By Day: Historical Events on February 19th

Pope Gregory VI resigns as pope amid the scandal of simony (selling of church offices).

The Fourth Lateran Council, convened by Pope Innocent III, begins in Rome.

Ghazan, the Mongol ruler of the Ilkhanate, converts to Islam, marking a significant shift in the Mongol Empire.

Battle of Nájera: English forces under Edward, the Black Prince, defeat the Franco-Castilian forces of Henry of Trastámara during the Hundred Years' War.

The Second Peace of Thorn is signed, ending the Thirteen Years' War between the Kingdom of Poland and the Teutonic Order.

The stratovolcano Huaynaputina, located on the southern Peruvian Andes range, explodes in the most violent eruption in South American recorded history and one of the largest volcanic eruptions in world history over the past 2000 years. eruptions and earth tremors continue until the first week in March. It has been reported that this event dramatically affected the weather and environment in China and the Korean Peninsula. More

The patent for the phonograph is issued to Thomas Edison. More

10 weeks after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, authorizing the forced removal of all persons deemed a threat to national security from the West Coast to "relocation centers" further inland – resulting in the incarceration of more than 110, 000 Japanese Americans, Two thirds of those incarcerated were U.S. citizens. For the next two and a half years, they endured extremely difficult living conditions and poor treatment by their military guards. During the course of World War II, 10 Americans were convicted of spying for Japan, but not one of them was of Japanese ancestry. In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed a bill to recompense each surviving internee with a tax-free check for $20,000 and an apology from the U.S. government. More

The U.S. Marines begin the invasion of Iwo Jima during the final phases of World War II. The Japanese put up fierce resistance. About 21,000 Japanese troops were killed and some 1,000 captured. U.S. casualties totaled about 28,000, including about 6,800 killed. Iwo Jima and the other Volcano Islands were administered by the United States from 1945 until they were returned to Japan in 1968.