1804-General Napoleon Bonaparte is crowned Emperor of the French at the Notre Dame de Paris in a ceremony officiated by Pope Pius VII
1823-U.S. President James Monroe declares the "Monroe Doctrine" opposing European colonialism in the Americas, arguing any European political intervention in the New World would be a hostile act against the United States
1845-U.S. President James K. Polk announces to Congress that the United States should aggressively expand into the West, a widely held belief termed "manifest destiny" by newspaper editor John O'Sullivan
1929-First skull of Peking man found in the caves of Zhoukoudian, 50 km outside of Peking, China. Later dated roughly 750,000 years old.
1976-Communist revolutionary Fidel Castro becomes President of Cuba, replacing Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado