Pope Leo VIII is appointed to the office of Protonotary and begins his papacy as antipope of Rome.

Pope Leo VIIIProtonotary apostolicAntipopeRome

Béla I is crowned king of Hungary.

Béla I of HungaryKingdom of Hungary in the Middle Ages

Mongol invasion of Rus': Kiev under Daniel of Galicia and Voivode Dmytro falls to the Mongols under Batu Khan.

Mongol invasion of Rus'KievDaniel of GaliciaVoivode DmytroSiege of Kiev (1240)

The city of Quito in Ecuador is founded by Spanish settlers led by Sebastián de Belalcázar.

QuitoEcuadorSebastián de Belalcázar

Colonel Thomas Pride of the New Model Army purges the Long Parliament of MPs sympathetic to King Charles I of England, in order for the King's trial to go ahead; came to be known as "Pride's Purge".

Thomas PrideNew Model ArmyLong ParliamentCharles I of EnglandPride's Purge

Battle of Chamkaur (1704): During the Mughal-Sikh Wars, an outnumbered Sikh Khalsa defeats a Mughal army.

Battle of Chamkaur (1704)KhalsaMughal Empire

Charles Edward Stuart's army begins retreat during the second Jacobite Rising.

Charles Edward StuartJacobite rising of 1745

The first edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica is published.

Encyclopædia Britannica

The U.S. Congress moves from New York City to Philadelphia.

United States CongressNew York CityPhiladelphia

The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, banning slavery.

Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

The first edition of The Washington Post is published.

The Washington Post

The Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., is completed.

Washington Monument

London becomes the world's first city to host licensed taxicabs.

Taxicab

Theodore Roosevelt articulated his "Corollary" to the Monroe Doctrine, stating that the U.S. would intervene in the Western Hemisphere should Latin American governments prove incapable or unstable.

Theodore RooseveltRoosevelt Corollary

A coal mine explosion at Monongah, West Virginia, kills 362 workers.

Monongah mining disasterMonongah, West Virginia

World War I: The Central Powers capture Bucharest.

Central PowersBucharest

Finland declares independence from Russia.

Finnish Declaration of IndependenceRussia

Halifax Explosion: A munitions explosion near Halifax, Nova Scotia kills more than 1,900 people in the largest artificial explosion up to that time.

Halifax ExplosionHalifax, Nova ScotiaLargest artificial non-nuclear explosions

World War I: USS Jacob Jones is the first American destroyer to be sunk by enemy action when it is torpedoed by German submarine SM U-53.

USS Jacob Jones (DD-61)DestroyerTorpedoSM U-53

The Anglo-Irish Treaty is signed in London by British and Irish representatives.

Anglo-Irish TreatyLondon

One year to the day after the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, the Irish Free State comes into existence.

Irish Free State

The government of Colombia sends military forces to suppress a month-long strike by United Fruit Company workers, resulting in an unknown number of deaths.

Banana massacreStrike actionUnited Fruit Company

U.S. federal judge John M. Woolsey rules that James Joyce's novel Ulysses is not obscene.

John M. WoolseyJames JoyceUlysses (novel)

World War II: The United Kingdom and Canada declare war on Finland in support of the Soviet Union during the Continuation War. Camp X opens in Canada to begin training Allied Secret Agents for the War.

Continuation WarCamp XCanada

The Everglades National Park in Florida is dedicated.

Everglades National ParkFlorida

Vladimir Nabokov completes his controversial novel Lolita.

Vladimir NabokovLolita

A violent water polo match between Hungary and the USSR takes place during the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, against the backdrop of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.

Blood in the Water match1956 Summer OlympicsMelbourneHungarian Revolution of 1956

Project Vanguard: A launchpad explosion of Vanguard TV3 thwarts the first United States attempt to launch a satellite into Earth orbit.

Project VanguardLaunch padVanguard TV3Satellite

Adrian Kantrowitz performs the first human heart transplant in the United States.

Adrian Kantrowitz

Pakistan severs diplomatic relations with India, initiating the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.

Indo-Pakistani War of 1971