1607 – An expedition led by Captain Christopher Newport arrived at Jamestown, Virginia. The passengers went ashore the next day and this site became the first permanent settlement English colony in America.
1779 – The War of Bavarian Succession ended.
1787 – Captain Arthur Phillip left Britain for Australia. He successfully landed eleven ships full of convicts on January 18, 1788, at Botany Bay. The group moved north eight days later and settled at Port Jackson.
1821 – The first practical printing press was patented in the U.S. by Samuel Rust.
1846 – The U.S. declared that war existed with Mexico.
1861 – Britain declared its neutrality in the American Civil War.
1864 – The Battle of Resaca commenced as Union General Sherman fought towards Atlanta during the American Civil War.
1865 – The last land engagement of the American Civil War was fought at the Battle of Palmito Ranch in far south Texas, more than a month after Gen. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox, VA.
1880 – Thomas Edison tested his experimental electric railway in Menlo Park.
1888 – Slavery was abolished in Brazil.
1897 – Guglielmo Marconi sent the world’s first wireless communication over open sea.
1912 – Royal Flying Corps was established in England.
1913 – Igor Sikorsky flew the first four engine aircraft.
1940 – Winston Churchill made his first speech as the prime minister of Britain.
1958 – French troops took control of Algiers.
1968 – Peace talks between the U.S. and North Vietnam began in Paris.
1998 – India did a second round of nuclear tests. The first round had been done 2 days earlier. Within hours the U.S. and Japan imposed tough economic sanctions. India claimed that the tests were necessary to maintain India’s national security.
1999 – In Moscow, the impeachment of Russian President Boris Yeltsin began.
