361 – Emperor Constantius II dies of a fever at Mopsuestia in Cilicia, on his deathbed he is baptised and declares his cousin Julian rightful successor.
644 – Umar ibn al-Khattab, the second Muslim caliph, is assassinated by a Persian slave in Medina.
1333 – The River Arno flooding causing massive damage in Florence as recorded by the Florentine chronicler Giovanni Villani.
1493 – Christopher Columbus first sights the island of Dominica in the Caribbean Sea.
1534 – English Parliament passes the first Act of Supremacy, making King Henry VIII head of the Anglican Church, supplanting the pope and the Roman Catholic Church.
1817 – The Bank of Montreal, Canada’s oldest chartered bank, opens in Montreal.
1838 – The Times of India, the world’s largest circulated English language daily broadsheet newspaper is founded as The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce.
1911 – Chevrolet officially enters the automobile market in competition with the Ford Model T.
1943 – World War II: Five hundred aircraft of the U.S. 8th Air Force devastate Wilhelmshaven harbor in Germany.
1954 – The first Godzilla film is released and marks the first appearance of the character of the same name.
1957 – Sputnik program: The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 2. On board is the first animal to enter orbit, a dog named Laika.
1960 – The land that would become the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge was established by an Act of Congress after a year-long legal battle that pitted local residents against Port Authority of New York and New Jersey officials wishing to turn the Great Swamp into a major regional airport for jet aircraft.
1964 – Washington D.C. residents are able to vote in a presidential election for the first time.
1973 – Mariner program: NASA launches the Mariner 10 toward Mercury. On March 29, 1974, it becomes the first space probe to reach that planet.
1986 – Iran-Contra affair: The Lebanese magazine Ash-Shiraa reports that the United States has been secretly selling weapons to Iran in order to secure the release of seven American hostages held by pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon.
2014 – One World Trade Center officially opens.
Births
1801 – Karl Baedeker, German author and publisher, founded the Baedeker Publishing Company (d. 1859)
1903 – Walker Evans, American photographer and journalist (d. 1975)
Deaths
1949 – Solomon R. Guggenheim, American art collector and philanthropist, founded the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (b. 1861)
1954 – Henri Matisse, French painter and sculptor (b. 1869)