1697

Italian artist Canaletto is born as Giovanni Antonio Canal. He is famous for his portrayals of Venice, London and English country homes.

1748

The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle Germany, negotiated largely by Britain and France, ends the Austrian War of Succession.

1860

British troops burn the Yuanmingyuan, the imperial summer palace in Beijing China, to the ground.

1867

The United States takes formal possession of Alaska from Russia.

1871

Death of Charles Babbage, British mathematician and inventor who pioneered the forerunner of the computer.

1892

The first long-distance telephone line is opened between Chicago and New York.

1912

Italy and Turkey sign a peace treaty at Lausanne, Switzerland, giving Cyrenaica and Tripoli autonomy and restoring the Dodecanese Islands to Turkey.

1922

In England, the British Broadcasting Company (BBC), the forerunner of the corporation, is formed.

1931

Death of Thomas Alva Edison, American inventor. In his lifetime he held over 1,000 patents, the most famous being the electric lamp, the phonograph and the motion picture projector.

1966

The South Viet Nam liberation armed forces defeat a large-scale mopping-up operation launched by the US-Sai Gon troops in Go Quao District, Rach Gia Province, inflicting almost 1,000 casualties.

1994

The United States and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, after a month of gruelling negotiations, agree to a framework deal on recasting Pyongyang's nuclear energy programme.

1998

A pipeline explosion in Nigeria apparently sparked by thieves siphoning off oil leads to an inferno that kills at least 250 people and destroys villages.

2004

India's most wanted bandit, Koose Muniswamy Veerappan, 60, a brutal smuggler who eluded police for three decades in dense jungles, is killed in a shootout with security forces. — AP/REUTERS/VNS