On Aug. 13, 1521, Spanish conqueror Hernando Cortez captured what is now Mexico City from the Aztecs.
In 1624 King Louis XIII of France named Cardinal Richelieu his chief minister.
In 1818 suffragist Lucy Stone was born in West Brookfield, Mass.
In 1846 the American flag was raised for the first time in Los Angeles.
In 1860 sharpshooter Annie Oakley was born Phoebe Anne Moses in Darke County, Ohio.
In 1899 filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock was born in London.
In 1910 Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, died in London; she was 90.
In 1934 the comic strip “Li’l Abner,” created by Al Capp, made its debut.
In 1946 author H.G. Wells died in London; he was 79.
In 1948 opera star Kathleen Battle was born in Portsmouth, Ohio.
In 1960 the first two-way telephone conversation by satellite took place with the help of Echo I, a balloon satellite.
In 1961 East Germany closed the border between East and West Berlin in an attempt to halt the flight of refugees from the East. (Two days later, work began on the Berlin Wall.)
In 1993 a body found in a South Carolina creek was identified as that of James Jordan, 57, father of basketball superstar Michael Jordan. (Two teenagers would be convicted in his murder.)
In 2003 Libya agreed to set up a $2.7 billion fund for the families of 270 people killed in the 1988 Pan Am bombing.
