1807 Innovation of the steamboat

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

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

1895 German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discovered X-Rays

1804 Haiti declared its independence from France

1997 The United Kingdom returned Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China

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

1940 Winston Churchill became British Prime Minister, replacing Neville Chamberlain

1903 Innovation of the aeroplane

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

1932 Radio City Music Hall opened in New York City

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

1921 The Communist Party of China (CPC) was formed, and Chen Duxiu was elected its leader

1964 United States President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law

1767 King Taksin was crowned King of Thailand (Siam)