most Popular TV Program News & Public Affairs. The newscast has received eight Asian Academy Creative Award nominations (winning one) and fifty-two PMPC Star Awards for Television nominations (winning nine). At the 2009 New York Festivals TV & Film Awards, 24 Oras garnered a Gold World Medal and a Silver World Medal. It was nominated for International Emmy Award for Best News in 2013 and received a Peabody Award in 2014. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

Torii path with a lantern at Fushimi Inari-taisha

Fushimi Inari-taisha is the main Shinto shrine of the Japanese deity Inari Ōkami, located in Fushimi-ku, Kyoto. It sits at the base of a mountain, also named Inari, located 233 metres (764 ft) above sea level. The site's earliest structures were built in 711 on the Inariyama hill in southwestern Kyoto, but the shrine was re-located in 816 on the request of the monk Kūkai. It gained imperial patronage during the early Heian period and the main shrine structure was built in 1499. This photograph shows a torii path at Fushimi Inari-taisha with a hanging lantern. Each of the shrine's roughly 10,000 torii (gates) was donated by a Japanese business, and approximately 800 of these are set up in rows, as depicted here, that give the impression of entering a tunnel.

Photograph credit: Basile Morin

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