1138: Earthquake in Aleppo, Syria, kills an estimated 230,000

1634: Burchardi flood – “the second Grote Mandrenke” kills about 15,000 in North Friesland, Denmark and Germany

1737: Earthquake reported to have killed 300,000 and destroyed half of Calcutta in India. Now thought to have been an exaggerated account of a hurricane which claimed 3,000 of the city’s estimated 20,000 residents. [1]

1797: Battle of Camperdown (Kamperduin): British navy defeats Dutch fleet

1945: Chinese civil war begins between Kuomintang government led by Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong’s Communist Party

1962: Second Vatican Council (21st ecumenical) convened by Pope John XXIII

1986: Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev open talks at a summit in Reykjavik, Iceland