1279 BC – Ramesses II, also known as Ramesses the Great becomes Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt (19th Dynasty)
1578 – Martin Frobisher sails from Harwich, England, to Frobisher Bay, Canada. Eventually mines fools gold, famously used to pave the streets of London.
1790 – The United States established copyright law.
1902 – Boer War Ends; Treaty of Unity signed, Britain annexes Transvaal
1910 – Union of South Africa declares its independence from the United Kingdom
1916 – Battle of Jutland: Largest naval battle of World War I between the British Grand Fleet and the German High Seas Fleet which killed 8,645 in an inconclusive battle but strategic British victory. German fleet never puts to sea again in WWI.
1935 – 7.7 magnitude earthquake hits Quetta in Balochistan, British Raj (Pakistan) killing an estimated 50,000 people
1947 – Communists seize power in Hungary
1970 – 7.75 Ancash earthquake off coast of Peru kills 66-70,000 and sets off world’s deadliest avalanche
Births & Deaths: 1930 – Clint Eastwood, American actor (Dirty Harry)/mayor (Carmel, California), born in San Francisco, California
1962 – the State of Israel hanged German official Adolf Eichmann, who had escaped from a prison camp in 1946 and spent some 14 years in hiding, for his part in the Nazi extermination of Jews during World War II.
2009 – Millvina Dean, the last known person to have survived the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, died in Southampton, England; she was nine weeks old at the time of the disaster.
Film & TV: 2014 – Psy’s “Gangnam Style” becomes the first video to reach 2 billion views on YouTube
Music: 2007 – Rihanna releases her breakthrough album “Good Girl Gone Bad”
Sport: 1868 – Dr James Moore (UK) wins 1st recorded bicycle race, (2k) velocipede race at Parc fde St Cloud, Paris
