Today:
1776: British forces landed at Kip’s Bay, Manhattan, during the American Revolutionary War, leading to the occupation of New York City.
1821: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua declared their independence from Spain.
1830: The Liverpool and Manchester Railway, the world’s first inter-city passenger railway, officially opened.
1835: Charles Darwin, aboard HMS Beagle, arrived at the Galápagos Islands, where his observations would contribute to his theory of evolution.
1916: During the Battle of the Somme in World War I, tanks were used for the first time in combat by the British Army.
1935: The Nuremberg Laws were enacted in Nazi Germany, stripping Jewish citizens of their rights and institutionalizing racial theories.
1950: During the Korean War, United States forces made an amphibious landing at Inchon, a pivotal event in the conflict.
1963: A bomb planted by the Ku Klux Klan exploded at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, killing four young African American girls.
1971: The environmental organization Greenpeace was founded in Vancouver, Canada, when a ship set sail to protest nuclear testing.
2008: The global financial services firm Lehman Brothers filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, marking a major turning point in the 2008 financial crisis.