• 54 - Nero ascends to the Roman throne
• 409 - Vandals and Alans crossed the Pyrenees and appeared in Hispania.
• 1282 - Nichiren Daishonin, founder of the Nichiren School of Buddhism, dies. His ashes are interred at Taisekiji Temple.
• 1307 - Hundreds of Knights Templar in France are simultaneously arrested by agents of Phillip the Fair, to be later tortured into "admitting" heresy.
• 1492 - Christopher Columbus and his crew land in the Bahamas
• 1582 - Because of the implementation of the Gregorian calendar this day doesn't exist in this year in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain.
• 1773 - The Whirlpool Galaxy was discovered by Charles Messier
• 1775 - The United States Continental Congress orders the establishment of the Continental Navy (later renamed the United States Navy).
• 1792 - In Washington, D.C., the cornerstone of the United States Executive Mansion (known as the White House since 1818) is laid.
• 1812 - War of 1812: Battle of Queenston Heights - As part of the Niagara campaign in Ontario, Canada, United States forces under General Stephen Van Rensselaer are repulsed from invading Canada by British and native troops led by Sir Isaac Brock.
• 1843 - In New York City, Henry Jones and 11 others found B'nai B'rith (the oldest Jewish service organization in the world).
• 1845 - A majority of voters in the Republic of Texas approve a proposed constitution, that if accepted by the U.S. Congress, will make Texas a U.S. state.
• 1870 - The Kappa Kappa Gamma fraternity is founded at Monmouth College in Monmouth, Illinois, by six pioneering women.
• 1871 - The Delphic Fraternity is founded as the Delphic Society at the State Normal School in Geneseo, New York.
• 1881 - Revival of the Hebrew language as Eliezer Ben-Yehuda and friends agree to use Hebrew exclusively in their conversations.
• 1885 - The Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) is founded in Atlanta, Georgia.
• 1884 - Greenwich established as universal time meridian of longitude.
• 1890 - The Delta Chi fraternity is founded by 11 law students at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.
• 1892 - Edward Emerson Barnard discovers D/1892 T1 (Barnard 3), the first comet discovered by photographic means, on the night of October 13-14.
• 1917 - The "Miracle of the Sun" is witnessed by an estimated 70,000 people in the Cova da Iria in Fátima, Portugal.
• 1918 - Mehmed Talat Pasha and the Young Turk (C.U.P.) ministry resign and sign an armistice, ending Ottoman participation in World War I.
• 1923 - Ankara replaces Istanbul as the capital of Turkey.
• 1943 - World War II: The new government of Italy sides with the Allies and declares war on Germany.
• 1944 - World War II: Riga, the capital of Latvia is seized by the Red Army.
• 1946 - France adopts the constitution of the Fourth Republic.
• 1958 - Burial of Eugenio Pacelli, Pope Pius XII on the 41st anniversary of the "Miracle of the Sun".
• 1960 - 1960 World Series: Pittsburgh Pirates second baseman Bill Mazeroski becomes the first person to end a World Series with a home run, as the Pirates beat the New York Yankees, four games to three.
• 1967 - The first game in the history of the American Basketball Association is played as the Anaheim Amigos lose to the Oakland Oaks 134-129 in Oakland, California.
• 1971 - 1971 World Series: The first night game in World Series history is played at Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Stadium between the Baltimore Orioles and Pittsburgh Pirates.
• 1972 - An Aeroflot Ilyushin Il-62 crashed outside Moscow killing 176.
• 1972 - Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 crashes in the Andes mountains, in between the borders of Argentina and Chile. By December 23, 1972 only 16 out of 45 people lived long enough to be rescued.
• 1976 - A Bolivian Boeing 707 cargo jet crashes in Santa Cruz, Bolivia killing 100 (97, mostly children, killed on the ground).
• 1976 - The first electron micrograph of an Ebola viral particle was obtained by Dr. F.A. Murphy, now at U.C. Davis, who was then working at the C.D.C..
• 1977 - Four Palestinians hijack Lufthansa Flight 181 to Somalia and demand release of 11 members of the Red Army Faction.
• 1983 - Ameritech Mobile Communications (now Cingular) launched the first US cellular network in Chicago, Illinois.
• 1990 - End of the Lebanese war. Syrian forces launch an attack on the free areas of Lebanon removing General Michel Aoun from the presidential palace.
• 1992 - An Antonov An-124 operated by Antonov Airlines registered CCCP-82002, crashed near Kiev, Ukraine.
• 1993 - Captured American Pilot Mike Durant is filmed in an interview in captivity by a CNN camera crew.
• 1999 - The United States Senate rejects ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).
• 2003 - The Public Library of Science commences publication of an open access scientific journal, PLoS Biology.

Births