Events Pre-1600 624 – The Battle of Badr, the first major battle between the Muslims and Quraysh. 1567 – The Battle of Oosterweel, traditionally regarded as the start of the Eighty Years' War. 1591 – At the Battle of Tondibi in Mali, Moroccan forces of the Saadi dynasty, led by Judar Pasha, defeat the Songhai Empire, despite being outnumbered by at least five to one. 1601–1900 1639 – Harvard College is named after clergyman John Harvard. 1697 – Nojpetén, capital of the last independent Maya kingdom, falls to Spanish conquistadors, the final step in the Spanish conquest of Guatemala. 1741 – The Battle of Cartagena de Indias (part of the War of Jenkins' Ear) begins. 1781 – William Herschel discovers Uranus. 1809 – Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden is deposed in the Coup of 1809. 1811 – A French and Italian fleet is defeated by a British squadron off the island of Vis in the Adriatic during the Napoleonic Wars. 1826 – Pope Leo XII publishes the apostolic constitution Quo Graviora in which he renewed the prohibition on Catholics joining freemasonry. 1845 – Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto receives its première performance in Leipzig with Ferdinand David as soloist. 1848 – The German revolutions of 1848–1849 begin in Vienna. 1862 – The Act Prohibiting the Return of Slaves is passed by the United States Congress, effectively annulling the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and setting the stage for the Emancipation Proclamation. 1884 – The Siege of Khartoum begins. It lasts until January 26, 1885. 1900 – British forces occupy Bloemfontein, Orange Free State, during the Second Boer War. 1901–present 1920 – The Kapp Putsch briefly ousts the Weimar Republic government from Berlin. 1930 – The news of the discovery of Pluto is announced by Lowell Observatory. 1940 – The Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union officially ends after the signing of the Moscow Peace Treaty. 1943 – The Holocaust: German forces liquidate the Jewish ghetto in Kraków. 1954 – The Battle of Điện Biên Phủ begins with an artillery barrage by Viet Minh forces under Võ Nguyên Giáp; Viet Minh victory led to the end of the First Indochina War and French withdrawal from Vietnam. 1957 – Cuban student revolutionaries storm the presidential palace in Havana in a failed attempt on the life of President Fulgencio Batista. 1969 – Apollo 9 returns safely to Earth after testing the Lunar