Today in 1974, 49 years ago: Guinea-Bissau becomes independent from Portugal.

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Today in 2006, 17 years ago: Michael Schumacher -hepta Formula 1 champion announces his retirement as a driver.

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Today in 2001, 22 years ago: Antônio da Costa Santos, mayor of Campinas, Brazil is assassinated.

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Today in 2008, 15 years ago: The Large Hadron Collider at CERN, described as the biggest scientific experiment in history, is powered up in Geneva, Switzerland.

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Today in 1990, 33 years ago: in Argentina, Prince Felipe de Borbón, heir to the Spanish Crown, begins his first official visit to Latin America in Buenos Aires.

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Today in 1509, 514 years ago: An earthquake known as "The Lesser Judgment Day" hits Constantinople.

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* 1939 – World War II: Canada declares war on Nazi Germany, joining the Allies – Poland, France, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia.

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Today in 1942, 81 years ago: World War II: The British Army carries out an amphibious landing on Madagascar to re-launch Allied offensive operations in the Madagascar Campaign.

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Today in 1570, 453 years ago: Spanish Jesuit missionaries land in present-day Virginia to establish the short-lived Ajacán Mission.

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Today in 2002, 21 years ago: Switzerland joins the United Nations. 2003: Swedish Minister Anna Lindh is stabbed in the NK warehouses in Stockholm, who will die the next morning.

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Today in 1865, 158 years ago: the construction of the Church of Our Lady of Montserrat, which had begun in 1755, is completed.

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Today in 1530, 493 years ago: Nicolás Federmann begins his expedition through the territory of the Ayaman Venezuelan ethnic group in search of the micro-kingdom of the Carohana Region (Carora).

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Today in 1543, 480 years ago: in the village of Stirling, (in central Scotland) Mary Stuart, nine months old, is officially crowned "Queen of Scots".

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Today in 1493, 530 years ago: Christopher Columbus, with 17 ships and 1,200 men, sails on second voyage from Cadiz.

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Today in 1855, 168 years ago: Crimean War: The Siege of Sevastopol comes to an end when Russian forces abandon the city.

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Today in 2009, 14 years ago: two versions of the complete discography of the British rock group The Beatles (forty years after their separation) are released: a stereo box set and another in mono) and also the game The Beatles: Rock Band

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Today in 1989, 34 years ago: Partnair Flight 394 dives into the North Sea, killing 55 people. The investigation showed that the tail of the plane vibrated loose in flight due to sub-standard connecting bolts that had been fraudulently sold as aircraft-grade.

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Today in 1781, 242 years ago: American Revolutionary War: The Battle of Eutaw Springs in South Carolina, the war's last significant battle in the Southern theater, ends in a narrow British tactical victory.

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Today in 1961, 62 years ago: in Brazil, the social democrat Tancredo Neves is appointed prime minister.

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Today in 1907, 116 years ago: German astronomer Max Wolf discovers asteroid 641 Agnes.

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