1440 - Christopher of Bavaria is appointed King of Denmark.
1682 - Robert Cavelier de La Salle discovers the mouth of the Mississippi River, claims it for France and names it Louisiana.
1865 - American Civil War: Robert E. Lee surrenders the Army of Northern Virginia (26,765 troops) to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia, effectively ending the war.
1867 - Alaska purchase: Passing by a single vote, the United States Senate ratifies a treaty with Russia for the purchase of Alaska.
1909 - The U.S. Congress passes the Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act.
1937 - The Kamikaze arrives at Croydon Airport in London
1939 - Marian Anderson sings at the Lincoln Memorial, after being denied the right to sing at the Daughters of the American Revolution's Constitution Hall.
1940 - World War II: Germany invades Denmark and Norway.
1942 - World War II: The Battle of Bataan/Bataan Death March
1945 - World War II: The German pocket battleship Admiral Scheer is sunk.
1945 - World War II: The Battle of Königsberg, in East Prussia, ends.
1945 - The United States Atomic Energy Commission is formed.
1947 - The Glazier-Higgins-Woodward tornadoes kill 181 and injure 970 in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas.
1947 - The Journey of Reconciliation, the first interracial Freedom Ride begins through the upper South in violation of Jim Crow laws. The riders wanted enforcement of the United States Supreme Court's 1946 Irene Morgan decision that banned racial segregation in interstate travel.
1948 - Jorge Eliécer Gaitán's assassination provokes a violent riot in Bogotá (the Bogotazo), and a further ten years of violence in Colombia (La violencia).
1952 - Hugo Ballivian's government is overthrown by the Bolivian National Revolution, starting a period of agrarian reform, universal suffrage and the nationalisation of tin mines
1953 - Warner Brothers premieres the first 3-D film, entitled House of Wax.
1957 - The Suez Canal in Egypt is cleared and opens to shipping.
1959 - Mercury program: NASA announces the selection of the United States' first seven astronauts, whom the news media quickly dub the "Mercury Seven".
1967 - The first Boeing 737 (a 100 series) makes its maiden flight.
1969 - The "Chicago Eight" plead not guilty to federal charges of conspiracy to incite a riot at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois.
1969 - The first British-built Concorde 002 makes its maiden flight from Filton to RAF Fairford.
1975 - The first game of the Philippine Basketball Association, the second oldest professional basketball league in the world.
1991 - Georgia declares its independence from the Soviet Union.
1992 - A U.S. Federal Court finds former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega guilty of drug and racketeering charges. He is sentenced to 30 years in prison.
1992 - John Major's Conservative Party wins an unprecedented fourth general election victory in the United Kingdom.
1999 - Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara, President of Niger, is assassinated.
2002 - The funeral of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother at Westminster Abbey.
2003 - 2003 invasion of Iraq: Baghdad falls to American forces.
2005 - His Royal Highness Charles, Prince of Wales marries Camilla Parker Bowles.
