Italian explorer Christopher Columbus, sailing under the Spanish crown, made landfall in the Bahamas during his first voyage across the Atlantic. His arrival marked the first lasting contact between Europe and the Americas, initiating centuries of exploration, colonization, and cultural exchange known as the Columbian Exchange. While celebrated for opening the New World to Europe, Columbus’s voyages also led to the displacement, conquest, and suffering of Indigenous peoples across the Americas.

A U.S. U-2 spy plane flying over Cuba photographed Soviet nuclear missile sites under construction, sparking the Cuban Missile Crisis. Over the next 13 days, the world stood on the brink of nuclear war as the United States demanded the removal of the missiles and imposed a naval blockade of Cuba. The crisis ended when Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev agreed to withdraw the missiles in exchange for a U.S. pledge not to invade Cuba and the secret removal of American missiles from Turkey. It remains the closest the world has come to full-scale nuclear conflict.

The Volstead Act took effect, enforcing the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and banning the production, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages. While intended to reduce crime and improve public morality, Prohibition instead fueled the rise of organized crime, speakeasies, and bootlegging. The policy proved widely unpopular and difficult to enforce, leading to its repeal in 1933 with the 21st Amendment.

On October 29, 1929, known as Black Tuesday, the U.S. stock market suffered a catastrophic collapse as panicked investors sold off millions of shares. Billions of dollars were lost in a single day, devastating banks, businesses, and individuals. The crash was a key trigger of the Great Depression, a global economic crisis that lasted through the 1930s, causing mass unemployment, poverty, and significant political and social upheaval worldwide.