1560.- Captain Pedro del Castillo founded the Argentine city of Mendoza, the current capital of the province of the same name.
1810.- Joaquín Vicente Pecci is born, elected Pope with the name of Leo XIII.
1822.- The Uruguayan warlord Rivera capitulates to the Portuguese forces, which thus consolidate their dominance over the Banda Oriental.
1824.- Federico Smetana, Czechoslovak composer, is born.
1867.- The United States Congress imposes the Reconstruction Act, which grants the vote to free blacks and establishes a military regime in the South.
1878.- Ignacio Veintemilla proclaims himself dictator of the Republic of Ecuador for the second time, spawning a civil war that lasts until 1883.
1891.- The first legislative elections are held by universal suffrage in Spain.
1917.- The United States Congress reformed the Organic Act so that Puerto Rico can be the territory of the Union and its inhabitants U.S. citizens.
– Jennifer Jones, American film actress, is born.
1921.- Jean Bedel Bokassa, Central African president, is born.
1922.- Rafael Moreno Aranzadi, “Pichichi”, Spanish footballer, “Pichichi”, Spanish footballer
1923.- Ruy Barbosa, one of the founders of the Republic of Brazil and author of its Constitution, dies.
1931.- Mikhail Gorbachev, the last president of the USSR and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, is born.
1932.- Sister Angela de la Cruz, Spanish writer, dies.
1937.- Abdelaziz Buteflika, politician, president of Algeria is born.
1938.- Ricardo Lagos Escobar, Chilean politician who was president of the country between 2000 and 2006, is born.
1939.- Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli is elected Pope, with the name of Pius XII.
– Juan Luis Galiardo, actor, is born.
1940.- Ricardo Miró, Panamanian poet, dies.
1945.- Pressed by the Army, dictator Getulio Vargas announces the restoration of the democratic regime in Brazil.
1946.- Ho Chi Minh is elected president of Vietnam.
1949.- First nonstop round-world flight of the 13-50 American bomber departing from Fort Worth, Texas.
1956.- Paris Declaration, by which Morocco regains its independence from France. The still Sultan Mohamed V assumes all powers.
1967.- José Martínez Ruiz, “Azorín”, Spanish writer, dies.
1969.- The Concorde supersonic passenger plane flies for the first time.
– Eduardo Frei’s Christian Democrats win the elections in Chile, although they lose an absolute majority.
1970.- South Rhodesia, former British colony, is proclaimed an independent Republic.
– Colonel Carlos Arana Osorio wins the presidential election in Guatemala.
1971.- Mujibur Rahman proclaims Bangladesh as an independent Republic of Pakistan in Dhaka and begins a civil war.
1972.- United States launches the “Pioneer 10” probe to Jupiter with a message aimed at possible intelligent alien beings.
1977.- Gaddafi proclaims the Libyan People’s and Socialist Arab Yamahiriya or Republic of Masses.
1989.- Venezuela suspends constitutional guarantees and decrees a massive military presence on the streets after days of serious unrest.
1991.- More than 2,000 guerrillas from the Colombian People’s Liberation Army deliver the weapons.
1992.- The UN approves the incorporation as members of its organization from Moldova, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan.
1994.- Muslims and Croats agree to the creation of a federation in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
1996.- John Howard’s liberal-conservative coalition wins by an absolute majority Australia’s legislative elections.
1997.- The Albanian Parliament decrees a state of emergency throughout the country to stem the unrest triggered by popular protests.
2000.- The British Interior Ministry authorizes the return of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet to his country on health grounds after 503 days of arrest in London.
2001.- The Government of Israel includes for the first time in the country’s history a minister of Arab origin.
2002.- The largest solar telescope in Europe opens in the astrophysical complex of Roque de Los Muchachos, located on the Canary Island of Palma.
2006.- The National Liberation Army (ELN) declares a truce on the occasion of the parliamentary elections in Colombia.
2008.- Russian officialist candidate Dmitry Medvedev wins the presidential election.
– Venezuela closes its embassy in Colombia following the country’s military attack on a FARC base on Ecuadorian territory.
2009.- Ali Hasan al Mayid, known as “Ali the Chemist” and cousin of Saddam Hussein, is sentenced to death for the third time by an Iraqi court.
– Joao Bernardo Viera, President of Guinea Bissau, dies.
Original source in Spanish
