1457: Gutenberg Bible became the first printed book.
1622: Indians attacked a group of colonist in the James River area of Virginia. 347 residents were killed.
1630: The first legislation to prohibit gambling was enacted. It was in Boston, MA.
1638: Anne Hutchinsoon, a religious dissident, was expelled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
1719: Frederick William abolished serfdom on crown property in Prussia.
1733: Joseph Priestly invented carbonated water (seltzer).
1765: The Stamp Act was passed. It was the first direct British tax on the American colonists. It was repealed on March 17, 1766.
1775: Edmund Burke presented his 13 articles to the English parliament.
1790: Thomas Jefferson became the first U.S. Secretary of State.
1794: The U.S. Congress banned U.S. vessels from supplying slaves to other countries.
1822: New York Horticultural Society was founded.
1841: Englishman Orlando Jones patented cornstarch.
1871: William Holden of North Carolina became the first governor to be removed by impeachment.
1872: Illinois became the first state to require sexual equality in employment.
1873: Slavery was abolished in Puerto Rico.
1874: The Young Men's Hebrew Association was organized in New York City.
1882: The U.S. Congress outlawed polygamy.
1888: The English Football League was established.
1894: The first playoff competition for the Stanley Cup began. Montreal played Ottawa.
1895: Auguste and Louis Lumiere showed their first movie to an invited audience in Paris.
1901: Japan proclaimed that it was determined to keep Russia from encroaching on Korea.
1902: Great Britain and Persia agreed to link Europe and India by telegraph.
1903: Niagara Falls ran out of water due to a drought.
1903: In Columbia, the region near Galera De Zamba was devastated by a volcanic eruption.
1904: The first color photograph was published in the London Daily Illustrated Mirror.
1905: Child miners in Britain received a maximum 8-hour workday.
1906: France lost the first ever rugby game ever played against Britain.
1907: Russians troops completed the evacuation of Manchuria in the face of advancing Japanese forces.
1907: In Paris, it was reported that male cab drivers dressed as women to attract riders.
1910: In Liberia, a telegraph cable linked Tenerife and Monrovia.
1911: Herman Jadlowker became the first opera singer to perform two major roles in the same day at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City.
1915: A German zeppelin made a night raid on Paris railway stations.
1919: The first international airline service was inaugurated on a weekly schedule between Paris and Brussels.
1933: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a bill legalizing the sale and possession of beer and wine containing up to 3.2% alcohol.
1934: The first Masters golf championship began in Augusta, GA.
1935: In New York, blood tests were authorized as evidence in court cases.
1935: Persia was renamed Iran.
1941: The Grand Coulee Dam in Washington began operations.
1943: The Dutch workweek was extended to 54 hours.
1943: Obligatory work for woman ends in Belgium.
1945: The Arab League was formed with the adoption of a charter in Cairo, Egypt.
1946: The British granted Transjordan independence.
1946: The first U.S. built rocket to leave the earth's atmosphere reached a height of 50-miles.
1947: The Greek government imposed martial law in Laconia and southern Greece.
1948: The United States announced a land reform plan for Korea.
1948: "The Voice of Firestone" became the first commercial radio program to be carried simultaneously on both AM and FM radio stations.
1954: The first shopping mall opened in Southfield, Michigan.
1954: The London gold market reopened for the first time since 1939.
1956: Perry Como became the first major TV variety-show host to book a rock and roll act on his program. The act was Carl Perkins.
1960: A.L. Schawlow & C.H. Townes obtained a patent for the laser. It was the first patent for any laser.
1965: U.S. confirmed that its troops used chemical warfare against the Vietcong.
1972: The U.S. Senate passed the Equal Rights Amendment. It was not ratified by the states.
1974: The Viet Cong proposed a new truce with the U.S. and South Vietnam. The truce included general elections.
1975: Walt Disney World Shopping Village opened.
Disney movies, music and books
1977: The Dutch Den Uyl government fell.
1977: Comedienne Lily Tomlin made her debut on Broadway in "Lily Tomlin on Stage" in New York.
1977: Indira Ghandi resigned as the prime minister of India.
1978: Karl Wallenda, of the Flying Wallendas, fell to his death while walking a cable strung between to hotels in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
1979: The National Hockey League (NHL) voted to accept 4 WHA teams, the Oilers, Jets, Nordiques & Whalers.
1980: People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) was founded by Ingrid Newkirk and Alex Pacheco.
1981: U.S. Postage rates went from 15-cents to 18-cents an ounce.
1981: RCA put its Selectra Vision laser disc players on the market.
1981: A group of twelve Green Berets arrived in El Salvador. This brought the total number of advisors to fifty-four.
1981: The first Mongolian entered space aboard the Russian Soyuz 39.
1982: The Space Shuttle Columbia was launched into orbit on mission STS-3. It was the third orbital flight for the Columbia.
1987: A barge loaded with 32,000 tons of refuse left Islip, NY, to find a place to unload. After being refused by several states and three countries space was found back in Islip.
1988: The Congress overrode U.S. President Reagan's veto of a sweeping civil rights bill.
1989: Oliver North began two days of testimony at his Iran-Contra trial in Washington, DC.
1989: The U.S. House Ways and Means Committee reported the class gap was widening.
1990: A jury in Anchorage, Alaska, found Captain Hazelwood not guilty in the Valdez oil spill.
1991: Pamela Smart, a high school teacher, was found guilty in New Hampshire of manipulating her student-lover to kill her husband.
1992: A Fokker F-28 veered off a runway at New York's LaGuardia airport and into Flushing Bay, killing 27 people.
1993: Cleveland Indians pitchers Steve Olin and Tim Crews were killed in a boating accident in Florida. Bob Ojeda was seriously injured in the accident.
1993: Intel introduced the Pentium-processor (80586) 64 bits-60 MHz-100+ MIPS.
1995: Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov returned to Earth after setting a record for 438 days in space.
1997: Tara Lipinski, at 14 years and 10 months, became the youngest women's world figure skating champion.
2002: The U.S. Postal Rate Commission approved a request for a postal rate increase of first-class stamps from 34 cents to 37 cents by June 30. It was the first time a postal rate case was resolved through a settlement between various groups. The groups included the U.S. Postal Service, postal employees, mailer groups and competitors.
2002: A collection of letters and cards sent by Princess Diana of Wales sold for $33,000. The letters and cards were written to a former housekeeper at Diana's teenage home.
