- 986 Louis V becomes the sole King of West Francia and undisputed king of the Franks after the death of his father Lothair
- 1121 Dirk VI becomes count of Holland
- 1127 Assassination of Charles the Good, Count of Flanders
- 1458 Hussite George of Poděbrady chosen as the 16th King of Bohemia
Gama at Mozambique Island
1498 Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama's fleet visits Mozambique Island
Charles I Dissolves Parliament
1629 English King Charles I dissolves Parliament against opposition, imprisoning 9 members of parliament
- 1657 Great Fire of Meireki destroys 60-70% of the Japanese capital city of Edo, killing an estimated 100,000 people
William III Made Governor
1675 Prince William III installed as governor of Overijssel
- 1699 French Canadian explorer Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville is the first European to discover the mouth of the Mississippi river [1]
- 1717 The Loves of Mars and Venus becomes the first ballet performed in England
- 1776 American troops begin shelling the British in Boston
- 1789 Pennsylvania ends prohibition of theatrical performances
- 1791 Long-distance communication speeds up with the unveiling of a semaphore machine in Paris
Napoléon Appointed Commander in Chief
1796 Napoléon Bonaparte is appointed Commander-in-Chief of the French Army in Italy
- 1799 Congress standardizes US weights & measures
- 1807 US Congress bans the slave trade within the US, effective January 1, 1808
- 1808 The inaugural meeting of the Wernerian Natural History Society, a former Scottish learned society, was held in Edinburgh.
- 1815 Signing of Kandyan treaty by British invaders and Sri Lankan King
- 1817 1st Evangelical church building dedicated, New Berlin, Pennsylvania
- 1819 Territory of Arkansas organized
- 1819 US passed its 1st immigration law
- 1824 Interstate commerce comes under federal control
- 1825 First grand opera in the US sung in English, NYC
- 1829 New England Asylum for the Blind, 1st in US, incorporated, Boston
- 1831 John Frazee becomes 1st US sculptor to receive a federal commission
- 1853 Territory of Washington organized after separating from Oregon Territory
- 1855 Aleksandr Romanov becomes tsar of Russia
- 1858 Frederick Cook of New Orleans, patents a cotton-bale metallic tie
- 1861 Government Printing Office purchases 1st printing plant, Washington
- 1861 US creates Dakota & Nevada Territories out of the Nebraska & Utah territories
- 1865 British newspaper "Morning Chronicle" begins publishing
- 1865 Conferate General Early's army is defeated at the battle of Waynesboro, Virginia, during American Civil War
- 1865 Freedman's Bureau founded for Black Education, 1865
- 1865 Second Taranaki War: The Volkner Incident in New Zealand.
- 1866 1st US company to make sewing needles by machine incorporated in Connecticut
- 1867 1st Reconstruction act passed by US Congress
- 1867 Howard University is chartered by General Oliver O. Howard in Washington, D.C.
James–Younger Gang
1867 Jesse James' gang robs bank in Savannah Missouri, 1 killed
- 1867 Reconstruction of the South begins with the First Reconstruction Act passed by Congress, and Black voter registration begins
- 1867 US Congress abolishes peonage in New Mexico
- 1867 US Congress creates the Department of Education
- 1868 University of Illinois opens
Louis Riel's Exile
1872 Louis Riel goes into voluntary exile in St. Paul, Minnesota
- 1874 National Association of Professional Baseball Players officially adopts the batter's box; decide any player betting on his own team will be expelled; any player betting on any other team to forfeit his pay
Hayes Declared President
1877 US Electoral Commission declares Rutherford B. Hayes (R) winner of the presidential election with an electoral vote of 185-184 against Samuel J. Tilden (D)
Queen Victoria Escapes Assassination
1882 Queen Victoria narrowly escapes assassination when Roderick Maclean shoots at her while she is boarding a train in Windsor
- 1888 The Convention of Constantinople is signed, guaranteeing free maritime passage through the Suez Canal during war and peace
- 1889 Kansas passes 1st US antitrust law
- 1890 Norwegian speed skater Oskar Fredriksen sets inaugural 5,000m world record of 9:19.8 in Stockholm, Sweden
- 1893 1st US federal railroad legislation passed; required safety features
- 1895 US Congress renames the Office of Immigration as the Bureau of Immigration
- 1899 President McKinley signs bill creating Mt Rainier National Park (5th in US)
- 1901 Hawaii's first telegraph company opens
- 1901 United States Congress passes the Platt amendment, limiting the autonomy of Cuba as a condition for the withdrawal of American troops
US Steel Founded
1901 US Steel Corporation organized under J. P. Morgan, Sr. through merger of Carnegie Steel Company, Federal Steel Company, and National Steel Company
- 1904 Stanley Cup, Montreal Arena, Westmount, Quebec: Montreal Wanderers and Ottawa HC tie, 5-5; Montreal disqualified for refusing to play second game in Ottawa
- 1907 Georges Feydeaus' "La Puce à l'Oreille" premieres in Paris
- 1909 Great Britain, France, Germany & Italy asks Serbia to set no territorial demands
- 1915 British vice admiral Sackville Hamilton Carden begins bombardment of Dardanelles forts
- 1915 Vladmir Jabotinsky forms a Jewish military force to fight in Palestine
- 1917 Jones Act: Puerto Rico territory created, US citizenship granted
Malone's 44 Goal Season
1918 Joe Malone goes scoreless in Montreal Canadiens' 5-3 season-ending loss to Toronto Arenas; finishes the first NHL season with 44 goals, a record that stands until 1944-45
- 1919 1st congress of Communist International opens at the Kremlin
- 1922 WBAP-AM, Fort Worth Texas, begins broadcasting
- 1922 WLW-AM in Cincinnati, Ohio, begins radio transmissions
- 1925 Dutch Socialists demand drastic disarmament
- 1925 Japan's House of Representatives recognizes male suffrage
- 1925 Nationwide road numbering system & US shield marker adopted
- 1925 SDAP-Second-Faction of parliament demands drastic disarmament
Hainsworth's Shutout Record
1929 George Hainsworth becomes first NHL goaltender to record 20 shutouts in one season when the Montreal Canadiens beat the visiting Boston Bruins, 3-0; ends season with 22
- 1929 US Congress creates Court of Customs & Patent Appeals
- 1930 1st US indoor glider flight, St Louis Terminal Building
- 1932 Australian golf trick-shot artist Joe Kirkwood posts an incredible 83 using only his putter over 18 holes at Belleaire, Florida; round includes 6 pars and 1 birdie
1933 "King Kong" film directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, starring Fay Wray premieres at Radio City Music Hall and RKO Roxy in NYC
- 1933 Sanriku earthquake of 8.4 and tsunami hit Japan, country's most powerful earthquake in 180 years
- 1934 Union Pacific tests light-weight high-speed passenger train, Omaha
- 1937 Mexico nationalizes oil
- 1938 Landslides & floods cause over 200 deaths (Los Angeles California)
- 1938 Trials of Soviet leaders begins in the Soviet Union
- 1939 Massachusetts Legislature votes to ratify the US Bill of Rights - 147 years late
- 1940 Beaten by a nose in both the 1937 and 1938 Santa Anita Handicaps, Seabiscuit finally wins the Big 'Cap in his final race; retires the leading money-winning horse in the world
- 1940 Soviet armies conquer Tuppura Island, Finland
- 1940 The first televised intercollegiate track meet is seen in NYC on W2XBS; NYU wins the meet presented live from Madison Square Garden
- 1941 World War II: First German military units enter Bulgaria after it joined the Axis Pact.
- 1942 Admiral Helfrich departs Java for Ceylon
- 1943 1st transport from Westerbork Netherlands to Sobibor concentration camp
- 1944 Fumes from locomotive stalled in a tunnel suffocate 521 in Italy
- 1945 King Michael of Romania gives in to Communist government
- 1945 US 8th Air Force bombs Dresden
- 1946 Dutch troops land on East Bali
- 1946 Kingman Douglass becomes deputy director of CIA
- 1949 1st automatic street light (New Milford, Ct)
- 1949 Lucky Lady II (USAF B-50 Superfortress), completes 1st nonstop round- the-world flight at Fort Worth, Texas, covering 23,452-mis in 94 hrs
- 1955 High school honors student Claudette Colvin (15) arrested in Montgomery, Alabama for refusing to move from her seat to the back of the bus; juvenile court later finds her guilty of assault, and places her on indefinite probation [1]
- 1955 King Norodom Sihanukh of Cambodia succeeded by his father
- 1955 William Inge's "Bus Stop" premieres in NYC
- 1956 French-Moroccan Agreement signed in Paris rescinds the Treaty of Fez, declaring independence of Morocco from France
- 1958 1st surface crossing of Antarctic continent is completed in 99 days
- 1958 Yemen announces it would join the United Arab Republic
1959 Ceremony to mark the start of construction of the Sydney Opera House at Bennelong Point in Sydney, Australia; estimates of $7M and four years to complete project balloon to $102M and 14 years
Coup d'état
1962 Burmese army led by General Ne Win seizes power in a coup d'état, transforming Burma into a one-party socialist state under the Burmese Way to Socialism ideology
Sports History
1962 Philadelphia center Wilt Chamberlain scores 100 points, the most ever by an NBA player in a single game, in the Warriors' 169-147 win over the NY Knicks in Hershey; 36-of-63 from the field, 28-of-32 from the free-throw line
Event of Interest
1962 President John F. Kennedy announces US will resume above ground nuclear testing
- 1965 Montcalm Community College founded in Sidney, Mich
The Sound of Music
1965 One of the most popular musical films of all time, "The Sound of Music," starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, premieres (Academy Award for Best Picture - 1966)
- 1965 US Air Force begins Operation Rolling Thunder, a three year sustained bombing campaign against North Vietnam
- 1966 215,000 US soldiers in Vietnam
- 1966 After suffering a hairline fracture of his right hind foot, 5-time US Horse of the Year Kelso is immediately retired; racing's all-time leading money winner with lifetime earnings of $1,977,896
Sports History
1966 Chicago Black Hawks right wing Bobby Hull becomes the NHL's first 2-time 50-goal scorer when he strikes in a 5-4 win against the Detroit Red Wings at Chicago Stadium
Sports History
1966 Jean Béliveau scores his 380th career NHL goal when Montreal ties Toronto, 3-3; moves him ahead of Ted Lindsay into the #3 spot all time, behind Gordie Howe and Maurice Richard
1967 9th Grammy Awards: "Strangers in the Night" by Frank Sinatra wins Best Record, "Michele" by The Beatles wins Best Song
- 1967 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1968 Ice Dance Championship at Geneva won by Towler & Ford of Great Britain
- 1968 Ice Pairs Championship at Geneva won by Belousova & Protopopov of the Soviet Union
- 1968 Men's Figure Skating Champions in Geneva won by Emmerich Danzer of Austria
- 1968 USAF displays Lockheed C-5A Galaxy, biggest plane in the world, with a cargo compartment 37m long
- 1968 USSR launches space probe Zond 4; fails to leave Earth orbit
- 1969 1st test flight of the supersonic Concorde
Sports History
1969 Boston center Phil Esposito becomes first player in NHL history to record 100 points in a season when he scores 2 3rd-period goals in the Bruins' 4-0 win over the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins
- 1969 Chinese-Russian borders fight (approx 70 die)
- 1970 American Airlines begins their first service using a Boeing 747, between New York's JFK International Airport and Los Angeles International
Ladies of the Canyon
1970 Reprise Records releases "Ladies of the Canyon", Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell's 3rd studio album
- 1970 Supreme Court ruled draft evaders can not be penalized after 5 years
- 1970 White government of Rhodesia declares itself a republic
Sports History
1972 American jockey Bill Shoemaker wins his record 555th stakes race aboard Royal Owl in the San Jacinto Stakes at Santa Anita; Eddie Arcaro 554
- 1972 NASA launches its Pioneer 10 space probe to Jupiter, NASA's first mission to the outer planets
- 1973 "Black September" terrorists occupy Saudi Embassy in Khartoum
- 1974 1st class postage raised to 10 cents from 8 cents
Nixon Grand Jury
1974 Grand jury concludes US President Richard Nixon is involved in Watergate cover-up
- 1976 Walt Disney World logs its 50 millionth guest
Film & TV History
1977 Bette Davis is the first woman to receive the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award
- 1977 Libya amends constitution
- 1978 Soyuz 28 carries 2 cosmonauts (1 Czechoslovakian) to Salyut 6
- 1980 Phoenix point guard Mike Bratz ends NBA free throw streak of 57 games with a miss in the Suns' 123-115 home win over the LA Lakers
- 1981 Aircraft hijacked by 3 Pakistani terrorists
Scientific Discovery
1981 Discovery of minor planet 5020 Asimov, named after sci-fi writer Isaac Asimov
- 1981 Howard Stern begins broadcasting on WWDC in Washington, D.C.
- 1982 Terror group "The Illuminated Path" frees 260 prisoners in Peru
- 1983 Compact Disc recordings developed by Phillips & Sony introduced
- 1983 USSR performs underground nuclear test
- 1984 Iran offensive against Iraq fails
- 1985 FDA in the US approves an ELISA screening test for AIDS antibody for all blood banks
Sports History
1986 Edmonton's Finnish right wing Jari Kurri scores 2 goals, including the overtime winner, to lead Oilers to a 2-1 win over Philadelphia; Kurri, 100 points for the 4th straight NHL season
- 1986 Protesters try to stop Land Rover motor company being sold to US
- 1986 Qualifier Kenny Knox is the last player to score in the 80’s (R3 80) and still win a PGA Tour event, the Honda Classic at TPC Eagle Trace; total 287 is highest winning score in PGA tournament history
Sports History
1986 The first million dollar purse for a handicap race is won by British bred 5-year old Greinton with Laffit Pincay Jr. aboard taking out the $1,359,500 Santa Anita Handicap
1988 30th Grammy Awards: Record of the year - Paul Simon "Graceland"; Album of the Year - U2 "The Joshua Tree"; Jody Watley Best New Artist
- 1988 The flaming basketball is adopted as NBA franchise Miami Heat’s official logo from over 13,000 entries; Mark Henderson submits the winning entry
- 1989 12 European nations agree to ban chlorofluorocarbon production by 2000
- 1989 GreenLeft (GroenLinks) political party forms from merger of four left-wing parties: the Communist Party, the Pacifist Socialist Party, the Political Party of Radicals, and the Evangelical People's Party in the Netherlands
Music History
1989 Madonna's "Like a Prayer" premieres on worldwide Pepsi commercial
- 1989 Tanker Exxon Houston runs aground in Hawaii, spills 117,000 gallons of oil
- 1990 Greyhound Bus goes on strike
- 1991 Del Ballard Jr throws most famous gutter ball in PBA Tour history
- 1991 NC State point guard Chris Corchiani becomes 1st NCAA Div I player to record 1,000 career assists in a 89-84 loss to Wake Forest
Sports History
1991 St. Louis right wing Brett Hull becomes a 70-goal scorer for the 2nd straight season and has 3 assists to help the Blues earn a 4-4 tie in Philadelphia; finishes season with NHL career-best 86 goals
- 1991 UN votes in favor of US resolutions for cease fire with Iraq
- 1991 US Army controversially destroys a retreating Iraqi Republican Guard column at Rumaila Oil Field, despite a ceasefire being observed
- 1992 American swimmer Anita Nall breaks the 200m breaststroke world record twice in the one day at the US Swimming championships in Indianapolis; wins final in 2:25.35
- 1992 Moldova joins the United Nations.
- 1993 Branch Davidian cult leader David Koresh promises to surrender if taped statement is broadcasted, it is, but he doesn't
Sports History
1993 Mario Lemieux undergoes his 22nd and final radiation treatment for Hodgkin lymphoma, then joins the Pittsburgh Penguins in Philadelphia and has a goal and assist in a 5-4 loss to the Flyers
- 1993 Winnipeg Jets Finnish right wing Teemu Selänne breaks NHL record for goals by a rookie with a hat-trick in a 7-4 loss to the visiting Quebec Nordiques; passes Mike Bossy's mark of 52
- 1994 American politician William Natcher, (Rep-D-Ky), casts his 18,401 & last consecutive vote
Music History
1994 Miami begins a Latin Walk of Fame, 1st star awarded is for singer-songwriter Gloria Estefan
- 1995 "Smokey Joe's Cafe" opens at Virginia Theater NYC
- 1995 British trader Nick Leeson arrested for collapse of Barings Bank PLC
- 1995 Ferry boat sinks off Sumbe Angola, 42+ killed
- 1995 Joe Mullen becomes 2nd NHL player to appear in 300 NHL games with 3 different teams when he plays for the Penguins in a 6-3 loss in Buffalo; Pittsburgh 379, St. Louis 301, Calgary 345
- 1995 Space shuttle STS-67 (Endeavour 8), launches
- 1997 Australians Greg Blewett (214) and Steve Waugh (160) bat for the entire 3rd day of the 1st cricket Test against South Africa in Johannesburg; set up Australian innings and 196 run victory
- 1997 Michael Andretti wins at Homestead in a Swift chassis, marking the first Champ Car victory in an American-built chassis since 1983; first-ever Champ Car start for the Swift
- 1997 Saudi Arab billionaire Prince al-Waleed bin Talal acquires 5% of Apple
- 1997 Soyuz TM-24 returns to Earth (Russia)
- 1998 Data sent from the Galileo spacecraft indicates that Jupiter's moon Europa has a liquid ocean under a thick crust of ice
Sports History
2000 America's Cup, Auckland: Team New Zealand beats Italian yacht Prada Challenge by 0.48s for a 5-0 series sweep; NZ only the 2nd country in 150 years to successfully defend the Cup
Event of Interest
2000 Former Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet heads home after being told the UK would not extradite him on torture charges
- 2000 St. Louis Blues become just the 2nd team in NHL history to win 10 straight games on the road, with a 5-2 victory in Atlanta; tie mark set by Buffalo 1983-84
- 2002 40-year old South African boxer ‘Baby Jake’ Matlala ends his 22-year career with a 7th-round TKO win over Columbia’s Juan Herrera to retain his WBU junior flyweight title in Johannesburg
- 2002 US invasion of Afghanistan: US conventional forces first deployed as part of Operation Anaconda
- 2003 America's Cup, Auckland: Swiss yacht Alinghi beats Team New Zealand by 0.44s to sweep series, 5-0; Alinghi's Russell Coutts wins last 14 America's Cup races he's competed in as skipper; most in history
- 2003 The first International Symposium on Taiwan Sign Language Linguistics is held at Chung Cheng University.
Sports History
2004 Indianapolis Colts sign quarterback Peyton Manning to a 7-year, $98 million deal with a $34.5 million signing bonus; largest package to date in the NFL
- 2004 Pittsburgh Penguins end their NHL record 14-game home losing streak when they tie the visiting New York Islanders, 3-3
- 2004 Rosetta space probe is launched by the European Space Agency to study comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko with Philae lander module aboard
- 2004 Saint Joseph's Hawks finish their college basketball season with an 82-50 win over St. Bonaventure; Hawks undefeated with a perfect 27-0 record in A-10 East Conference
- 2004 Voters in the U.S. state of Georgia vote on a referendum concerning its Confederacy-derived flag.
- 2004 War in Iraq: Al Qaeda carries out the Ashoura Massacre in Iraq, killing 170 and wounding over 500
- 2008 Riots in Yerevan, Armenia concerning the Armenian presidential election, 2008 come to a fatal end, with police forces clashing with civilians in their peaceful protest, resulting in 8 deaths.
- 2011 One of cricket’s great upsets; Kevin O’Brien smokes fastest century in World Cup history off 50 balls (ends 113 off 63) to help Ireland beat England by 3 wickets in Bangalore
- 2012 Major League Baseball confirms the postseason will be expanded from 8 to 10 teams, with an extra wild card team in each league
- 2012 New fiscal compact to prevent excessive debt is signed by 25 out of 27 European Union members
- 2012 NFL establishes existence of a bounty program at the New Orleans Saints 2009-11; players given incentives to injure opposition; coach Sean Payton is suspended for 2012 season
- 2012 The Red Cross is denied access to provide relief to the Baba Amr district in Homs by the Syrian army
- 2012 Tornadoes kill at least 27 people in the American states of Indiana and Kentucky
Event of Interest
2014 President Vladimir Putin receives unanimous approval from Russia's parliament to send troops to Ukraine
- 2016 Longest non-stop scheduled commercial flight by distance, Emirates A380 flies 14,200km (8,824 miles) Dubai to Auckland in 17 hours, 15 minutes
- 2016 Oldest known land fossil (Tortotubus - 440 million years old) from Gotland, Sweden, is revealed by British scientists
Event of Interest
2016 US astronauts Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko return to earth after nearly a year (340 days), setting an ISS record
Event of Interest
2017 US Attorney General Jeff Sessions recuses himself from the investigation into Trump campaign contacts with Russia after revelations he met Russian ambassador
- 2018 Gunmen attack the French embassy and army HQ in suspected terrorist incident in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, killing 8 and injuring 80
Sports History
2019 37-year-old Swiss 20-time Grand Slam tennis champion Roger Federer beats Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4, 6-4 to win his 100th ATP Tour title at the Dubai Championships
- 2019 Australian wonder horse Winx sets world record for Group 1 wins in the Chipping Norton Stakes in Sydney; stretches unbeaten run to 31 races, and her 23rd in the highest class of thoroughbred racing
Event of Interest
2020 Amy Klobuchar drops out of the US Democratic presidential race and endorses former vice-president Joe Biden
- 2020 Russian President Vladimir Putin proposes constitutional amendment banning gay marriage
Event of Interest
2020 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Turkey can not longer enforce 2016 deal with EU to stop migrants entering Europe, warns millions may try
2021 Dolly Parton receives the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine she gave $1 million to help develop
- 2021 Governors of Texas and Mississippi both announce they are lifting mask mandates and COVID-19 health measures despite CDC warnings of complacency
Event of Interest
2021 Six books by Dr. Seuss will cease publication because of racist and insensitive imagery according to Dr. Seuss Enterprises
- 2022 UN states agree to create legally binding plastic pollution treaty (tbc 2024) after talks in Nairobi, Kenya - hailed most significant environmental deal since 2015 Paris climate accord [1]
MI5 Apologizes for Manchester Arena
2023 Head of UK security service MI5 apologizes for not acting on intelligence to stop the 2017 Manchester Arena attack at an Ariana Grande concert by a suicide bomber [1]
- 2023 South Carolina prominent attorney Alex Murdaugh found guilty of murdering his wife and son after a scandalous series of events [1]
- 2023 UN confirms it will ignore statements made by an Indian guru and now fugitive from the fictional country of the United States of Kailasa, made attending official UN events in Geneva [1]
- 2024 Cargo ship Rubymar sinks in the Red Sea after being hit by Houthi rebels (Feb 18), prompting concerns for local ecology [1]
LeBron 1st to 40,000
2024 LeBron James becomes the first player in NBA history to score 40,000 regular-season points as his LA Lakers slip to a 124-114 defeat to Denver Nuggets in Los Angeles
- 2025 Near-total power cut in Chile, due to a transmission line failure, leaves 8 million households without electricity [1]
- 2025 US firm Firefly's Blue Ghost spacecraft becomes only the second commercial vehicle to land on the Moon [1]
