Today in History

1197		Emperor Henry VI dies in Messina, Sicily.
1399		Richard II of England is deposed. His cousin, Henry of Lancaster, declares himself king under the name Henry IV.
1493		Christopher Columbus leaves Cadiz, Spain, on his second voyage to the new world.
1513		Spanish explorer Vasco Nunez de Balboa discovers the Pacific Ocean.
1789		Congress votes to create a U.S. army.
1833		A civil war breaks out in Spain between Carlisists, who believe Don Carlos deserves the throne, and supporters of Queen Isabella.
1850		Mormon leader Brigham Young is named the first governor of the Utah Territory.
1864		Union troops capture the Confederate Fort Harrison, outside Petersburg, Virginia.
1879		Dissatisfied Ute Indians kill Agent Nathan Meeker and nine others in the "Meeker Massacre."
1932		A five-day work week is established for General Motors workers.
1939		Germany and the Soviet Union reach an agreement on the division of Poland.
1941		30,000 Jews are gunned down in Kiev when Henrich Himmler sends four strike squads to exterminate Soviet Jewish civilians and other "undesirables."
1943		Adolf Hitler’s book Mein Kampf is published in the United States.
1950		Soviet Premier Nikita Krushchev repeatedly disrupts a UN General Assembly meeting with his violent outbursts over intervention in the Belgian Congo, US U2 spy planes, and arms control.
1960		General Douglas MacArthur officially returns Seoul, South Korea, to President Syngman Rhee.
1962		Canada launches its first satellite, Alouette 1.
1962		The popular Argentinian comic strip Mafalda beings publication, in the weekly Primera Plana; focusing on a six-year-old girl (Mafalda) and her friends, it has been called the Argentinian Peanuts.
1966		Chevrolet introduces the Camaro, which will become an iconic car.
1971		Oman joins the Arab League.
1979		John Paul II becomes the first pope ever to visit Ireland.
1990		The YF-22, later named F-22 Raptor, flies for the first time.
1992		Brazilian President Fernando Collor de Mello impeached for corruptions; he was the youngest president in the nation’s history, taking office at age 40 in 1990.
2008		Dow Jones Industrial Average plummets 777.68 points in the wake of Lehman Brothers and Washington Mutual bankruptcies, the largest single-day point loss in Wall Street history.
2009		An 8.1 earthquake causes a tidal wave that claims 189 lives in Samoa, American Samoa, and Tonga.