Today:
1492: The Ensisheim meteorite, the oldest recorded meteorite impact, strikes a wheat field in Alsace, France.
1659: The Treaty of the Pyrenees is signed, ending the Franco-Spanish War.
1665: The London Gazette, the oldest continuously published English newspaper, is first published.
1811: U.S. forces led by William Henry Harrison defeat Shawnee forces in the Battle of Tippecanoe.
1837: Abolitionist printer Elijah P. Lovejoy is murdered by a pro-slavery mob in Alton, Illinois.
1885: The last spike is driven at Craigellachie, British Columbia, completing the Canadian Pacific Railway.
1893: Colorado becomes the second state to grant women the right to vote, and the first by a popular referendum.
1916: Jeannette Rankin of Montana is elected, becoming the first woman to serve in the U.S. Congress.
1917: The October Revolution begins in Russia as Bolsheviks led by Vladimir Lenin storm the Winter Palace in Petrograd.
1991: Basketball player Magic Johnson announces he is HIV-positive and will retire from the NBA.