Today:
1565: Portuguese knight Estácio de Sá founded the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with the goal of fortifying the area against French colonists.
1692: The Salem witch trials officially began in the Massachusetts Bay Colony as Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne, and Tituba were brought before local magistrates.
1781: The Continental Congress announced the formal ratification of the Articles of Confederation, which served as the first constitution of the United States.
1803: Ohio was admitted to the Union as the 17th U.S. state, becoming the first state created from the Northwest Territory.
1815: Napoleon Bonaparte landed in France after escaping from exile on the island of Elba, beginning the period known as the Hundred Days.
1872: President Ulysses S. Grant signed the act that established Yellowstone National Park as the first national park in the United States and the world.
1896: French physicist Henri Becquerel discovered the phenomenon of radioactivity while experimenting with uranium salts and photographic plates.
1932: The 20-month-old son of famed aviator Charles Lindbergh was kidnapped from his home in New Jersey, sparking a massive international investigation.
1961: President John F. Kennedy issued an executive order establishing the Peace Corps to promote world peace and friendship through volunteer service.
1966: The Soviet space probe Venera 3 crashed on the surface of Venus, becoming the first human-made spacecraft to reach the surface of another planet.