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1493 ~ Christopher Columbus became the first European to go ashore on an island he only named the day before. He named it San Juan Bautista (later renamed Puerto Rico).

1794 ~ The United States and the Kingdom of Great Britain signed Jay's Treaty, which attempted to clear up some of the lingering problems left over from the American Revolutionary War. Interestingly, the American people were very displeased with this, and there were protests against Justice Jay and his treaty. Alexander Hamilton, however, convinced Washington it was the best treaty that could be expected, and Washington agreed to sign it. This action caused Thomas Jefferson to start forming an active and open opposition group to Hamilton and his associates. They began to call themselves Republicans, and would later morph in the Democratic Party.

1805 ~ Birthday of Ferdinand de Lesseps, French diplomat and Suez Canal engineer.

1828 ~ Death of Franz Schubert, Austrian Composer.

1884 ~ Birthday of José Raúl Capablanca, Cuban Chess Grand Master.

1917 ~ Birthday of Indira Gandhi, prime minister of India.

1941 ~ World War II: The Royal Australian Navy cruiser HMAS Sydney and the German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran sank each other off the coast of Western Australia, with the loss of 645 Australians and about 77 German seamen.

1977 ~ Egyptian President Anwar Sadat became the first Arab leader to officially visit Israel when he met with Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin and spoke before the Knesset in Jerusalem, seeking a permanent peace settlement. Much of the Arab world was outraged by the visit.

1990 ~ Pop group Milli Vanilli was stripped of their Grammy Award because the duo did not sing at all on the “Girl You Know It’s True” album. Session musicians had provided all the vocals.

1998 ~ Lewinsky scandal: The United States House of Representatives' Judiciary Committee began impeachment hearings against US President Bill Clinton.