Gold rush begins on Fraser River

In 1507, Martin Luther was ordained a priest in Erfurt, Germany.

In 1541, Spanish theologian Ignatius of Loyola was elected the first general of the Jesuit order, or the Society of Jesus, which he had founded the previous year.

In 1784, New Brunswick’s first recorded wedding took place in Parrtown (now Saint John).

In 1818, the U.S. Congress decided the flag of the United States would consist of 13 red and white stripes and 20 stars, with a new star to be added for every new state of the Union.

In 1841, U.S. President William Henry Harrison succumbed to pneumonia one month after his inaugural, becoming the first U.S. chief executive to die in office.

In 1850, the city of Los Angeles was incorporated.

In 1858, the Fraser River gold rush began in British Columbia.

In 1887, the first colonial conference was held in London. It was the forerunner of Commonwealth prime ministers conferences.

In 1893, Ontario’s legislative building, Queen’s Park, opened on the site of what once was a lunatic asylum.

In 1896, news of the Yukon’s Klondike gold strike reached the outside world.

In 1902, British financier and African colonialist Cecil Rhodes left $10 million in his will for scholarships at Oxford University. Residents of Canada and the United States are among those eligible.

In 1904, the Berliner Gramophone Company of Canada was chartered. The company was run by Emile Berliner, the inventor of the gramophone. He set up a manufacturing facility for his talking machine in Montreal in 1897, and began making records there three years later.

In 1917, women in B.C. were given the right to vote.

In 1935, was minted. Canada’s first silver dollar

In 1939, Canada recognized the Spanish government of General Francisco Franco, a few days after the end of the Spanish civil war.

In 1947, the International Civil Aviation Organization, a United Nations agency, was established. Its headquarters are in Montreal.