1. 753 BC - Rome is founded by Romulus (traditional date).

2. 43 BC - Battle of Mutina: Mark Antony is defeated by Aulus Hirtius.

3. 953 - Otto I grants fishing rights to Utrecht.

4. 1104 - The transept and choir of the Abbey of Ste - Madeleine in Vézelay, France, are dedicated.

5. 1420 - Treaty of Saint - Martens - dike is signed.

6. 1453 - The Turkish fleet sinks ships in Constantinople.

7. 1486 - The Sentencia Arbitral de Guadalupe is proclaimed by King Ferdinand II of Aragon, freeing the Catalan Remensa peasants.

8. 1509 - Henry VIII becomes the king of England after the death of his father, Henry VII.

9. 1521 - The Battle at Villalar: Emperor Charles I defeats the communards.

10. 1526 - The First Battle of Panipat: Babur defeats Sultan Ibrahim Lodi, establishing the Mughal Empire in India.

11. 1536 - Thomas Cromwell begins to plot the downfall of Anne Boleyn.

12. 1572 - France and England sign an anti - Spanish military covenant.

13. 1600 - The first date in James Clavell's novel Shogun.

14. 1649 - The Maryland Toleration Act is passed in the American colony, allowing freedom of worship for Christians.

15. 1654 - England and Sweden sign a trade agreement.

16. 1739 - Spain and Naples - Austria sign a peace accord.

17. 1785 - Catherine II of Russia confers the "Charter to the Nobility" on the nobility.

18. 1789 - John Adams is sworn in as the first US vice president.

19. 1792 - Brazilian revolutionary Tiradentes is hanged, drawn, and quartered in Rio de Janeiro.

20. 1794 - New York City formally declares the coast of Ellis Island publicly owned.

21. 1796 - Napoleon and the French defeat the Piedmontese at the Battle of Mondovi.

22. 1818 - Franz Grillparzer's Sappho premieres in Vienna.

23. 1820 - Danish scientist Hans Christian Ørsted identifies electromagnetism.

24. 1836 - The Battle of San Jacinto; Texas wins independence from Mexico.

25. 1855 - The first train crosses the Mississippi River's first bridge.

26. 1857 - Alexander Douglas patents the bustle.

27. 1862 - Congress establishes the US Mint in Denver, Colorado.

28. 1863 - Bahá'u'lláh, founder of the Bahá'í faith, enters the Garden of Riv - dán near Baghdad.

29. 1865 - Abraham Lincoln's funeral train leaves Washington.

30. 1878 - First Lady Lucy Hayes begins the egg - rolling contest on the White House lawn.

31. 1878 - New York installs the first firehouse pole.

32. 1878 - Pope Leo XIII publishes the encyclical Inscrutabili.

33. 1884 - Potter's Field is reopened as Madison Park.

34. 1892 - Black longshoremen strike for higher wages in St. Louis, Missouri.

35. 1894 - George Bernard Shaw's play Arms and the Man premieres in London.

36. 1898 - The Spanish - American War begins; the US Navy starts a blockade of Cuban ports.

37. 1902 - The 6th Boston Marathon is won by Sam Mellor.

38. 1904 - Ty Cobb makes his pro debut for Augusta.

39. 1905 - The elective assembly of Crete proclaims union with Greece.

40. 1908 - American polar explorer Frederick Cook claims to have reached the North Pole (disputed).

41. 1913 - The 17th Boston Marathon is won by Fritz Carlson.

42. 1914 - US marines occupy Vera Cruz, a major Mexican port.

43. 1916 - The Aud is captured by the British Navy; Roger Casement lands in Ireland and is arrested.

44. 1918 - German fighter ace Manfred von Richthofen, "the Red Baron", is shot down and killed over Vaux - sur - Somme in France.

45. 1919 - The 23rd Boston Marathon is won by Carl Linder.

46. 1920 - John Galsworthy's Skin Game premieres in London.

47. 1922 - The first Aggie Muster is held.

48. 1944 - French women obtain the right to vote.

49. 1945 - Soviet forces enter Berlin.

50. 1960 - Brasília is officially inaugurated as the capital of Brazil.