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Events

1411 - Peace of Toru? 1411 signed in Toru?, Poland

1662 - The Chinese general Koxinga seizes the island of Taiwan after a nine-month siege.

1713 - The Kalabalik or Tumult in Bendery results from the Ottoman sultan's order that his unwelcome guest, King Charles XII of Sweden, be seized.

1788 - Isaac Briggs and William Longstreet patent the steamboat.

1790 - In New York City the Supreme Court of the United States convenes for the first time.

1793 - France declares war on the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.

1796 - The capital of Upper Canada is moved from Newark to York.

1814 - Mayon Volcano, in the Philippines, erupts, killing around 1,200 people; most devastating eruption of Mayon Volcano.

1856 - Auburn University is chartered as the East Alabama Male College.

1861 - American Civil War: Texas secedes from the United States.

1862 - Julia Ward Howe's "Battle Hymn of the Republic" is published for the first time in the Atlantic Monthly.

1880 - The first edition of theatrical newspaper The Stage is published.

1884 - Edition one of the Oxford English Dictionary is published.

 
 

1893 - Thomas A. Edison finishes construction of the first motion picture studio, the Black Maria (West Orange, New Jersey).

1896 - The opera La bohème premieres (Turin).

1908 - King Carlos I of Portugal and his son, Prince Luis Filipe are killed in Terreiro do Paco, Lisbon.

1913 - New York City's Grand Central Terminal opens as the world's largest train station.

1918 - Russia adopts the Gregorian Calendar.

1920 - The Royal Canadian Mounted Police begin operations.

1924 - United Kingdom recognizes USSR.

1929 - Frenchman Charles Rigoulet is the first weightlifter to lift over 400 pounds (181 kg) in the "clean and jerk" method.

1943 - World War II: Vidkun Quisling is appointed Premier of Norway by the Nazi occupiers.

1946 - Trygve Lie of Norway is picked to be the first United Nations Secretary General.

1958 - Merger of Egypt and Syria to form the United Arab Republic, which lasted until 1961.

1960 - Four black students stage a sit-in at a lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina.

1965 - Churchill River, Newfoundland - Hamilton River in Labrador renamed Churchill River in honour of Winston Churchill.

 
 

1968 - Vietnam War: Viet Cong officer Nguyen Van Lem is executed by Nguyen Ngoc Loan a South Vietnamese National Police Chief. The execution was videotaped and photographed by Eddie Adams and helped sway public opinion against the war.

1968 - Official unification of the three former military services of Canada, the Royal Canadian Navy, the Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Air Force became the united Canadian Armed Forces.

1968 - Merger of the historic New York Central Railroad and Pennsylvania Railroad to form ill-fated Penn Central Transportation.

1974 - In São Paulo, Brazil, a fire in a 25-story office building kills 189 and injures 293.

1974 - Kuala Lumpur declared a Federal Territory.

1978 - Director Roman Polanski skips bail and flees to France after pleading guilty to charges of engaging in sex with a 13-year-old girl.

1979 - Convicted bank robber Patty Hearst is released from prison after her sentence was commuted by President Jimmy Carter.

1979 - Ayatollah Khomeini is welcomed back into Tehran, Iran after nearly 15 years of exile.

1981 - Trevor Chappell bowls his infamous "Underarm Ball" to Brian McKechnie to prevent New Zealand scoring a 6, and tying the ODI, on the last ball of the third match in the final of the Benson & Hedges World Series Cup. It directly led to the banning of underarm bowling by the International Cricket Council as not within the spirit of the game.

1982 - Senegal and Gambia form a loose confederation known as Senegambia.

1982 - David Letterman begins an 11-year run as the host of the NBC program Late Night with David Letterman.

1989 - The Western Australian towns of Kalgoorlie and Boulder amalgamate to form the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder.

1992 - The Chief Judicial Magistrate of Bhopal court declares Warren Anderson, ex-CEO of Union Carbide, a fugitive under Indian law for failing to appear in the Bhopal Disaster case.

1994 - In Portland, Oregon Tonya Harding's ex-husband Jeff Gillooly pleads guilty for his role in attacking figure skater Nancy Kerrigan.

1995 - Manic Street Preachers lyricist Richey James Edwards goes missing from the Embassy Hotel in London, UK.

1996 - Communications Decency Act is passed by the U.S. Congress.

1999 - North Dakota Public Radio is launched.

2003 - Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates over Texas upon reentry killing all seven astronauts onboard.

2004 - At least 244 people trampled to death in a stampede at the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.

2004 - Janet Jackson exposes her breast on American television during the half-time show of the Super Bowl, prompting the Nipplegate controversy which was accociated with riots.

2005 - Nepal King Gyanendra exercised Coup d'état to capture the democracy becoming Chairman of the Councils of ministers.

2005 - Canada passes Bill C-38, the Civil Marriage Act. The Act passed by a 158-133 majority, and was approved in the Senate in July, making Canada the 4th country to sanction homosexual marriage.

 

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