1512 – The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, painted by Michelangelo, is exhibited to the public for the first time.
1520 – The Strait of Magellan, the passage immediately south of mainland South America connecting the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans, is first discovered and navigated by European explorer Ferdinand Magellan during the first recorded circumnavigation voyage.
1555 – French Huguenots establish the France Antarctique colony in present-day Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
1611 – William Shakespeare's play The Tempest is performed for the first time, at Whitehall Palace in London.
1688 – William III of Orange sets out a second time from Hellevoetsluis in the Netherlands to seize the crowns of England, Scotland and Ireland from King James II of England during the Glorious Revolution.
1755 – In Portugal, Lisbon is totally devastated by a massive earthquake and tsunami, killing between 60,000 and 90,000 people.
1848 – In Boston, Massachusetts, the first medical school for women, The Boston Female Medical School, which later merged with the Boston University School of Medicine, opens.
1870 – In the United States, the Weather Bureau (later renamed the National Weather Service) makes its first official meteorological forecast.
1920 – American fishing schooner Esperanto defeats the Canadian fishing schooner Delawana in the First International Fishing Schooner Championship Races in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
1939 – The first rabbit born after artificial insemination is exhibited to the world.
1945 – Australia joins the United Nations.
1946 – Karol Wojtyla, the future Pope John Paul II, is ordained to the priesthood by Kraków's archbishop, Adam Sapieha.
1950 – Pope Pius XII claims papal infallibility when he formally defines the dogma of the Assumption of Mary.
1981 – Antigua and Barbuda gains independence from the United Kingdom.
1982 – Honda becomes the first Asian automobile company to produce cars in the United States with the opening of its factory in Marysville, Ohio. The Honda Accord is the first car produced there.
1993 – The Maastricht Treaty takes effect, formally establishing the European Union.
2000 – Serbia and Montenegro joins the United Nations.
2012 – A fuel tank truck crashes and explodes in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh killing 26 people and injuring 135.
