1789 — New Jersey became the first state to ratify the Bill of Rights.
1818 — Simon Bolivar declared Venezuela independent of Spain.
1873 — Budapest was formed when the rival cities of Buda and Pest were united to form the capital of Hungary.
1943 — During World War II, US Marines began their landing on Tarawa and Makin atolls in the Gilbert Islands.
1945 — 24 Nazi leaders went before an international war crimes tribunal in Nuremberg, Germany.
1947 — Britain’s Princess Elizabeth married Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh in Westminster Abbey.
1962 — The Cuban Missile Crisis ended. The Soviet Union removed its missiles and bombers from Cuba and the US ended its blockade of the island.
1970 — The majority in UN General Assembly voted to give China a seat, but two-thirds majority required for admission was not met.
1977 — Egyptian President Anwar Sadat became the first Arab leader to address Israel’s parliament.
1987 — Police investigating the fire at King’s Cross, London’s busiest subway station, said arson was unlikely to be the cause of the event that took 31 lives.
1988 — Egypt and China announced they would recognise the Palestinian state proclaimed by the Palestine National Council.
1989 — Over 200,000 people rallied peacefully in Prague, Czechoslovakia, demanding democratic reforms.
1990 — Saddam Hussein ordered another 250,000 Iraqi troops into neighbouring Kuwait.
1998 — The Taliban offered Osama bin Laden safe haven. He had been accused of two US embassy bombings in Africa and later terrorist attacks on New York City and the Pentagon.
