What Happened On This Day In History?

1804

The Louisiana Purchase was divided into the Territory of Orleans and the District of Louisiana.

1885

The Eastman Dry Plate and Film Co. of Rochester, N.Y., manufactured the first commercial motion picture film.

1971

East Pakistan proclaimed its independence, taking the name Bangladesh.

1979

The Camp David peace treaty was signed by Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat at the White House.

1982

Groundbreaking ceremonies took place in Washington, D.C., for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

1992

A judge in Indianapolis sentenced former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson to six years in prison for raping a Miss Black America contestant. Tyson ended up serving three years.

1997

The bodies of 39 members of the Heaven's Gate techno religious cult who'd committed suicide were found inside a mansion in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.

1999

A computer virus named ''Melissa'' began infecting computers across the country.

1999

Dr. Jack Kevorkian was convicted of second-degree murder and delivery of a controlled substance for giving a lethal injection to an ailing man whose death was shown on ''60 Minutes.''

2000

Vladimir Putin was elected Russia's second democratically chosen president.

1875

Poet Robert Frost was born in San Francisco.

1911

Playwright Tennessee Williams was born in Columbus, Miss.

1827

Composer Ludwig van Beethoven died in Vienna, Austria.

1892

Poet Walt Whitman died in Camden, N.J.

2011

Geraldine Ferraro, the first woman nominated for U.S. vice president by a major political party, died at age 75 after a long battle with blood cancer. Ferraro ran with Democrat Walter Mondale in 1984 losing to Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.