- 1228 Wu MeKuan, a collection of 48 Zen koans, compiled in China
- 1414 Council of Constance (16th ecumenical council) opens
Event of Interest
1492 Christopher Columbus 1st learns about growing and harvesting maize (corn) from Cuba's indigenous population
Christopher Columbus
- 1499 Publication of the Catholicon in Treguier (Brittany). Breton-French-Latin dictionary written in 1464 by Jehan Lagadeuc was first Breton and French dictionary
Event of Interest
1500 -6th Nov astronomer Copernicus observes a lunar eclipse in Rome
Nicolaus Copernicus
- 1530 St Felix Flood ravages Dutch coast and destroys the city of Reimerswaal in the Netherlands
400 Years of Celebration After Plotters Fail to Kill a King
1605 Gunpowder Plot: Catholic conspirator Guy Fawkes attempts to blow up King James I and the British Parliament. Plot discovered, Guy Fawkes caught, tortured and later executed along with seven others. Celebrated ever since as Guy Fawkes Day, where his effigy is traditionally burned on a bonfire, accompanied by fireworks.
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Historic Publication
1740 The third volume of philosopher David Hume's seminal work "A Treatise of Human Nature" is published by Thomas Longman
David Hume
Election of Interest
1773 John Hancock is elected as moderator at a Boston town meeting that resolves that anyone who supports the Tea Act is an "Enemy to America"
John Hancock
- 1780 French-American force under Colonel LaBalme is defeated by Miami Chief Little Turtle
- 1781 John Hanson elected first "President of US in Congress assembled"
- 1789 Fleeing slaves under Bonni attack military post on Suriname
- 1789 French National Meeting declares all citizens equal under law
- 1811 El Salvador's 1st battle against Spain for independence
- 1838 Honduras declares independence of Central American Federation
- 1854 Crimean War: British & French defeat Russian force of 50,000 at Inkerman
Event of Interest
1862 Ambrose Burnside replaces McClellen as head of Army of Potomac
Ambrose Burnside
- 1862 Battle at Barbee's Crossroads, Virginia: 51 casualties
Event of Interest
1872 American women's right to vote advocate Susan B. Anthony votes for Ulysses S. Grant
Susan B. Anthony
Election of Interest
1872 Ulysses S. Grant re-elected US President
Ulysses S. Grant
Event of Interest
1873 Due to the fallout from the Pacific Scandal, John A. Macdonald resigns as Prime Minister of Canada
John A. Macdonald
Historic Expedition
1876 Henry Morton Stanley's expedition leaves Nyangwe
Henry Morton Stanley
- 1881 French government-Ferry resigns
- 1881 1,600 police and volunteers attack Māori settlement at Parihaka in western Taranaki which had become the symbol of protest against the confiscation of Māori land, New Zealand
- 1882 Bedrich Smetana's "Ma Vlast" premieres
- 1883 Battle at El Obeid Sudan: Mahdi's army destroys Egyptian army
- 1889 Louisa Woosley first women to be ordained as a minister in any Presbyterian denomination (US Cumberland Presbyterian Church).
- 1894 Frederick Lugards expedition reaches Nikki
- 1894 Richard Strauss' "Till Eulenspiegel" premieres
- 1895 1st US patent granted for auto (George B Selden) for gasoline driven car
- 1895 Edward, Prince of Wales, says "We are all Socialists nowadays"
- 1895 US state Utah accepts female suffrage
Theater Premiere
1898 Gerhart Hauptmann's play "Fuhrmann Henschel" premieres in Berlin
Gerhart Hauptmann
- 1900 Under US military control since the end of the Spanish-American War in 1898, Cuba now calls its own constitutional convention
- 1911 Italy attacks Turkish North-Africa (Libya), takes Tripoli & Cyrenaica
- 1911 Calbraith Rodgers arrives in Pasadena completing 1st transcontinental airplane flight (49 days) (left Sheepshead Bay, NY, Sept 17)
- 1912 Arizona, Kansas & Wisconsin vote for female suffrage
- 1912 Bulgarian troops in Constantinople blockade drinking water
Election of Interest
1912 Democrat candidate Woodrow Wilson is elected President of the United States, defeating Republican incumbent William Howard Taft and Progressive candidate Theodore Roosevelt
Woodrow Wilson
Event of Interest
1916 Emperors Wilhelm II (Germany) and Franz Joseph I (Austria-Hungary) establish the kingdom of Poland
Wilhelm II
Franz Joseph I
- 1916 Second Chamber accept initial impetus to general males/female suffrage
- 1916 The Everett Massacre takes place in Everett, Washington as political differences lead to a shoot-out between IWW organizers and local police.
- 1917 Gen Pershing & US troops see action on Western Front for 1st time
- 1917 Supreme Court decision (Buchanan v Warley) strikes down Louisville, Kentucky, ordinance requiring backs & whites to live in separate areas
- 1921 Soviet Russia signs a treaty with Mongolia, temporarily supporting the new government against China and Japanese incursions
- 1922 Demonstration for a Dutch University in Ghent
Benito Mussolini
Event of Interest
1936 French writer Andre Gide criticizes Soviet regime
André Gide
Event of Interest
1937 Adolf Hitler informs his military leaders in a secret meeting of his intentions of going to war
Adolf Hitler
Election of Interest
1940 Franklin D. Roosevelt is re-elected President of the United States for an unprecedented third term, defeating Republican candidate Wendell Willkie
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Attack on Pearl Harbor
1941 Japanese naval staff officers Suzuki and Maejima leave Pearl Harbor
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- 1942 Nazi raid on Greek Jews in Paris
- 1942 Pro-British Clandestine Radio Diego Suarez's final transmission
- 1943 Vatican in Rome bombed by unknown source
- 1944 Allied troops reach Zoutelande, Walcheren
- 1944 Canadian & British troops liberate Dinteloord
- 1944 German troops blow-up Heusden North Brabant city hall, 134 die
- 1945 Colombia joins the United Nations.
Election of Interest
1946 John F. Kennedy (Democrat, Massachusetts) elected to US House of Representatives
John F. Kennedy
Event of Interest
1950 Philippines president Elpidio Quirino ends emergency crisis
Elpidio Quirino
- 1951 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1953 Nobel prize for physics awarded to Frederik Zernicke
- 1953 Paul Searls saws a 32" log in 86.4 seconds
- 1953 Terence Rattigan's "Sleeping Prince" premieres in London
- 1955 Date returned to in "Back to the Future" by Marty McFly
- 1956 Britain and France land airborne forces at Port Said in Egypt, escalating the Suez Crisis
- 1956 Dutch Communist Party office of Felix Meritis seized
- 1956 Israel liberates Sharm-el-Sheikh, reopening Gulf of Aqaba
- 1956 Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Datis nuperrime
Event of Interest
1961 India's Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru arrives in NY
Jawaharlal Nehru
- 1961 St Louis Cards Bill Stacy, returns 2 interceptions for TDs vs Dallas
Event of Interest
1963 US VP Lyndon B. Johnson visits Netherlands
Lyndon B. Johnson
Election of Interest
1968 Republican candidate Richard Nixon is elected President of the United States, defeating Democrat candidate Hubert Humphrey and Independent candidate George Wallace
Richard Nixon
George Wallace
- 1971 Bolivia passes death penalty for political kidnapping
- 1972 Vice-President of Sinn Féin Maire Drumm is arrested in the Republic of Ireland
- 1973 BART starts SF-Daly City train shuttle service
- 1973 Arab producers announce 25 percent cut in oil production
- 1974 Ella Grasso (Ct) elected first woman US governor not related to previous governor
- 1974 Walter E Washington, becomes first elected mayor of Washington, D.C.
- 1975 British government sends troops to Belize
- 1975 Sao Tome & Principe adopts constitution
- 1976 Balt Jim Palmer wins AL Cy Young Award
- 1976 New AL franchises in Seattle & Toronto fill up their rosters
- 1976 Pirates trade Manny Sanguillen & $100,000 to A's for mgr Chuck Tanner
- 1976 USSR performs nuclear test
Event of Interest
1978 Iranian PM Jaafar Sharif-Emami resigns to Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
Ayatollah Khomeini
- 1979 Iran government of Bazargan resigns
- 1979 Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Khomeini describes the United States as "The Great Satan" amid accusations of imperialism and the sponsoring of corruption
- 1981 Charles Fuller's "Soldier's Play" premieres in NYC
- 1981 Former Dolphin, Mercury Morris, is sentenced to 20 years for drug trafficing, conspiracy, & possession of cocaine
- 1983 Orbiter Discovery (OV-103) moves overland to Dryden
- 1987 France performs nuclear test
- 1987 Iceberg twice size of Rhode Island sighted in Antarctic
- 1987 South Africa ANC-leader Govan Mbeki freed
- 1987 US Supreme Court nominee Douglas H. Ginsburg admits using marijuana, later withdraws from consideration
- 1988 Cornell confirms grad student source of worst computer sabotage
- 1988 France performs nuclear test
- 1988 Gulch wins Breeder's Cup
- 1989 Browns' Bernie Kosar sets club record of 16 cons pass completions
- 1990 Reports of increasing Saudi petroleum production and lower world demand
- 1991 Kiichi Miyazawa elected premier of Japan
- 1991 Richard J Kerr ends term as acting director of CIA
- 1994 Space probe Ulyssus completes 1st passage behind the Sun
- 1994 Yak-40 accident in north of Peru, 8 killed
- 1995 STS 73 (Columbia 18), lands
Assassination Attempt
1995 André Dallaire attempts to assassinate Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien; he is thwarted when the PM's wife locks the door.
Jean Chretien
Election of Interest
1996 Bill Clinton is re-elected President of the United States, defeating Republican candidate Bob Dole
Bill Clinton
- 1997 2 hours after Davey Johnson resigns he is named AL Manager of Year
Event of Interest
2000 Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie is laid to rest 25 years after his death after a funeral procession through Addis Ababa
Haile Selassie
Event of Interest
2006 Saddam Hussein, former president of Iraq, and his co-defendants Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti and Awad Hamed al-Bandar are sentenced to death in the al-Dujail trial for the role in the massacre of the 148 Shi'as in 1982.
Saddam Hussein
- 2012 50 Syrian military personnel are killed by a suicide car bomb in Hama
- 2012 Widespread flooding in Nigeria kills 363 people and displaces 2.1 million
- 2013 4 people are killed after a 4-story building under construction collapses in Lagos, Nigeria
- 2013 Bill de Blasio is elected New York City Mayor
- 2015 Collins Dictionary name "binge-watch" the word of the year, followed by "transgender"
- 2015 Japan's 1st officially recognized same-sex couple union - Koyuki Higashi and Hiroko Matsuhara in Tokyo
- 2015 Fundão dam in Brazil collapses, killing about 23, causing a second dam to fail, releasing a massive flood of mud down the Rio Dulce
- 2017 Typhoon Damrey strikes Vietnam's south-central coast killing at least 27, leaving others missing
Event of Interest
2017 US President Donald Trump begins a 12-day trip to Asia in Toyko, Japan
Donald Trump
- 2017 Gunman shoots 26 dead and injures 20 at a church in Sunderland Springs, Texas
- 2017 Paradise Papers are leaked; 13.4 million documents from offshore investment firm Appleby, mentioning Queen Elizabeth and Wilbur Ross US Secretary of Commerce
- 2017 Bodies of 26 migrant teenage girls recovered from the Mediterranean, another 400 migrants rescued
- 2018 Child suicide rate in Japan at 30-year high with 250 taking their lives 2016/17 according to Government Ministry
- 2018 More than 80 students and teachers kidnapped from a boarding school in Bamenda, Cameroon
- 2018 "Big Brother" reality show has its last episode in the UK on Channel 5, having run since 2000
- 2018 Taskforce set up to identify and punish LGBT people in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Voyager 2 Spacecraft
2018 NASA's Voyager 2 probe leaves the solar system, becoming the second human-made object to reach interstellar space
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- 2019 Chinese government set new rules for gaming for young people to try to curb gaming addiction, including maximum 90 mins a day