Today:
1500 – Spanish explorer Vicente Yáñez Pinzón becomes the first European to sight Brazil.
1531 – Lisbon, Portugal, is struck by a devastating earthquake, killing thousands.
1699 – The Treaty of Karlowitz is signed, ending the Austro-Ottoman War and marking the Ottoman Empire’s loss of significant territory in Europe.
1788 – The British First Fleet arrives at Port Jackson, establishing Sydney, the first European settlement in Australia.
1837 – Michigan is admitted as the 26th state of the United States.
1838 – Tennessee enacts the first prohibition law in the United States.
1905 – The world’s largest diamond, the Cullinan Diamond, is found in South Africa.
1926 – Scottish inventor John Logie Baird demonstrates the first working television system.
1942 – The first United States forces arrive in Europe during World War II.
1998 – President Bill Clinton denies allegations of an affair with Monica Lewinsky during a televised speech.