TODAY IN HISTORY

1609

English explorer Henry Hudson and his crew aboard the Half Moon entered present-day New York Harbor and began sailing up the river that now bears his name.

1783

Representatives of the United States and Britain signed the Treaty of Paris, which officially ended the Revolutionary War.

1939

Britain, France, Australia and New Zealand declared war on Germany, two days after the Nazi invasion of Poland; in a radio address, Britain’s King George VI said, “With God’s help, we shall prevail.”

1943

Allied forces invaded Italy during World War II, the same day Italian officials signed a secret armistice with the Allies.

1976

America’s Viking 2 lander touched down on Mars to take the first closeup, color photographs of the red planet’s surface.

1978

Pope John Paul I was installed as the 264th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church.