tdih

Today:

1. 1513: Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León sighted Florida, becoming the first European to explore what is now the southeastern United States.

2. 1792: The Coinage Act was passed in the United States, establishing the United States Mint and authorizing the production of the U.S. dollar.

3. 1801: Napoleonic Wars: The British Royal Navy defeated the Danish-Norwegian fleet in the Battle of Copenhagen.

4. 1863: The first wartime conscription law in the United States went into effect during the American Civil War.

5. 1902: The first full-time movie theater in the United States, Electric Theatre, opened in Los Angeles, California.

6. 1917: President Woodrow Wilson asked the U.S. Congress to declare war against Germany, entering the United States into World War I.

7. 1972: The first successful test flight of the Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk, a stealth aircraft, took place at Groom Lake, Nevada.

8. 1982: Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands, initiating the Falklands War with the United Kingdom.

9. 2005: Pope John Paul II died at the Vatican, ending his papacy that lasted for over 26 years.

10. 2013: The United Nations General Assembly approved the first-ever treaty regulating the international arms trade, known as the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT).