46 BC: Julius Caesar defeats Caecilius Metellus Scipio and Marcus Porcius Cato (Cato the Younger) in the battle of Thapsus.

1652: Cape Colony, the 1st European settlement in South Africa, established by Dutch East India Company under Jan van Riebeeck

1917: US declares war on Germany, enters World War I

1994: Plane carrying Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian President Cyprien Ntaryamira is shot down by surface-to-air missiles, abruptly ending peace negotiations and sparking the Rwandan Genocide. Those responsible have never been identified.

Source: Onthisday.com