In 533, Mercurius became Pope John II, the first pope to adopt a new name upon elevation to the papacy. In 1871, Amadeus I became King of Spain. In 1935, Bruno Hauptmann went on trial for the kidnapping...

In 42 B.C., the Roman Senate posthumously deified Julius Caesar. In 1801, the dwarf planet Ceres was discovered by Giuseppe Piazzi. In 1808, the importation of slaves into the United States was...

In 1600, the British East India Company was chartered. In 1796, Baltimore was incorporated as a city. In 1857, Queen Victoria chose Ottawa as the capital of Canada. In 1862, Abraham Lincoln signed...

In 1813, British soldiers burned Buffalo, N.Y. during the War of 1812. In 1853, the United States completed the Gadsden Purchase, acquiring land from Mexico in the Southwest. In 1896, Ernie McLea...

In 1170, Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, was assassinated. In 1845, the United States annexed the Republic of Texas, which was admitted to the Union as the 28th state. In 1851, the...

In 1832, John C. Calhoun became the first United States Vice President to resign from office. In 1835, Osceola led his warriors into the Second Seminole War in Florida against the U.S. Army. In...

In 1831, Charles Darwin embarked on his historic journey aboard the HMS Beagle. In 1845, ether anesthetic was used during childbirth for the first time by Dr. Crawford Long in Jefferson, Ga. In...