1215 – King John of England puts his seal to Magna Carta.
1389 – Battle of Kosovo: The Ottoman Empire defeats Serbs and Bosnians.
1502 – Christopher Columbus lands on the island of Martinique on his fourth voyage.
1520 – Pope Leo X threatens to excommunicate Martin Luther in Exsurge Domine.
1648 – Margaret Jones is hanged in Boston for witchcraft in the first such execution for the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
1667 – The first human blood transfusion is administered by Dr. Jean-Baptiste Denys
1752 – Benjamin Franklin proves that lightning is electricity (traditional date, the exact date is unknown).
1836 – Arkansas is admitted as the 25th U.S. state.
1844 – Charles Goodyear receives a patent for vulcanization, a process to strengthen rubber.
1846 – The Oregon Treaty establishes the 49th parallel as the border between the United States and Canada, from the Rocky Mountains to the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
1864 – American Civil War: The Second Battle of Petersburg begins.
1864 – Arlington National Cemetery is established when 200 acres around Arlington Mansion (formerly owned by Confederate General Robert E. Lee) are officially set aside as a military cemetery by U.S. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton.
1888 – Crown Prince Wilhelm becomes Kaiser Wilhelm II; he will be the last Emperor of the German Empire.
1896 – The deadliest tsunami in Japan's history kills more than 22,000 people.
1916 – United States President Woodrow Wilson signs a bill incorporating the Boy Scouts of America, making them the only American youth organization with a federal charter.
1921 – Bessie Coleman earns her pilot's license, becoming the first female pilot of African-American descent.
1934 – The United States Great Smoky Mountains National Park is founded.
1970 – Charles Manson goes on trial for the Sharon Tate murders.
1977 – After the death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975, the first democratic elections took place in Spain on this day.
1978 – King Hussein of Jordan marries American Lisa Halaby, who takes the name Queen Noor.
1985 – Rembrandt's painting Danaë is attacked by a man (later judged insane) who throws sulfuric acid on the canvas and cuts it twice with a knife.
1991 – In the Philippines, Mount Pinatubo erupts in the second largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century, killing over 800 people.
2012 – Nik Wallenda becomes the first person to successfully tightrope walk directly over Niagara Falls.
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