• 1497 Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci leaves for his first voyage to the New World (disputed)
• 1775 Second Continental Congress convenes in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and issues paper currency for 1st time

• 1801 First Barbary War: The Barbary pirates of Tripoli declare war on the United States of America (1st US foreign war)
• 1857 Indian mutiny against rule by the British East India Company begins with the revolt of the Sepoy soldiers in Meerut
• 1940 Winston Churchill succeeds Neville Chamberlain as British Prime Minister
• 1960 US atomic submarine USS Triton completes 1st submerged circumnavigation of the globe
• 1994 Nelson Mandela sworn in as South Africa’s 1st black president