1810 - First Government Junta in Chile. Though supposed to rule only in the absence of the king, it was in fact the first step towards independence from Spain, and is commemorated as such.
1812 - The 1812 Fire of Moscow dies down after destroying more than three quarters of the city. Napoleon returns from the Petrovsky Palace to the Moscow Kremlin, spared from the fire.
1837 - Tiffany and Co. (first named Tiffany & Young) is founded by Charles Lewis Tiffany and Teddy Young in New York City. The store was called a "stationery and fancy goods emporium".
1838 - The Anti-Corn Law League is established by Richard Cobden.
1850 - The U.S. Congress passes the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850.
1851 - First publication of The New-York Daily Times, which would become The New York Times.
1863 - American Civil War: The Battle of Chickamauga takes place.
1948 - Margaret Chase Smith of Maine becomes the first woman elected to the US Senate without completing another senator's term when she defeats Democratic opponent Adrian Scolten.
1948 - Ralph Bunche is confirmed as acting United Nations mediator for Palestine and Israel.
1948 - Yoni Abramski, age 12, shot and killed by Jordanian sniper in Jerusalem.
1960 - Fidel Castro arrives in New York City as the head of the Cuban delegation to the United Nations.
1961 - U.N. Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld dies in a plane crash while attempting to negotiate peace in the war-torn Katanga region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
1962 - Rwanda, Burundi and Jamaica are admitted to the United Nations.
1964 - Constantine II of Greece marries Danish princess Anne-Marie.
1964 - North Vietnamese Army begins infiltration of South Vietnam.
1970 - Jimi Hendrix found dead in his hotel room in London
1972 - First Ugandans expelled by Idi Amin arrive in the United Kingdom.
1973 - East Germany and West Germany are admitted to the United Nations.
1975 - Patty Hearst is arrested after a year on the FBI Most Wanted List.
1976 - Mao Zedong's funeral takes place in Beijing.
1977 - Voyager I takes first photograph of the Earth and the Moon together.
1978 - Leaders of Israel and Egypt reach a settlement for the Middle East at Camp David.
1980 - Soyuz 38 carries 2 cosmonauts (1 Cuban) to Salyut 6 space station.
1981 - Assemblée Nationale votes to abolish capital punishment in France.
1982 - Christian militia begin killing six-hundred Palestinians in Lebanon.
1984 - Joe Kittinger completes the first solo balloon crossing of the Atlantic.
1988 - End of pro-democracy uprisings in Myanmar after a bloody military coup by the State Law and Order Restoration Council. Thousands, mostly monks and civilians (primarily students) are killed by the Tatmadaw.
1990 - Liechtenstein becomes a member of the United Nations.
1991 - Yugoslavia begins a naval blockade of 7 Adriatic port cities.
1992 - An explosion rocks Giant Mine at the height of a labor dispute, killing 9 replacement workers.
1997 - United States media magnate Ted Turner donates USD $1 billion to the United Nations.
1997 - Voters in Wales vote yes (50.3%) on a referendum on Welsh autonomy.
2001 - First mailing of anthrax letters from Trenton, New Jersey in the 2001 anthrax attacks.
2003 - The United Kingdom's Local Government Act 2003, repealing controversial Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988, receives Royal Assent.
2006 - Right wing protesters riot the building of the Hungarian Television in Budapest, Hungary, one day after an audio tape was made public, in which Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány admitted he and his party lied during the 2006 general elections.
2007 - Pervez Musharraf announces that he will step down as army chief and restore civilian rule to Pakistan, but only after he is re-elected president.
2007 - Buddhist monks join anti-government protesters in Myanmar, starting what some called the Saffron Revolution.
2011 - Israel and the Palestinian militant organization Hamas begin a major prisoner swap, in which the captured Israeli Army soldier Gilad Shalit is released by Hamas in exchange for 1,027 Palestinian and Israeli-Arab prisoners held in Israel, including 280 prisoners serving life sentences for planning and perpetrating terror attacks.
