Today in History in 1590 - John White, governor of the second Roanoke Colony in present-day Virginia, returns to England after an unsuccessful search for the "lost" colonists.

The On This Day In History archives at “Simple English Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia” contains over 200,000 events, birthdays and deaths from 6,000 years of history. Here is a roundup of a few of them:

October 24 is the 297th day of the year (298th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 68 days remaining until the end of the year.

EVENTS

69 – Second Battle of Bedriacum, forces under Antonius Primus, the commander of the Danube armies, loyal to Vespasian, defeat the forces of Emperor Vitellius.

1147 - After a siege of four months crusader knights reconquer Lisbon.

1260 - The Cathedral of Chartres is dedicated in the presence of King Louis IX of France. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

1360 – The Treaty of Brétigny was ratified at Calais, marking the end of the first phase of the Hundred Years' War.

1590 - John White, governor of the second Roanaoake Colony in present-day Virginia, returns to England after an unsuccessful search for the "lost" colonists.

1648 – Peace of Westphalia is signed, ending the Thirty Years' War.

1795 – Partitions of Poland: The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was completely divided between Austria, Prussia and Russia.

1812 – Battle of Maloyaroslavets in Russia during the Napoleonic Wars.

1851 - William Lassell discovers the moons Umbriel and Ariel orbiting the planet Uranus.

1857 - Sheffield F.C., the world's first football club, is founded in Sheffield, England.

1861 – First transcontinental telegraph line in North America is completed, ending the Pony Express.

1901 - Annie Edson Taylor becomes the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel and survive.

1902 - The Santa Maria volcano in Guatemala erupts, almost completely destroying the city of Quetzaltenango.

1911 - Orville Wright remains in the air for 9 minutes and 45 seconds, in a Wright glider at Kill Devil Hills in North Carolina.

1912 - First Balkan War: The Battle of Kumanovo ends in a Serbian victory.

1917 – Battle of Caporetto started on the Austro-Italian front of World War I.

1926 - Harry Houdini has his last performance in Detroit.

1929 – "Black Thursday" crash of the New York Stock Exchange.

1930 – A bloodless coup d'état in Brazil ousted Washington Luís Pereira de Sousa, the last President of the First Republic. Getúlio Dornelles Vargas was then installed as "provisional president."

1931 - The George Washington Bridge opens to traffic, connecting New York and New Jersey.

1931 - Al Capone is convicted of tax fraud.

1935 – Italy invades Ethiopia.

1943 - The Provisional Government of Free India formally declares war on the United Kingdom and United States.

1944 – World War II: Zuikaku Japanese aircraft carrier is destroyed.

1945 – Founding of the United Nations.

1946 - A camera on board the V-2 No. 13 rocket takes the first photograph of Earth from space.

1947 – Walt Disney testifies to the House Unamerican Activities Committee, naming Disney employees he believes to be communists.

1949 - The cornerstone of the United Nations headquarters is laid in New York City.

1954 – Dwight D. Eisenhower pledges United States support to South Vietnam

1955 – The body of Manolo Just, a probable bisexual, is found in the Mexico apartment of Mary Rogers, daughter of Will Rogers. Homicide is suspected, but never proven.

1956 – Soviet Union invades Hungary

1960 – An R-16 ballistic missile explodes on the launch pad at the Soviet Union's Baykonur space facility, killing 165. Among the dead is field marshall Mitrofan Nedelin, whose death is reported to have occurred in a plane crash.

1963 - 129 miners are trapped underground in Lengede, Germany, being rescued successfully two weeks later.

1964 – Northern Rhodesia gains independence from the United Kingdom and became the Republic of Zambia (Southern Rhodesia remained a colony).

1964 - The 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo end.

1970 – Salvador Allende is elected President of Chile

1973 – The Yom Kippur War ends.

1977 - The United States observes Veterans Day on the fourth Monday in October for the last time. From the following year, it is observed on November 11.

1980 – Government of Poland legalizes Solidarity trade union.

1989 – Televangelist Jim Bakker is sentenced to 45 years in prison and a 500,000 USD fine for defrauding investors of US$3.7 million.

1992 - The Toronto Blue Jays become the first Major League Baseball team not to be based in the United States (they are based in Canada) to win the World Series.

1995 - In Burma, Aung San Suu Kyi is placed under house arrest.

1998 – Launch of Deep Space 1 comet/asteroid mission

1998 – Tropical Storm Mitch reached hurricane strength.

2001 - Two lorries collide in the Gotthard Road Tunnel in Switzerland, leading to a fire that kills 11 people.

2002 – Police arrested spree killers John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo, ending the Beltway sniper attacks in the area around Washington, DC.

2003 – Concorde made its last commercial flight, bringing the era of airliner supersonic transport to a close, at least for the time being.

2004 - Arsenal FC's run of 49 games unbeaten is ended by Manchester United.

2005 - Hurricane Wilma makes landfall in Florida.

2007 - Chang'e 1, the first satellite in the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program, is launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center.

2008 - "Black Friday" sees many of the world's stock exchanges experience the worst single-day declines in their history.

2019 - The remains of Spanish dictator General Francisco Franco are removed from the Valley of the Fallen and reburied in a cemetery north of Madrid.