{"id":8766,"date":"2022-01-11T07:06:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-11T06:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/?p=196392"},"modified":"2022-01-11T07:37:21","modified_gmt":"2022-01-11T06:37:21","slug":"11-january-on-this-day-in-history","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/rss_feed\/11-january-on-this-day-in-history\/","title":{"rendered":"11 January: On this day in history"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Elinor Evans\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 11 January 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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11 January AD 630: Muhammad conquers Mecca<\/h3>\n

The Muslim prophet returns home with an army of 10,000<\/strong><\/p>\n

At the beginning of January AD 630, the Prophet Muhammad was preparing to return to his home town. He had been born some 60 years earlier in the Arabian trading city of Mecca and, according to the Qur\u2019an, started receiving divine visions and angelic visitations in about AD 610. After provoking hostility from some locals, he had moved to the rival city of Medina for his own safety. But after eight years away, having converted thousands to his cause, Muhammad was back, with 10,000 armed supporters.<\/p>\n

At first the local ruling tribe, the Quraysh, were determined to block his return. But as the Muslim army approached, it became obvious that his strength was simply too great. After days of negotiations, the Quraysh leader, Abu Sufyan, agreed to cede the city to Muhammad and his troops.<\/p>\n

So when the Muslim army finally entered the city, there was remarkably little bloodshed. Only a few locals tried to resist, and those who weren\u2019t killed, quickly surrendered. When Muhammad took control, he ordered virtually no reprisals. Only 10 of his leading opponents were arrested, and not all were killed. \u201cHe who lays down arms will be safe. He who locks his door will be safe,\u201d he told the people of Mecca. \u201cThere is no reproof against you. Go your way, for you are free.\u201d<\/p>\n

Accompanied by advisors, Muhammad now visited Mecca\u2019s holiest sanctuary, the Kaaba. There he removed the existing religious images, though some accounts say he spared those of Abraham, Jesus and Mary. \u201cAllah has made Mecca a sanctuary since the day he created the heavens and the earth,\u201d he told his followers, \u201cand it will remain a sanctuary by virtue of the sanctity Allah has bestowed on it until the Day of Resurrection.\u201d<\/p>\n

Julian Humphrys rounds up smaller anniversaries<\/h4>\n

11 January \u00a01569<\/h6>\n

The first winning tickets from England\u2019s first State Lottery are drawn outside the door of St Paul\u2019s Cathedral, London. The Lottery was intended to fund \u201cthe reparation of the havens (harbours)\u2026 and towards such other publique good workes\u201d.<\/p>\n

11 January 1613\u00a0<\/h6>\n

Stonemasons digging in a sandpit in Dauphin\u00e9 in south-east france unearthed colossal bones and teeth which, at the time, were claimed to be those of Teutobochus, the legendary giant king of the Teutons.<\/p>\n

11 January \u00a01891<\/h6>\n

French civic planner Georges-Eugene Haussmann died, aged 91. In the 1850s and 1860s he remodelled Paris, demolishing many of its narrow medieval streets and creating the network of wide boulevards associated with the city today.<\/p>\n

11 January \u00a01922<\/h6>\n

Leonard Thompson, a 14-year-old patient in Toronto general hospital, became the first person to be injected with insulin as a treatment for diabetes. Insulin had been discovered by Sir Frederick Banting, Charles Best and JJR Macleod at the University of Toronto in the previous year and was subsequently purified by James Collip. The extract administered to Thompson caused a severe allergic reaction and future injections were halted while Collip worked to improve the beef-pancreas extract. A second dose was injected 12 days later and this was completely successful.<\/p>\n

11 January 1928<\/h6>\n

Poet and novelist Thomas Hardy dies aged 87 in Dorchester. He had expressed the wish to be buried besides his wife in Stinsford churchyard but in the event only his heart was buried there. His ashes are in Westminster Abbey<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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