Todays History

The IBM Personal Computer is released.

The Great Famine of Europe becomes so dire that even the king of England has difficulties buying bread for himself and his entourage

The Okinawa Urban Monorail is opened in Naha, Okinawa.

Thomas Edison receives a patent for a two-way telegraph.

China Floods: A mudslide in Zhugqu County, Gansu, China, kills more than 1,400 people.

The Treaty of Åbo ended the 1741–1743 Russo-Swedish War

The Treaty of The Hague is signed by Portugal and the Dutch Republic

The Mayflower departs from Southampton, England, carrying would-be settlers, on its first attempt to reach North America; it is forced to dock in Dartmouth when…

At least 220 people are killed and over 5,000 are wounded when 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate explodes in Beirut, Lebanon.

Tandy Corporation announces the TRS-80, one of the world’s first mass-produced personal computers.