Today in History

1242 Alexander Nevsky of Novgorod defeats Teutonic Knights in the Battle of the Ice
1722 Dutch navigator Jacob Roggeveen discovers Easter Island
1818 In the Battle of Maipú, Chile’s independence movement – led by Bernardo O’Higgins and José de San Martín – win a decisive victory over Spain, leaving 2,000 Spaniards and 1,000 Chilean patriots dead.
1874 Birkenhead Park, the first civic public park, opens in Birkenhead, England, designed by Joseph Paxton
1879 Chile declares war on Bolivia and Peru, starting the War of the Pacific.

Today in Sports

1984 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar breaks Wilt Chamberlain’s all-time career scoring record of 31,419 points (31,421)