1. 241 BC - First Punic War: Battle of the Aegates Islands - The Romans sink the Carthaginian fleet bringing the first Punic War to an end
2. 418 - Jews are excluded from public office in the Roman Empire
3. 1198 - The Giralda minaret designed by architect Ben Ahmad for the Almohad mosque in Seville is completed. Now the bell tower for Seville's cathedral
4. 1535 - Spanish Bishop of Panama Tomés de Berlanga discovers the uninhabited Galapagos Islands after his ship drifts off course
5. 1578 - Queen Elizabeth I of England gives Johan Casimir £20,000 to aid Dutch rebellion
6. 1624 - England declares war on Spain
7. 1629 - English King Charles I dissolves parliament for the 4th time in his reign, summons new parliament 11 years later, only to be dissolved after 3 months
8. 1661 - King Louis XIV begins his personal rule of France, after the death of his chief minister, Cardinal Mazarin
9. 1697 - Tsar Peter the Great of Russia begins a tour of Western Europe
10. 1734 - Spanish army under Don Carlos (III) draws into Naples
11. 1735 - An agreement between Nadir Shah and Paul I of Russia is signed near Ganja and Russian troops are withdrawn from Baku
12. 1762 - French Huguenot Jean Calas, who was wrongly convicted of killing his son, dies after being tortured by authorities; the event inspires Voltaire to begin campaign for religious tolerance and legal reform
13. 1783 - USS Alliance under Captain Barry fights and wins last naval battle of US Revolutionary War off Cape Canaveral
14. 1791 - John Stone of Concord, Massachusetts, patents a pile driver
15. 1791 - Pope condemns France's Civil Constitution of the Clergy
16. 1801 - First official census in Great Britain, revealing a population of approximately 10 million
17. 1820 - Karol Kurpiński's opera "Kalmora, or the Paternal Right of the Americans" premieres at the Warsaw Opera
18. 1830 - The KNIL also known as the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army is created
19. 1831 - The French Foreign Legion is established by King Louis - Philippe to support his war in Algeria
20. 1847 - 1st money minted in Hawaii
21. 1849 - Abraham Lincoln applies for a patent (only US president to do so) for a device to lift a boat over shoals and obstructions
22. 1861 - West African political leader El Hadj Umar Tall seizes the city of Segou, destroying the Bambara Empire of Mali
23. 1862 - Great Britain & France recognise independence of Zanzibar
24. 1862 - US issues 1st paper money in the form of $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, $500 and $1000 notes
25. 1864 - Red River Campaign begun in Louisiana by Union forces
26. 1865 - Battle of Monroe's Crossroads, North Carolina
27. 1874 - Purdue University (Indiana) admits its 1st student
28. 1876 - First telephone call; Alexander Graham Bell says "Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you" to his assistant Thomas Watson
29. 1888 - 1st performance of César Franck's symphonic poem for chorus and orchestra "Psyché"
30. 1888 - Heavyweight boxing champ John L. Sullivan draws Charlie Mitchell in 30 rounds
31. 1891 - Almon Strowger, an undertaker in Topeka, Kansas, patents the Strowger switch, a device which led to the automation of telephone circuit switching
32. 1893 - Ivory Coast becomes a French colony (Côte d'Ivoire)
33. 1893 - New Mexico State University cancels its 1st graduation ceremony; its only graduand Sam Steele was robbed & killed the night before
34. 1896 - Bronx acquires O'Brien Square
35. 1900 - Battle of Driefontein, South Africa, British offensive against the Boers, who are forced to withdraw
36. 1900 - Regents for the King of Uganda and leading chiefs sign a treaty with Great Britain agreeing to the organization of the government, taxation, courts, military, and other functions of their country, which is under British protection
37. 1900 - Stanley Cup, Montreal Arena, Westmount, Quebec: Montreal Shamrocks outclass Halifax Crescents, 11 - 0 to sweep challenge series, 2-0
38. 1902 - A United States Court of Appeals rules that Thomas Edison did not invent the movie camera
39. 1902 - Earthquake destroys Turkish city of Tochangri
40. 1903 - Harry Gam Meter of Cleveland patents multigraph duplicating machine
41. 1905 - Japanese army captures Mukden (Shenyang)
42. 1906 - 1st performance of Maurice Ravel's "Sonatine" by pianist Paule de Lestang, in Lyon, France
43. 1906 - Baker Street & Waterloo Railway opens, constructed by the Underground Electric Railways Company of London. The contraction Bakerloo became the official name in July 1906
44. 1906 - Europe's worst mining accident when a coal dust explosion kills 1,060 at Courrières, France
45. 1910 - Pittsburgh Courier begins publishing
46. 1910 - Republic of China officially abolishes slavery
47. 1913 - Stanley Cup, Quebec Skating Rink, Quebec City, Quebec: Quebec Bulldogs retain trophy; defeat Sydney Millionaires (NS), 6 - 2 for a 2-0 sweep of the challenge series
48. 1913 - William Knox becomes 1st in American Bowling Congress to bowl 300
49. 1914 - Suffragettes in London damage Rokeby's painting Venus of Velasquez
50. 1915 - British army captures Neuve Chapelle, Belgium