Today:
1534: Jacques Cartier is the first European to reach Prince Edward Island.
1613: The Globe Theatre in London, where many of Shakespeare’s plays debuted, burns down during a performance of “Henry VIII.”
1767: The British Parliament passes the Townshend Acts, imposing duties on goods imported into the American colonies.
1927: The first trans-Pacific airplane flight is completed by U.S. Army Air Corps Lts. Lester J. Maitland and Albert F. Hegenberger, landing in Hawaii after flying from Oakland, California.
1950: An American team composed largely of amateurs defeats England in a major upset at the World Cup in Brazil.
1956: President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Federal Highway Act into law, authorizing the construction of the Interstate Highway System.
1972: In Furman v. Georgia, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that capital punishment, as it is currently employed, is unconstitutional.
1974: Isabel Perón is sworn in as the leader of Argentina, becoming the Western Hemisphere’s first female head of government.
1995: The U.S. space shuttle Atlantis docks with the Russian Mir space station, forming the largest man-made satellite ever to orbit Earth.
2007: Apple Inc. releases its first mobile “smartphone,” the iPhone, which revolutionizes the industry.