1567 - Samuel de Champlain, explorer (Lake Champlain)
1608 - Samuel de Champlain founds city of Quebec
1848 - Slaves freed in Danish West Indies (now US Virgin Islands)
1886 - In Germany, Karl Benz drives 1st automobile
1935 - Harrison H "Jack" Schmitt, Santa Rita NM, astronaut (Apollo 17)
1987 - British millionaire Richard Branson and Swedish-born Per Lindstrand, the balloon's designer of Double Eagle II, became the first hot-air balloon travelers to cross the Atlantic on this date.
