| 1520 | Portuguese mariner Ferdinand Magellan finds the westward route to Asia from Europe by rounding South America and entering the Pacific. |
| 1912 | Albanian patriots led by Ismail Qemal proclaim the country's independence. |
| 1916 | During World War I, the first German airplane raid on London takes place. |
| 1943 | The Tehran Conference begins in Iran, with Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin discussing plans for the Allied invasion of Europe. |
| 1960 | Mauritania becomes independent. |
| 1964 | The unmanned Mariner 4 mission to Mars is launched from Cape Kennedy. |
| 1995 | Pres. Bill Clinton signs a measure repealing the federal 55-mph speed limit. |
| 1995 | British Prime Min. John Major and Irish Prime Min. John Bruton announce an agreement aimed at restarting talks on the future of Northern Ireland. |
| 2000 | After three months of the latest Palestinian intifada, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak dissolves the government and calls for new elections. |
| 2001 | Enron Corp., the largest U.S. energy trading company, collapses after smaller rival Dynegy backs out of a planned merger; employees and investors will lose billions of dollars as a result. The collapse is the first in a series of huge corporate scandals. |
| 2002 | 10 Kenyans and 3 Israelis are killed as three suicide bombers attack an Israeli-owned hotel near Mombasa, minutes after assailants with shoulder-fired missiles narrowly miss an Israeli jumbo-jet leaving the Mombasa airport. |
| 2005 | The government of Canadian Prime Min. Paul Martin is ousted by a no-confidence vote in the House of Commons. |
