- 1492 – Christopher Columbus sails from the Canary Islands, his final port of call before crossing the Atlantic Ocean for the first time.
- 1522 – One of Ferdinand Magellan’s five ships – the Vittoria – arrived at Sanlucar de Barrameda in Spain, completing the first circumnavigation of the world.
- 1620 – The Pilgrims sail from Plymouth, England on the Mayflower to settle in North America.
- 1628 – Puritans settle Salem which became part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
- 1870 – Louisa Ann Swain of Laramie, Wyoming becomes the first woman in the United States to cast a vote by any woman in a general election.
- 1901 – Leon Czolgosz, an unemployed anarchist, shoots and fatally wounds President William McKinley in Buffalo, New York.
- 1916 – The first self-service grocery store Piggly Wiggly was opened in Memphis, Tennessee by Clarence Saunders.
- 1972 – Nine Israeli athletes die (along with a German policeman) at the hands of the Palestinian “Black September” terrorist group after being taken hostage at the Munich Olympic Games. Two other Israeli athletes were slain in the initial attack the previous day.
- 1995 – The U.S. Senate Ethics Committee unanimously recommended that Sen. Bob Packwood be expelled from the Senate on charges of sexual misconduct and influence-peddling. He resigned two days later.
