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1992 - North American Free Trade Agreement
Canada, Mexico and the United States announce completion of negotiations for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
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1851 - Isaac Singer
Isaac Singer is granted a patent for his sewing machine.
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1492 - Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus arrives in the Canary Islands on his first voyage to the New World.
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1492 - Pope Alexander VI
Rodrigo de Borja is elected as Head of the Catholic Church, taking the name Pope Alexander VI.
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1942 - Frequency-hopping spread spectrum
Actress Hedy Lamarr and composer George Antheil receive a patent for a Frequency-hopping spread spectrum communication system that later became the basis for modern technologies in wireless telephones, two-way radio communications, and Wi-Fi.
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1973 - 1520 Sedgwick Avenue
At the 1520 Sedgwick Avenue apartment building in The Bronx, New York, DJ Kool Herc hosts a house party widely considered to mark the birthplace of hip-hop culture and music. DJ Kool Herc demonstrates a new technique of beat juggling and Coke La Rock performs a new style of vocal
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1990 - Magellan (spacecraft)
The Magellan space probe reaches Venus.
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1628 - Vasa (ship)
The Swedish warship Vasa sinks on her maiden voyage off Stockholm.
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1519 - Ferdinand Magellan
Ferdinand Magellan's five ships set sail from Seville to circumnavigate the globe. The Basque second-in-command Juan Sebastián Elcano will complete the expedition after Magellan's death in the Philippines.
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1999 - Boris Yeltsin
Russian president Boris Yeltsin fires his prime minister, Sergei Stepashin, and for the fourth time fires his entire cabinet.
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1945 - Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
World War II: Nagasaki is devastated when an atomic bomb, Fat Man, is dropped by the United States B-29 Bockscar. Thirty-five thousand people are killed outright, including 23,200–28,200 Japanese war workers, 2,000 Korean forced workers, and 150 Japanese soldiers.
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378 - Battle of Adrianople
Gothic War: Battle of Adrianople: A large Roman army led by Emperor Valens is defeated by the Visigoths. Valens is killed along with over half of his army.