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- 1506 Columbus selects his son Diego as sole heir
- 1515 George van Saksen-Meissen sells Friesland for 100,000 gold guilders to arch duke Charles
- 1517 Philip van Bourgondie installed as bishop of Utrecht
- 1536 Anne Boleyn, 2nd wife of King Henry VIII, is executed on false charges of adultery and incest
- 1547 Monarch Johan Frederik surrenders to Karel
- 1568 Queen Elizabeth I of England has Mary Queen of Scots arrested.
- 1571 Miguel Lopez de Lagazpi founded Manilla in the Phillipines
- 1585 Spain confisquates English ships
- 1588 Spanish Armada sets sail for Lisbon, bound to England
- 1604 The town of Montreal is founded.
- 1608 Matthias von Habsburgs army reaches Lieben, at Prague
- 1643 Battle at Rocroi/Allersheim: French army destroys Spanish army
- 1643 Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Connecticut & New Harbor form United Colonies of New England
- 1643 Thirty Years' War: French forces under the duc d'Enghien decisively defeat Spanish forces at the Battle of Rocroi, marking the symbolic end of Spain as a dominant land power.
- 1649 An Act declaring England a Commonwealth is passed by the Long Parliament. England would be a republic for the next eleven years.
- 1662 Uniformity Act of England goes into effect
- 1749 George II grants charter to Ohio Company to settle Ohio Valley
- 1749 King George II of Great Britain grants the Ohio Company a charter of land around the forks of the Ohio River.
- 1780 About midday, near-total darkness descends on much of New England to this day its cause is still unexplained
- 1780 New England's Dark Day: A combination of thick smoke and heavy cloud cover causes complete darkness to fall on Eastern Canada and the New England area of the United States at 10:30 AM.
- 1792 Russian army enters Poland
- 1793 Netherlands captures French island of St Maarten (held until 1795)
- 1796 Game protection law restricts encroachment on Indian hunting grounds
- 1802 The Legion of Honor (Légion d'Honneur) created by Bonaparte gives him a tool comparable to the orders of knighthood so that he may avoid criticism of his government by keeping his courtiers busy with matters of etiquette and protocol
- 1802 The Lgion d'Honneur is founded by Napoleon Bonaparte.
- 1828 U.S. President John Quincy Adams signs the Tariff of 1828 into law, protecting wool manufacturers in the United States.
- 1848 México gives Texas to US, ending the war
- 1853 Dutch prince Henry marries princess Amalia of Saxony-Weimar
- 1856 Senator Charles Sumner, Massachusetts, spoke out against slavery
- 1857 William Francis Channing & Moses G Farmer patents electric fire alarm
- 1862 Homestead Act becomes law provides cheap land for settlement of West
- 1864 Last engagement in series of battles known as Spotsylvania
- 1864 Skirmish at Cassville GA
- 1878 Blanche Kelso Bruce appointed register of treasury by President Garfield
- 1882 Commodore Shufeldt (USS Swatara) lands in Korea to negotiate first treaty between Korea and Western power
- 1884 Ringling Brothers circus premieres
- 1885 German chancellor Bismarck takes possession of Cameroon & Togoland
- 1885 The first mass production of shoes (Jan Matzeliger in Lynn MA)
- 1891 Rice Institute, which became Rice University, is chartered
- 1892 Charles Brady King invents pneumatic hammer
- 1892 National Society of Colonial Dames of America founded
- 1893 Heavy rain washes "quick clay" into a deep valley, kills 111 (Norway)
- 1896 First automobile (Benz) to arrive in Netherlands
- 1897 Oscar Wilde is released from Reading Gaol.
- 1898 Post Office authorizes use of postcards
- 1902 Great Britain & Boers resume peace talks in Pretoria
- 1905 Italian King Victor Emmanuel & Swiss President open world's longest railroad tunnel (Simplon) links Iselle Italy & Brig Switzerland
- 1906 Federated Boys' Club (Boys' Club of America) organizes
- 1906 Portugal's King Carlos I names Joao Franco premier
- 1912 American League president Ban Johnson tells Tigers if they continue protest of Ty Cobb's suspension, they will be banned from baseball
- 1912 Navy establishes North Atlantic Ice Patrol following RMS Titanic disaster
- 1913 Igor Stravinsky's "Le Sacre du printemps" premiers in Paris. The audience riots.
- 1913 Webb Alien Land-Holding Bill passes, forbidding Japs from owning land
- 1915 Australians repel major Turkish attack on their positions at Gallipoli
- 1915 Death on Gallipoli of Private John Simpson Kirkpatrick of "Simpson and his donkey" fame
- 1915 Lance Corporal Albert Jacka, 14th Battalion, AIF, becomes the first Australian to win a Victoria Cross in World War One for his action at Gallipoli, Turkey
- 1916 Escadrille Américaine (Lafayette) transfered to Verdun
- 1919 Mustafa Kemal Atatrk lands at Samsun on the Anatolian Black Sea coast, initiating what was later termed the Turkish War of Independence. The anniversary of this event is the official date of commemoration of the Pontic Greek Genocide in Greece and Cyprus.
- 1921 Congress sharply curbs immigration, setting a national quota system
- 1921 The Emergency Quota Act passes the U.S. Congress establishing national quotas on immigration
- 1922 Young Pioneer organization of the Soviet Union is established.
- 1923 KPD (communist revolts) in German Ruhr cities occupied by Allies
- 1928 "Firedamp" explodes in Mather PA coal mine killing 195 of 273 miners
- 1928 51 frogs enter first annual "Frog Jumping Jubilee" (Angel's Camp CA)
- 1929 Cloudburst causes stampede in Yankee Stadium; 2 people crushed to death
- 1929 General Feng Yu-Xiang of China declares war on Chiang Kai-Shek Government
- 1930 White woman win voting rights in South-Africa
- 1931 Ironclad cruiser Germany launched in Kiel
- 1934 Sherlock Holmes crossword puzzle in "Saturday Review of Literature"; Males who solved puzzle become members of Baker Street Irregulars
- 1939 Churchill signs British-Russian anti-Nazi pact
- 1940 Amsterdam time becomes MET (Middle European Time)
- 1940 French counter attack at Péronne under General De Gaulle
- 1940 HMS WHITLEY, lost between Nieuport and Ostend, Belgium - damaged by German bombers and beached.
- 1941 German occupiers in Holland forbid bicycle taxis
- 1941 New Nazi battleship Bismarck leaves Gdynia, Poland
- 1943 Berlin is declared "Judenrien" (free of Jews)
- 1943 Churchill pledges England's full support to US against Japan
- 1944 240 gypsies transported to Auschwitz from Westerbork Netherlands
- 1944 Allied fleet shell Japanese positions at Sabang, north of Sumatra
- 1944 German defense line in Italy collapsed
- 1945 Start of the first Victory Test Cricket between England & Australia Services
- 1946 Dutch Cooperation for Sexual Reform (NVSH) forms in Amsterdam
- 1953 Nuclear explosion in Nevada (fall-out in St George UT)
- 1954 Postmaster General Summerfield approves CIA mail-opening project
- 1957 Adone Zoli forms Italian Government
- 1958 "South Pacific" soundtrack album goes to #1 & stays #1 for 31 weeks
- 1958 Premiere of Harold Pinter's "Birthday Party" in London
- 1958 US & Canada form North American Air Defense Command (NORAD)
- 1959 Jan de Quay becomes premier of Netherlands
- 1960 Alan Freed & eight other DJs accused of taking radio payola
- 1960 Belgian parliament requires rest day for self employed
- 1961 New pier opens in Scheveningen
- 1962 "John Birch Society" by Chad Mitchell Trio hits #99
- 1962 A birthday salute to U.S. President John F. Kennedy takes place at Madison Square Garden, New York. The highlight is Marilyn Monroe's infamous rendition of Happy Birthday.
- 1962 Indonesian paratroopers land in New Guinea
- 1962 Stan Musial breaks Honus Wagner's National League hit record with 3,431
- 1964 US diplomats find at least 40 secret microphones in the Moscow embassy
- 1965 30th Naval Construction Regiment activated at Danang, Vietnam
- 1965 Patricia R Harris named first US black female ambassador (Luxembourg)
- 1965 West Ham United wins 5th Europe Cup II
- 1966 Visitor posting - ann m born - USA
- 1967 US bombs Hanoi
- 1967 USSR ratifies treaty with England & US banning nuclear weapons in space
- 1968 20th Emmy Awards: Get Smart, Mission Impossible & Barbara Bain
- 1968 Pirate Radio Brumble of Northern England first heard
- 1971 Mars probe program: Mars 2 is launched by the Soviet Union.
- 1971 USSR launches Mars 2, first spacecraft to crash land on Mars
- 1973 Number one hit on UK music charts - Wizzard - See My Baby Jive
- 1974 Valeri Giscard d'Estaing wins French presidential election
- 1975 27th Emmy Awards: Mary Tyler Moore Show, Robert Blake & Jean Marsh
- 1975 Farm truck packed with wedding party struck by a train, killing 66 in truck, 40 miles south of Poona India
- 1975 Junko Tabei is first woman to climb to the top of Mount Everest
- 1976 Gold ownership legalized in Australia
- 1976 Liverpool wins 5th UEFA Cup at Bridge
- 1976 Senate establishes permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
- 1977 "Smokey & the Bandit" premieres
- 1977 "Star Wars" opened in only 37 theaters nationwide; Lucas and company feared the worst, but it was an immediate hit.
- 1979 "In The Navy" by Village People hits #3
- 1979 Guitarist Eric Clapton marries Patti Boyd
- 1979 The President announced he had instructed the U.S. Seventh Fleet to aid the Vietnamese "boat people" and assist them to safety
- 1980 Ringo & Barbara Bach are involved in a car crash
- 1982 IFK Göteborg wins 11th UEFA Cup at Göteborg
- 1982 Sophia Loren jailed in Naples for tax evasion
- 1983 Weird Al Yankovic gives live performance at Wax Museum in Washington DC
- 1984 "King Of Suede" by Weird Al Yankovic hits #62
- 1988 Carlos Lehder Rivas, of Colombia's Medellín drug cartel, is convicted in Florida for smuggling more than 3 tons of cocaine into US
- 1989 Dow Jones average passes 2,500 mark for first time, closes at 2,501.1
- 1989 Sue Ellen (Linda Gray) last appearance on Dallas
- 1991 Croatians vote for independence at their independence referendum.
- 1991 Willy T Ribbs becomes first black driver to make Indianapolis 500
- 1992 27th Amendment ratified, prohibits Congress from raising its salary
- 1992 Amy Fisher shoots Mary Jo Buttafuoco in Massapequa Long Island New York
- 1992 Englishman Dave Gauder, 224 lbs, pulls 196 ton jumbo jet, 3 inches
- 1992 Ric Flair wins NWA wrestling title
- 1993 Boeing 727 crashes into mountain at Medellín Colombia, kills 132
- 1993 Juventus wins 22th UEFA Cup at Torino
- 1994 Final Episode of LA Law after 8 year run
- 1994 Omar Sharif suffers a mild heart attack
- 1995 World's youngest doctor, Balamurali Ambati, 17, graduates Mount Sinai
- 1996 STS 77 (Endeavour 11), launches into orbit
- 2008 Jewish Holiday - Second Passover - Work permitted
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