1781 - Los Angeles is founded as El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora La Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula (City of the Queen of the Angeles) by a group of 44 Spanish settlers.
1886 - Indian Wars: After almost 30 years of fighting, Apache leader Geronimo surrenders with his last band of warriors to General Nelson Miles at Skeleton Canyon in Arizona.
1940 - World War II: The USS Greer becomes the first United States ship fired upon by a German submarine in the war, even though the United States is a neutral power. Tension heightens between the two nations as a result.
1967 - The last new episode of the television sitcom Gilligan's Island airs on CBS-TV.
1967 - Vietnam War: Operation SWIFT begins - The United StatesMariness launch a search and destroy mission in Quang Nam and Quang Tin Provinces. The ensuing 4-day battle in Que Son Valley kills 114 Americans and 376 North Vietnamese.
1971 - A Boeing 727 carrying Alaska Airlines Flight 1866 crashes into the side of a mountain near Juneau, Alaska killing all 111 people on board.
1995 - The Fourth World Conference on Women opens in Beijing with over 4,750 delegates from 181 countries in attendance.
1996 - War on Drugs: Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) attack a military base in Guaviare, Colombia starting three weeks of guerrilla warfare that will claim the lives of at least 130 Colombians.
