Category: today

February 19 1674 The Netherlands and England signed the Peace of Westminster, by which New Amsterdam passed to the English (and was renamed New York).…

February 18 1546 Martin Luther, German leader of the Protestant Reformation, died. 1564 Michelangelo Buonarotti, Italian painter, sculptor, and architect, died. 1885 The Adventures of…

February 17 1600 Italian philospher, alchemist, and Copernican theory advocate Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake for heresy by the Inquisition. 1801 The electoral…

February 16 1804 U.S. frigate Philadelphia, captured and held by Barbary pirates at Tripoli during the Tripolitan War, was set fire to and destroyed by…

February 15 1764 St. Louis, Mo., was founded as a French fur-trading post. 1879 President Rutherford Hayes signed a bill allowing female attorneys to argue…

February 14 1859 Oregon became the 33rd state in the United States. 1912 Arizona became the 48th state in the United States. 1920 The League…

February 13 1542 Catherine Howard, the fifth wife of King Henry VIII of England, was beheaded for adultery. 1866 The gang that included Jesse James…

February 12 1554 Lady Jane Grey, queen of England for nine days (in 1553), was executed for high treason. 1733 Led by philanthropist James Edward…

February 11 1805 Lewis and Clark’s Shoshone guide Sacajawea gave birth to a son, Jean Baptiste. 1809 Robert Fulton patented the steamboat. 1858 Saint Bernadette…

February 10 1763 Treaty of Paris signed, ending the French and Indian War. France ceded Canada and all its North American territories east of the…