TODAY IN HISTORY: Henry VIII assumes throne

In 1233, the Dominicans were established in France as operators of the Inquisition by a decree of Pope Gregory IX. Their methods included torture and execution, usually by fire. Before long they became popularly known as “God's dogs.”

In 1509, Henry VIII became King of England. He would reign until his death in 1547, marrying six times and beheading two wives. Under his rule, England broke with Rome and the King became the head of the Church of England.

In 1737, the first iron smelter in Canada was established at Trois-Rivieres, Que.

In 1844, the Bytown Packet, later the Ottawa Citizen, was founded.

In 1864, the U.S. Congress authorized the use of the phrase “In God We Trust” on American coins.

In 1889, the Oklahoma Land Rush began at noon as thousands of homesteaders staked claims.

In 1915, in their first action against the Germans during the First World War, the First Canadian Division faced one of the first recorded chlorine gas attacks in Ypres, Belgium.

In 1930, the world's great powers signed a treaty at London limiting the size of navies.

In 1944, during the Second World War, U.S. forces began invading Japanese-held New Guinea with amphibious landings at Hollandia and Aitape.

In 1963, Lester Pearson was sworn in as prime minister at the head of a minority Liberal government.

In 1964, the Liberals under Ross Thatcher won a Saskatchewan general election, ending 20 years of CCF-NDP rule.

In 1972, British rower John Fairfax and girlfriend Sylvia Cooke arrived at an island off Australia after rowing nearly 13,000 kilometres from San Francisco.

In 1976, Barbara Walters accepted a $1 million a year contract with ABC News.

In 1983, Stern, a West German news magazine, announced the discovery of 60 volumes of personal diaries purportedly written by Adolf Hitler. The diaries turned out to be a hoax.

In 1990, approximately 200 million people worldwide celebrated the 20th annual Earth Day. Festivities were held in more than 150 countries. Canadians planted trees, attended parades, listened to concerts and picked up litter. At a Parliament Hill event, author Farley Mowat led the crowd in imitations of wolf howls to protest the slaughter of wolves and other wild animals.

In 1992, a series of explosions in Guadalajara's sewer system rocked a 20-block area of Mexico's second-largest city, killing 194 people. The cause was listed as a leak in a pipeline operated by the state-run Pemex oil company.

In 1994, Former U.S. president Richard Nixon died at age 81 in a New York hospital, four days after a massive stroke.

In 1997, Manitoba declared a state of emergency due to flooding in the southern part of the province.

In 2000, U.S. federal agents seized six-yearold Cuban Elian Gonzalez from the home of his Miami relatives in a pre-dawn raid. Elian had lived with relatives after surviving a boat trip from Cuba, in which his mother and other would-be defectors drowned. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled for his Cuban-based father in a custody dispute with the Miami relatives.

In 2001, Chris Hadfield became the first Canadian to walk in space.