Explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, known as the “discoverer” of California, landed this day in 1542 near what is now San Diego and became the first European to set foot on the west coast of what would become the United States.
| 1958: | | | Madagascar voted for autonomy within the French Community. |
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| 1920: | | In what became known as the Black Sox Scandal, eight members of the Chicago White Sox baseball team were indicted by a grand jury on charges that they had thrown the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds in return for a bribe. |
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| 1911: | | Using the pretext of infringement of Italian interests in the Turkish provinces of Tripolitana and Cyrenaica (Libya), the Italian government issued an ultimatum to Turkey and declared war the next day. |
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| 1781: | | | The Siege of Yorktown began, eventually leading on October 19 to the British surrender by General Lord Cornwallis and the end of the American Revolution. |
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| 351: | | Roman Emperor Constantius II defeated the usurper Magnentius in the Battle of Mursa, the bloodiest battle of the 4th century. |
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