1820 Captain Nathaniel Palmer discovered Antarctica.
1883 Standard time began in the United States.
1886 Chester A. Arthur, the 21st president of the United States (1881–1885), died in New York at 56.
1928 Mickey Mouse made his debut in Steamboat Willie.
1976 Spain's parliament approved a bill to establish a democracy after 37 years of dictatorship.
1978 Jim Jones, a U.S. pastor, led 914 of his followers to their deaths at Jonestown, Guyana, by drinking a cyanide-laced fruit drink. Cult members who refused to swallow the drink were shot.
2003 The Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that the right to same sex marriage was guaranteed by the state constitution.
2004The UN Security Council held a two-day session in Nairobi. This was the first time it had convened outside of New York headquarters.
