537 – The construction of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople is completed.
1512 – The Spanish Crown issues the Laws of Burgos, governing the conduct of settlers with regard to native Indians in the New World.
1521 – The Zwickau prophets arrive in Wittenberg, disturbing the peace and preaching the Apocalypse.
1655 – Second Northern War/the Deluge: Monks at the Jasna Góra Monastery in Częstochowa are successful in fending off a month-long siege.
1657 – The Flushing Remonstrance articulates for the first time in North American history that freedom of religion is a fundamental right.
1703 – Portugal and England sign the Methuen Treaty which gives preference to Portuguese imported wines into England.
1814 – War of 1812: The American schooner USS Carolina is destroyed. It was the last of Commodore Daniel Patterson's makeshift fleet that fought a series of delaying actions that contributed to Andrew Jackson's victory at the Battle of New Orleans.
1831 – Charles Darwin embarks on his journey aboard HMS Beagle, during which he will begin to formulate his theory of evolution.
1836 – The worst ever avalanche in England occurs at Lewes, Sussex, killing eight people.
1845 – Etheranesthetic is used for childbirth for the first time by Dr. Crawford Long in Jefferson, Georgia.
1845 – Journalist John L. O'Sullivan, writing in his newspaper the New York Morning News, argues that the United States had the right to claim the entire Oregon Country "by the right of our manifest destiny".
1911 – "Jana Gana Mana", the national anthem of India, is first sung in the Calcutta Session of the Indian National Congress.
1918 – The Great Poland Uprising against the Germans begins.
1922 – Japanese aircraft carrier Hōshō becomes the first purpose built aircraft carrier to be commissioned in the world.
1927 – Kern and Hammerstein's musical play Show Boat, considered to be the first true American musical play, opens at the Ziegfeld Theatre on Broadway.
1929 – Soviet General SecretaryJoseph Stalin orders the "liquidation of the kulaks as a class".
1932 – Radio City Music Hall, "Showplace of the Nation", opens in New York City.
1935 – Regina Jonas is ordained as the first female rabbi in the history of Judaism.
1939 – The 7.8 Template:MErzincan earthquake shakes eastern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme). At least 32,700 people were killed.
1939 – Winter War: Finland holds off a Soviet attack in the Battle of Kelja.
1945 – The International Monetary Fund is created with the signing of an agreement by 29 nations.
1949 – Indonesian National Revolution: The Netherlands officially recognizes Indonesian independence. End of the Dutch East Indies.
1966 – The Cave of Swallows, the largest known cave shaft in the world, is discovered in Aquismón, San Luis Potosí, Mexico.
1968 – Apollo program: Apollo 8 splashes down in the Pacific Ocean, ending the first orbital manned mission to the Moon.
1978 – Spain becomes a democracy after 40 years of fascist dictatorship.
1979 – The Soviet Union invades the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.
1983 – Pope John Paul II visits Mehmet Ali Ağca in Rebibbia's prison and personally forgives him for the 1981 attack on him in St. Peter's Square.
1985 – Palestinian guerrillas kill eighteen people inside the airports of Rome, Italy, and Vienna, Austria.
1989 – The Romanian Revolution concludes, as the last minor street confrontations and stray shootings abruptly end in the country's capital, Bucharest.
1996 – Taliban forces retake the strategic Bagram Airfield which solidifies their buffer zone around Kabul, Afghanistan.
1997 – Protestant paramilitary leader Billy Wright is assassinated in Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.
2002 – Two truck bombs kill 72 and wound 200 at the pro-Moscow headquarters of the Chechen government in Grozny, Chechnya, Russia.
2004 – Radiation from an explosion on the magnetarSGR 1806-20 reaches Earth. It is the brightest extrasolar event known to have been witnessed on the planet.
2007 – Former Pakistani prime ministerBenazir Bhuttois assassinated in a shooting incident.
2007 – Riots erupt in Mombasa, Kenya, after Mwai Kibaki is declared the winner of the presidential election, triggering a political, economic, and humanitarian crisis.
2008 – Operation Cast Lead: Israel launches 3-week operation on Gaza.
2009 – Iranian election protests: On the Day of Ashura in Tehran, Iran, government security forces fire upon demonstrators.
Births[]
1350 – John I of Aragon (d. 1395)
1390 – Anne de Mortimer, claimant to the English throne (d. 1411)
1459 – John I Albert (d. 1501)
1481 – Casimir, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth, Margrave of Bayreuth (d. 1527)
1493 – Johann Pfeffinger, German theologian (d. 1573)
1566 – Jan Jesenius, Bohemian physician, politician and philosopher (d. 1621)
1571 – Johannes Kepler, German mathematician, astronomer, and astrologer (d. 1630)
1572 – Johannes Vodnianus Campanus, Czech poet, playwright, and composer (d. 1622)
1584 – Philipp Julius, Duke of Pomerania (d. 1625)
1595 – Bohdan Khmelnytsky, hetman of Ukraine (d. 1657)
1683 – Conyers Middleton, English priest and theologian (d. 1750)
1714 – George Whitefield, English preacher and saint (d. 1770)
1715 – Philippe de Noailles, French general (d. 1794)
1721 – François Hemsterhuis, Dutch philosopher and author (d. 1790)
1761 – Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly, Russian field marshal and politician, Governor-General of Finland (d. 1818)
1773 – George Cayley, English engineer and politician (d. 1857)
1776 – Nikolay Kamensky, Russian general (d. 1811)
1797 – Ghalib, Indian poet (d. 1869)
1797 – Charles Hodge, American theologian (d. 1878)
1803 – François-Marie-Thomas Chevalier de Lorimier, Canadian activist (d. 1839)
1809 – Alexandros Rizos Rangavis, Greek poet and politician, Foreign Minister of Greece (d. 1892)
1822 – Louis Pasteur, French chemist and microbiologist (d. 1895)
1823 – Mackenzie Bowell, English-Canadian journalist and politician, 5th Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1917)
1827 – Stanisław Mieroszewski, Polish-born politician, writer, historian and member of the Imperial Council of Austria (d. 1900)[1]
1832 – Pavel Tretyakov, Russian businessman and philanthropist, founded the Tretyakov Gallery (d. 1897)
1858 – Juan Luis Sanfuentes, Chilean lawyer and politician, 17th President of Chile (d. 1930)
1863 – Louis Lincoln Emmerson, American lawyer and politician, 27th Governor of Illinois (d. 1941)
1864 – Hermann-Paul, French painter and illustrator (d. 1940)
1879 – Sydney Greenstreet, English-American actor (d. 1954)
1883 – Cyrus S. Eaton, Canadian-American businessman and philanthropist (d. 1979)
1888 – Thea von Harbou, German actress, director, and screenwriter (d. 1954)
1892 – Alfred Edwin McKay, Canadian captain and pilot (d. 1917)
1896 – Louis Bromfield, American author and theorist (d. 1956)
1896 – Maurice De Waele, Belgian cyclist (d. 1952)
1896 – Carl Zuckmayer, German author and playwright (d. 1977)
1898 – Inejiro Asanuma, Japanese politician (d. 1960)
1900 – Hans Stuck, German race car driver (d. 1978)
1901 – Marlene Dietrich, German-American actress and singer (d. 1992)
1901 – Irene Handl, English actress (d. 1987)
1904 – René Bonnet, French race car driver and engineer (d. 1983)
1905 – Cliff Arquette, American actor and comedian (d. 1974)
1906 – Oscar Levant, American pianist, composer, and actor (d. 1972)