October 12

539 BC – The army of Cyrus the Great of Persia takes Babylon, ending the Babylonian empire. (Julian calendar) 633 – Battle of Hatfield Chase: King Edwin of Northumbria is defeated and killed by an alliance under Penda of Mercia and Cadwallon of Gwynedd. 1279 – The Nichiren Shōshū branch of Buddhism is founded in Japan. 1398 – In the Treaty of Salynas, Lithuania cedes Samogitia to the Teutonic Knights. 1406 – Chen Yanxiang, the only person from Indonesia known to have visited dynastic Korea, reaches Seoul after having set out from Java four months before. 1492 – Christopher Columbus's first expedition makes landfall in the Caribbean, specifically on San Salvador Island. (Julian calendar) 1654 – The Delft Explosion devastates the city in the Netherlands, killing more than 100 people. 1692 – The Salem witch trials are ended by a letter from Province of Massachusetts Bay Governor William Phips. 1748 – War of Jenkins' Ear: A British squadron wins a tactical victory over a Spanish squadron off Havana. 1773 – America's first insane asylum opens. 1792 – The first celebration of Columbus Day is held in New York City. 1793 – The cornerstone of Old East, the oldest state university building in the United States, is laid at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 1798 – Flemish and Luxembourgish peasants launch the rebellion against French rule known as the Peasants' War. 1799 – Jeanne Geneviève Labrosse becomes the first woman to jump from a balloon with a parachute. 1810 – The citizens of Munich hold the first Oktoberfest in celebration of the marriage of Crown Prince Louis of Bavaria and Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. 1822 – Pedro I of Brazil is proclaimed the emperor. 1849 – The city of Manizales, Colombia, is founded by 'The Expedition of the 20'. 1856 – An M 7.7–8.3 earthquake off the Greek island of Crete cause major damage as far as Egypt and Malta. 1871 – The British in India enact the Criminal Tribes Act, naming many local communities "Criminal Tribes". 1890 – Uddevalla Suffrage Association is formed.