When did the New York Stock Exchange first open?

The first American land visited by Columbus was an island in the Bahamas that he named San Salvador. Historians have disagreed which island this really was. Wading Island and Samana Cay have both been suggested as possibilities. The landfall was first spotted on October 12, 1492, at about 2 A.M. by Rodrigo de Triana, the…

Visa began in 1965 as the Bank of America’s BankAmericard, backed by a group of banks able to exchange funds nationally. It received its current name, Visa, in 1977, to promote its international image and acknowledge the cooperation of banks in other countries. MasterCard began in 1966 as the Interbank card issued by another consortium…

After serving in the Spanish-American War, New Jersey nurse Clara Maass volunteered in 1901 to take part in yellow fever experiments in Cuba. Dr. Walter Reed designed the experiments to see whether a mild case of the disease would render people immune. Maass allowed herself to be bitten twice by infected mosquitoes. She developed not…

Pope, a Pueblo medicine man, planned the Indian revolt against the Spanish in New Mexico in 1680. The Pueblos and Apaches took over Santa Fe, drove out or killed Spanish settlers, and forced the Spanish to abandon New Mexico. The Spanish recaptured Santa Fe in 1693; the revolt was not entirely crushed until 1698.

Only one treaty ending foreign wars ever been signed in the U.S. In 1905, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, was the site of the treaty that ended the Russo-Japanese War. President Theodore Roosevelt facilitated the negotiations between Japan and Russia.

There are 10 federal legal public holidays in the U.S.: New Year’s Day Martin Luther King Day Washington’s Birthday (a.k.a. Presidents’ Day) Memorial Day Independence Day Labor Day Columbus Day Veterans’ Day Thanksgiving Christmas