1520

 Faced with an Aztec revolt against their rule, forces under the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés fight their way out of Tenochtitlan at heavy cost.

1859

Jean-François Gravelet, known as Blondin, crossed the Niagara Falls on a tightrope that was 335 metres (1,100 feet) long and 49 metres (160 feet) above the water.

1893

The Excelsior diamond—which, weighing 995 carats, was the largest uncut diamond ever found to that time—was discovered in the De Beers mine at Jagersfontein, Orange Free State.

1905

In Russia, the “Potemkin” arrives at Odessa, where sailors take the bodies of dead crewman ashore; sailors join civilians in revolutionary actions of the ‘1905 Revolution’.

1908

An enormous aerial explosion, presumably caused by a comet fragment colliding with Earth, flattened approximately 2,000 square km (500,000 acres) of pine forest near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in central Siberia.

1908

At 41 years, 3 months future Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Cy Young becomes oldest player to record a third career no-hitter as Boston Red Sox beat NY Highlanders, 8-0.

1909

Jack Johnson fights Tony Ross to a no decision in 6 rounds at Duquesne Gardens, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to retain his heavyweight boxing title.

1925

Charles Jenkins is granted the U.S. patent for Transmitting Pictures over Wireless (early television).

1934

“Night of Long Knives” – Adolf Hitler stages a bloody purge of the Nazi party.

1936

American author Margaret Mitchell published Gone with the Wind, a sweeping romance set during the Civil War; the novel later won a Pulitzer Prize and was adapted into a hugely successful film.

1937

The world’s first emergency telephone number (999) was launched in London.

1952

“Guiding Light” soap opera moves from radio to TV.

1956

Harry Warren, James Lawrence, Ribert E. Lee, and James Hilton’s musical “Shangri-La”, based on Hilton’s novel “Lost Horizon”, and featuring Jack Cassidy and Alice Ghostley, closes at Winter Garden Theater, NYC, after 21 performances.

1960

Zaire, formerly Belgian Congo and now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, declared its independence from Belgium.

1962

LA Dodgers’ future Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax no-hits New York Mets, 5-0; first of 4 career no-hitters thrown by Koufax.

1971

The three Soviet cosmonauts who served as the first crew of the world’s first space station die when their spacecraft depressurizes during reentry.

1975

Muhammad Ali retains world heavyweight boxing crown by beating Englishman Joe Bugner by unanimous points decision in a re-match in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

1977

Marvel Comics publish “Kiss book” tributing rock group Kiss.

1981

Glen Godwin, a young business owner, is convicted of murder in Riverside County, California, and sentenced to 26-years-to-life in prison.

1992

South African ANC President Nelson Mandela meets with UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali at Dakar.

1997

British lease on the New Territories in Hong Kong, established by the Second Convention of Peking, expires.

2001

American musician and record company executive Chet Atkins—who was a major figure in country music, often credited with developing the Nashville Sound of the 1960s—died in Nashville.

2019

While at the DMZ, President Donald Trump walked into North Korea to greet its leader, Kim Jong-Un, thus becoming the first sitting U.S. president to visit that country.

2020

FC Barcelona’s Argentine soccer superstar Lionel Messi scores his 700th career goal – a cheeky Panenka penalty – in a 2-2 draw against Atlético Madrid.