Events on November 4 42
Year 1501
Catherine of Aragon (later Henry VIII's first wife) meets Arthur Tudor, Henry VIII's older brother - they would later marry.
Year 1576
Eighty Years' War: In Flanders, Spain captures Antwerp (after three days the city is nearly destroyed).
Year 1677
The future Mary II of England marries William, Prince of Orange; they later jointly reign as William and Mary.
Year 1737
The Teatro di San Carlo,the oldest working opera house in Europe, is inaugurated in Naples, Italy.
Year 1780
The Rebellion of Túpac Amaru II against Spanish rule in the Viceroyalty of Peru begins.
Year 1783
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Symphony No. 36 is performed for the first time in Linz, Austria.
Year 1791
The Western Confederacy of American Indians wins a major victory over the United States in the Battle of the Wabash.
Year 1839
Newport Rising: The last large-scale armed rebellion against authority in mainland Britain.
Year 1847
Sir James Young Simpson, a Scottish physician, discovers the anaesthetic properties of chloroform.
Year 1852
Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour becomes the prime minister of Piedmont-Sardinia, which soon expands to become Italy.
Year 1864
American Civil War: Battle of Johnsonville: Confederate troops bombard a Union supply base and destroy millions of dollars in material.
Year 1890
City and South London Railway: London's first deep-level tube railway opens between King William Street and Stockwell.
Year 1912
First Balkan War: The First Battle of Çatalca begins - an attempt by Bulgaria to break through the last defensive line before the Turkish capital Constantinople.
Year 1918
World War I: The Armistice of Villa Giusti between Italy and Austria-Hungary is implemented.
Year 1921
The Saalschutz Abteilung (hall defense detachment) of the Nazi Party is renamed the Sturmabteilung (storm detachment) after a large riot in Munich.
Year 1922
In Egypt, British archaeologist Howard Carter and his men find the entrance to Tutankhamun's tomb in the Valley of the Kings.
Year 1924
Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming is elected the first female governor in the United States.
Year 1939
World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders the United States Customs Service to implement the Neutrality Act of 1939, allowing cash-and-carry purchases of weapons by belligerents.
Year 1942
World War II: Second Battle of El Alamein: Disobeying a direct order by Adolf Hitler, General Field Marshal Erwin Rommel leads his forces on a five-month retreat.
Year 1956
Soviet troops enter Hungary to end the Hungarian revolution against the Soviet Union, that started on October 23. Thousands are killed, more are wounded, and nearly a quarter million leave the country.
Year 1960
At the Kasakela Chimpanzee Community in Tanzania, Dr Jane Goodall observes chimpanzees creating tools, the first-ever observation in non-human animals.
Year 1962
The United States concludes Operation Fishbowl, its final above-ground nuclear weapons testing series, in anticipation of the 1963 Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
Year 1966
The Arno River floods Florence, Italy, to a maximum depth of 6.7 m (22 ft), leaving thousands homeless and destroying millions of masterpieces of art and rare books. Also Venice was submerged on the same day at its record all-time acqua alta of 194 cm.
Year 1970
Vietnam War: Vietnamization: The United States turns control of the air base at Bình Thủy in the Mekong Delta over to South Vietnam.
Year 1970
Salvador Allende takes office as President of Chile, the first Marxist to become president of a Latin American country through open elections.
Year 1973
The Netherlands experiences the first Car-Free Sunday caused by the 1973 oil crisis. Highways are used only by cyclists and roller skaters.
Year 1979
Iran hostage crisis: A mob of Iranians, mostly students, overruns the US embassy in Tehran and takes 90 hostages (53 of whom are American).
Year 1980
Ronald Reagan is elected the 40th President of The United States, defeating incumbent Jimmy Carter.
Year 1993
China Airlines Flight 605, a brand new 747-400, overruns the runway at Kai Tak Airport.
Year 2002
Chinese authorities arrest cyber-dissident He Depu for signing a pro-democracy letter to the 16th Communist Party Congress.
Year 2008
Barack Obama becomes the first person of biracial or African-American descent to be elected President of the United States.
Year 2010
Aero Caribbean Flight 883 crashes into Guasimal, Sancti Spíritus. All 68 passengers and crew were killed.
Year 2010
Qantas Flight 32, an Airbus A380, suffers an uncontained engine failure over Indonesia shortly after taking off from Singapore, crippling the jet. The crew manage to safely return to Singapore, saving all 469 passengers and crew.
Year 2015
A cargo plane crashes shortly after takeoff from Juba International Airport in Juba, South Sudan, killing 37 people.
Year 2015
A building collapses in the Pakistani city of Lahore resulting in at least 45 deaths, at least 100 injured.