1. In 1374 BC, a solar eclipse was observed in Ugarit by Mesopotamian astronomers.

2. In 1294, John II became the Duke of Brabant and Limburg.

3. In 1342, Count Hartmann II became the ruler of Vaduz (Liechtenstein).

4. In 1382, the Battle of Beverhoutsveld took place near Bruges in modern - day Belgium, where the army of Ghent defeated a drunken Bruges militia.

5. In 1491, Kongo monarch Nk Uwu Nzinga was baptized by Portuguese missionaries and adopted the baptismal name of João I.

6. In 1494, Christopher Columbus discovered Jamaica.

7. In 1512, Pope Julius II opened the Fifth Council of Lateran at St. John Lateran Basilica in Rome.

8. In 1537, the strategic city of Santa Cruz de Mompox was founded on the Magdalena River (modern - day Colombia) by Spanish conquistadors.

9. In 1558, Ferdinand I was officially appointed Holy Roman Emperor after his brother Charles abdicated in 1556.

10. In 1616, the Treaty of Loudun ended the French civil war.

11. In 1621, after confessing to corruption, Lord Chancellor of England Francis Bacon was sentenced to imprisonment in the Tower of London, a large £40,000 fine, and banishment from court, parliament, and public office.

12. In 1624, the Spanish silver fleet sailed to Panama.

13. In 1629, French Huguenot leader Duke de Rohan signed an accord with Spain.

14. In 1640, the English upper house accepted the Act of Attainder.

15. In 1654, the bridge at Rowley, Massachusetts, began charging tolls for animals.

16. In 1660, Sweden, Poland, Brandenburg, and Austria signed the Peace of Oliva.

17. In 1661, Johannes Hevelius observed the third transit of Mercury ever to be seen.

18. In 1662, a royal charter was granted to Connecticut.

19. In 1678, a French conquering fleet was at Curaçao, and 1,200 died.

20. In 1715, Edmond Halley observed the total eclipse phenomenon "Baily's Beads".

21. In 1722, Pierre de Marivaux's "La double inconstance" premiered in Paris.

22. In 1747, William IV, Prince of Orange, was appointed Stadtholder of Holland and Utrecht.

23. In 1765, the first North American medical college opened in Philadelphia.

24. In 1791, the Constitution of May 3 was proclaimed by the Great Sejm (parliament) of the Polish - Lithuanian Commonwealth, becoming the first modern constitution in Europe.

25. In 1802, Washington, D.C. was incorporated as a city.

26. In 1808, in the Finnish War, Sweden lost the fortress of Sveaborg to Russia.

27. In 1810, English poet Lord Byron swam across the dangerous Hellespont Strait in Turkey (modern - day Dardanelles).

28. In 1815, the Battle at Tolentino took place, where Austria defeated King Joachim of Naples.

29. In 1822, the Society for the Propagation of the Faith was founded in Lyon, France.

30. In 1830, the first regular steam train passenger service started.

31. In 1837, the University of Athens was founded in Greece.

32. In 1841, New Zealand was proclaimed a colony independent of New South Wales.

33. In 1845, the first African - American lawyer, Macon B. Allen, was admitted to the bar in Massachusetts.

34. In 1846, the Mexican army began the siege of Fort Texas near Brownsville, Texas, during the Mexican - American War.

35. In 1849, the May uprising in Dresden began, which was the last of the German revolutions of 1848.

36. In 1851, the sixth major fire in San Francisco destroyed 1,500 - 2,000 buildings.

37. In 1855, the Antwerp - Rotterdam railway opened.

38. In 1860, Charles XV of Sweden - Norway was crowned king of Sweden.

39. In 1861, General Winfield Scott presented his Anaconda Plan for the North against the South in the American Civil War.

40. In 1863, the Battle of Salem Church in Virginia took place, and the Second Battle of Fredericksburg occurred in Virginia, which was part of the Chancellorsville Campaign of the American Civil War.

41. In 1864, it was the third day of the battle at Alexandria, Louisiana, with a Confederate assault.

42. In 1867, the Hudson's Bay Company gave up all claims to Vancouver Island.

43. In 1886, M. A. Maclean was elected the first mayor of Vancouver, British Columbia.

44. In 1887, the Nanaimo mine disaster occurred in British Columbia, where an explosion in the mine killed 150 men, which was the province's worst mine disaster.

45. In 1898, Camp Merriman formed at Presidio San Francisco.

46. In 1900, the 26th Kentucky Derby was held, and Jimmy Boland aboard Lieut Gibson won in 2:06.25.

47. In 1901, the Qing Dynasty agreed to pay 450 million taels of silver in compensation to the powers due to the Boxer Rebellion.

48. In 1902, the 28th Kentucky Derby was held, and Jimmy Winkfield on Alan - a - Dale won in 2:08.75.

49. In 1903, the AVC Heracles (SC Heracles '74) soccer team was formed in Almelo.

50. In 1906, British - controlled Egypt took the Sinai Peninsula from Turkey.