1099: First Crusade: 15,000 starving Christian soldiers march in religious procession around Jerusalem as its Muslim defenders look on

1497: Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama departs on his first voyage, will become the 1st European to reach India by sea

1777: Independent Vermont introduces a new constitution, prohibiting slavery

1800: Dr Benjamin Waterhouse gives 1st cowpox vaccination in the US to his son to prevent smallpox

1853: Commodore Matthew C. Perry sails his frigate Susquehanna into Tokyo Bay, opening Japan to Western influence and trade

1948: 500th anniversary of the Russian Orthodox Church celebrated in Moscow

1949: South Africa’s Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act commences, prohibiting marriage or a sexual relationship between White people and people of other races

Source: Onthisday.com