1451: Sultan Mehmed II, the Conqueror inherits the throne of the Ottoman Empire

1509: The Battle of Diu, naval battle at port of Diu, India between Portugal and the Ottoman Empire, establishes Portuguese trading control

1870: US state of Iowa ratifies the 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution allowing suffrage for all races and colors

1928: Paleoanthropologist Davidson Black reports his findings on the ancient human fossils found at Zhoukoudian, China in the journal Nature and declares them to be a new species he names ‘Sinanthropus pekinensis’ (now known as ‘Homo erectus’)

1931: New Zealand’s worst natural disaster, the Hawke’s bay earthquake, kills 256 and injures thousands, devastating Napier and the Hawke’s Bay region

1966: First soft landing on the Moon, by the Soviet spacecraft Luna 9

Source: Onthisday.com