The first permanent English settlement in North America was founded atJamestown, Virginia, on May 14, 1607. The colony gave England its first foothold in the European competition for the New World, which had been dominated by the Spanish since the voyages ofChristopher Columbus in the late 15th century.

Today is the anniversary of the first step in a long journey. On May 14, 1804,Meriwether Lewis andWilliam Clark embarked ontheir famous expedition to the Pacific coast of North America. Over the duration of the trip, which lasted until September 23, 1806, fromSt. Louis, Missouri, to thePacific Ocean and back, the Corps of Discovery, as the expedition company was called, traveled nearly 8,000 miles (13,000 km).

On this day in 1948—just before the expiry of the British mandate inPalestine—David Ben-Gurion and the Jewish People’s Council proclaimed the establishment of the State ofIsrael. The next day, thefirst Arab-Israeli war formally began, although it followed a civil war that began after theUnited Nations passed a partition plan on November 29, 1947. For Israel, the war is remembered as the War of Independence. For Arabs, it is remembered as the Nakba (from Arabic, meaning “Catastrophe”).