1586: Sir Thomas Herriot introduces potatoes to England from Colombia

1854: Eureka Stockade: In what is claimed by many to be the birth of Australian democracy, more than 20 goldminers at Ballarat, Victoria, are killed by state troopers in an uprising over mining licences

1967: First human heart transplant performed in South Africa by Dr. Christiaan Barnard on Louis Washkansky

1984: Bhopal disaster: A Union Carbide pesticide plant leaks 45 tons of methyl isocyanate and other toxic compounds in Bhopal, India, officially killing 2,259 – other estimates are as high as 16,000 (including later deaths) and over half a million injured

1989: Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and US President George H. W. Bush, declare the Cold War over

Source: Onthisday.com