EVENTS
- 1493 – First sighting of the island of Dominica in the Caribbean Sea by Columbus.
- 1534 – King Henry VIII became Supreme Head of the Church of England following the passage of the Act of Supremacy by Parliament.
- 1838 – ‘The Times of India’ founded. The world’s largest English-language daily was launched as a bi-weekly as the ‘Bombay Times’ and ‘Journal of Commerce’ in Bombay, India.
- 1839 – The first Opium War between China and Britain began after British frigates blew up several Chinese ships they believed were hostile.
- 1868 – John Willis Menard elected to U.S. House of Representatives. He became the first African-American to be elected to the house.
- 1903 – Panama declared itself independent of Colombia following a revolt engineered by the U.S.
- 1913 – An income tax is first introduced in the USA.
- 1918 – Part of the German fleet mutinied at Kiel in the closing days of World War I.
- 1918 – Poland declares independence from Russia.
- 1948 – Dewey defeats Truman banner headline appeared on the front page of the ‘Chicago Tribune’ newspaper. Harry Truman actually defeated Republican candidate Thomas E. Dewey for the presidency.
- 1954 – The first ‘Godzilla’ movie is released in Japan.
- 1957 – Soviet Russia launched the world’s first inhabited space capsule, Sputnik II, which carried a dog named Laika.
- 1973 – NASA launches Mariner 10. The last of the Mariner Program, Mariner 10 was the first spacecraft to flyby two planets – Venus and Mercury. The probe flew by Venus on February 5, 1974, and did 3 flybys of Mercury on March 29, 1974, September 21, 1974, and on March 16, 1975, after which communications with the probe were terminated.
- 1978 – Dominica gains independence. The Caribbean Island nation gained its independence from the British after being colonized in 1805.
- 1983 – White South Africans voted to allow Indians and “Coloreds” (people of mixed race) limited power in the government, but continued to exclude black people.
BIRTHDAYS
- 1500 – Benvenuto Cellini (Artist)
- 1815 – John Mitchel (Irish journalist, activist)
- 1918 – Bob Feller (American baseball player)
- 1921 – Charles Bronson (Actor)
- 1933 – Amartya Sen (Indian economist, Nobel Prize laureate)
- 1953 – Dennis Miller (Comedian)
- 1949 – Anna Wintour (English/American journalist, editor)
- 1955 – Phil Simms (NFL Quarterback)
- 1957 – Dolph Lundgren (Swedish actor)
- 1985 – Tyler Hansbrough (Basketball Player)
- 1995 – Kendall Jenner (Model and Television Personality)
DEATHS
- 361 – Constantius II (Roman emperor)
- 1926 – Annie Oakley (American target shooter)
- 1954 – Henri Matisse (French painter)
- 1957 – Wilhelm Reich (Austrian/American psychotherapist)
- 1996 – Jean-Bédel Bokassa (Central African politician, 2nd President of the Central African Republic)