1271 - In Syria, sultan Baybars conquers the Krak of Chevaliers.
1513 - Explorer Juan Ponce de León declares Florida a territory of Spain.
1730 - Shearith Israel, the first synagogue in New York City, is dedicated.
1767 - Ayutthaya kingdom falls to Burmese invaders.
1808 - The Roman Catholic Diocese of Baltimore was promoted to an archdiocese, with the founding of the dioceses of New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Bardstown (now Louisville) by Pope Pius VII.
1820 - The Venus de Milo is discovered on the Aegean island of Melos.
1832 - Black Hawk War: Around three-hundred United States 6th Infantry troops leave St. Louis, Missouri to fight the Sauk Native Americans.
1942 - World War II: The Japanese take Bataan in the Philippines.
1943 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in an attempt to check inflation, freezes wages and prices, prohibits workers from changing jobs unless the war effort would be aided thereby, and bars rate increases to common carriers and public utilities.
1946 - The last meeting of the League of Nations, the precursor of the United Nations, is held.
1950 - India and Pakistan sign the Liaquat-Nehru Pact.
1952 - U.S. President Harry Truman calls for the seizure of all domestic steel mills to prevent a nationwide strike.
1953 - Mau Mau leader Jomo Kenyatta is convicted by Kenya's British rulers.
1960 - The U.S. Senate approves the Civil Rights Act of 1960 despite Southern senators' marathon filibuster effort.
1968 - BOAC Flight 712 catches fire shortly after take off. As a result of her actions in the accident, Barbara Jane Harrison is awarded a posthumous George Cross, the only GC awarded to a woman in peacetime.
1973 - Thirty-two terrorist bombings in Cyprus take place.
1974 - Hank Aaron hits his 715th home run breaking Babe Ruth's record of 714.
1975 - Frank Robinson manages the Cleveland Indians in his first game as major league baseball's first African American manager.
1985 - Bhopal disaster: India files suit against Union Carbide for the disaster which killed an estimated 2,000 and injured another 200,000.
1987 - Los Angeles Dodgers executive Al Campanis resigns amid controversy over racially-charged remarks he had made while on Nightline.
1989 - South Africa: The Democratic Party is formed from the merger of four parties.
1989 - The two Greek Communist parties, along with smaller left-wing parties, merge to form the Coalition of the Left and Progress in Greece.
1990 - New Democracy wins the national election in Greece.
1992 - Retired tennis great Arthur Ashe announces that he has AIDS, acquired from blood transfusions during one of his two heart surgeries.
1999 - Haryana Gana Parishad, a political party in the Indian state of Haryana, merges with the Indian National Congress.
2000 - Nineteen Marines are killed when an V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft crashes near Marana, Arizona.
2004 - Darfur conflict: The Humanitarian Ceasefire Agreement is signed by the Sudanese government and two rebel groups.
2004 - U.S. National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice testifies before the 9/11 Commission.
2006 - Shedden massacre: The bodies of eight men, all shot to death, are found in a field in Ontario, Canada. The murders are soon linked to the Bandidos motorcycle gang.
2008 - The construction of the world's first building to integrate wind turbines completes, in Bahrain.
