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Pope Francis makes his first official visit to Africa.
Jeddah floods: Freak rains swamp the city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, during an ongoing Hajj pilgrimage. Three thousand cars are swept away and 122 people perish in the torrents, with 350 others missing.
Cyclone Nisha strikes northern Sri Lanka, killing 15 people and displacing 90,000 others while dealing the region the highest rainfall in nine decades.
The 2000 Baku earthquake, with a Richter magnitude of 7.0, leaves 26 people dead in Baku, Azerbaijan, and becomes the strongest earthquake in the region in 158 years.
A 5-year-old Cuban boy, Elian Gonzalez, is rescued by fishermen while floating in an inner tube off the Florida coast.
An ice storm strikes the central U.S., killing 26 people. A powerful windstorm affects Florida and winds gust over 90 mph, toppling trees and flipping trailers.
The Federal Assembly of Czechoslovakia votes to split the country into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, with effect from January 1, 1993.
Typhoon Nina pummels the Philippines with category 5 winds of 165 mph and a surge that destroys entire villages. At least 1,036 deaths are attributed to the storm.
The King Fahd Causeway is officially opened in the Persian Gulf.
Iran-Contra affair: U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese announces that profits from covert weapons sales to Iran were illegally diverted to the anti-communist Contra rebels in Nicaragua.
Thirty-six top musicians gather in a Notting Hill studio and record Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?" in order to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia.
Pope John Paul II appoints Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (the future Pope Benedict XVI) Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Former Senator Benigno Aquino, Jr., is found guilty by the Philippine Military Commission No. 2 and is sentenced to death by firing squad. He is later assassinated in 1983.
Georgios Papadopoulos, head of the military Regime of the Colonels in Greece, is ousted in a hardliners' coup led by Brigadier General Dimitrios Ioannidis.
In Japan, author Yukio Mishima and one compatriot commit ritualistic seppuku after an unsuccessful coup attempt.
First television link between Australia and the UK.
The Mirabal sisters of the Dominican Republic are assassinated.
French Sudan gains autonomy as a self-governing member of the French Community.
Korean War: After 42 days of fighting, the Battle of Triangle Hill ends with Chinese victory, American and South Korean units abandon their attempt to capture the "Iron Triangle".
Agatha Christie's murder-mystery play The Mousetrap opens at the Ambassadors Theatre in London. It will become the longest continuously-running play in history.
The Great Appalachian Storm of November 1950 impacts 22 American states, killing 353 people, injuring over 160, and causing US$66.7 million in damages (1950 dollars).
New Zealand ratifies the Statute of Westminster and thus becomes independent of legislative control by the United Kingdom.
Red Scare: The "Hollywood Ten" are blacklisted by Hollywood movie studios.
World War II: Statehood of Bosnia and Herzegovina is re-established at the State Anti-fascist Council for the National Liberation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
World War II: First flight of the de Havilland Mosquito and Martin B-26 Marauder.
In Berlin, Germany and Japan sign the Anti-Comintern Pact, agreeing to consult on measures "to safeguard their common interests" in the case of an unprovoked attack by the Soviet Union against either nation. The pact is renewed on the same day five years later with additional signatories.
The deadliest November tornado outbreak in U.S. history kills 76 people and injures more than 400.
Vojvodina, formerly Austro-Hungarian crown land, proclaims its secession from Austria-Hungary to join the Kingdom of Serbia.
World War I: German forces defeat Portuguese army of about 1200 at Negomano on the border of modern-day Mozambique and Tanzania.
Albert Einstein presents the field equations of general relativity to the Prussian Academy of Sciences.
Prince Carl of Denmark arrives in Norway to become King Haakon VII of Norway.
American Indian Wars: In retaliation for the American defeat at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, United States Army troops sack the sleeping village of Cheyenne Chief Dull Knife at the headwaters of the Powder River.
The United States Greenback Party is established as a political party consisting primarily of farmers affected by the Panic of 1873.
American Civil War: A group of Confederate operatives calling themselves the Confederate Army of Manhattan starts fires in more than 20 locations in an unsuccessful attempt to burn down New York City.
American Civil War: Battle of Missionary Ridge: At Missionary Ridge in Tennessee, Union forces led by General Ulysses S. Grant break the Siege of Chattanooga by routing Confederate troops under General Braxton Bragg.
A cyclone slams India with high winds and a 40-foot storm surge, destroying the port city of Coringa (which has never been completely rebuilt). The storm wave sweeps inland, taking with it 20,000 ships and thousands of people. An estimated 300,000 deaths result from the disaster.
A massive undersea earthquake, estimated magnitude between 8.7-9.2, rocks Sumatra, producing a massive tsunami all along the Indonesian coast.
The Greek frigate Hellas arrives in Nafplion to become the first flagship of the Hellenic Navy.
Partitions of Poland: Stanisław August Poniatowski, the last king of independent Poland, is forced to abdicate and is exiled to Russia.
American Revolutionary War: The last British troops leave New York City three months after the signing of the Treaty of Paris.
An earthquake hits the Mediterranean destroying Beirut and Damascus and killing 30,000-40,000.
French and Indian War: British forces capture Fort Duquesne from French control. Later, Fort Pitt will be built nearby and grow into modern Pittsburgh.
King Ferdinand VI of Spain grants royal protection to the Beaterio de la Compañia de Jesus, now known as the Congregation of the Religious of the Virgin Mary.
A deadly earthquake rocks Shemakha in the Caucasus, killing 80,000 people.
The siege of Granada, the last Moorish stronghold in Spain, ends with the Treaty of Granada.
A tsunami, caused by an earthquake in the Tyrrhenian Sea, devastates Naples and the Maritime Republic of Amalfi, among other places.
Baldwin IV of Jerusalem and Raynald of Châtillon defeat Saladin at the Battle of Montgisard.
The White Ship sinks in the English Channel, drowning William Adelin, son and heir of Henry I of England.
Máel Coluim mac Cináeda, King of Scots, dies. His grandson, Donnchad, son of Bethóc and Crínán of Dunkeld, inherits the throne.
Siege of Paris: Viking forces sail the Seine River with a fleet of 300 longships and lay siege to Paris.
Servius Tullius, king of Rome, celebrates a triumph for his victory over the Etruscans.
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