1492 - 1st Spanish settlement La Navidad (modern Môle-Saint-Nicolas) in New World founded, by Columbus
1898 - Marie and Pierre Curie announce the isolation of radium.
1991 - Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union meets and formally dissolves the Soviet Union.
1973 - 2 Skylab 3 astronauts walk in space for a record 7 hours
2004 - Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami; A 9.3 magnitude earthquake creates a tsunami, causing devastation in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Maldives and many other areas around the rim of the Indian Ocean, killing over 230,000 people including over 1700 in the Sri Lanka tsunami-rail disaster.
