588 BC – Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon laid siege to Jerusalem under Zedekiah’s reign.
69 – Otho seized power in Rome, proclaiming himself Emperor of Rome, but rules for only three months before committing suicide.
1493 – Christopher Columbus set sail for Spain from Hispaniola, ending his first voyage to the New World.
1559 Elizabeth I was crowned queen of England in Westminster Abbey.
1622 Molière, (Jean-Baptiste Poquelin) French playwright, was born (d. 1673).
1759 The British Museum opened.
1842 Blessed Mary McKillop, Australian saint, was born (d. 1909)
1870 A political cartoon for the first time symbolised the United StatesDemocratic Party with a donkey (“A Live Jackass Kicking a Dead Lion” byThomas Nast for Harper’s Weekly).
1889 The Coca-Cola Company, then known as the Pemberton Medicine Company, was originally incorporated in Atlanta.
1892 James Naismith published the rules of basketball.
1893 Ivor Novello, Welsh composer and actor, was born (d. 1951).
1902 King Saud of Saudi Arabia, was born (d. 1969).
1906 Aristotle Onassis, Greek shipping magnate, was born (d. 1975).
1909 Jean Bugatti, German-born automobile designer, was born (d. 1939).
1913 Lloyd Bridges, American actor, was born (d. 1998).
1914 Hugh Trevor-Roper, English historian, was born (d. 2003).
1919 Maurice Herzog, French mountaineer, first to ascend an 8000m peak, Annapurna in 1950, was born (d. 2012).
1919 – Boston Molasses Disaster: A large molasses tank in Boston burst and a wave of molasses poured through the streets, killing 21 people and injuring 150 others.
1929 Martin Luther King, Jr., American civil rights leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, was born (d. 1968).
1936 The first building to be completely covered in glass was completed in Toledo, Ohio ( built for the Owens-Illinois Glass Company).
1943 – The world’s largest office building, The Pentagon, was dedicated in Arlington, Virginia.
1966 The government of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa in Nigeria was overthrown in a military coup d’état.
1969 The Soviet Union launched Soyuz 5.
1970 After a 32-month fight for independence from Nigeria, Biafrasurrendered.
1970 United States Vice-President Spiro Agnew’s three-day visit to New Zealand sparked some of the most violent anti-Vietnam War demonstrations seen in this country.
1970 – Muammar al-Qaddafi was proclaimed premier of Libya.
1973 Citing progress in peace negotiations, President Richard Nixon announced the suspension of offensive action in North Vietnam.
1977 The Kälvesta air disaster killed 22 people, the worst air crash in Sweden‘s history.
1986 The Living Seas opened at EPCOT Center in Walt Disney World, Florida.
1991 The United Nations’ deadline for the withdrawal of Iraqi forces from occupied Kuwait expired, preparing the way for the start of Operation Desert Storm.
1992 The international community recognised the independence ofSlovenia and Croatia from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
1993 Salvatore Riina, the Mafia boss known as ‘The Beast’, was arrested in Sicily after three decades as a fugitive.
2001 Wikipedia, a free Wiki content encyclopedia, went online.
2005 – ESA’s SMART-1 lunar orbiter discovered elements including calcium, aluminum, silicon, iron, and other surface elements on the moon.
2009 US Airways Flight 1549 made an emergency landing into the Hudson River shortly after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport in New York City. All passengers and crew members survived.
2013 – A train carrying Egyptian Army recruits derailed near Giza, Greater Cairo, killing 19 and injuring 120 others.
Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia.
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