August 13 is International Left Handers Day, marked annually since a UK advocacy club relaunched it in 1992. It also carries a heavier weight on the subcontinent — two days before independence, with Bengal still burning from communal violence.
On this day
1521After a three-month siege, Hernan Cortes's forces captured Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital, ending the empire and clearing the way for Spanish colonial rule across Mexico.Jbribeiro1 via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
1961East German authorities began sealing the border between East and West Berlin overnight, the start of construction on what became the Berlin Wall — standing for the next 28 years.TUBS via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
1784IndiaPitt's India Act received royal assent in the British Parliament, placing the East India Company's Indian territories under a Crown-appointed Board of Control alongside the Company's own directors — the first time the British government formally shared authority over Company rule in India.AnonymousUnknown author via Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
Did you know
About 10% of people are left-handed, and that share has held roughly steady across cultures and recorded history — one of the few human traits that doesn't cluster near an even split, which is why researchers treat it as more biological than cultural.