In History, Today on February 19

The United States took action to temporarily suspend its avocado imports from Mexico following threats received by U.S. agricultural safety inspectors operating in the Michoacán region, highlighting ongoing security concerns in the area.

NASA's Perseverance rover, having successfully landed on Mars the previous day, began transmitting its first high-resolution images from the Martian surface as part of its mission to search for signs of ancient life and collect rock and soil samples.

The European Union and the United Kingdom agree on a Brexit delay, extending the deadline for the UK's departure from the EU.

Violent clashes in Kiev, Ukraine, result in the deaths of at least 26 people as part of the Euromaidan protests.

A bomb blast in Hyderabad, India, kills 17 people and injures more than 100.

The International Space Station (ISS) receives its final major module, the Tranquility module, delivered by the Space Shuttle Endeavour.

Fidel Castro announces his resignation as President of Cuba, ending nearly 50 years of rule.

NASA's Mars Odyssey begins mapping the surface of Mars.

William J. Schroeder became the first artificial heart patient to leave the hospital.

Executive Order 9066, authorizing the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, is formally rescinded by President Gerald Ford.

The United Kingdom granted Cyprus independence, ending British colonial rule.

The Battle of Iwo Jima began as U.S. Marines landed on the island, marking a significant battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II.

U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, authorizing the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.

The British and French began naval operations against Ottoman Empire defenses in the Dardanelles, an event that marked the beginning of the Gallipoli Campaign during World War I.

French scientist Eugène Dubois announces the discovery of Pithecanthropus erectus fossils, later known as Java Man, providing significant insight into human evolution.

More than sixty tornadoes strike across the Southern United States, causing widespread damage and loss of life.

Kansas becomes the first U.S. state to prohibit all alcoholic beverages, setting a precedent for later Prohibition laws.

Thomas Edison patented the phonograph, a device for the mechanical recording and reproduction of sound.

The Know-Nothing Party holds its first national convention in Philadelphia, where Millard Fillmore is nominated as the presidential candidate.

The first group of rescuers reached the surviving members of the Donner Party, a group of American pioneers who became snowbound in the Sierra Nevada during the winter of 1846–47.

The newly formed Texas state government, which had been admitted to the Union as a state on December 29, 1845, officially convened for the first time.

Former U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr was arrested for treason in Wakefield, Alabama, and confined to Fort Stoddert.

Napoleon Bonaparte and members of the French Consulate moved into the Tuileries Palace in Paris, marking a symbolic occupation of the French government’s seat of power.

The Treaty of Westminster ended the Third Anglo-Dutch War, and as a part of the treaty agreement, the Dutch Republic ceded New Netherland, which is present-day New York, to the English.

Nicolaus Copernicus, the Renaissance mathematician and astronomer who formulated a model of the universe that placed the Sun rather than Earth at its center, was born.

Pedro the Cruel of Castile challenges his half-brother Henry of Trastámara to a duel that ultimately led to the War of the Castilian Succession.

Emperor Septimius Severus defeats usurper Clodius Albinus at the Battle of Lugdunum, securing his claim to the Roman Empire.