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1560 - The Treaty of Berwick, which would expel the French from Scotland, is signed by England and the Congregation of Scotland.

1594 - Henry IV is crowned King of France.

1617 - Sweden and Russia sign the Treaty of Stolbovo, ending the Ingrian War and shutting Russia out of the Baltic Sea.

1626 - Yuan Chonghuan is appointed Governor of Liaodong.

1700 - The island of New Britain is discovered.

1703 - The first Mardi Gras is celebrated in Mobile, Alabama.

1793 - The Giles resolutions are introduced to the United States House of Representatives asking the House to condemn Alexander Hamilton's handling of loans.

1801 - Washington, DC is placed under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Congress.

1812 - Poet Lord Byron gives his first address as a member of the House of Lords, in defense of Luddite violence against Industrialism in his home county of Nottinghamshire.

1827 - The first Mardi Gras is celebrated in New Orleans, Louisiana.

1844 - The Dominican Republic gains independence from Haiti.

1860 - Abraham Lincoln makes a speech at Cooper Union in the city of New York that was largely responsible for his election to the Presidency.

1861 - Rudolf Steiner founder of Anthroposophy (a spiritual science) is born in Austria.

1861 - A crowd in Warsaw protesting Russian rule over Poland is fired upon by Russian troops, killing five protesters.

1864 - American Civil War: The first Northern prisoners arrive at the Confederate prison at Andersonville, Georgia.

1879 - Announcement of the discovery of artificial sweetener saccharin.

1900 - Second Boer War: In South Africa, British military leaders receive an unconditional notice of surrender from Boer General Piet Cronje at the Battle of Paardeberg.

1900 - The British Labour Party is founded.

1900 - The FC Bayern München (Munich) is founded.

1921 - The International Working Union of Socialist Parties is founded in Vienna.

1922 - A challenge to the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, allowing women the right to vote, is rebuffed by the Supreme Court of the United States in Leser v. Garnett.

1933 - Reichstag fire: Germany's parliament building in Berlin, the Reichstag, is set on fire.

1939 - American Civil Rights Movement: Sit-down strikes are outlawed by the Supreme Court of the United States.

1940 - Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben discovered carbon-14

1942 - World War II: the USS Langley, the first United States aircraft carrier, is sunk by Japanese warplanes.

1943 - The Smith Mine #3 in Bearcreek, Montana, United States explodes, killing 74 men.

1948 - The Communist Party takes control of government in Czechoslovakia.

1951 - The Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution, limiting Presidents to two terms, is ratified.

1961 - The first congress of the Spanish Trade Union Organisation is inaugurated.

1963 - The Dominican Republic receives its first democratically elected president, Juan Bosch, since the end of the dictatorship led by Rafael Trujillo.

1964 - The government of Italy asks for help to keep the Leaning Tower of Pisa from toppling over.

1967 - Dominica gains independence from the United Kingdom.

1971 - Doctors in the first Dutch abortion clinic (the Mildredhuis in Arnhem) start to perform abortus provocatus .

1973 - The American Indian Movement occupies Wounded Knee, South Dakota.

1974 - People magazine is published for the first time.

1976 - The formerly Spanish territory of Western Sahara, under the auspices of the Polisario Front declares independence as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.

1986 - The United States Senate allows its debates to be televised on a trial basis.

1989 - Venezuela is rocked by the Caracazo.

1990 - Exxon Valdez oil spill: Exxon and its shipping company are indicted on five criminal counts.

1991 - Gulf War: U.S. President George H. W. Bush announces that "Kuwait is liberated."

1996 - Satoshi Tajiri creates the hit media franchise Pokémon.

1999 - While trying to circumnavigate the world in a hot air balloon, Colin Prescot and Andy Elson set a new endurance record after being in a hot air balloon for 233 hours and 55 minutes.

1999 - Olusegun Obasanjo becomes Nigeria's first elected president since mid-1983.

2002 - Ryanair Flight 296 catches fire in London Stansted Airport. Subsequent investigations criticize Ryanair's handling of the evacuation.

2002 - A Muslim mob attacks a train a few minutes after it leaves the Godhra railway station, killing 59 Hindu pilgrims returning from Ayodhya; retaliatory riots lead to the death of at least 1000 people, mostly Muslims.

2003 - Rowan Williams is enthroned as the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury in the Anglican church.

2004 - A bombing of a Superferry by Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines kills 116, its worst terrorist attack.

2004 - Former BPMC general secretary Ordrick Samuel launches a new party in Barbuda, Barbudans for a Better Barbuda.

2005 - Pre-pay price capping on the Transport for London Oyster card is introduced.

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272 - Constantine I, Roman emperor (d. 337)

1691 - Edward Cave, English editor and publisher (d. 1754)

1711 - Constantine Mavrocordatos, Prince of Wallachia and Prince of Moldavia (d. 1769)

1807 - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, American poet (d. 1882)

1861 - Rudolf Steiner, Austrian philosopher (d. 1925)

1886 - Hugo Black, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (d. 1971)

1888 - Lotte Lehmann, German singer (d. 1976)

1888 - Roberto Assagioli, Italian psychiatrist (d. 1974)

1888 - Earl Caddock, Professional wrestler

1890 - Freddie Keppard, American jazz musician (d. 1933)

1891 - David Sarnoff, Russian-born broadcast pioneer (d. 1971)

1891 - Anne Samson, oldest-ever nun documented (d. 2004)

1892 - William Demarest, American actor (d. 1983)

1897 - Marian Anderson, American contralto (d. 1993)

1899 - Charles Best, American medical scientist (d. 1978)

1902 - Gene Sarazen, American golfer (d. 1999)

1902 - John Steinbeck, American writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1968)

1903 - Grethe Weiser, German actress (d. 1970)

1904 - James T. Farrell, American writer (d. 1979)

1904 - Yulii Borisovich Khariton, Russian physicist (d. 1996)

1904 - André Leducq, French cyclist (d. 1980)

1904 - Chick Fullis, baseball player (d. 1946)

1905 - Franchot Tone, American actor (d. 1968)

1907 - Mildred Bailey, American singer (d. 1951)

1910 - Joan Bennett, American actress (d. 1990)

1910 - Peter De Vries, American writer (d. 1993)

1910 - Kelly Johnson, American aircraft engineer (d. 1990)

1912 - Lawrence Durrell, British writer (d. 1990)

1913 - Irwin Shaw, American writer (d. 1984)

1917 - John Connally, Governor of Texas (d. 1993)

1922 - Hans Rookmaaker, Dutch professor and art historian (d. 1977)

1923 - Dexter Gordon, American jazz saxophonist (d. 1990)

1925 - Samuel Dash, American Congressional counsel (d. 2004)

1926 - David H. Hubel, Canadian neuroscientist, Nobel Prize laureate

1927 - Lynn Cartwright, American actress (d. 2004)

1927 - Guy Mitchell, American singer (d. 1999)

1928 - Ariel Sharon, former Prime Minister of Israel

1929 - Djalma Santos, Brazilian football player

1930 - Paul von Ragué Schleyer, American chemist

1930 - Peter Stone, American writer (d. 2003)

1930 - Joanne Woodward, American actress

1932 - Elizabeth Taylor, British-American actress

1933 - Raymond Berry, American football player

1934 - Vincent Fourcade, French interior designer (d. 1992)

1934 - N. Scott Momaday, American writer

1934 - Ralph Nader, American consumer activist

1934 - Van Williams, American actor

1935 - Mirella Freni, Italian soprano

1937 - Barbara Babcock, American actress

1940 - Howard Hesseman, American actor

1941 - Paddy Ashdown, British politician

1942 - Robert H. Grubbs, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate

1942 - Charlayne Hunter-Gault, American journalist

1943 - Mary Frann, American actress (d. 1998)

1943 - Morten Lauridsen, American composer

1944 - Ken Grimwood, American writer (d. 2003)

1945 - Carl Anderson, American singer and actor (d. 2004)

1947 - Gidon Kremer, Latvian violinist

1951 - Steve Harley, British rock musician (Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel)

1954 - Neal Schon, American musician (Journey)

1956 - Marjorie Russo, American poet

1957 - Viktor Markin, Russian athlete

1957 - Timothy Spall, English actor

1957 - Adrian Smith, English musician (Iron Maiden)

1962 - Adam Baldwin, American actor

1962 - Grant Show, American actor

1965 - Noah Emmerich, American actor

1965 - Frank Peter Zimmermann, German violinist

1966 - Donal Logue, Canadian actor

1969 - Brad Vander Ark, American musician

1970 - Michael A. Burstein, American writer

1970 - Patricia Petibon, French opera singer

1971 - Derren Brown, British psychological illusionist

1971 - Rozonda Thomas, American singer (TLC)

1975 - Shelby Walker, American mixed martial artist (d. 2006)

1977 - Lance Hoyt, American professional wrestler

1978 - James Beattie, English footballer

1980 - Bobby Valentino, American singer

1980 - Chelsea Clinton, daughter of Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton

1981 - Josh Groban, American singer

1984 - Juliana Imai, Brazilian model

1984 - Antti Tuisku, Finnish singer

1985 - Fefe Dobson, Canadian singer

1985 - Abe Asami. Japanese singer and actress.

1988 - JD Natasha, American musician

1989 -Kelly Breeding-, Member of boy band B5

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1659 - Henry Dunster, first President of Harvard College (b. 1609)

1699 - Charles Paulet, 1st Duke of Bolton, English politician (b. c. 1625)

1706 - John Evelyn, English diarist (b. 1620)

1720 - Samuel Parris, English-born Puritan minister (b. 1653)

1735 - John Arbuthnot, English physician and writer (b. 1667)

1844 - Nicholas Biddle, President of the Second Bank of the United States (b. 1786)

1887 - Alexander Borodin, Russian composer (b. 1833)

1892 - Louis Vuitton, French luggage maker (b. 1821)

1902 - Breaker Morant, Anglo-Australian soldier executed in Boer War under controversial circumstances (b. 1864)

1921 - Schofield Haigh, English cricketer (b. 1871)

1936 - Ivan Pavlov, Russian physiologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1849)

1936 - Joshua W. Alexander, U.S. Secretary of Commerce under Woodrow Wilson (b. 1852)

1941 - William D. Byron, U.S. Congressman (b. 1895)

1964 - Orry-Kelly, Australian costume designer (b. 1897)

1968 - Frankie Lymon, American singer (b. 1942)

1972 - Pat Brady, American actor and singer (b. 1914)

1977 - John Dickson Carr, American author (b. 1905)

1978 - Vadim Salmanov, Russian composer (b. 1912)

1980 - George Tobias, American actor (b. 1901)

1985 - Henry Cabot Lodge, American politician (b. 1902)

1986 - Jacques Plante, Canadian hockey player (b. 1929)

1987 - Joan Greenwood, English actress and director (b. 1921)

1989 - Paul Oswald Ahnert, German astronomer (b. 1897)

1989 - Konrad Lorenz, Austrian zoologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1903)

1990 - Nahum Norbert Glatzer, Jewish-American scholar (b. 1903)

1992 - S. I. Hayakawa, Canadian-American linguist and politician (b. 1906)

1993 - Lillian Gish, American actress (b. 1893)

1998 - George H. Hitchings, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1905)

1998 - J. T. Walsh, American actor (b. 1943)

2002 - Spike Milligan, British comedian (b. 1918)

2003 - John Lanchbery, English composer (b. 1923)

2003 - Fred Rogers, American children's television actor (b. 1928)

2004 - Paul Sweezy, American economist and editor (b. 1910)

2006 - Otis Chandler, Former Publisher of the L.A. Times (b. 1927)

2006 - Robert Lee Scott, Jr., U.S. General, Flying Tiger, author (b. 1908)

2006 - Linda Smith, British comedian (b. 1958)

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Roman Empire - Equirria, horse races in honour of the pagan war god Mars were held.

Bahá'í Faith - Day 2 of Ayyám-i-Há (Intercalary Days) - days in the Bahá'í calendar devoted to service and gift giving.

Dominican Republic - National Day.

International Polar Bear Day.

First day of Maslenitsa in Russia (2006)

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Liturgical feasts

Saint Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows
Saint Leander
Saint Antigone
Saint Honorine