Editing January 28 (section)

===1601–1900===
*[[1624]] &ndash; [[Thomas Warner (explorer)|Sir Thomas Warner]] founds the first British colony in the Caribbean, on the island of [[Saint Kitts]].
*[[1671]] &ndash; Original city of [[Panama]] (founded in 1519) is destroyed by a fire when privateer [[Henry Morgan]] [[Henry Morgan's Panama expedition|sacks and sets fire to it]]. The site of the previously devastated city is still in ruins (see [[Panama Viejo]]).
*[[1724]] &ndash; The [[Russian Academy of Sciences]] is founded in [[St. Petersburg]], Russia, by [[Peter the Great]], and implemented by Senate decree. It is called the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences until 1917.
*[[1754]] &ndash; Sir [[Horace Walpole]] coins the word ''[[serendipity]]'' in a letter to a friend. 
*[[1813]] &ndash; [[Jane Austen]]'s ''[[Pride and Prejudice (novel)|Pride and Prejudice]]'' is first published in the [[United Kingdom]]. 
*[[1846]] &ndash; The [[Battle of Aliwal]], [[India]], is won by British troops commanded by [[Sir Harry Smith, 1st Baronet|Sir Harry Smith]].<ref>{{cite book|first=James|last=Lunt|author-link=James Lunt|title=Scarlet Lancers: The story of the 16th/5th The Queen's Royal Lancers 1689-1992|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=80p-AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA85|date=1 March 1993|publisher=Pen and Sword|isbn=978-0-85052-321-8|pages=85}}</ref>
*[[1851]] &ndash; [[Northwestern University]] becomes the first chartered university in [[Illinois]].
*[[1855]] &ndash; A locomotive on the [[Panama Canal Railway]] runs from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean for the first time.
*[[1871]] &ndash; [[Franco-Prussian War]]: The [[Siege of Paris (1870–71)|Siege of Paris]] ends in French defeat and an [[armistice]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Library of Universal Knowledge: A Reprint of the Last (1880) Edinburgh and London Edition of Chambers's Encyclopaedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9W5LAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA230|year=1882|publisher=S.W. Green's Son|pages=230}}</ref>
*[[1878]] &ndash; ''[[Yale Daily News]]'' becomes the first independent daily [[Student newspaper|college newspaper]] in the [[United States]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Sara|last=Schwebel|title=Kaplan Yale Daily News Guide to Summer Programs|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VFOZn5o5myAC|date=30 October 2001|publisher=Kaplan|isbn=978-0-7432-1426-1|page=x}}</ref>
*[[1896]] &ndash; Walter Arnold of [[East Peckham]], Kent, becomes the first person to be convicted of [[speed limit|speeding]]. He was fined one [[shilling (British coin)|shilling]], plus costs, for speeding at {{convert|8|mph|km/h|abbr=on}}, thereby exceeding the contemporary speed limit of {{convert|2|mph|km/h|abbr=on}}.