1834 – Joaquim António de Aguiar issues a law extinguishing "all convents, monasteries, colleges, hospices and any other houses of the regular religious orders" in Portugal, earning him the nickname of "The Friar-Killer".
1948 – A dike along the flooding Columbia River breaks, obliterating Vanport, Oregon, within minutes. Fifteen people die and tens of thousands are left homeless.
1963 – A protest against pro-Catholic discrimination during the Buddhist crisis is held outside South Vietnam's National Assembly, the first open demonstration during the eight-year rule of Ngo Dinh Diem.
1968 – Charles de Gaulle reappears publicly after his flight to Baden-Baden, Germany, and dissolves the French National Assembly by a radio appeal. Immediately after, less than one million of his supporters march on the Champs-Élysées in Paris. This is the turning point of May 1968 events in France.
1971 – Mariner program: Mariner 9 is launched to map 70% of the surface, and to study temporal changes in the atmosphere and surface, of Mars.
1972 – The Angry Brigade goes on trial over a series of 25 bombings throughout the United Kingdom.
2005 – American student Natalee Holloway disappears while on a high school graduation trip to Aruba, and caused a media sensation in the United States.