1265: First English Parliament summoned other than by royal command, in this instance by Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester. Meets in Westminster Hall.

1841: China cedes Hong Kong to the British during the First Opium War

1921: Republic of Turkey is declared from the remnants of the Ottoman Empire

1942: Nazi officials hold the notorious Wannsee Conference in Berlin to organize the “final solution”, the extermination of Europe’s Jews

1945: Franklin D. Roosevelt sworn-in for an unprecedented (and never to be repeated) 4th term as US President

1981: Ronald Reagan inaugurated as the 40th President of the United States of America

2009: Barack Obama is inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States of America, becoming the United States’ first African-American president

Source: Onthisday.com