On this day in History - Jan. 31

• 1504 - France cedes Naples to Aragon.
• 1512 - Cardeal-rei Henrique I de Portugal, nascimento de.
• 1542 - Descoberta das Cataratas do Iguaçu, por Dom Alvar Nuñes Cabeza de Vaca.
• 1558 - Descubrimiento de la Isla Grande de Chiloé en Chile, por una expedición española integrada por Alonso de Ercilla .
• 1580 - Cardeal-rei Henrique I de Portugal faleceu no dia do 68º. aniversário.
• 1606 - Gunpowder Plot: Guy Fawkes is executed for his plotting against Parliament and James I of England.
• 1676 - Se funda en Guatemala de la Real Universidad de San Carlos.
• 1736 - Morre Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, fundador de Montevideo.
• 1752 - Gouverneur Morris, was born, lawmaker and diplomat (d. 1816) .
• 1797 - Franz Schubert, was born (d. 1828). Austrian Composer.One of the most gifted musicians of the 19th cent.
• 1814 - Gervasio Antonio de Posadas becomes Supreme Director of Argentina.
• 1841 - Se constituye la República de El Salvador, al disolverse la Federación de las Provincias Unidas de Centroamérica.
• 1849 - Corn Laws abolished in the United Kingdom.
• 1865 - American Civil War: Confederate General Robert E. Lee becomes general-in-chief.
• 1865 -Robert E. Lee was appointed commander-in-chief of the Confederate forces.
• 1865 -The House of Representatives approved the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which abolished slavery in the United States.
• 1868 - Theodore Richards, fallecimiento de, químico estadounidense, premio Nobel de Química en 1914.
• 1872 - Zane Grey was born, born in Zanesville, Ohio. author Prolific American writer and pioneer of Western as a new literary genre .
• 1876 - The United States orders all Native Americans to move into reservations.
• 1882 - Ana Pavlova, nascimento de, bailarina russa.
• 1884 - Theodor Heuss, politician and publicist (d. 1963) .
• 1888 - Dom João Bosco, faleceu em Turin, (n. 16. Ago. 1815) religioso, educador e escritor italiano. Criou a ordem dos Salesisanos em Turim no ano de 1859, com 22 outros religiosos. Foi canonizado em 1 de Abril de 1934.
• 1890 - Revolta republicana no Porto, primeira tentativa de derrube da monarquia.
• 1892 - Eddie Cantor, was born, actor, singer (d. 1964) .
• 1894 - Isham Jones, was born jazz musician (d. 1956).
• 1901 - Marie Luise Kaschnitz, was born, writer (d. 1974).
• 1902 - Alva Mydral, politician (d. 1986) .
• 1902 - Tallulah Bankhead, was born, actress (d. 1968) .
• 1905 - John O'Hara was born (d.1970), novelist and short-story writer.
• 1908 - Nace Roberto Chavero, "Atahualpa Yupanqui", cantautor argentino
• 1915 - World War I: Germany uses poison gas against Russians.
• 1917 - World War I: Germany announces its U-boats will engage in unrestricted submarine warfare.
• 1917 - Los científicos alemanes Otto Hahn y Lise Meitner descubren el protactinio, elemento radiactivo
• 1918 - A Alemanha realiza um ataque aéreo a Paris, soltando 14 mil bombas sobre a cidade.
• 1919 - Jackie Robinson was born, baseball player.
• 1921 - Mario Lanza, (Alfredo Cocozza Lanza), was born, singer, actor (d. 1959) .
• 1923 - Carol Channing was born, comedienne, singer.
• 1925 - Ajmed Zogu é eleito presidente da República da Albânia.
• 1929 - Jean Simmons, was born , British actress.
• 1929 - The Soviet Union exiles Leon Trotsky.
• 1930 - 3M Markets Scotch Tape.
• 1933 - John Galsworthy, dies (b. 1867), English writer Nobel Prize Literatura en 1932.
• 1936 - The Green Hornet radio show debuts.
• 1938 - Constitui-se oficialmente em Burgos o primeiro governo espanhol presidido pelo general Franco, que substitui a Junta Técnica do Estado.
• 1943 - As forças militares alemãs cercadas em Stalinegrado rendem-se ao exército soviético. Durante a Batalha de Stalingrado 160.000 alemães morreram e 90.000 foram feitos prisioneiros, incluindo o marechal de campo von Paulus, o primeiro marechal alemão a render-se.
• 1944 - World War II: American forces land on Kwajalein Atoll and other islands in the Japanese-held Marshall Islands.
• 1944 - Morre Jean Giraudoux, dramaturgo francês.
• 1945 - Eddie Slovik is executed, the first American soldier since the Civil War to be executed for desertion.
• 1946 - Yugoslavia's new constitution, modeling the Soviet Union, establishes six constituent republics (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia).
• 1950 - President Harry S. Truman announces a program to develop the hydrogen bomb.
• 1952 - Pedro Prado, faleceu, escritor chileno, Premio Nacional de Literatura de Chile em 1949.
• 1956 - Guy Mollet becomes Prime Minister of France.
• 1958 - The first successful American satellite, Explorer I, is launched into orbit.
• 1958 -The first U.S. earth satellite, Explorer I, was launched.1968 - Mauritius breaks from Britain after days of rioting. (Independence is officially achieved on 12 March 1968.)
• 1958 - James Van Allen discovers the Van Allen radiation belt.
• 1961 - Ham the Chimp travels into outer space.
• 1961 - Jânio Quadros, tendo como vice João Goulart, foi empossado presidente do Brasil ao ser eleito com 48% dos votos da população.
• 1962 - Cuba es expulsada de la Organización de Estados Americanos.
• 1968 - Viet Cong attack the United States embassy in Saigon.
• 1968 - Nauru declares independence from Australia.
• 1971 - Minnie Driver was born, actress .
• 1971 - Apollo program: Astronauts aboard Apollo 14 lift off for a mission to the moon.
  1988 - Super Bowl XXII: The Washington Redskins win their second championship of the 1980s, 42-10.
• 1989 - Fernando Namora, médico e escritor, morreu, aos 69 anos, a 31 de Janeiro de 1989. Era até então o autor português mais traduzido em todo o mundo. Em Condeixa foi criada a Casa Museu Fernando Namora.
• 1990 - The first McDonald's opens in Moscow, Russia.
• 1993 - Super Bowl XXVII: The Dallas Cowboys defeat the Buffalo Bills, 52-17.
• 1994 - Um incêndio destrói o Grande Teatro de Liceo, de Barcelona, construído em 1847.
• 1995 - President Bill Clinton authorizes a $20 billion loan to Mexico to stabilize its economy.
• 1995 - George Abbott, director and producer on Broadway, dies at 107 (b. 1887) .
• 1996 - An explosives-filled truck rams into the gates of the Central Bank in Colombo, Sri Lanka killing at least 86 and injuring 1.400.
• 1999 - Super Bowl XXXIII: The Denver Broncos defeat the Atlanta Falcons, 34-19.
• 2000 - An Alaska Airlines MD-83 crashes in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Malibu, California killing 131.
• 2001- In the Netherlands a Scottish court convicts a Libyan and acquits another for their part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 which crash into Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988.
• 2004 - Mystery Science Theater 3000 ends its run on the Sci-Fi Channel.