1236: Ferdinand III of Castile and Leon took Cordoba in Spain.
1652: Massachusetts declared itself an independent commonwealth.
1767: The British Parliament approved the Townshend Revenue Acts. The acts imposed import duties on glass, lead, paint, paper and tea shipped to America.
1776: The Virginia constitution was adopted and Patrick Henry was made governor.
1804: Privates John Collins and Hugh Hall of the Lewis and Clark Expedition were found guilty by a court-martial consisting of members of the Corps of Discovery for getting drunk on duty. Collins received 100 lashes on his back and Hall received 50.
1860: The first iron-pile lighthouse was completed at Minot’s Ledge, MA.
1880: France annexed Tahiti.
1888: Professor Frederick Treves performed the first appendectomy in England.
1897: The Chicago Cubs scored 36 runs in a game against Louisville, setting a record for runs scored by a team in a single game.
1901: The first edition of "Editor & Publisher" was issued.
1903: The British government officially protested Belgian atrocities in the Congo.
1905: Russian troops intervened as riots erupted in ports all over the country. Many ships were looted.
1917: The Ukraine proclaimed independence from Russia.
1925: Marvin Pipkin filed for a patent for the frosted electric light bulb.
1926: Fascists in Rome added an hour to the work day in an economic efficiency measure.
1932: Siam’s army seized Bangkok and announced an end to the absolute monarchy.
1932: "Vic and Sade" debuted on NBC radio.
1941: Joe DiMaggio got a base hit in his 42nd consecutive game. He broke George Sisler's record from 1922.
1946: British authorities arrested more than 2,700 Jews in Palestine in an attempt to end alleged terrorism.
1950: U.S. President Harry S. Truman authorized a sea blockade of Korea.
1951: The United States invited the Soviet Union to the Korean peace talks on a ship in Wonson Harbor.
1953: The Federal Highway Act authorized the construction of 42,500 miles of freeway from coast to coast.
1954: The Atomic Energy Commission voted against reinstating Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer's access to classified information.
1955: The Soviet Union sent tanks to Pozan, Poland, to put down anti-Communist demonstrations.
1956: Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller were married. They were divorced on January 20, 1961.
1966: The U.S. bombed fuel storage facilities near the North Vietnamese cities of Hanoi and Haiphong.
1967: Jayne Mansfield, at age 34, and two male companions died when their car struck a trailer truck east of New Orleans.
1967: Israel removed barricades, re-unifying Jerusalem.
1972: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty could constitute "cruel and unusual punishment." The ruling prompted states to revise their capital punishment laws.
1982: Israel invaded Lebanon.
1987: Vincent Van Gogh’s "Le Pont de Trinquetaille" was bought for $20.4 million at an auction in London, England.
1995: The shuttle Atlantis and the Russian space station Mir docked, forming the largest man-made satellite ever to orbit the Earth.
1995: 501 people were killed when a department store in Seoul, South Korea collapsed. 900 others were injured.
1998: With negotiations on a new labor agreement at a standstill, the National Basketball Association (NBA) announced that a lockout would be imposed at midnight.
2000: In Santa Rosa, CA, the official groundbreaking ceremony took place for the Charles M. Schulz Museum.