96 Nerva is proclaimed Roman Emperor after Domitian is assassinated 324 Roman Emperor Constantine the Great decisively defeats rival Emperor Licinius at Chrysopolis 1180 Philip Augustus becomes king of France 1437 Peasant uprising in Transylvania 1454 Battle of Chojnice: The Teutonic army heavily defeats a Polish army led by King Casimir IV during the Thirteen Years' War in northwestern Poland 1502 Christopher Columbus lands in Costa Rica on his fourth and last voyage 1544 English King Henry VIII 's troops occupy Boulogne 1544 Peace of Crépy is signed by Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and French King Francis I , ending the Fourth Habsburg-Valois War 1635 Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II declares war on France 1670 French bishop Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet appointed tutor to the Dauphin, son of Louis XIV 1679 New Hampshire becomes a county in Massachusetts Bay Colony 1739 Turkey and Austria sign a peace treaty; Austria cedes Belgrade to Turkey 1755 Fort Ticonderoga in New York opens 1759 Battle of Quebec ends, French surrender to British who capture Quebec City 1769 John Harris of Boston, Massachusetts, builds the first spinet piano 1789 First loan is raised to pay the salaries of the US President and Congress 1793 US President George Washington lays the cornerstone of the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. 1809 The Royal Opera House opens in London 1810 Chile declares independence from Spain, celebrated today as Chile's National Day 1811 British East India Company force led by Baron Minto conquers Java, then part of the Dutch East Indies. Stamford Raffles is appointed lieutenant-governor. 1812 Great Fire of Moscow burns out after five days, destroys 75% of the city and kills 12,000 people 1837 Charles Lewis Tiffany and John B. Young co-found a "stationery and fancy goods emporium" in New York City, renamed in 1853 as "Tiffany & Co." 1838 Anti-Corn Law League established in Great Britain by Richard Cobden 1842 First edition of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is published 1846 Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning exchange their last letters before they move to Italy 1848 Baseball rules allow the first baseman to tag the base for an out instead of tagging the runner 1849 De Kempenae's Dutch government resigns 1850 US Congress passes Fugitive Slave Law as part of Compromise of 1850, requires slaves be returned to their owners 1851 First edition of The New York Times is published for 2 cents a copy [1] 1862 Confederate armies officially divide into corps 1862 General Robert E. Lee withdraws his battered army from Antietam across the Potomac to return to Virginia 1864 Battle of Martinsburg, Virginia 1864 Hood's Tennessee Campaign begins (also called the Franklin–Nashville Campaign) in the American Civil War 1872 Oscar II Fredrik accedes to the throne of the Union between Sweden and Norway 1873 Government bond agent Jay Cooke & Co collapses, causing panic on Wall Street and the start of the Panic of 1873 and the Long Depression 1879 The Blackpool Illuminations are switched on for the first time in the seaside resort of Blackpool, England 1881 Chicago Tribune reports on a televideo experiment 1882 Pacific Stock Exchange opens as Local Security Board 1885 Riots break out in Montreal, Canada, to protest against mandatory smallpox vaccinations 1891 The Seneca tribe gives Harriet Maxwell Converse an honorary position as chief, making her the first white woman to become a Native American chief 1895 Booker T. Washington delivers his famous "Atlanta Compromise" speech to the Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta, Georgia, suggesting blacks focus on vocational education and economic advancement over equality (for the present) 1895 Daniel David Palmer of Davenport, Iowa, performs the first chiropractic adjustment on partially deaf Harvey Lillard, restoring his hearing 1897 Gustave Kecker and Hugh Martin's musical "Belle of New York City" premieres in New York City 1898 Lord Kitchener 's ships reach Fashoda, Sudan 1899 Scott Joplin is granted copyright for his "Maple Leaf Rag," the most famous ragtime composition, by the US Copyright Office 1903 Phillies' Chick Fraser no-hits Chicago Cubs 10-0 1905 Electric tramline opens in Rotterdam 1906 A typhoon with tsunami kills an estimated 10,000 people in Hong Kong 1908 Cleveland Indian Bob "Dusty" Rhoades no-hits Boston 2-1 1909 Largest paid baseball attendance (35,409), A's beat Tigers 2-0 in Detroit 1910 25,000 demonstrate in Amsterdam for general male and female suffrage 1911 Britain's first twin-engine airplane (Short S.39) is test-flown 1911 Louis Napoleon Parker's play " Disraeli " premieres in New York City 1914 General Paul von Hindenburg named commander of German armies on the Eastern Front 1914 Irish Home Rule Bill receives Royal Assent 1914 South African troops land in German South-West Africa 1915 Jeeves and Bertie Wooster make their first appearance in P. G. Wodehouse 's short story "Extricating Young Gussie," published in "The Saturday Evening Post" in the US 1919 Dutch second chamber accepts female suffrage 1919 Hurricane tides reach 16 feet above normal drowning 280 people along US Gulf Coast 1922 Browns' George Sisler's 41-game hit streak is stopped by New York's Joe Bush 1922 Hungary is admitted to the League of Nations 1922 Second government of Ruys de Beerenbrouck installed in Netherlands 1924 Government routes seven provinces to Peking 1926 Hurricane hits Miami, killing 250 people 1927 Columbia Broadcasting System goes on air with 18 stations and WOR as the New York City affiliate 1928 Juan de la Cierva flies an autogiro, a predecessor to the helicopter, across the English Channel 1928 San Felipe Segundo/Okeechobee hurricane makes its fifth and final landfall near Edisto Island, South Carolina, as a Category 1 storm; the total impact of the event is over 4,100 killed and $100 million ($1.6 billion in 2020) in damage 1928 St. Louis beats the Phillies 4-2 at the Baker Bowl in Philadelphia; 20th Cardinals' win of 22 starts between the two clubs in 1928 1929 Pirates lose to Braves and clinch NL pennant for the Cubs 1929 Preston Sturges' "Strictly Dishonorable" premieres in New York City 1930 Enterprise (US) beats Shamrock V (UK) in 15th America's Cup 1930 NY Yankee future Baseball HOF pitcher Red Ruffing hits 2 home runs to beat St. Louis Browns 7-6 at Sportsman's Park, St. Louis 1930 Philadelphia A's win AL Championship for the second year in a row 1931 Mukden Incident: To create a pretext for the invasion of Chinese Manchuria, Japanese forces detonate a small quantity of dynamite near a railway line owned by Japan's South Manchuria Railway 1934 St. Louis Browns' Bobo Newsom loses no-hitter to Boston in 10 innings, 2-1 1934 USSR is admitted to the League of Nations 1937 The first New Zealand State house opens in Miramar 1938 Despite losing a doubleheader (4-3, 8-7) to the St. Louis Browns at Sportsman's Park III, the New York Yankees clinch their 10th AL pennant 1938 The Chicago Bears beat the Green Bay Packers 2-0 1939 Polish government of Moscicki flees to Romania 1939 William Joyce 's (Lord Haw-Haw) first Nazi propaganda broadcast 1940 19 German aircraft shot down above England 1940 Elmer Harris' "Johnny Belinda" premieres in New York City 1940 Italian troops conquer Sidi Barrani 1942 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation authorized for radio service 1942 The order for "extermination of asocials through labour" is approved by Nazi Minister of Justice, Otto Thierack 1943 Adolf Hitler orders deportation of Danish Jews (unsuccessful) 1943 Cardinals clinch NL pennant 1943 German occupiers liquidate the ghetto of Lida, Belarus, transporting the last remaining Jews to their murder at the Nazi extermination camp Sobibor 1944 WWII: British submarine Tradewind torpedoes Junyo Maru: 5,600 killed, including 1,377 allied POWs and 4,200 Javanese slave laborers 1944 WWII: Eindhoven, Netherlands, is freed by American and British troops (Liberation Day) 1944 WWII: US 266th division defeats German troops at Brest Bretagne in Brittany, France, after a seven-week siege; 37,000 prisoners taken, ports rendered useless 1945 1000 whites walk out of Gary, Indiana, schools to protest integration 1946 Joe Louis KOs Tami Mauriello in the first round for the heavyweight boxing title 1947 Central Intelligence Agency officially comes into existence after being established by President Truman in July 1947 US Air Force is created as a separate military service with the passing of the National Security Act 1947 US Department of Defense first day of operation 1948 Communist Madiun Uprising in Dutch Indies (Muso/Sjarifudin) 1948 Ralph Bunche is confirmed as acting UN mediator in Palestine 1949 Baseball Major League record of four grand slams hit 1950 Nakagawa Soen, Japanese Zen teacher, receives dharma transmission 1951 "A Streetcar Named Desire," a film directed by Elia Kazan and based on Tennessee Williams ' 1947 play of the same name, starring Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh , premieres at the Warner Theatre, NYC 1951 "The Day the Earth Stood Still," a science fiction film directed by Robert Wise and starring Michael Rennie, premieres 1954 Cleveland Indians clinch AL pennant, beating Tigers (3-2) 1954 KTUL TV Channel 8 in Tulsa, OK (ABC) begins broadcasting 1954 WLOS TV Channel 13 in G'ville-Spartanburg, SC (ABC) begins broadcasting 1955 Willie Mays ties Joe Adcock's record with his 9th career home run at Ebbets Field 1956 Mickey Mantle is the eighth player to hit 50 home runs in a season 1957 Electric train joins Amsterdam and Brussels 1957 US Western TV drama "Wagon Train" premieres 1958 The Fresno Drop: Bank of America mails out 60,000 BankAmericards in Fresno, California, the first credit card (later renamed VISA) 1959 Vanguard 3 launched into Earth orbit 1961 Transair Sweden DC-6 passenger aircraft, chartered by the United Nations for transit to cease-fire negotiations during the Congo Crisis, crashes near Ndola, Northern Rhodesia (present-day Zambia), killing 16, including UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld , the second Secretary-General of the United Nations, and 15 others; official inquiries never determine the cause 1961 USSR performs a nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya, USSR 1962 Bob Aspromonte sets a National League third baseman record of 57 consecutive errorless games 1962 Charlie Finley is denied permission to move the A's to Dallas-Fort Worth 1962 Rwanda, Burundi, Jamaica, and Trinidad are admitted to the United Nations as the 105th through 108th member countries 1962 USSR performs a nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya, USSR 1963 Final MLB game at Polo Grounds, New York City; 1,752 see the Philadelphia Phillies defeat the New York Mets 5-1 1963 USSR orders 58.5 million barrels of cereal from Australia 1964 TV sitcom series "The Addams Family," starring John Astin , Carolyn Jones , Jackie Coogan , and Ted Cassidy , premieres on ABC and runs for two seasons 1964 USSR performs a nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya, USSR 1965 Mel Brooks and Buck Henry's spy spoof sitcom "Get Smart" starring Don Adams , Barbara Feldon, and Edward Platt, debuts on NBC-TV 1965 Mickey Mantle Day takes place at Yankee Stadium to honor Mickey Mantle's 2,000th game 1965 TV sitcom " I Dream of Jeannie ," starring Barbara Eden as a 2,000-year-old genie and Larry Hagman as an astronaut who becomes her master, premieres on NBC 1966 Baltimore Colts quarterback Johnny Unitas throws four touchdown passes in a 38-23 win at Minnesota to surpass Y. A. Tittle as the NFL's career leader with 212 and finishes his career with 290 TD passes

1967 Intrepid (US) beats Dame Pattie (Australia) in the 21st America's Cup yacht race at Newport, Rhode Island 1967 Yellowknife replaces Ottawa as the capital of the Northwest Territories, Canada 1968 "Funny Girl" biopic film, based on the life of Fanny Brice , directed by William Wyler , and starring Barbra Streisand and Omar Sharif , premieres 1968 Ray Washburn (Cardinals) no-hits the SF Giants 2-0 1969 American singer Tiny Tim (37) and Victoria "Miss Vicki" Budinger (17) get engaged 1971 Momofuku Ando markets the first Cup Noodles, packaging them in a waterproof polystyrene container 1972 First Black National League umpire is Art Williams for Los Angeles vs. San Diego 1973 The Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic are admitted to the UN 1974 Hurricane Fifi hits the coast of Honduras with 110 mph winds, killing about 5,000 people 1975 American publishing heiress-turned-bank robber Patty Hearst captured by FBI in San Francisco, California 1976 Chinese Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong 's funeral takes place in Beijing, China 1976 Dom Mintoff's Labour Party wins the Malta elections 1976 MLB Cleveland Indians player-manager Frank Robinson 's last game as a player 1976 Rev Sun Myung Moon holds "God Bless America" convention at Yankee Stadium in New York City 1977 Ted Turner 's Courageous (US) sweeps Alan Bond's Australia 4-0 in the 24th America's Cup 1977 Voyager I takes the first space photograph of Earth and Moon together 1978 "WKRP in Cincinnati," an ensemble TV sitcom created by Hugh Wilson and set in a struggling radio station, debuts on CBS 1978 All four Kiss members release solo albums on the same day 1979 Briitish rock band "The Who" plays first of five concerts at Madison Square Garden, New York City 1979 Steven Lachs is appointed as California's first openly gay judge 1980 Alain Boubil and Herbert Kretzner's musical "Les Misérables" premieres at Palais des Sports, Paris 1980 Royals' Willie Wilson steals an AL-record 28 consecutive bases 1980 Soyuz 38 carries two cosmonauts, including one Cuban, to the Salyut 6 space station 1981 Assemblée Nationale votes to abolish capital punishment in France 1981 Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan is dedicated 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacres: Christian militia massacres at least 700 Palestinians in retaliation for the assassination of Bachir Gemayel 1983 Action series "Hardcastle and McCormick" premieres on ABC in the US 1983 George Meegan completes his walk across the Western Hemisphere, covering 19,019 miles (30,608 km) in 2,426 days 1983 Kiss's first "unmasked" (no make up) appearance on MTV, a significant departure from their decade-long iconic makeup 1983 Lebanese and Syrian armies battle 1983 New Orleans Saints achieve their first overtime victory, defeating the Chicago Bears 34-31 1984 Joe Kittinger completes first solo balloon crossing of the Atlantic 1984 Tigers clinch the AL East championship after spending the entire year in first place 1984 Tim Raines is the first player with four consecutive 70-stolen-base seasons 1985 Computer scientists accidentally stumble upon the largest prime number ever discovered, the number 2^216091 - 1, containing 65,050 digits 1985 TV spy/crime drama "The Equalizer," starring Edward Woodward, debuts in the US on CBS 1987 Detroit first baseman Darrell Evans hits home run #30 off Bill Wegman in the 5th inning of the Tigers' 7-6 win over the Milwaukee Brewers, becoming the first 40-year-old to hit 30 MLB home runs in a season 1987 The thriller "Fatal Attraction," directed by Adrian Lyne and starring Michael Douglas and Glenn Close , is released 1987 US and USSR sign accord to remove mid-range missiles 1987 USSR performs a nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in northeast Kazakhstan 1988 Burma suspends its constitution 1988 Coup in Haiti: General Prosper Avril takes control, and Henri Namphy flees 1988 Magna Charta Universitatum is signed to celebrate university traditions and the 900th anniversary of the founding of the University of Bologna, the oldest in the world 1989 Hurricane Hugo causes extensive damage in Puerto Rico 1990 A 500-pound, 6-foot Hershey's Kiss is displayed at 1 Times Square, New York City 1990 Atlanta is chosen to host the 1996 (centennial) Summer Olympics 1990 Crude prices outpace increases in product prices, and there is talk of cutting refinery runs 1990 Liechtenstein becomes a member of the United Nations 1991 American Major League Baseball executive John Hart becomes general manager of Cleveland Indians 1991 NCAA places Tennessee on 2 years probation for football recruiting violations 1991 Robert Helmick resigns as president of US Olympic Committee 1991 Space Shuttle STS-48 (Discovery 14) lands 1991 Yugoslavia begins a naval blockade of seven Adriatic port cities 1993 The LA Mighty Ducks play their first NHL pre-season game against the Penguins 1993 Trailing 3-1 with two outs in the ninth, time is called prior to Mike Stanley's pop-out, giving him a second chance, and the Yankees rally to beat Boston 4-3 1994 Ken Burns' documentary miniseries "Baseball" premieres on PBS (wins an Emmy for Outstanding Informational Series) 1994 Sweden's Social Democratic Party wins the parliamentary election 1994 The Austrian People's Party wins election; extreme right receives 18.5% 1995 Art Modell first meets (he claims) with Baltimore to move the Browns there from Cleveland 1995 Space shuttle STS-69 (Endeavour 9) lands 1996 Roger Clemens ties his own Major League record with 20 strikeouts 1997 CNN founder Ted Turner pledges to donate $1 billion to the United Nations, creating the public charity the United Nations Foundation 1997 Controversial art exhibition "Sensation," featuring works by Young British Artists from the collection of Charles Saatchi, opens at the Royal Academy in London 1997 Seve Ballesteros and Nick Faldo are elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame 1997 Voters in Wales vote yes (50.3%) in a referendum on Welsh autonomy 1998 "Rush Hour," directed by Brett Ratner and starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker , is released; it is Jackie Chan's Hollywood breakthrough 1998 Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is formed 2001 First mailing of anthrax letters from Trenton, New Jersey, in the 2001 anthrax attacks 2003 The United Kingdom's Local Government Act 2003, repealing controversial Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988, receives Royal Assent 2005 57th Emmy Awards: Lost, Everybody Loves Raymond, James Spader, and Patricia Arquette win 2006 "Watching You" single released by Rodney Atkins (Billboard Song of the Year 2007) 2006 Right-wing protesters riot at the building of Hungarian Television in Budapest, Hungary, one day after an audio tape is made public in which Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány admits he and his party lied during the 2006 general election 2007 Buddhist monks join anti-government protesters in Myanmar, starting what some call the "Saffron Revolution" 2007 Pervez Musharraf announces that he will step down as army chief and restore civilian rule to Pakistan, but only after he is re-elected as president 2009 Final episode of soap opera "Guiding Light" is broadcast, ending a 72-year run on radio and television 2009 World Bamboo Organization celebrates the first World Bamboo Day to raise awareness about bamboo's contributions to sustainability [1] 2011 63rd Emmy Awards: Mad Men, Modern Family , Kyle Chandler, and Julianna Margulies win 2012 10 Turkish soldiers are killed and 70 injured in a missile attack by Kurdish militants in Bingol, Turkey 2012 26 people are killed in a fire in a Pemex gas facility in Reynosa, Mexico 2012 The Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago Public Schools reach a deal that ends an 8-day strike 2012 World's first mother-to-daughter uterus transplant undertaken at the University of Gothenburg 2014 Eight people (including two children) are shot dead in Bell, Florida 2014 Emma Watson delivers an address to a standing ovation at UN Headquarters in New York City, helping launch the UN Women campaign HeForShe, which calls on men to advocate for gender equality 2014 Scotland votes to remain a member of the United Kingdom in an independence referendum 2015 The government of Uttar Pradesh, India, confirms 2.3 million people applied for 238 menial office jobs 2016 Earliest known fishhooks, 23,000 years old, discovered on Okinawa Island, Japan; findings published in PNAS journal 2016 In Russian elections, the Vladimir Putin -backed United Russia party, led by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev , wins 54% of parliamentary seats 2017 69th Emmy Awards, hosted by Stephen Colbert : " The Handmaid 's Tale," Elisabeth Moss , Sterling K. Brown , Julia Louis-Dreyfus , and Donald Glover win 2017 England footballer Wayne Rooney pleads guilty to drunk driving and is banned from driving for 2 years 2017 Hurricane Maria passes over the Caribbean island of Dominica as a Category 5 hurricane, destroying 90% of structures and killing 27 2018 70th Emmy Awards: " Game of Thrones ", " The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel ", Rachel Brosnahan , Matthew Rhys, Claire Foy , and Bill Hader win 2018 Amnesty International reports that 400 civilians are killed in conflicts between Cameroonian soldiers and Anglophone separatists in 2018 2018 China announces new $60 billion tariffs on US imports a day after the US imposes $200 billion worth of new tariffs on Chinese goods 2018 South Africa's Constitutional court legalizes cannabis use by adults in private places 2019 Boarding school fire kills at least 27 in Monrovia, Liberia 2019 Indian government proposes a ban on e-cigarettes 2019 Photo of Canadian PM Justin Trudeau wearing brownface in 2001 emerges during Canadian election campaign 2019 Saudi Arabia's Defense Ministry says Iran is to blame for the drone attack on Saudi oil facilities 2019 Second Israeli general election in five months results in another deadlock between Benny Gantz's Blue and White Party and the Likud Party under Benjamin Netanyahu 2019 US White House bars California and other states from setting their own emission standards 2020 Cyclone Ianos, a rare "medicane," begins sweeping across Greece, killing three 2020 Researchers publish findings on fossilized human footprints in Saudi Arabia's Nefud Desert, dated to approximately 120,000 years ago, representing the earliest definitive evidence of human presence in the region [1] 2021 US authorities begin moving to repatriate more than 10,000 mostly Haitian migrants living under a bridge in Del Rio, Texas 2022 Hurricane Fiona makes landfall near Punta Tocón on Puerto Rico's southwest coast as a Category 1 storm with 85 km/h winds, causing catastrophic flooding [1] 2022 Magnitude 6.9 earthquake strikes Taiwan's southeastern coast, north of Taitung [1] 2022 Typhoon Nanmadol, one of the biggest to ever strike Japan, makes landfall on Kyushu Island with winds of 180 km/h (112 mph), forcing four million people to evacuate [1] 2022 US President Joe Biden says in a CBS TV interview, “We still have a problem with Covid” and “We’re still doing a lot of work on it. But the pandemic is over” [1] 2023 America and Iran swap five prisoners each in an agreement that also allows the release of $6 billion in Iranian oil revenue [1] 2023 Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says "agents of the Indian government" carry out the killing of a Sikh community leader, who advocates for Sikh separatism, in British Columbia in June [1] 2023 Fashion journalist Chioma Nnadi is named the new head of British Vogue, becoming the first Black woman to lead a major fashion magazine 2023 For the first time, one in ten Japanese people is now over the age of 80, with 29.1% over 65, according to new government figures [1] 2024 Portugal declares "a state of calamity" over wildfires in its central and northern areas, destroying part of Passadiços do Paiva, famous wooden footbridges within UNESCO Arouca Geopark [1] 2024 The highest peak of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, America's most visited national park, reverts to its Cherokee name of Kuwohi (previously Clingmans Dome) [1] 2024 Tupperware Brands, maker of plastic kitchenware since 1948, files for bankruptcy in Florida [1] 2024 Walkie-talkies belonging to the Hezbollah armed group explode across Lebanon, killing 20 people and injuring more than 450 as the Israeli defense minister declares, "We are at the start of a new phase in the war" [1] 2025 British radio presenter Pete Murray returns to the air to commemorate his 100th birthday [1] Historical Events Calendar Mad Monk Burns 2,000 At The Stake September 16, 1498 Mad Monk Burns 2,000 At The Stake The Diary of a Dead Officer September 17, 1916 The Diary of a Dead Officer Arc Lamps Light the Way to World-Beating Display September 18, 1879 Arc Lamps Light the Way to World-Beating Display The First Country to Grant Women the Vote September 19, 1893 The First Country to Grant Women the Vote Search the largest and most accurate independent site for today in history.