1492

Christopher Columbus discovers Cuba and claims it in the name of Spain.

1636

Harvard University is founded at Cambridge, Massachusetts.

1746

The Peruvian cities of Lima and Callao are demolished by an earthquake, killing at least 18,000.

1818

Birth of Russian writer Ivan Turgenev (died 1883). His collection of stories, A Sportsman's Sketches, contributed toward the emancipation of the serfs. His novels, such as Fathers and Children, are eloquent portrayals of the ineffectual Russian gentry.

1836

Federation of Peru and Bolivia is proclaimed.

1886

The Statue of Liberty, a gift from France designed by Auguste Bartholdi, is dedicated to US President Grover Cleveland.

1909

Francis Bacon is born in Dublin. He became one of Britain's most important painters and was first noted for his Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion in 1945.

1914

Birth of US microbiologist Jonas Edward Salk who developed the first polio vaccine in 1953.

1946

President Ho Chi Minh signs a decision promulgating Viet Nam's first Constitution.

1965

The South Viet Nam liberation forces attack the US air bases of Chu Lai and Nuoc Man, respectively in Quang Nam and Da Nang, central Viet Nam, inflicting 600 casualties and destroying over 160 aircraft.

1971

House of Commons votes in favour of England's entry into European Common Market.

1974

Arab heads of state, including Jordan's King Hussein, issues a declaration calling for creation of an independent Palestinian state.

1977

UN General Assembly censures Israel for establishing settlements in occupied Arab territories, calling action illegal and damaging to peace efforts.

1994

For the first time since violence erupted 25 years earlier, representatives of the Irish Republican Army meet with leaders from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland to discuss peace talks.

1995

At least 289 people are killed and hundreds injured in a subway fire in Baku, the Azerbaijani capital.

1998

Hurricane Mitch pauses over Honduras with 205kph winds, sweeping away bridges, flooding neighborhoods and killing hundreds of people.

2001

US President George W Bush announces creation of a Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task Force to find and deport foreigners who are in the United States illegally. — AP/REUTERS/VNS