1. 325 - The First Council of Nicaea, the first ecumenical council of Christian bishops, is held at Nicaea, Asia Minor.

2. 685 - The Battle of Nechtans Mere / Dun Nechtain: The Picts led by Brude mac Beli defeat the Northumbrians led by their King Ecgfrith in Scotland.

3. 1217 - The Second Battle of Lincoln is fought near Lincoln, England, resulting in the defeat of Prince Louis of France by William Marshal, 2nd Earl of Pembroke.

4. 1293 - An earthquake strikes Kamakura, Japan, killing 30,000 people.

5. 1293 - King Sancho IV of Castile creates the study of general schools of Alcalá.

6. 1303 - The Treaty of Paris restores Gascony to the English and arranges the marriage of English Prince Edward to French Princess Isabella.

7. 1310 - Shoes are made for both right and left feet.

8. 1347 - Rienzo calls Rome for a people's tribunal.

9. 1495 - French King Charles VIII leaves Naples.

10. 1498 - Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama arrives at Calicut, India, becoming the first European to reach India by sea.

11. 1501 - Portuguese explorer João da Nova Castelh discovers the Ascension Islands.

12. 1521 - Ignatius Loyola is seriously wounded by a cannonball.

13. 1524 - The Duke of Albany leaves Scotland.

14. 1570 - Ortelius' Theatrum Orbis Terrarum is published.

15. 1609 - Shakespeare's sonnets are first published in London, perhaps illicitly, by publisher Thomas Thorpe.

16. 1631 - Magdeburg in Germany is seized by forces of the Holy Roman Empire under Earl Johann Tilly, and most inhabitants are massacred, one of the bloodiest incidents of the Thirty Years' War.

17. 1639 - Dorchester, Massachusetts forms the first school funded by local taxes.

18. 1645 - The Qing army captures Yangzhou and begins the "Ten - day Massacre in Yangzhou", during which about 800,000 people are killed.

19. 1690 - England passes the Act of Grace, forgiving followers of James II.

20. 1704 - Elias Neau forms a school for slaves in New York.

21. 1747 - The origin of International Clinical Trials Day.

22. 1774 - The British pass the second of the Intolerable Acts: the Massachusetts Government Act, giving the British - appointed governor wide - ranging powers.

23. 1775 - The citizens of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina declare independence from Great Britain.

24. 1784 - Britain and the Netherlands sign the Peace Treaty (Peace of Paris).

25. 1799 - French writer Balzac is born.

26. 1825 - Charles X becomes King of France.

27. 1830 - The first railroad timetable is published in a newspaper (Baltimore American).

28. 1830 - D. Hyde patents the fountain pen.

29. 1835 - Otto is named the first modern King of Greece.

30. 1840 - York Minster is badly damaged by fire.

31. 1845 - The first legislative assembly convenes in Hawaii.

32. 1845 - HMS Erebus and HMS Terror with 134 men under John Franklin sail from the River Thames in England, beginning a disastrous expedition to find the Northwest Passage. All hands are lost.

33. 1861 - The cornerstone of the University of Washington is laid in Seattle.

34. 1861 - Kentucky proclaims its neutrality in the Civil War.

35. 1861 - North Carolina becomes the 11th and last state to secede from the Union.

36. 1862 - US President Abraham Lincoln signs into law the Homestead Act to provide cheap land for the settlement of the American West (80 million acres by 1900).

37. 1864 - The battle at Ware Bottom Church, Virginia, results in 1,400 killed or injured.

38. 1864 - The Spotsylvania Campaign in the US Civil War ends after 10,920 killed or injured.

39. 1867 - The British Parliament rejects John Stuart Mill's proposals on women's suffrage.

40. 1867 - The foundation of the Royal Albert Hall of Arts and Sciences is laid by Queen Victoria in London.

41. 1873 - Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis patent the first blue jeans with copper rivets.

42. 1873 - The Canadian Parliament forms the North - West Mounted Police to maintain law and order in western Canada.

43. 1875 - The International Bureau of Weights and Measures is formed by the signing of the Metre Convention Treaty by 17 states, and prototypes of the meter and the kilogram are selected.

44. 1882 - Germany, Austria - Hungary, and Italy sign the Triple Alliance.

45. 1882 - The Gotthard rail tunnel between Switzerland and Italy opens.

46. 1882 - Henrik Ibsen's play Ghosts (Gengangere) premieres in Chicago.

47. 1900 - The second Summer Olympic Games open in Paris, France.

48. 1902 - The United States withdraws its troops from Cuba as the first Cuban President, Tomás Estrada Palma, takes power.

49. 1917 - The Turkish government authorizes Jews to return to Tel Aviv and Jaffa.

50. 1926 - The Belgian government of Jaspar takes power.

51. 1926 - The Railway Labor Act becomes law in the USA.