Today:
1707 – The Act of Union came into effect, uniting the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain.
1753 – Publication of Species Plantarum by Carl Linnaeus, marking the formal start date of plant taxonomy.
1840 – The United Kingdom issued the world’s first adhesive postage stamp, the “Penny Black.”
1886 – The beginning of the general strike for the eight-hour workday in the United States, later commemorated as International Workers’ Day.
1893 – The World’s Columbian Exposition opened in Chicago, celebrating the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s arrival in the New World.
1925 – The All-China Federation of Trade Unions was officially founded.
1945 – Nazi leader Joseph Goebbels committed suicide in Berlin as Soviet forces captured the city.
1960 – An American U-2 spy plane piloted by Francis Gary Powers was shot down over the Soviet Union.
1978 – Naomi Uemura became the first person to reach the North Pole solo.
2004 – The European Union expanded to include 10 new member states, the largest single expansion of the EU.