1994 Nelson Mandela sworn in as the first black president of South Africa

1940 Winston Churchill became British Prime Minister, replacing Neville Chamberlain

1808 The slave trade became illegal when the United States enacted a law banning the importation of slaves

2003 The Spirit Rover was launched by NASA to start the Mars Exploration Rover mission

1924 Astronomer Edwin Hubble formally announced that the Milky Way is just one of many galaxies in the universe

1836 Spain recognized the independence of Mexico by signing the Santa María–Calatrava Treaty

1964 Kenya became a republic

1876 Innovation of the telephone

1835 The Treaty of New Echota was signed between the United States Government and representatives of a minority Cherokee Political Faction

1814 Innovation of the steam locomotive (engine)

1807 Innovation of the steamboat

1926 John Logie Baird gave the first public demonstration of a live television system

1949 Queen Juliana of the Netherlands signed the papers to grant independence to Indonesia

1901 Guglielmo Marconi sent and received the first wireless message across the Atlantic Ocean

1963 President John F. Kennedy signed the United States Equal Pay Act into law

1895 German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discovered X-Rays