1492-Christopher Columbus sights Cuba and claims it for Spain under the name "Juana"
1538-The first university in the New World, the Universidad Santo Tomás de Aquino, is established on Hispaniola
1746-The Peruvian cities of Lima and Callao are demolished by an earthquake, killing 18,000
1831-Michael Faraday demonstrates his dynamo invention, an electric generator
1886-Statue of Liberty is dedicated by President Grover Cleveland, celebrated with the first confetti (ticker tape) parade in New York City
1919-Volstead Act is passed by Congress, establishing prohibition despite President Woodrow Wilson's veto
1924-Miner M. de Bruin discovers the infant fossil skull, "Taung child," in a lime quarry in Taung, South Africa; paleoanthropologist Raymond Dart identifies the fossil as a new hominin species, Australopithecus africanus