This Day in History

• 536 St. Agapetus I ends his reign as Catholic Pope

• 1056 - Supernova Crab nebula last seen by the naked eye

• 1073 - Pope Alexander II buried and Ildebrando chosen as Pope Gregory VII

• 1145 - 19th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet

• 1164 - Raynald of Dassel names Guido di Crema as anti- pope Paschalis III

• 1370 - Building begins on the Bastille fortress in Paris

• 1500 - Pedro Álvares Cabral is the first european to discover Brazil, landing near Monte Pascoal, claims it for Portugal

• 1521 - French King Francois I declares war on Spain

• 1529 - Treaty of Saragosa: Spain & Portugal divide eastern hemisphere

• 1648 - English army claims King Charles I responsible for bloodshed

• 1659 - Lord Protector Richard Cromwell disbands English parliament

• 1671 - King Charles II sits in on English parliament

• 1674 - Netherlands & Munster sign peace treaty

• 1676 - Battle of Etna - Neth/ Spain vs France, M de Ruyter fatally wounded

• 1677 - Battle at Catania: between French & Dutch fleet

• 1692 Edward Bishop is jailed for proposing flogging as a cure for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts

• 1809 - Battle at Eckmuhl - Napoleon beats Austria Archduke Karl

• 1817 - Curacao prohibits use of white paint due to fierce sunlight

• 1823 - Baltic Club ( Exchange) forms in London

• 1823 - R J Tyers patents roller skates

• 1838 - English steamship "Sirius" docks in NYC after crossing the Atlantic, first transatlantic steam passenger service

• 1864 - US mints 2 cent coin ( 1st appearance of "In God We Trust")

• 1876 - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky completes his ballet "Swan Lake"

• 1876 - Philadelphia Nationals Wes Fisler scores baseball's 1st run

• 1884 - Thomas Stevens starts 1st bike trip around world ( 2 yrs 9 mths)

• 1884 - US recognizes King Leopold II's Congo Free State

• 1889 - A 1.9 million- acre tract of Indian Territory for white colonial settlement in Oklahoma officially starts at 12pm

• 1893 - Francis Dhanis army occupies Kasongo

• 1915 - 1st military use of poison gas (chlorine, by Germany) in WW I

• 1915 - The Second Battle of Ypres begins on the Western Front

• 1916 - France battles at Fort Douaumont

• 1916 - Karl Spindler scuttles the Aud near Daunt's Rock, to prevent its cargo of 20,000 rifles destined for Irish republicans falling into enemy hands

• 1926 - Persia, Turkey & Afghanistan sign treaties of security

• 1930 - US, Britain & Japan sign London Naval Treaty

• 1930 - British troops battle pro- independence revolutionaries in the Jalalabad hills near Chittagong in Bengal province, British India leaving 80 troops and 12 revolutionaries dead.

• 1931 - Egypt & Iraq sign peace treaty