1498: Christopher Columbus sights the South American mainland (Venezuela) during his third voyage.
1559: The French religious civil wars begin with the Battle of Dreux.
1774: British scientist Joseph Priestley discovers oxygen.
1800: The Act of Union between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland creates the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
1876: Colorado becomes the 38th U.S. state.
1905: Albert Einstein publishes his theory of special relativity.
1914: Germany declares war on Russia, marking the beginning of World War I.
1936: The Berlin Olympic Games open.
1944: The Warsaw Uprising against German occupation begins.
1960: Dahomey (now Benin) gains independence from France.
1971: U.S. President Richard Nixon announces a temporary freeze on wages, prices, and rents in an attempt to combat inflation.
1981: MTV, a 24-hour music television network, is launched in the United States.
2002: The Euro, the common currency of the European Union, is introduced in 12 EU countries.
2018: The World Health Organization declares the end of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.