1581: Francis Drake is knighted by Queen Elizabeth I aboard his galleon Golden Hind at Deptford, England

1655: Battle of Porto Farina: English fleet defeats Barbary corsairs in Tunis

1789: First US Congress begins regular sessions during George Washington’s presidency at Federal Hall, NYC (ends 1791)

1949: The North Atlantic Treaty is signed in Washington, DC, establishing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a military alliance among Western nations

1968: US civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated by James Earl Ray at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee

1973: World Trade Center opens in New York as the world’s tallest building at 110 stories; later destroyed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks

1975: Microsoft is founded as a partnership by Bill Gates and Paul Allen to develop and sell BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800

Source: Onthisday.com