Today:
1. 1492: Queen Isabella of Castile issued the Alhambra Decree, ordering the expulsion of Jews from Spain unless they converted to Christianity.
2. 1774: The British Parliament passed the Coercive Acts, also known as the Intolerable Acts, in response to the Boston Tea Party, further escalating tensions between Britain and the American colonies.
3. 1889: The Eiffel Tower was officially opened to the public during the Exposition Universelle (World’s Fair) in Paris.
4. 1906: The Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States, later renamed the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), was established to set rules for college sports in the United States.
5. 1917: The United States took possession of the Danish West Indies, renaming them the U.S. Virgin Islands.
6. 1930: The Motion Picture Production Code, also known as the Hays Code, was adopted by Hollywood studios, establishing censorship guidelines for film content in the United States.
7. 1949: Newfoundland officially became the 10th province of Canada.
8. 1966: The Soviet Union launched Luna 10, the first spacecraft to orbit the Moon.
9. 1970: The Concorde, a supersonic passenger airliner, made its first supersonic flight.
10. 1992: The U.S. Navy’s USS Missouri, the last active United States battleship, was decommissioned in Long Beach, California, ending the era of battleships in the U.S. Navy.