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202 BC - The Battle of Zama results in the defeat of Carthage and Hannibal.

439 - The Vandals, led by King Gaiseric, take Carthage in North Africa.

1216 - King John of England dies at Newark-on-Trent and is succeeded by his nine-year-old son Henry.

1453 - The French recapture of Bordeaux brings the Hundred Years' War to a close, with the English retaining only Calais on French soil.

1466 - The Thirteen Years' War ends with the Second Treaty of Toruń. Gdansk Pomerania and Prussia as a whole are incorporated into Poland; the Teutonic Knights are allowed to rule its eastern part as Polish vassals.

1469 - Ferdinand II of Aragon marries Isabella of Castile, a marriage that paves the way to the unification of Aragon and Castile into a single country, Spain.

1512 - Martin Luther becomes a doctor of theology (Doctor in Biblia).

1781 - At Yorktown, Virginia, British commander Lord Cornwallis surrendered to a Franco-American force led by George Washington and the comte de Rochambeau, paving the way for the end of the American Revolutionary War.

1789 - Chief Justice John Jay is sworn in as the first Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

1812 - Napoleon I of France retreats from Moscow.

1813 - The Battle of Leipzig concludes, giving Napoleon Bonaparte one of his worst defeats.

1822 - In Parnaíba; Simplício Dias da Silva, João Cândido de Deus e Silva and Domingos Dias declare the independent state of Piauí.

1864 - Battle of Cedar Creek - Union Army under Philip Sheridan destroys Confederate Army under Jubal Early.

1864 - Confederate raiders launch an attack on Saint Albans, Vermont from Canada.

1873 - Yale, Princeton, Columbia, and Rutgers universities draft the first code of American football rules.

1912 - Italy takes possession of Tripoli, Libya from the Ottoman Empire.

1914 - The First Battle of Ypres begins.

1917 - Love Field in Dallas, Texas is opened.

1921 - Portuguese Prime Minister António Granjo and other politicians are murdered in a Lisbon coup.

1933 - Germany withdraws from the League of Nations.

1935 - The League of Nations places economic sanctions on fascist Italy for its invasion of Ethiopia.

1943 - Streptomycin, the first antibiotic remedy for tuberculosis, is isolated by researchers at Rutgers University.

1944 - United States forces land in the Philippines.

1950 - The military of the People's Republic of China takes control of the town of Chamdo in eastern Tibet.

1953 - Arthur Godfrey fires Julius LaRosa live on American national TV.

1954 - First ascent of Cho Oyu

1960 - The United States government decides to place an embargo on Communist Cuba.

1969 - The first Prime Minister of Tunisia in twelve years, Bahi Ladgham, is appointed by President Habib Bourguiba.

1973 - President Richard Nixon rejects an Appeals Court demand to turn over the Watergate tapes.

1974 - Niue becomes independent from New Zealand

1976 - Battle of Aishiya in Lebanon.

1976 - Chimpanzee placed in list of endangered species.

1982 - John De Lorean is arrested for trafficking in cocaine (later acquitted).

1983 - Maurice Bishop, Prime Minister of Grenada, is overthrown and executed in a military coup d'état led by Bernard Coard.

1985 - The first Blockbuster Video store opens in Dallas, Texas.

1986 - Samora Machel, President of Mozambique and a prominent leader of FRELIMO, and 33 others died when their Tupolev 134 plane crashed into the Lebombo Mountains.

1987 - In retaliation for Iranian attacks on ships in the Persian Gulf, the U.S. Navy disables three of Iran's offshore oil platforms.

1987 - (Black Monday) Dow Jones Industrial Average falls by 22%.

1989 - Guildford Four convictions are quashed by the Court of Appeal - they had spent 15 years in prison through a miscarriage of justice.

1991 - 7.0 Richter Scale earthquake in Northern Italy - 2000 dead

1994 - New Zealand's Goodnight Kiwi says good night for the last time.

1998 - The Earth Liberation Front sets fire to the Vail Mountain ski resort in Vail, Colorado, causing $12 million in damage.

2001 - SIEV-X, an Indonesian fishing boat en-route to Christmas Island, carrying over 400 asylum seekers, sank in international waters with the loss of 353 people.

2003 - Mother Teresa is beatified by Pope John Paul II.

2003 - David Blaine finally ended his 44-day endurance stunt of being sealed inside a transparent case suspended 30 feet in the air over Potters Fields Park, located in London.

2004 - Myanmar prime minister Khin Nyunt is ousted and placed under house arrest by the Thai government on charges of corruption.

2004 - Alain Robert dons a Spider-Man costume and climbs a building.

2005 - Saddam Hussein goes on trial in Baghdad for crimes against humanity.

2005 - Hurricane Wilma becomes the most intense Atlantic hurricane on record with a minimum pressure of 882 mb.

2005 - The last Major League Baseball game is played at Busch Memorial Stadium.

2006 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above the 12,000 mark for the first time.

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1276 - Prince Hisaaki, Japanese shogun (d. 1328)

1433 - Marsilio Ficino, Italian philosopher (d. 1499)

1562 - Archbishop George Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1633)

1582 - Dmitry Ivanovich, Tsarevich (d. 1591)

1605 - Thomas Browne, English writer (d. 1682)

1610 - James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde, English statesman and soldier (d. 1688)

1658 - Adolf Friedrich II of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (d. 1704)

1680 - John Abernethy, Irish Protestant minister (d. 1740)

1688 - William Cheselden, English surgeon and anatomist (d. 1752)

1718 - Victor-François, 2nd duc de Broglie, Marshal of France (d. 1804)

1720 - John Woolman, American Quaker preacher and abolitionist (d. 1772)

1721 - Joseph de Guignes, French orientalist (d. 1800)

1784 - John McLoughlin, Canadian fur trader (d. 1857)

1810 - Cassius Marcellus Clay, American abolitionist (d. 1903)

1858 - George Albert Boulenger, Belgian naturalist (d. 1937)

1862 - Auguste Lumière, French inventor (d. 1954)

1873 - Jaap Eden, Dutch skater and cyclist (d. 1925)

1876 - Mordecai Brown, Baseball player (d. 1945)

1885 - Charles Merrill, American investment banker (d. 1956)

1895 - Lewis Mumford, American historian (d. 1990)

1896 - Bob O'Farrell, baseball player (d. 1988)

1897 - Salimuzzaman Siddiqui, Pakistani scientist and scholar (d. 1994)

1899 - Miguel Ángel Asturias, Guatemalan writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1974)

1900 - Bill Ponsford, Australian cricketer (d. 1991)

1900 - Roy Worters, Canadian ice hockey goaltender (d. 1957)

1901 - Arleigh Burke, Naval commander (d. 1996)

1907 - Roger Wolfe Kahn, American bandleader (d. 1962)

1908 - Geirr Tveitt, Norwegian composer (d. 1981)

1909 - Cozy Cole, American jazz drummer (d. 1981)

1910 - Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, Indian-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1995)

1910 - Paul Robert, French lexicographer and publisher (d. 1980)

1913 - Vinicius de Moraes, Brazilian poet and songwriter (d. 1980)

1916 - Jean Dausset, French immunologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

1916 - Emil Gilels, Ukrainian pianist (d. 1985)

1922 - Jack Anderson, American journalist (d. 2005)

1926 - Joel Feinberg, American moral philosopher (d. 2004)

1926 - Arne Bendiksen, Norwegian singer and songwriter

1931 - John le Carré, English novelist

1932 - Robert Reed, American actor (d. 1992)

1937 - Peter Max, American artist

1937 - Marilyn Bell, Canadian long distance swimmer

1940 - Michael Gambon, Irish actor

1941 - Simon Ward, British actor

1942 - Andrew Vachss, American author and attorney

1944 - Peter Tosh, Jamaican musician, political activist (d. 1987)

1944 - George McCrae, American soul singer

1945 - Divine, American actor (d. 1988)

1945 - Patricia Ireland, President of the NOW

1945 - John Lithgow, American actor

1945 - Jeannie C. Riley American country and gospel singer

1946 - Philip Pullman, English writer

1947 - Giorgio Cavazzano, comics artist and illustrator

1948 - Pat Simmons, American musician (The Doobie Brothers)

1956 - Carlo Urbani, Italian physician (d. 1993)

1957 - Ray Richmond, entertainment/media columnist

1960 - Jonathan FeBland English musician, writer and artist

1962 - Tracy Chevalier, American author

1962 - Evander Holyfield, American boxer

1964 - Jorge Luis Gonzales, Cuban-born American boxer

1965 - Ty Pennington, American television carpenter

1966 - Jon Favreau, American actor, writer and director

1969 - Trey Parker, American cartoonist, comedian, writer, and actor

1970 - Chris Kattan, American comedian and actor

1972 - Pras, American musician

1972 - Keith Foulke, American baseball pitcher

1976 - Michael Young, baseball player

1976 - Desmond Harrington, American actor

1978 - Enrique Bernoldi, Brazilian Formula One driver

1980 - Benjamin Salisbury, American actor

1981 - Heikki Kovalainen, Finnish Formula One driver

1990 - Janet Leon, Swedish singer (Play)

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727 - Saint Frideswide

1187 - Pope Urban III

1216 - King John

1432 - John de Mowbray, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, English politician (b. 1392)

1587 - Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1541)

1608 - Martin Delrio, Flemish theologian and occultist (b. 1551)

1636 - Marcin Kazanowski, Polish politician

1682 - Thomas Browne, English writer (b. 1605)

1723 - Godfrey Kneller, German-born painter (b. 1646)

1745 - Jonathan Swift, Irish author (b. 1667)

1790 - Lyman Hall, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1724)

1813 - Józef Antoni Poniatowski, Polish prince and Marshal of France (friendly fire) (b. 1763)

1851 - Marie Thérèse Charlotte (b. 1778)

1889 - King Louis of Portugal (b. 1838)

1897 - George Pullman, American inventor and industrialist (b. 1831)

1901 - Carl Frederik Tietgen, Danish financier and industrialist (b. 1829)

1918 - Harold Lockwood, American actor (b. 1887)

1936 - Lu Xun, Chinese writer (b. 1881)

1937 - Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson, New Zealand physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (b. 1871)

1943 - Camille Claudel, French sculptor (b. 1864)

1950 - Edna St. Vincent Millay, American poet (b. 1892)

1956 - Isham Jones, American musician (b. 1894)

1960 - George Wallace, Australian vaudevillian and film comedian (b. 1895)

1973 - Walt Kelly, American cartoonist (b. 1913)

1983 - Maurice Bishop, Prime Minister of Grenada (b. 1944)

1985 - Alfred Rouleau, French Canadian businessman (b. 1915)

1986 - Dele Giwa, Nigerian Journalist.

1986 - Samora Machel, President of Mozambique (b. 1933)

1987 - Jacqueline Du Pré, English cellist (b. 1945)

1987 - Hermann Lang, German race car driver (b. 1909)

1988 - Son House, American musician (b. 1902)

1992 - Arthur Wint, Jamaican runner (b. 1920)

1994 - Martha Raye, American comedian and actress (b. 1916)

1995 - Don Cherry, American jazz trumpet player (b. 1936)

1997 - Glen Buxton, American guitarist (b. 1947)

1999 - Nathalie Sarraute, Russian-born French writer (b. 1900)

1999 - James C. Murray, American politician (b. 1917)

2003 - Faith Fancher, American television journalist and activist (b. 1950)

2003 - Alija Izetbegovic, President of Bosnia-Herzegovina (b. 1925)

2003 - Margaret Murie, American conservationist (b. 1902)

2003 - Michael Hegstrand, American professional wrestler (b. 1957)

2004 - Kenneth E. Iverson, Canadian computer scientist (b. 1920)

2005 - Dallas Cook, American musician (Suburban Legends) (b. 1982)

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Roman festivals - Armilustrium in honor of Mars

Roman Catholic Saints - Saints Jean de Brébeuf, Isaac Jogues, and Companions; Saint Frideswide

Also see October 19 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Albania - Mother Teresa Day.

Brazil - Independence Day of State of Piauí

Niue - Constitution Day in honour of the country's independence (self-governing in free association with New Zealand) in 1974.

French Republican Calendar - Tomate (Tomato) Day, twenty-eighth day in the Month of Vendémiaire