1086 – King Canute IV of Denmark is killed by rebellious peasants.
1212 – The most severe of several early fires of London burns most of the city to the ground.
1806 – The Vellore Mutiny is the first instance of a mutiny by Indian sepoys against the British East India Company.
1821 – The United States takes possession of its newly bought territory of Florida from Spain.
1850 – U.S. President Millard Fillmore is sworn in, a day after becoming President upon Zachary Taylor’s death.
1869 – Gävle, Sweden, is largely destroyed in a fire; 80% of its 10,000 residents are left homeless.
1913 – The temperature in Death Valley, California, hits 134 °F (57 °C), the highest temperature ever to be recorded on Earth.
1925 – Meher Baba begins his silence of 44 years. His followers observe Silence Day on this date in commemoration.
1925 – Scopes Trial: In Dayton, Tennessee, the so-called “Monkey Trial” begins of John T. Scopes, a young high school science teacher accused of teaching evolution in violation of the Butler Act.
1962 – Telstar, the world’s first communications satellite, is launched into orbit.
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The Massacre of the Innocents by Peter Paul Rubens depicts the episode of the biblical Massacre of the Innocents of Bethlehem. It dates from around 1636-38.
1966 – The Chicago Freedom Movement, led by Martin Luther King, Jr., holds a rally at Soldier Field in Chicago. As many as 60,000 people attend.
1973 – The Bahamas gain full independence within the Commonwealth of Nations.
1991 – The South African cricket team is readmitted into the International Cricket Council following the end of Apartheid.
1991 – Boris Yeltsin takes office as the first elected President of Russia.
1997 – In London, scientists report the findings of the DNA analysis of a Neanderthal skeleton which supports the “out of Africa theory” of human evolution, placing an “African Eve” at 100,000 to 200,000 years ago.
1998 – The Diocese of Dallas agrees to pay $23.4 million to nine former altar boys who claimed they were sexually abused by Rudolph Kos, a former priest.
2002 – At a Sotheby’s auction, Peter Paul Rubens’ painting The Massacre of the Innocents is sold for £49.5 million (US$76.2 million) to Lord Thomson.
2011 – Russian cruise ship Bulgaria sinks near Syukeyevo, Tatarstan, causing 122 deaths.
Births
1509 John Calvin, Protestant religious reformer/theologian
1808 Solomon Northup, American abolitionist and author (12 Years a Slave)
Deaths
1692 Bridget Bishop, first person to be hanged in Salem witch trials
Isabel Tessier