1. 475 Basiliscus becomes Byzantine emperor, with a coronation ceremony in the Hebdomon Palace in Constantinople.

2. 1493 Last day for all Jews to leave Sicily.

3. 1528 Gustav I of Sweden is crowned King of Sweden, rules for 37 years and becomes known as the "Father of the Nation".

4. 1552 The Dutch west coast is hit by a heavy storm, hundreds killed.

5. 1554 Bayinnaung is crowned King of Burma, goes on to assemble the largest empire in the history of Southeast Asia.

6. 1583 Holland begins use of the Gregorian calendar.

7. 1598 Pope Clement VIII seizes the Duchy of Ferrara on the death of Alfonso.

8. 1616 The Brazilian city of Belém (the entrance gate to the Amazon) is founded by Captain Major Francisco Branco.

9. 1701 Friesland & Groningen (Netherlands) begin use of the Gregorian calendar.

10. 1723 George Frideric Handel's opera "Ottone" premieres at the King's Theatre in London.

11. 1773 The first public museum is established in the North American colonies (Charlestown, SC).

12. 1777 Mission Santa Clara de Asis is founded in California.

13. 1803 The US Senate approves Thomas Jefferson's nomination of James Monroe and Robert Livingstone to negotiate the purchase of New Orleans from France.

14. 1806 The French evacuate Vienna.

15. 1807 A gunpowder - ship explodes in Leiden, Netherlands, 150 die.

16. 1808 The organizational meeting that led to the creation of the Wernerian Natural History Society is held in Edinburgh.

17. 1809 The British take Cayenne (French Guiana) from the French (until 1814).

18. 1812 The first cargo arrives in New Orleans by steam, from Natchez.

19. 1816 France decrees the Bonaparte family excluded from the country forever.

20. 1820 The Astronomical Society of London (now the Royal Astronomical Society) is founded in England.

21. 1836 HMS Beagle with Charles Darwin reaches Sydney, Australia.

22. 1839 Anthracite coal is first used to smelt iron, Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania.

23. 1842 Franciscan nuns begin missionary work on the Netherlands Antilles.

24. 1848 The Palermo rising against the Bourbon Kingdom of the Two Sicilies takes place in Sicily.

25. 1861 Florida state troops demand the surrender of Fort Pickens (US Civil War).

26. 1863 President Davis delivers his "State of the Confederacy" address.

27. 1866 The Royal Aeronautical Society is formed in London.

28. 1867 Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy's play "Smert Ioanna Grozno Go" (The Death of Ivan the Terrible) premieres in St. Petersburg.

29. 1872 Yohannes IV is crowned Emperor of Ethiopia in Axum, the first imperial coronation in Axum in over 200 years.

30. 1895 The National Trust is founded in Britain.