Today:
1521 – Explorer Ferdinand Magellan is killed by natives in the Philippines during the Battle of Mactan.
1565 – Cebu is established as the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines.
1805 – U.S. Marines and Berbers attack the Tripolitan city of Derna during the First Barbary War, marking the first recorded land battle of the United States on foreign soil.
1810 – Ludwig van Beethoven composes “Für Elise.”
1865 – The steamboat SS Sultana explodes on the Mississippi River, killing an estimated 1,800 of the 2,427 passengers in one of the worst maritime disasters in American history.
1941 – German troops occupy Athens during World War II.
1961 – Sierra Leone gains independence from the United Kingdom.
1967 – Expo 67, one of the most successful World’s Fairs, officially opens in Montreal, Canada.
1981 – Xerox introduces the computer mouse as part of its Star workstation.
1994 – South Africa holds its first post-apartheid general election, with Nelson Mandela later elected president.