1. In 1377, the Breton troops of Giovanni Acuto, under the command of Robert, Cardinal of Geneva, acting as the legate of Pope Gregory XI, carried out a mass execution of the population (between 2,500 and 5,000) in Cesena, Italy.
2. In 1451, Sultan Mehmed II, the Conqueror, inherited the throne of the Ottoman Empire.
3. In 1468, Johannes Gutenberg, the inventor of Western movable-type printing, died.
4. In 1488, Bartolomeu Dias and his crew were the first Europeans to land on South African soil at Mossel Bay (east of modern Cape Town).
5. In 1509, the Battle of Diu, a naval battle at the port of Diu, India, between Portugal and the Ottoman Empire, established Portuguese trading control.
6. In 1576, Henry of Navarre (the future Henry IV) escaped from Paris.
7. In 1591, the German monarchy formed the Protestant Union of Torgau.
8. In 1634, the most elaborate masque of the Carolinian age - "The Triumph of Peace" was held at Whitehall Palace, London, in front of King Charles I, written by James Shirley with sets by Inigo Jones.
9. In 1653, Cardinal Mazarin returned to Paris from exile.
10. In 1660, General George Monck's army reached London.
11. In 1740, Charles de Bourbon, King of Naples, invited Jews to return to Sicily.
12. In 1743, Philadelphia established a "pest house" to quarantine immigrants.
13. In 1752, the Dutch States-General forbade the export of windmills.
14. In 1781, the Dutch West Indies island of St Eustatia was taken by the British.
15. In 1783, Spain recognized US independence.
16. In 1807, a British military force, under Brigadier-General Sir Samuel Auchmuty, captured the city of Montevideo in the Battle of Montevideo, then part of the Spanish Empire and now the capital of Uruguay (Napoleonic Wars).
17. In 1809, the Territory of Illinois was organized (including present-day Wisconsin). German composer and pianist Felix Mendelssohn was born.
18. In 1815, the world's first commercial cheese factory was established in Switzerland.
19. In 1821, Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman in the United States to receive a medical degree and the first woman on the British medical register, was born.
20. In 1825, the Dutch North Sea coast flooded.
21. In 1830, the sovereignty of Greece was confirmed in a London protocol.
22. In 1834, Wake Forest University was established in North Carolina.
23. In 1836, the Whig Party held its 1st national convention (Albany, NY).
24. In 1844, Hector Berlioz's overture "Carnaval Romain" premiered in Paris.
25. In 1852, Feng Yunshan of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom created the Taiping Calendar.
26. In 1855, the Wisconsin Supreme Court declared the US Fugitive Slave Law unconstitutional.
27. In 1857, an early ice hockey game was played between teams from Swavesey and Over on Mare Fen, England.
28. In 1860, Thomas Clemson took office as the 1st US Superintendent of Agriculture.
29. In 1863, Samuel Clemens first used the pen name Mark Twain in a Virginia City newspaper, the "Territorial Enterprise".
30. In 1864, Sherman's March through Mississippi took place.
31. In 1865, the Hampton Roads Peace Conference was held, and Lincoln and Stephens reached an impasse.
32. In 1867, Prince Mutsuhito, 14, became Emperor Meiji of Japan (1867 - 1912).
33. In 1869, the Booth Theater at 23rd & 6th opened in NYC (Romeo & Juliet).
34. In 1870, the US state of Iowa ratified the 15th amendment of the United States Constitution, allowing suffrage for all races and colors.
35. In 1876, Albert Spalding invested $800 to start a sporting goods company, manufacturing the first official baseball, tennis ball, basketball, golf ball and football.
36. In 1882, circus owner P. T. Barnum bought his world-famous elephant Jumbo.
37. In 1887, to avoid disputed national elections, the US Congress created the Electoral Count Act.
38. In 1892, Russia closed down the Volozhin Yeshiva, a Lithuanian Talmudical college.
39. In 1894, the 1st US steel sailing vessel, Dirigo, was launched at Bath, Maine. Norman Rockwell, an important American painter in the early 20th century, was born.
40. In 1895, Wilhelm Mauseth skated a world record 500 m (46.8 secs).
41. In 1900, gubernatorial candidate William Goebel was assassinated in Frankfort, Kentucky. Rival forces fought for control of the Union Park ball grounds in Baltimore.
42. In 1901, Dutch troops under Gen van Heutsz conquered Batu Ilië on Sumatra. The Japanese civilian militarist group Kokuryukai was founded.
43. In 1903, Frederick Lugard occupied Kano, West Africa.
44. In 1907, Josek Suk's "As Real Symphony", dedicated to his late wife and father-in-law Antonin Dvořák, premiered at the Prague National Theatre, conducted by Karel Kovařovic.
45. In 1908, Panathinaikos was founded in Athens, Greece. The Supreme Court ruled that a union boycott violated the Sherman Antitrust Act.
46. In 1913, the 16th amendment to the US constitution, federal income tax, was ratified. Golden and Cawthorne's musical "Sunshine Girl" premiered in New York City.
47. In 1915, the Turkish & German army reached the Suez Canal.
48. In 1916, Canada's original parliament buildings in Ottawa burned down. Tristan Tzara published the Dada manifesto in Zurich, Switzerland.
49. In 1917, the US ocean liner Housatonic was sunk by a German submarine. On the same day, US President Woodrow Wilson broke off diplomatic relations with Germany.
50. In 1918, the Twin Peaks Tunnel for streetcars began service in San Francisco, at 11,920 feet one of the world's longest. The New York Times began to be distributed nationwide.