1542 ― Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo discovers California, at San Diego Bay
1781 ― Siege of Yorktown begins, last battle of the Revolutionary War
1867 ― Toronto becomes the capital of Ontario
1868 ― The Battle of Alcolea causes Queen Isabella II of Spain to flee to France
1879 ― Sydney Australia inaugurates steam motor tram route
1906 ― US troops reoccupy Cuba, stay until 1909
1912 ― "Kiche Maru" sinks off Japan, killing 1,000
1914 ― German forces move into Antwerp Belgium (WWI)
1922 ― Mussolini marches on Rome
1928 ― Juan de la Cierva makes first helicopter flight over the English Channel
1937 ― FDR dedicates Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River (Oregon)
1939 ― A Soviet-German treaty agree on the fourth partition of Poland (WWII) and gives Lithuania to the USSR
1944 ― The Battle of Arnhem: Germans defeat British airborne in the Netherlands
1958 ― Guinea votes for independence from France
1961 ― Syria withdraws from United Arab Republic
1964 ― Australia beats the U.S. in first clay court Davis Cup
1965 ― Lava flows kill at least 350 (Taal, the Philippines)
1972 ― Japan and Communist China agree to re-establish diplomatic relations
1976 ― Muhammad Ali retains heavyweight boxing championship in a close 15-round decision over Ken Norton at
Yankee Stadium
1978 ― Israeli Knesset endorses Camp David accord
1980 ― Jaromir Wagner is 1st to fly the Atlantic standing on the wing
1981 ― Joseph Paul Franklin, avowed racist, sentenced to life imprisonment for killing 2 black joggers in Salt Lake City
1986 ― Record 23,000 start in a marathon (Mexico City)
1990 ― Marvin Gaye gets a star on Hollywood's walk of fame