1493 : Pope Alexander VI issued the papal bull Inter Caetera dividing newly discovered lands between Spain and Portugal
1626 : Dutch explorer Peter Minuit arrived in what is now New York City later linked with the purchase of Manhattan
1776 : Rhode Island became the first American colony to renounce allegiance to King George III
1886 : The Haymarket affair took place in Chicago marking a major event in the history of labour movements in the United States
1904 : The United States began construction of the Panama Canal a landmark engineering project
1942 : The Battle of the Coral Sea began during World War II between Allied and Japanese forces
1979 : Margaret Thatcher became the first woman Prime Minister of the United Kingdom after winning the general election
1990 : Latvia declared the restoration of its independence from the Soviet Union
2010 : The Deepwater Horizon oil spill continued in the Gulf of Mexico becoming one of the worst environmental disasters in history.



