On this date :

In 1496, King Henry VII of England granted a charter to John Cabot and his three sons, permitting them to claim any and all lands they might discover.

In 1770, the Boston Massacre took place when British soldiers fired on a mob who had been harassing a sentry. Five men were killed and historians credit the event as one of the incidents that hastened the American Revolution.

In 1844, the first issue of the “Globe,” edited and published by George Brown, appeared in Toronto.

In 1874, the Prince Edward Island legislature opened its first session.

In 1933, Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party were voted into power in a German election.

In 1953, Josef Stalin died after ruling the Soviet Union for almost 30 years. He was 73. After his death, first secretary Nikita Khrushchev charged the dictator with the murder of thousands during purge trials and farm collectivization in the 1930s. In 1961, the 22nd party congress ordered his body removed from the Lenin Mausoleum in Moscow.

In 1976, the British pound, once the pillar of the world’s economy, fell below US$2 for the first time.

In 1982, comic actor John Belushi was found dead of a drug overdose in Hollywood. He was 33.

In 1993, Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson was banned for life by the I.A.A.F. for failing a second drug test, five years after he lost his 1988 Olympic 100-metre gold medal.

In 1999, Paul Okalik was elected by his fellow MLAS as the first premier of Nunavut.