MONDAY, Oct. 19, 2026

202 B.C.: The Battle of Zama takes place, witnessing Hannibal Barca and the Carthaginian army succumbing to the Roman legions led by Scipio Africanus. This marks the conclusion of the Second Punic War.

1781: British forces, commanded by General Charles Cornwallis, agree to surrender to George Washington and Comte de Rochambeau at Yorktown. The formal terms of surrender are signed at 2 p.m., marking the end of the American Revolutionary War.

1926: Leon Trotsky, along with his supporters, faces expulsion from the Russian Politburo. This event unfolds within the tumultuous political landscape of the Soviet Union.

1943: The discovery of streptomycin, the first antibiotic treatment for tuberculosis, takes place at Rutgers University in Piscataway, New Jersey. This marks a significant milestone in medical history.

1983: The U.S. Senate officially designates Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a federal holiday. The commemoration occurs on the third Monday of January, either on or near his birthdate of January 15.

1987: The stock markets worldwide experience a catastrophic crash, known as Black Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunges by 508.32 points, experiencing a 22 percent decrease. This represents an unprecedented drop, four and a half times the previous daily record.

2015: Scientists from the University of California make a groundbreaking discovery that suggests life on Earth may have originated 4.1 billion years ago. This date is 300 million years earlier than previously estimated.