Today:
66 AD – The Roman Emperor Nero creates the Legio I Italica, a Roman legion used for his campaigns.
530 AD – Boniface II begins his reign as pope of the Roman Catholic Church.
1236 – The Siege of Córdoba ends when Ferdinand III of Castile captures the city from the Moors.
1692 – The last of the Salem witch trials executions take place, with eight people hanged for witchcraft in Massachusetts.
1776 – Nathan Hale, American patriot and spy, is executed by the British for espionage during the American Revolutionary War.
1789 – The office of the U.S. Postmaster General is established.
1862 – President Abraham Lincoln issues the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, declaring that slaves in rebel states will be free as of January 1, 1863.
1888 – The first issue of National Geographic Magazine is published.
1949 – The Soviet Union detonates its first atomic bomb, code-named “RDS-1,” marking its entry into the nuclear arms race.
1991 – The Dead Sea Scrolls are made available to the public for the first time