October 18

614 – After the Synod of Paris ends, King Chlothar II seals the Edict of Paris –Edictum Chlotacharii – putting into effect an early declaration conceding and defending rights of the Frankish nobles, over 600 years before Magna Carta was signed in England.

1009 – The Church of the Holy Sepulcher, in Jerusalem  is completely destroyed by caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah

1540 – Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto’s forces destroy the town of Mabila in present day Alabama, killing Chief Tuskaloosa.

1597 – King Philip II of Spain send his naval Armada against England for the 3rd – and last – time, but again it ends in failure, this time due to storms scattering the fleet, with half of the ships being captured or sunk by the English fleet.

1599 – Warlords of ancient Wallachia, Michael the Brave’s forces defeat the those of Andrew Báthory in battle near the village of Șelimbăr, in central Hungary, leading to the first recorded unification of the Romanian people.

1648 – Boston shoemakers form the “Company of Shoomakers”, the first American labor organization.

1775 – A British navy fleet bombards and invades Falmouth (now Portland) Maine, burning over 400 houses and other buildings in the city before leaving.

1779 – A combined French-American force fails to retake the British occupied city of Savannah, Georgia, with the British remaining in control until 1782.

1851 – Herman Melville’s book Moby-Dick is published as The Whale by Richard Bentley of London.

1867 – After purchasing it from Russia for $7.2 million, the U.S. takes possession of Alaska

1898 – Under terms of the Treaty of Paris of 1898, ending the Spanish–American War, the United States takes possession of Puerto Rico from Spain.

1922 – The British Broadcasting Company is founded.

1931 – Thomas Edison dies, age 84, at his home, “Glenmont” in Llewellyn Park, West Orange, New Jersey,

1945 – The Russians receive plans for the United States plutonium ‘Fat Man’ bomb from spy Klaus Fuchs employed at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

1954 – Texas Instruments announces the first transistor radio, the Regency TR-1

1979 – The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) begins allowing people to have home satellite earth stations without a federal government license.

2019 – NASA Astronauts Jessica Meir and Christina Koch make the first all-female spacewalk from the International Space Station.

2021 – General, retired,  Colin Powell, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Secretary of State, dies, age 84, at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.