Events
241 - Battle of Samhain fought in Ireland.
996 - Emperor Otto III issues a deed to Gottschalk, Bishop of Freising, which is the oldest known document using the name Ostarrîchi (Austria in Old High German).
1512 - The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, painted by Michelangelo, is exhibited to the public for the first time.
1520 - The Strait of Magellan, the passage immediately south of mainland South America, connecting the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans, is first navigated by Ferdinand Magellan during his global circumnavigation voyage.
1592 - At the Battle of Busan, the outnumbered Korean navy defeats a larger Japanese army.
1604 - William Shakespeare's tragedy Othello is presented for the first time, at Whitehall Palace in London.
1611 - William Shakespeare's romantic comedy The Tempest is presented for the first time, at Whitehall Palace in London.
1612 - (22 October O.S.) Time of Troubles in Russia: Moscow Kitai-gorod taken by Russian troops under command of Dmitry Pozharsky
1683 - The British crown colony of New York is subdivided into 12 counties.
1755 - Lisbon earthquake: In Portugal, Lisbon is destroyed by a massive earthquake and tsunami, killing between sixty and ninety thousand people.
1765 - The British Parliament enacts the Stamp Act on the 13 colonies in order to help pay for British military operations in North America.
1790 - Edmund Burke publishes Reflections on the Revolution in France, in which he predicts that the French Revolution will end in disaster.
1800 - US President John Adams becomes the first President of the United States to live in the Executive Mansion (later renamed the White House).
1802 - Delegates met at Chillicothe, Ohio to form a state constitutional convention.
1848 - In Boston, Massachusetts, the first medical school for women, The Boston Female Medical School (which will later merge with Boston University School of Medicine), opens.
1859 - The current Cape Lookout, North Carolina, lighthouse is lighted for the first time. Its first-order Fresnel lens can be seen for 19 miles (30 kilometers).
1861 - American Civil War: US President Abraham Lincoln appoints George McClellan as commander of the Union Army, replacing the aged General Winfield Scott.
1870 - In the United States, the Weather Bureau (later renamed the National Weather Service) makes its first official meteorological forecast.
1871 - The Stamford to Bourne, Lincolnshire turnpike road was freed from tolls.
1876 - New Zealand's provincial government system is dissolved.
1884 - The Gaelic Athletic Association is set up in Hayes's Hotel in Thurles, County Tipperary.
1894 - Nicholas II becomes the new Tsar of Russia after his father, Alexander III, dies.
1896 - A picture showing the naked breasts of a woman appears in National Geographic magazine for the first time.
1897 - The major Italian football team Juventus F.C. was founded.
1901 - Sigma Phi Epsilon, a national men's collegiate fraternity is established at Richmond College, in Richmond, VA.
1911 - The first dropping of a bomb from an airplane in combat, during the Italo-Turkish War.
1914 - World War I: the first British naval defeat of the war, the Battle of Coronel is fought off of the coast of Chile.
1918 - Malbone Street Wreck: the worst rapid transit accident in US history occurs under the intersection of Malbone Street and Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn, New York City, with at least 93 dead.
1918 - Western Ukraine gains independence from Austria-Hungary
1922 - The last sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Mehmed VI, abdicates.
1938 - Seabiscuit defeats War Admiral in an upset victory during a match race deemed "the match of the century"
1939 - The first rabbit born after artificial insemination is shown to the world.
1943 - World War II: Operation Goodtime launched - United States Marines invade Bougainville in the Solomon Islands.
1943 - World War II: In support of the landings on Bougainville, U.S. carrier aircraft attack the main Japanese base at Rabaul.
1944 - World War II: Operation Infatuate launched - The British Army land at Walcheren in the Netherlands.
1945 - The official North Korean newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, is first published under the name Chongro.
1948 - Off southern Manchuria, 6,000 are killed as a Chinese merchant ship explodes and sinks.
1950 - Puerto Rican nationalists Griselio Torresola and Oscar Collazo attempt to assassinate US President Harry S. Truman at Blair House.
1950 - Pope Pius XII witnesses the "Miracle of the Sun" while at the Vatican"[1]
1950 - Pope Pius XII claims Papal Infallibility when he formally defines the dogma of the Assumption of Mary.
1951 - US soldiers are exposed to an atomic explosion for training purposes in Desert Rock, Nevada; participation was not voluntary.
1952 - Operation Ivy - The United States successfully detonates the first hydrogen bomb, codenamed "Mike" ["m" for megaton], at Eniwetok island in the Bikini atoll located in the Pacific Ocean.
1954 - The Front de Libération Nationale fires the first shots of the Algerian War of Independence.
1955 - A United Airlines DC-6B explodes in mid-air and crashes near Longmont, Colorado, killing 44 people
1956 - Formation of Indian State of Andhra Pradesh with its capital as Hyderabad, formerly known as Nizam State.
1956- Formation of the Indian state of Karnataka (1973), formerly known as Mysore State.
1956 - Formation of Kerala state in India.
1957 - The Mackinac Bridge, the world's longest suspension bridge between anchorages at the time, opens to traffic connecting Michigan's two peninsulas.
1960 - While campaigning for President of the United States, John F. Kennedy announces his idea of the Peace Corps.
1963 - The Arecibo Observatory in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, with the largest radio telescope ever constructed, officially opens.
1966 - The National Football League grants New Orleans, Louisiana a professional football franchise, the New Orleans Saints.
1969 - After seven years off the top of the charts, Elvis Presley hits number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with his song "Suspicious Minds."
1970 - A fire at a dance hall in Saint-Laurent-du-Pont, France kills 144 young people.
1973 - Watergate Scandal: Leon Jaworski is appointed as the new Watergate Special Prosecutor.
1974 - Hello Kitty, was first drawn by Japanese Sanrio designer Ikuko Shimizu.
1980 - Wayanad district formed in the state of Kerala, India.
1981 - Antigua and Barbuda gain independence from the United Kingdom.
1982 - S4C launches in the United Kingdom.
1990 - A New York City civil jury awards Sandra Miller $100 for battery after an incident in which Mike Tyson grabbed her breasts and insulted her; the jury found Tyson's behavior "not outrageous".
1993 - The Maastricht Treaty takes effect, formally establishing the European Union.
1994 - George Lucas leaves the day-to-day operations of his filmmaking business and starts a sabbatical. While on sabbatical, he writes the prequel section of the Star Wars movies.
1994 - The Chijon Family is sentenced to death in South Korea for murdering and eating five people.
1998 - The European Court of Human Rights is instituted.
2004 - Vendetta Online is released.
2005 - Makybe Diva wins her third consecutive Melbourne Cup race.
2005 - First part of the Gomery Report, which discusses allegations of political money manipulation, is released in Canada.
2005 - The U.S. Senate enters a rare closed session to discuss the Plame affair and intelligence in the Iraq disarmament crisis.
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