1454: Amerigo Vespucci was born in Florence, Italy. Matthias Ringmann, a German mapmaker, named the American continent in his honor.
1617: The Treaty of Stolbovo ended the occupation of Northern Russia by Swedish troops.
1734: The Russians took Danzig (Gdansk) in Poland.
1745: The first carillon was shipped from England to Boston, MA.
1788: Connecticut became the 5th state to join the United States.
1793: Jean Pierre Blanchard made the first balloon flight in North America. The event was witnessed by U.S. President George Washington.
1796: Napoleon Bonaparte and Josephine de Beauharnais were married. They were divorced in 1809.
1799: The U.S. Congress contracted with Simeon North, of Berlin, CT, for 500 horse pistols at the price of $6.50 each.
1812: Swedish Pomerania was seized by Napoleon.
1820: The U.S. Congress passed the Land Act that paved the way for westward expansion of North America.
1822: Charles M. Graham received the first patent for artificial teeth.
1832: Abraham Lincoln announced that he would run for a political office for the first time. He was unsuccessful in his run for a seat in the Illinois state legislature.
1839: The French Academy of Science announced the Daguerreotype photo process.
1858: Albert Potts was awarded a patent for the letter box.
1859: The National Association of Baseball Players adopted the rule that limited the size of bats to no more than 2-1/2 inches in diameter.
1860: The first Japanese ambassador to the U.S. was appointed.
1862: During the U.S. Civil War, the ironclads Monitor and Virginia fought to a draw in a five-hour battle at Hampton Roads, Virginia.
1863: General Ulysses Grant was appointed commander-in-chief of the Union forces.
1900: In Germany, women petition Reichstag for the right to take university entrance exams.
1905: In Egypt, U.S. archeologist Davies discovered the royal tombs of Tua and Yua.
1905: In Manchuria, Japanese troops surrounded 200,000 Russian troops that were retreating from Mudken.
1905: In Congo, Belgian Vice Gov. Costermans committed suicide following an investigation of colonial policy.
1906: In the Philippines, fifteen Americans and 600 Moros were killed in the last two days of fighting.
1909: The French National Assembly passed an income tax bill.
1910: Union men urged for a national sympathy strike for miners in Pennsylvania.
1911: The funding for five new battleships was added to the British military defense budget.
1916: Mexican raiders led by Pancho Villa attacked Columbus, New Mexico. 17 people were killed by the 1,500 horsemen.
1929: Eric Krenz became the first athlete to toss the discus over 160 feet.
1932: Eamon De Valera was elected president of the Irish Free State and pledged to abolish all loyalty to the British Crown.
1933: The U.S. Congress began its 100 days of enacting New Deal legislation.
1936: The German press warned that all Jews who vote in the upcoming elections would be arrested.
1945: "Those Websters" debuted on CBS radio.
1945: During World War II, U.S. B-29 bombers launched incendiary bomb attacks against Japan.
1946: The A.F.L. accused Juan Peron of using the army to establish a dictatorship over Argentine labor.
1949: The first all-electric dining car was placed in service on the Illinois Central Railroad.
1954: WNBT-TV (now WNBC-TV), in New York, broadcast the first local color television commercials. The ad was Castro Decorators of New York City.
1956: British authorities arrested and deported Archbishop Makarios from Cyprus. He was accused of supporting terrorists.
1957: Egyptian leader Nasser barred U.N. plans to share the tolls for the use of the Suez Canal.
1964: The first Ford Mustang rolled off of the Ford assembly line.
1965: The first U.S. combat troops arrived in South Vietnam.
1967: Svetlana Alliluyeva, Josef Stalin's daughter defected to the United States.
1969: "The Smothers Brothers' Comedy Hour" was canceled by CBS-TV.
1975: Work began on the Alaskan oil pipeline.
1975: Iraq launched an offensive against the rebel Kurds.
1977: About a dozen armed Hanafi Muslims invaded three buildings in Washington, DC. They killed one person and took more than 130 hostages. The siege ended two days later.
1983: The official Soviet news agency TASS says that U.S. President Reagan is full of "bellicose lunatic anti-communism."
1985: "Gone With The Wind" went on sale in video stores across the U.S. for the first time.
1986: U.S. Navy divers found the crew compartment of the space shuttle Challenger along with the remains of the astronauts.
1987: Chrysler Corporation offered to buy American Motors Corporation.
1989: The U.S. Senate rejected John Tower as a choice for a cabinet member. It was the first rejection in 30 years.
1989: In Maylasia, 30 Asian nations conferred on the issue of "boat people".
1989: In the U.S., a strike forced Eastern Airlines into bankruptcy.
1989: In the U.S., President George H.W. Bush urged for a mandatory death penalty in drug-related killings.
1990: Dr. Antonia Novello was sworn in as the first female and Hispanic surgeon general.
1993: Rodney King testified at the federal trial of four Los Angeles police officers accused of violating his civil rights.
1995: The Canadian Navy arrested a Spanish trawler for illegally fishing off of Newfoundland.
2000: In Norway, the coalition government of Kjell Magne Bondevik resigned as a result of an environmental dispute.