| | 1112 - marriage of Ramon Berenguer III of Barcelona and Douce I of Provence, uniting the fortunes of those two states |
| | 1377 - more than 2,000 people of the Italian city of Cesena are slaughtered by Papal Troops (Cesena Bloodbath). |
| | 1451 - Sultan Mehmed II inherits the throne of the Ottoman Empire. |
| | 1488 - Bartolomeu Dias of Portugal lands in Mossel Bay after rounding the Cape of Good Hope at the tip of Africa, becoming the first known European to travel this far south. |
| | 1509 - The Battle of Diu, between Portugal and the Ottoman Empire takes place in Diu, India. |
| | 1690 - The colony of Massachusetts issues the first paper money in America. |
| | 1783 - American Revolutionary War: Spain recognizes United States independence. |
| | 1787 - Shays' Rebellion is crushed, ending an uprising that would prompt negotiations that would result in the drafting of the Constitution of the United States. |
| | 1809 - Illinois Territory is created. |
| | 1815 - The first commercial cheese factory is founded (Switzerland). |
| | 1834 - The Baptist State Convention of North Carolina establishes the Wake Forest Manual Labor Institute, today known as Wake Forest University. |
| | 1867 - Prince Mutsuhito becomes Emperor Meiji of Japan. |
| | 1870 - The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution ratified, grants voting rights regardless of race. |
| | 1900 - Gubernatorial candidate William Goebel is assassinated in Frankfort, Kentucky. Former Secretary of State Caleb Powers was later found guilty in a conspiracy to kill Goebel. |
| | 1913 - The Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution ratified, authorizing the Federal government to impose and collect income tax. |
| | 1916 - Parliament buildings in Ottawa, Canada burn down. |
| | 1917 - World War I: The United States breaks off diplomatic relations with Germany a day after Germany announces a new policy of unrestricted submarine warfare. |
| | 1918 - The Twin Peaks Tunnel begins service as the longest streetcar tunnel in the world at 11,920 feet (3,633 meters) long). |
| | 1931 - The Napier earthquake, New Zealand's worst natural disaster, kills 258. |
| | 1941 - World War II: The Nazis forcibly restore Pierre Laval to office in occupied Vichy, France. |
| | 1944 - World War II: United States troops capture the Marshall Islands. |
| | 1945 - World War II: Soviet Union agrees to enter the Pacific Theatre conflict against Japan. |
| | 1947 - Percival Prattis becomes the first African American news correspondent allowed in the United States House and Senate press gallery. |
| | 1947 - Coldest ever temperature recorded in North America at Snag, Yukon, -63 degrees Celsius |
| | 1952 - The earliest known tropical storm makes landfall in South Florida. |
| | 1957 - Senegalese political party Democratic Rally merges into the Senegalese Party of Socialist Action (PSAS). |
| | 1959 - The Day The Music Died: A plane crash kills rock-and-roll performers Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper. |
| | 1966 - The unmanned Soviet Luna 9 spacecraft makes the first controlled rocket-assisted landing on the Moon. |
| | 1967 - Ronald Ryan, the last person to be executed in Australia, is hanged in Pentridge Prison, Melbourne. |
| | 1969 - In Cairo, Yasser Arafat is appointed Palestinian Liberation Organization leader at the Palestinian National Congress. |
| | 1984 - Space Shuttle program: STS-41-B Mission - Astronauts, Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart make first untethered spacewalks using the Manned Maneuvering Unit. |
| | 1988 - Iran-Contra Affair: The United States House of Representatives rejects President Ronald Reagan's request for $36.25 million to aid Nicaraguan Contras. |
| | 1989 - After a stroke, P.W. Botha resigns party leadership and the presidency of South Africa. |
| | 1989 - A military coup overthrows Alfredo Stroessner, dictator of Paraguay since 1954. |
| | 1997 - Sixth general elections held in Pakistan under 1973 constitution. |
| | 1998 - Karla Faye Tucker is executed in Texas becoming the first woman executed in the United States since 1984. |
| | 1998 - Cavalese cable-car disaster: a United States Military pilot causes the death of 20 people when his low-flying plane cuts the cable of a cable-car near Trento, Italy. |
| | 1999 - In Jammu and Kashmir the political party Democratic Janata Dal (Jammu and Kashmir) is revived. |
| | 2004 - Jóannes Eidesgaard becomes Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands. |