On this day in history
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Source: HistoryNet.com
1248: The city of Seville, Spain, surrenders to Ferdinand III of Castile after a two-year siege.
1815: Montréal installs first street lamps in Canada, fueled by whale oil.
1863: The Battle of Chattanooga, one of the most decisive battles of the American Civil War, begins (also in Tennessee).
1903: Italian tenor Enrico Caruso makes his American debut in a Metropolitan Opera production of Verdi's Rigoletto.
1909: The Wright brothers form a million-dollar corporation for the commercial manufacture of their airplanes.
1942: The film Casablanca premieres in New York City.
1953: North Korea signs 10-year aid pact with Peking.
1968: RCMP arrest 114 students at Simon Fraser University for trespassing in the third day of a sit-in to demand the SFU reform its admission and accreditation policies; 56 students fined $250 each.
1980: In Europe's biggest earthquake since 1915, 3,000 people are killed in Italy.
1981: U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs top secret directive giving the CIA authority to recruit and support Contra rebels in Nicaragua.
1990: The first all-woman expedition to South Pole sets off from Antarctica on the part of a 70-day trip; the group includes 12 Russians, 3 Americans and 1 Japanese.
1992: The first smartphone, IBM Simon, introduced at COMDEX in Las Vegas, Nevada.
1995: CBC says it will drop all U.S.-produced television programs from its prime-time schedule.
2005: Canadian government announces a $1.9 billion compensation package to benefit tens of thousands of survivors of abuse at native residential schools.
