On this day in History - Feb. 19

• 0003 - Sadiq Hidajat was born. Persian writer (Blind Person Owl).
• 0197 - Clodius Albinus, dies, Roman governor of Britain .
• 0607 - Boniface III becomes Pope.
• 0842 - The Medieval Iconoclastic Controversy ended, when a Council in Constantinople formally reinstated the veneration of images (icons) in the churches.
• 1405 - Muere el kan mongol Tamerlán.
• 1473 - Nicolaus Copernicus was born (d. 1543). Polish astronomer.
• 1479 - Antonello da Messina dies. Italian painter.
• 1553 - Erasmus Reinhold dies at the age of 41. German mathematician.
• 1594 - Having already inherited the throne of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth through his mother Catherine Jagellonica of Poland, Sigismund III of the House of Vasa is crowned King of Sweden, succeeding his father John III of Sweden.
• 1605 - Orazio Vecchi dies (b. 1550). Italian composer.
• 1626 - Francesco Redi was born (d. 1697). Physician, refuted abiogenesis.
• 1630 - Shivaji was born (d. 1680). Founder of the Maratha Empire.
• 1649 - Segunda Batalha dos Guararapes, no Brasil, em que o exército holandês que ocupava Pernambuco, no Nordeste do Brasil, é derrotado pelo exército de Francisco Barreto. A primeira batalha tinha sido travada no ano anterior, com vitória portuguesa.
• 1653 - Luigi de Rossi dies (b. 1597). Italian composer.
• 1660 - Friedrich Hoffmann was born (d. 1742). German physician and chemist.
• 1670 - King Frederick III of Denmark dies (b. 1609) .
• 1674 - England and the Netherlands sign the Peace of Westminster, ending the Third Anglo-Dutch War. A provision of the agreement transfers the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam to England, which renamed it New York.
• 1683 - Nace Felipe V, rey de España.
• 1709 - Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, dies, the fifth shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan (b. 1646) .
• 1717 - David Garrick was born (d. 1779). actor (d. 1779) .
• 1743 - Luigi Boccherini, was born, Italian composer (d. 1805) .
• 1766 - Em Portugal, começa a funcionar o Colégio dos Nobres, criado por carta régia em 7 de Março de 1761.
• 1799 - Jean-Charles de Borda, dies, French mathematician, physicist, political scientist, and sailor (b. 1733) .
• 1802 - Wilhelm Matthias Näff, was born, member of the Swiss Federal Council (d. 1881) .
• 1804 - David Wark, was born, Canadian politician and Senator (d. 1905) .
• 1807 - Río de la Plata: una junta militar confiere el mando supremo a Santiago de Liniers.
• 1807 - In Alabama, Former Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr is arrested for treason.
• 1817 - Nace Guillermo III de Orange, monarca holandés.
• 1819 - British explorer William Smith discovered the South Shetland Islands, and claimed them in the name of King George III.
• 1821- August Schleicher, was born, linguist (d. 1868) .
• 1822 - Died this day, Jeronymo Francisco de Lima, composer, at the age of 78.
• 1833 - Élie Ducommun, nace, escritora y editora suiza, premio Nobel de la Paz en 1902.
• 1836 - Es fusilado en Arequipa el dictador peruano, general Felipe Santiago Salaverry.
• 1837 - Muere el dramaturgo Georg Büchner.
• 1846 - In Austin, Texas the newly-formed Texas state government is officially installed.
• 1847 - The Donner Party is rescued. It is noted that some of the survivors seem to be remarkably well-fed considering their ordeal.
• 1852 - The Phi Kappa Psi fraternity is founded at Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Penns .
• 1856 - The tintype photographic process was patented by Professor Hamilton L. Smith of Gambier, OH. ylvania.
• 1859 - Svante Arrhenius was born (d. 1927). Swedish chemist, Nobel Prize laureate in 1903.
• 1861 - Serfdom is abolished in Russia.
• 1865 - Sven Hedin was born (d. 1952). Swedish explorer.
• 1868 - Es asesinado el presidente uruguayo, Venancio Flores, quien venía ejerciendo el poder dictatorialmente desde 1866.
• 1876 - Constantin Brancusi, was born, sculptor (d. 1957) .
• 1877 - Gabriele Münter was born(d. 1962). German painter, member of Blaue Reiter.
• 1878 - The phonograph is patented by Thomas Edison.
• 1881 - Kansas became the first U.S. state to prohibit all alcoholic beverages.
• 1888 - José Eustasio Rivera was born (d. 1928). Colombian writer.
• 1897 - Karl Weierstraß dies (b. 1815). German mathematician.
• 1902 - The smallpox vaccination became obligatory in France.
• 1906 - William Kellogg founds his breakfast cereal company .
• 1911 - Merle Oberon was born (d. 1979). British actress.
• 1912 - Stan Kenton was born (d. 1979). American musician.
• 1913 - Prizes are included in Cracker Jack candy boxes for the first time.
• 1915 - World War I: The Battle of Gallipoli began.
• 1917 - Carson McCullers was born (d. 1967). American author
• 1920 - Netherlands joined the League of Nations.
• 1924 - Lee Marvin was born (d. 29 Aug 1987). Academy Award-winning Best Actor: Cat Ballou [1965]; The Caine Mutiny, The Dirty Dozen, Delta Force, Ship of Fools;
• 1927 - Robert Fuchs dies (b. 1847). Austrian composer.
• 1928 - Malcolm Cambell establece una nueva marca de velocidad automovilística: 333,061 km/h.
• 1928 - The second Winter Olympic Games closed in St Moritz, Switzerland.
• 1930 - John Frankenheimer was born. Ametrican film director: Days of Wine and Roses, Birdman of Alcatraz, The French Connection, The Manchurian Candidate .
• 1936 - Max Schreck dies (b. 1879). German actor.
• 1936 - Billy Mitchell dies (b. 1879). American general and military aviation pioneer
• 1936 - Manuel Azaña became the Spanish premier.
• 1937 - Horacio Quiroga dies (b. 31 Dec 1897). Uruguyan writer.
• 1939 - Alfredo Bryce-Echenique was born. Peruvian novelist .
• 1940 - Smokey Robinson was born, in Detroit, Michigan. American singer, songwriter, producer.
• 1941 - World War II: The Deutsches Afrikakorps, the corps-level headquarters controlling the German Panzer divisions in North Africa, was formed.
• 1942 - World War II: About 150 Japanese warplanes attack Darwin, Australia.
• 1942 - Japanese troops landed on Timor.
• 1942 - World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the executive order 9066, allowing the United States military to relocate Japanese-Americans to Japanese internment camps.
• 1942 - Paul Krause was born. American football player .
• 1942 - Frank Abbandando dies executed (b. 1910). American gangster.
• 1943 - World War II: Battle of the Kasserine Pass in Tunisia began.
• 1944 - German submarine U-264 sank off Ireland.
• 1945 - World War II: Battle of Iwo Jima - about 30,000 United States Marines landed on Iwo Jima starting the battle.
• 1948 - La Cámara belga aprueba la concesión del voto a la mujer.
• 1949 - Ezra Pound is awarded the first Bollingen Prize in poetry by the Bollingen Foundation and Yale University.
• 1949 - Mass arrests of communists took place in India.
• 1949 - Dan Bunten, was born, software developer (d. 1998) .
• 1951 - André Gide dies (b. 1869). French writer, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1952 - Knut Hamsun dies (b. 1859). Norwegian author, Nobel Prize for Literature in 1920 .
• 1952 - Amy Tan was born. American novelist.
• 1953 - Censorship: Georgia approves the first literature censorship board in the United States.
• 1954 - Socrates was born. Brazilien football player .
• 1955 - Jeff Daniels, was born, actor ( Speed, Dumb and Dumber, Radio Days, Something Wild, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Terms of Endearment, Ragtime) .
• 1957 - Falco [Johann Holzel] was born (d. in a car accident 6 Feb 1998). Austrian singer.
• 1957 - Ray Winstone was born. British actor .
• 1959 - Gabon adopted its constitution.
• 1959 - The United Kingdom grants Cyprus its independence, which is then on formally proclaimed on August 16, 1960.
• 1959 - Diogo de Macedo dies (b. 1889). Portuguese sculptor and writer.
• 1960 - Prince Andrew [Albert Christian Edward], was born, second son of Queen Elizabeth II .
• 1962 - Hana Mandlikova, was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, tennis coach, former tennis player. (1985 US Open).
• 1963 - Seal [Henry Samuel] was born, singer .
• 1963 - Robert Frost won the Bollingen Prize.
• 1964 - Paul Simon writes "The Sounds of Silence," the song which, in a year and a half, will catapult him and Art Garfunkel to stardom as Simon & Garfunkel.
• 1965 - Gheorge Gheorghiu Dej dies at the age of 63. Romanian President, at the age of 63.
• 1965 - Mário Beirão dies in Lisbon (b. in Beja, 1965). Portuguese poet
• 1966 - Justine Bateman was born. Actress
• 1966 - Paul Haarhuis was born, tennis player .
• 1967 - Benicio Del Toro, was born, in Puerto Rico, actor (Licence to Kill, Usual Suspects).
• 1972 - Tedd Pierce, dies, animator (b. 1906) .
• 1973 - Joseph Szigeti, dies, Hungarian violinist (b. 1892) .
• 1975 - Francisco Keil do Amaral dies (b. 28 Apr 1910). Portuguese architect and composer, who also wrote the national anthem of Portugal.
• 1976 - Henry Kissinger, secretário de Estado dos Estados Unidos e considerado um gênio da diplomacia internacional, visita o Brasil.
• 1976 - Guatemala: unos fuertes seísmos causan entre 25.000 y 30.000 victimas .
• 1976 - Iceland breaks off diplomatic relations with Britain over the 'cod war' .
• 1976 - Frente Polisario formed the Democratic Republic of Sahara.
• 1979 - Eva-Maria Bisschop, was born, Belgian pop star .
• 1980 - Bon Scott, dies, musician ("AC/DC") (b. 1946) .
• 1984 - The 14th Winter Olympic Games ended at Sarajevo, Yugoslavia. The Soviet Union led all countries with 25 medals.
• 1985 - Artificial heart patient William J. Schroeder becomes the first such patient to leave hospital.
• 1985 - A Spanish Boeing 747 crashes into Mount Oiz in Spain, killing 148.
• 1985 - Comienza en Bercy, París, el primer mundial de atletismo bajo techo.
• 1985 - EastEnders first airs on televisions across the United Kingdom, on the first night of a major ident change for BBC1.
• 1986 - The Soviet Union launches the Mir space station.
• 1986 - After waiting 37 years, the United States Senate approves a treaty outlawing genocide.
• 1986 - Maria Mena was born. Norwegian pop star .
• 1988 - André Frédéric Cournand dies (b. 1895). French-born physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• 1992 - North and South Korea officially end their 40 year confrontation .
• 1994 - Bombas danificam seis lojas em Londres e o grupo terrorista irlandês – IRA - declara-se responsável.
• 1995 - Irina Privalova ran an indoor woman's European record 200 metres in 22.10 seconds.
• 1997 - António Gedeão dies (b. 24 Nov 1906). Portuguese poet.
• 1997 - Deng Xiaoping dies (b. 1904). Chinese Communist political leader and revolutionary (b. 1904). He ruled China from 1978 until he retired from his last official post in 1990, but his influence remained supreme until his death.
• 1999 - Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr dies assassinated. Iraqi Shiite leader.
• 1999 - Octavio Pato dies. Portuguese politician- PCP (Portuguese Communist Party).
• 1999 - Dennis Franz receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
• 2000 - Friedensreich Hundertwasser dies (b. 1928). Austrian artist.
• 2001 - Priscilla Davis dies (b. 1942) former Fort Worth, Texas socialite
• 2001 - Stanley Kramer dies (b. 1913). American director.
• 2001 - Charles Trenet dies (b. 1913). French singer .
• 2001 - A Oklahoma City bombing museum is dedicated at the Oklahoma City National Memorial.
• 2002 - NASA's Mars Odyssey space probe begins to map the surface of Mars using its thermal emission imaging system.
• 2002 - Around 300 people were killed when a train caught fire in Egypt.
• 2003 - Johnny Paycheck dies. American country music singer .
• 2004 - Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal was awarded an honorary knighthood in recognition of a "lifetime of service to humanity."
• 2004 - Clark Byers dies. American sign maker .
• 2004 - Hermann Krings dies. German philosopher.
• 2005 - 350 inmates escape from a prison in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
• 2005 - An earthquake, registering 6.9 on the Richter scale, strikes South East Sulawesi, Indonesia at 00:04 UTC.