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• 325 - The First Council of Nicaea is held; the first Ecumenical Council of the Christian Church.
• 526 - An Earthquake kills about 300,000 people in Syria and Antiochia.
• 1293 - King Sancho IV of Castile creates the Study of General Schools of Alcala.
• 1497 - John Cabot sets sail from Bristol on his ship The Mathew looking for a route to the west (other documents give a May 2 date).
• 1498Events May 20 Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama arrives at Calicut (now Kozhikode), India, becoming the first European to get there by sailing around Africa. May 23 Girolamo Savonarola, ruler of Florence, is executed for criticizing the Pope. July 31 On h - PortugueseRepublica Portuguesa ( In Detail) National motto: None Official language Portuguese 3 Capital Lisbon President Jorge Sampaio Prime Minister Pedro Santana Lopes Area Total % water World ranking: 109th 92,391 km²0. 5 % Population Total ( 2004) Density World explorer Vasco da GamaSee Clube de Regatas Vasco da Gama for the football club. Vasco da Gama ( 1469 December 24, 1524), was a Portuguese explorer who was the first person to sail from Europe to Malabar, India. From the early 15th century, the nautical school of Henry the Navi arrives at KozhikodeKozhikode also known as Calicut is the third largest city (pop. 801,190:1991) in the state of Kerala, India and was part of erstwhile Malabar District. This city is famous for receiving Vasco da Gama in 1498. He landed in the remote beach Kappad which is (previously known as Calicut), IndiaThe Republic of India is a large multicultural country in South Asia, with a population of over one billion. The Indian economy is the fourth largest in the world, in terms of purchasing power parity, and is the world's second-fastest growing economy..
• 1521Events January 3 Pope Leo X excommunicates Martin Luther. January 28 Diet of Worms begins, lasting until May 25. March 6 Ferdinand Magellan discovers Guam. March 16 Ferdinand Magellan reaches the Philippines. April 7 Ferdinand Magellan arrives at Cebu. - Battle of PampelunaThe Battle of Pampeluna (also spelled Pamplona) occurred during the war between Spain and France, in which France took possession of Pampeluna ( 1521), but was later defeated and expelled ( 1522) from Milan. Also See Battle of Nevarre Battle of Fontarabia.
• 1570Events January 23 The assassination of regent James Stewart, Earl of Moray throws Scotland into civil war February 25 Pope Pius V excommunicates Queen Elizabeth I of England. May 20 Abraham Ortelius issues the first modern atlas. August 8 The Peace of Sai - Cartographer Abraham Ortelius issues the first modern atlas.
• 1690 - England passes the Act of Grace , forgiving followers of Catholic James II.
• 1845 - HMS Erebus and HMS Terror with 134 men under John Franklin sail from the River Thames beginning a disastrous expedition to find the Northwest Passage. All hands are lost.
• 1861 - American Civil War: Kentucky proclaims its neutrality which will last until September 3 when Confederate forces enter the state.
• 1862 - President Abraham Lincoln signs the Homestead Act into law.
• 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Bermuda Hundred - In Virginia, 3,000 Confederates and l,200 Union troops are killed in this Union victory.
• 1874 - Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive a US patent for blue jeans with copper rivets.
• 1882 - The Triple Alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy is formed.
• 1891 - History of cinema: First public display of Thomas Alva Edison's prototype kinetoscope (shown at Edison's Laboratory for a convention of the National Federation of Women's Clubs ).
• 1902 - Cuba gains independence from the United States.
• 1916 - The Saturday Evening Post publishes its first cover with a Norman Rockwell painting ("Boy with Baby Carriage").
• 1916 - The town of Codell , Kansas is struck by a tornado.
• 1917 - The town of Codell , Kansas is struck by a tornado.
• 1918 - For the third consecutive year on this date, the town of Codell , Kansas is struck by a tornado.
• 1920 - Montreal Quebec station XWA broadcasts the first regularly scheduled radio programming in North America.
• 1927 - Treaty of Jedda : Saudi Arabia becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
• 1927 - At 7:52 A.M Charles Lindbergh takes off from Roosevelt Field in Long Island, New York on the world's first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean (he will touch down at Le Bourget Field in Paris at 10:22 P.M. the next day).
• 1932 - Amelia Earhart takes off from Newfoundland to begin the world's first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean by a female pilot, landing in Ireland the next day.
• 1940 - Holocaust: The first prisoners arrive at a new concentration camp at Auschwitz.
• 1941 - World War II: Battle of Crete - German troops invade Crete.
• 1949 - In America the AFSA (predecessor of the NSA) is established.
• 1954 - Chiang Kai-shek is selected for another term as President of the Republic of China by the National Assembly
• 1965 - A Pakistani Airlines Boeing 720-B crashes on landing at Cairo, Egypt, airport killing 121 people.
• 1971 - Soul singer Marvin Gaye releases the influencial album What's Going On
• 1985 - Propaganda: Radio Marti begins broadcasting to Cuba.
• 1990 - The first post- Communist presidential and parliamentary elections are held in Romania.
• 1992 - Amy Fisher, the so-called "Long Island Lolita," is arrested for shooting Mary Jo Buttafuoco on the front porch of her Massapequa, New York home.
• 1993 - The television sitcom, Cheers ends an 11-year run on NBC (the show debuted on September 30, 1982).
• 1996 - Gay rights: The Supreme Court of the United States rules in Romer v. Evans against a law that would have prevented any city, town or county in the state of Colorado from taking any legislative, executive, or judicial action to protect the rights of homosexuals.
• 2002 - Restoration of East Timor independence.