Today:
1494: Spain and Portugal signed the Treaty of Tordesillas, dividing the newly discovered lands outside Europe between them.
1692: A massive earthquake devastated Port Royal, Jamaica, killing thousands.
1776: Richard Henry Lee of Virginia introduced a resolution for independence to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia.
1893: Mohandas K. Gandhi committed his first act of civil disobedience in South Africa, refusing to comply with racial segregation rules on a train.
1929: Vatican City became an independent sovereign state with the ratification of the Lateran Treaty.
1942: The Battle of Midway, a decisive American victory over Japan in World War II, ended.
1965: The U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Connecticut law banning contraception in the landmark case of Griswold v. Connecticut.
1967: During the Six-Day War, Israeli soldiers entered Jerusalem.
1968: The world’s first Legoland resort opened in Billund, Denmark.
1982: Graceland, Elvis Presley’s home in Memphis, Tennessee, opened to the public for tours.