4 November 1693

A Wednesday in history

Weekday

Wednesday

Season

Autumn (N. Hemisphere)

Century

17th century

Records

373

  1. 2025

    A UPS Airlines plane crashed in Louisville, Kentucky, killing at least twelve people.

    Source
  2. 2016

    The Paris Agreement, under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, came into effect.

    Source
  3. 2010

    In the first aviation incident involving an Airbus A380, Qantas Flight 32 suffered an uncontained engine failure and made an emergency landing at Changi Airport in Singapore with no casualties.

    Source
  4. 2008

    Barack Obama (pictured) became the first person of biracial or African-American descent to be elected President of the United States.

    Source
  5. 1995

    Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin (pictured) was assassinated by Yigal Amir, a right-wing extremist, at a peace rally at Kings of Israel Square in Tel Aviv.

    Source
  6. 1970

    Authorities in California discovered a 13-year-old feral child, pseudonymously known as Genie, who had spent nearly her entire life in social isolation.

    Source
  7. 1964

    Ruhollah Khomeini was arrested by SAVAK, the Iranian secret police, and exiled to Turkey.

    Source
  8. 1952

    Robert A. Lovett, United States Secretary of Defense, issued a memorandum establishing the National Security Agency, with responsibility for all communications intelligence for the government.

    Source
  9. 1944

    Second World War: Allied forces completed Operation Pheasant, a major operation to clear German troops from the province of North Brabant in the Netherlands.

    Source
  10. 1938

    The Hlinka Guard and Slovakian police began the deportation of several thousand Jews from the country.

    Source
  11. 1924

    In a special election in Wyoming, Nellie Tayloe Ross became the first woman to be elected as a governor in the United States.

    Source
  12. 1922

    The tomb of Tutankhamun (pictured) was discovered by a team led by British Egyptologist Howard Carter.

    Source
  13. 1921

    The remains of an unknown soldier were buried with an eternal flame at the Altare della Patria in Rome.

    Source
  14. 1912

    The keel of USS Nevada was laid down, beginning construction on the United States Navy's first "super-dreadnought".

    Source
  15. 1890

    The City and South London Railway (carriage pictured), the first deep-level underground railway in the world, officially opened, running 3.2 mi (5.1 km) between the City of London and Stockwell.

    Source
  16. 1864

    American Civil War: Nathan Bedford Forrest led a cavalry division in an attack on a Union Army supply base at Johnsonville, Tennessee, resulting in the capture of 150 prisoners.

    Source
  17. 1780

    Túpac Amaru II led a rebellion of Aymara, Quechua, and mestizo peasants in protest against the Bourbon Reforms in the Spanish Viceroyalty of Peru.

    Source

Photo archive

24 historic images from this day — tap to open the gallery.

What was life like?

Prices, jobs, food, music and everyday routine — the world as it felt to live in.

Sources & fact check

Every claim is traced to primary sources, archives, universities and the press — with an explicit confidence rating. Dossiers are generated once and cached permanently.