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- 0069 After the First Battle of Bedriacum, Vitellius becomes Roman Emperor.
- 1397 Geoffrey Chaucer tells the Canterbury Tales for the first time at the court of Richard II. Chaucer scholars have also identified this date (in 1387) as when the book's pilgrimage to Canterbury starts.
- 1492 Christopher Columbus signs contract with Spain to find the Indies
- 1492 Spain and Christopher Columbus sign a contract for him to sail to Asia to get spices.
- 1521 Martin Luther is excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church
- 1521 Martin Luther speaks to the assembly at the Diet of Worms, refusing to recant his teachings.
- 1524 Giovanni da Verrazzano reaches New York harbor.
- 1524 NY Harbor discovered by Giovanni Verrazano
- 1555 After 18 months of siege, Siena surrenders to the Florentine-Imperial army. The Republic of Siena is incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.
- 1758 Francis Williams, first US black college graduate, publishes poems
- 1778 Sloop-in-war Ranger captures British brig
- 1793 Battle of Warsaw
- 1797 Sir Ralph Abercromby attacks San Juan, Puerto Rico in what would be one of the largest invasions to Spanish territories in America.
- 1808 Bayonne Decree by Napoleon I of France orders seizure of US ships
- 1817 First US school for the deaf (Hartford, Conn)
- 1824 Russia abandons all North American claims south of 54ø 40' N
- 1852 Asteroid 17, Thetis discovered
- 1853 US Marine Hospital at Presidio (SF) established
- 1861 American Civil War: Virginia secedes from the Union.
- 1861 Asteroid 67, Asia discovered
- 1861 Virginia become 8th state to secede
- 1865 Mary Surratt is arrested as a conspirator in Lincoln's assassination
- 1875 "Snooker" (variation of pool) invented by Sir Neville Chamberlain
- 1894 Nikita Khrushchev (USSR premier 195864) born
- 1895 The Treaty of Shimonoseki between China and Japan is signed. This marks the end of the First Sino-Japanese War, and the defeated Qing Empire is forced to renounce its claims on Korea and to concede the southern portion of the Fengtien province, Taiwan and the Pescadores Islands to Japan.
- 1895 Treaty of Shimonoseki signed, ends first Sino-Japanese War (1894-95)
- 1897 Thornton Wilder (American playwright) born
- 1900 7 high chiefs of American Samoa sign Instrument of Cession
- 1907 Ellis Island immigration center processes 11,747 people, more than any other day.
- 1924 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios is formed from a merger of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures, and the Louis B. Mayer Company.
- 1930 Abkhazian ASSR established in Georgian SSR
- 1941 Office of Price Administration established (handled rationing)
- 1941 World War II: The Kingdom of Yugoslavia surrenders to Germany.
- 1942 POW French General Henri Giraud escapes from his castle prison in Festung Knigstein.
- 1945 In Stassfurt, Germany, U.S. Lieutenant Colonel Boris T. Pash seizes half a ton of uranium, in an attempt to foil Soviet Union plans to build an atomic bomb.
- 1946 Last French troops leave Syria (National Day)
- 1947 Jackie Robinson bunts for his first major league hit
- 1951 Visitor posting - wanda brockway born - USA
- 1953 Mickey Mantle hits a 565' (172 m) HR in Wash DC's Griffith Stadium
- 1953 Visitor posting - Daniel E. Moon Jr. was born of this day. - USA
- 1956 USSR's Cominform (Parliament) dissolves
- 1956 Willie Mosconi sinks 150 consecutive balls in a billiard tournament
- 1958 Brussel's (Belgium) World Fair opens
- 1960 American Samoa sets up a constitutional government
- 1961 1,400 Cuban exiles land in Bay of Pigs attempt to overthrow Castro
- 1961 Visitor posting - April 17 1961 Anthony F Condor is born in Albany NY
- 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion: A group of CIA financed and trained Cuban refugees lands at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba with the aim of ousting Fidel Castro.
- 1961 Manos Hadjidakis receives an Academy Award in the best music category, for his Song Never on Sunday from the film of the same name.
- 1964 Ford Mustang formally introduced ($2368 base)
- 1964 Jerrie Mock becomes first woman to fly solo around the world
- 1964 Jerrie Mock becomes the first woman to circumnavigate the world by air.
- 1964 The Ford Motor Company unveils the Ford Mustang at the New York World's Fair.
- 1966 Visitor posting - Theresa Elaine Walker was born - United Kingdom
- 1967 Operation Linebacker II began in Mekong Delta
- 1967 Visitor posting - Anthea Schultz's birthday - South Africa
- 1967 Shortwave Radio NY Worldwide goes back on the air after a week off
- 1967 Surveyor 3 launched; soft lands on Moon, April 20
- 1968 P Wild discovers asteroids #1773 Rumpelstilz, #1830 Pogson,
- 1969 Czechoslovak Communist Party chairman Alexander Dubek is deposed.
- 1969 Czechoslovakia's Communist Party chairman Alexander Dubcek deposed
- 1969 Sirhan Sirhan is convicted of assassinating Robert F. Kennedy.
- 1969 The Band (formerly The Hawks), perform their first concert
- 1970 Apollo 13 limps back safely, Beech-built oxygen tank no help
- 1970 Apollo program: The ill-fated Apollo 13 spacecraft returns to Earth safely.
- 1970 Paul McCartney's first solo album "McCartney"
- 1971 People's Republic of Bangladesh forms, under Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at Mujibnagor.
- 1973 Federal Express delivers its first package.
- 1974 Bundy victim Susan Rancourt disappears from CWU, Ellensburg, WA
- 1975 Cambodian Civil War ends: The Khmer Rouge captures the capital Phnom Penh and Cambodian government forces surrender.
- 1975 Khmer Rouge captures Phnom Penh, Cambodia (Kampuchea Natl Day)
- 1977 E F Helin & S J Bus discovers asteroid #2135 Aristaeus
- 1978 Bill Rodgers wins his 2nd Boston Marathon
- 1982 Number one hit on UK music charts - Bucks Fizz - My Camera Never Lies
- 1982 Patriation of the Canadian constitution in Ottawa by Proclamation of Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada.
- 1983 First National Coin Week begins
- 1983 In Warsaw, police route 1,000 Solidarity supporters
- 1983 India entered space age launching SLV-3 rocket
- 1983 Nolan Ryan strikes out his 3,500th batter
- 1983 Wayne Gretsky scores 7 points in a playoff game
- 1984 Police Constable Yvonne Fletcher is killed by gunfire from the Libyan People's Bureau in London during a small demonstration outside the embassy. Ten others are wounded. The events lead to an 11-day siege of the building.
- 1986 Treaty signed, ending Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years' War between the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly.
- 1987 Julius Erving becomes the 3rd NBA player to score 30,000 points
- 1989 Soviet-US agreement allows Soviets to fight US pros
- 1991 Dow Jones closes for first time over 3,000
- 1991 Visitor posting - april 17 1991-aarushi was born
- 1991 Railroad workers go on strike in the US
- 1991 The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 3,000 for the first time ever gaining 17.58 to 3,004.46.
- 1995 Visitor posting - Lindsay was born - USA
- 1995 Visitor posting - harriet rebecca Hurrell-Amazing person was born :) - United Kingdom
- 1995 Visitor posting - Rose Twins born - USA
- 1996 Visitor posting - Gabriel was born - USA
- 1997 Visitor posting - Joey Imbesi was born - USA
- 1998 Visitor posting - brooks birthday, when i wazzz born :) my cat is 16 on december 28th - New Zealand
- 2000 Visitor posting - I was born-the great alexander westwood who will play the doctor in the future!-WORLD BEWARE!!! - United Kingdom
- 2002 Four Canadian Forces soldiers are killed in Afghanistan by friendly fire from two U.S. Air Force F-16s, the first deaths in a combat zone for Canada since the Korean War.
- 2007 Visitor posting - Julia was born
- 2009 Visitor posting - Lisakhanya Kade Solwandle-Mokoena was born in Frere Hospital to Khanya Solwandle, the mother & Tshepang Mokoena, the father. - South Africa
- 2009 Visitor posting - Alexander Dale Ottow born - USA
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