On This Day: December 13th

Dartmouth College is founded by the Reverend Eleazar Wheelock, with a royal charter from King George III, on land donated by Royal governor John Wentworth.

The English transport ship Duke William sinks in the North Atlantic, killing over 360 people.

English Civil War: The Battle of Alton takes place in Hampshire.

Abel Tasman is the first recorded European to sight New Zealand.

The Massachusetts Bay Colony organizes three militia regiments to defend the colony against the Pequot Indians, a date now considered the founding of the National Guard of the United States.

The Plymouth Colony establishes the system of trial by 12-men jury in the American colonies.

Sir Francis Drake sets sail from Plymouth, England, on his round-the-world voyage.

The Council of Trent begins as the embodiment of the Counter-Reformation.

Saint Celestine V resigns the papacy after only five months to return to his previous life as an ascetic hermit.

The city of Salerno surrenders to Robert Guiscard. Duke Gisulf continues his resistance in the citadel until May of the following year.