- 380 – Edict of Thessalonica: Emperor Theodosius I, with co-emperors Gratian and Valentinian II, declare their wish that all Roman citizens convert to trinitarian Christianity.
- 425 – The University of Constantinople is founded by Emperor Theodosius II at the urging of his wife Aelia Eudocia.
- 1560 – The Treaty of Berwick, which would expel the French from Scotland, is signed by England and the Congregation of Scotland.
- 1594 – Henry IV is crowned King of France.
- 1617 – Sweden and Russia sign the Treaty of Stolbovo, ending the Ingrian War and shutting Russia out of the Baltic Sea.
- 1626 – Yuan Chonghuan is appointed Governor of Liaodong, after he led the Chinese into a great victory against the Manchurians under Nurhaci.
- 1700 – The island of New Britain is discovered.
- 1776 – American Revolutionary War: the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge in North Carolina breaks up a Loyalist militia.
- 1801 – Pursuant to the District of Columbia Organic Act of 1801, Washington, D.C. is placed under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Congress.
- 1812 – Manuel Belgrano raises the Flag of Argentina in the city of Rosario for the first time.
- 1812 – Poet Lord Byron gives his first address as a member of the House of Lords, in defense of Luddite violence against Industrialism in his home county of Nottinghamshire.
- 1844 – The Dominican Republic gains independence from Haiti.
- 1860 – Abraham Lincoln makes a speech at Cooper Union in the city of New York that is largely responsible for his election to the Presidency.
- 1861 – Russian troops fire on a crowd in Warsaw protesting against Russian rule over Poland, killing five protesters.
- 1864 – American Civil War: The first Northern prisoners arrive at the Confederate prison at Andersonville, Georgia.
- 1870 – The current flag of Japan is first adopted as the national flag for Japanese merchant ships.
- 1900 – Second Boer War: In South Africa, British military leaders receive an unconditional notice of surrender from Boer General Piet Cronje at the Battle of Paardeberg.
- 1900 – The British Labour Party is founded.
- 1902 – Second Boer War: Harry 'Breaker' Harbord Morant is executed in Pretoria.
- 1921 – The International Working Union of Socialist Parties is founded in Vienna.
- 1922 – A challenge to the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, allowing women the right to vote, is rebuffed by the Supreme Court of the United States in Leser v. Garnett.
- 1933 – Reichstag fire: Germany's parliament building in Berlin, the Reichstag, is set on fire.
- 1939 – United States labor law: The U.S. Supreme Court rules that sit-down strikes violate property owners' rights and are therefore illegal.
- 1940 – Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben discover carbon-14
- 1942 – World War II: During the Battle of the Java Sea, an allied strike force is defeated by a Japanese task force in the Java Sea in the Dutch East Indies
- 1943 – The Smith Mine #3 in Bearcreek, Montana, explodes, killing 74 men.
- 1943 – The Rosenstrasse protest starts in Berlin
- 1951 – The Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution, limiting Presidents to two terms, is ratified.
- 1955 – Soviet Union regional elections, 1955.
- 1961 – The first congress of the Spanish Trade Union Organisation is inaugurated.
- 1963 – The Dominican Republic receives its first democratically elected president, Juan Bosch, since the end of the dictatorship led by Rafael Trujillo.
- 1964 – The government of Italy asks for help to keep the Leaning Tower of Pisa from toppling over.
- 1971 – Doctors in the first Dutch abortion clinic (the Mildredhuis in Arnhem) start to perform aborti provocati.
- 1973 – The American Indian Movement occupies Wounded Knee, South Dakota.
- 1976 – The formerly Spanish territory of Western Sahara, under the auspices of the Polisario Front declares independence as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.
- 1986 – The United States Senate allows its debates to be televised on a trial basis.
- 1989 – Venezuela is rocked by the Caracazo riots.
- 1991 – Gulf War: U.S. President George H. W. Bush announces that "Kuwait is liberated".
- 2002 – Ryanair Flight 296 catches fire at London Stansted Airport. Subsequent investigations criticize Ryanair's handling of the evacuation.
- 2002 – Godhra train burning: a Muslim mob kills 59 Hindu pilgrims returning from Ayodhya;
- 2004 – A bombing of a Superferry by Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines' worst terrorist attack kills 116.
- 2004 – The initial version of the John Jay Report, with details about the Catholic sexual abuse scandal in the United States, is released.
- 2007 – The Chinese Correction: the Shanghai Stock Exchange falls 9%, the largest drop in 10 years.
- 2010 – An earthquake measuring 8.8 on the Richter scale strikes central parts of Chile leaving over 500 victims, and thousands injured. The quake triggered a tsunami which struck Hawaii shortly after.
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