1492: Christopher Columbus sights Cuba and claims it for Spain under the name “Juana”

1538: The first university in the New World, the Universidad Santo Tomás de Aquino, is established on Hispaniola

1746: The Peruvian cities of Lima and Callao are demolished by an earthquake, killing 18,000

1831: Michael Faraday demonstrates his dynamo invention, an electrical generator
The Statue of Liberty, New YorkStatue of Liberty

1886: Statue of Liberty is dedicated by President Grover Cleveland, celebrated by the first confetti (ticker tape) parade in New York City

1919: Volstead Act is passed by Congress, establishing prohibition despite President Woodrow Wilson’s veto

1924: Miner M.de Bruin discovers the infant fossil skull, “Taung child” in a lime quarry in Taung, South Africa. Paleoanthropologist Raymond Dart identifies the fossil as a new hominin species, Australopithecus africanus.

Source: Onthisday.com