Northern Rhodesia gains independence from the United Kingdom and becomes Zambia
22 October 1947
The Kashmir conflict between India and Pakistan begins, having started just after the partition of India.
21 October 1983
The metre is defined as the distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second.
20 October 1944
American general Douglas MacArthur fulfills his promise to return to the Philippines when he comes ashore during the Battle of Leyte.
16 October 1968
Tommie Smith and John Carlos are ejected from the US Olympic team for participating in the Olympics Black Power salute.
15 October 1991
The “Oh-My-God particle”, an ultra-high-energy cosmic ray measured at 40,000,000 times that of the highest energy protons produced in a particle accelerator, is observed at…