Browse Historical Events by Day: What Happened on November 19th?

1Christopher Columbus arrives at the island of Puerto Rico during his second voyage to the Americas.

The English defeat the Spanish Armada at the Battle of Gravelines, marking a turning point in the Anglo-Spanish War.

Danish scientist Ole Rømer presents the first quantitative measurements of the speed of light.

French revolutionary Étienne Charles de Loménie de Brienne becomes Prime Minister, marking a phase of the French Revolution.

Jay's Treaty is signed between the United States and Great Britain, resolving disputes and avoiding war.

The U.S. Congress holds its first session in the partially completed Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.

President Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address during the ceremony to consecrate the grounds of what eventually became the Gettysburg National Cemetery. Four months earlier it had been the site the bloodiest battle of the Civil War, where more than 10,000 soldiers were killed or mortally wounded, 30,000 injured, and 10,000 captured or went missing. The Battle of Gettysburg proved to be the turning point of the war; Gen. Robert E. Lee’s defeat and retreat marked the last Confederate invasion of northern territory. It also marked the beginning of the southern Army’s decline. President Lincoln's 271 words, two minute speech, become one of the most memorable speeches in American history as it served as a reminder to a war-weary public as to why the Union had to fight and win the Civil War.

Operation Uranus: Soviet Marshal Georgi Zhukov’s trap for the German Army at Stalingrad is ready and a devastating attack is unleashed. More

Egyptian President Anwar Sadat makes a historic visit to Israel during which he offered a peace plan to its parliament. It was the first visit of its kind by an Arab leader to Israel. At that time, the two countries were considered at war. The visit was a major step toward the Camp David Accords, signed by President Jimmy Carter, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin in September 1978, established a framework for a historic peace treaty concluded between Israel and Egypt in March 1979. Sadat, was assassinated during the annual victory parade held in Cairo On 6 October 1981. More

The Geneva Summit, the first meeting between U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev starts. The two leaders met for two days to discuss the Cold War-era arms race, primarily the possibility of reducing the number of nuclear weapons. Hosted in Geneva, Switzerland, the meeting was the first American-Soviet summit in more than six years. More