April 10th
428 Nestorius becomes the Patriarch of Constantinople.
837 Halley's Comet makes its closest approach to Earth at a distance equal to 0.0342 AU (5.1 million kilometres/3.2 million miles).
1407 Deshin Shekpa, 5th Karmapa Lama visits the Ming dynasty capital at Nanjing. He is awarded the title "Great Treasure Prince of Dharma".
1500 Ludovico Sforza is captured by Swiss troops at Novara and is handed over to the French.
1606 The Virginia Company of London is established by royal charter by James I of England with the purpose of establishing colonial settlements in North America.
1710 The Statute of Anne, the first law regulating copyright, comes into force in Great Britain.
1741 War of the Austrian Succession: Prussia gains control of Silesia at the Battle of Mollwitz.
809 Napoleonic Wars: The War of the Fifth Coalition begins when forces of the Austrian Empire invade Bavaria.
1815 The Mount Tambora volcano begins a three-month-long eruption, lasting until July 15. The eruption ultimately kills 71,000 people and affects Earth's climate for the next two years.
1816 The Federal government of the United States approves the creation of the Second Bank of the United States.
1821 Patriarch Gregory V of Constantinople is hanged by the Ottoman government from the main gate of the Patriarchate and his body is thrown into the Bosphorus.
1826 The 10,500 inhabitants of the Greek town of Missolonghi begin leaving the town after a year's siege by Turkish forces. Very few of them survive.
1858 After the original Big Ben, a 14.5 tonnes (32,000 lb) bell for the Palace of Westminster, had cracked during testing, it is recast into the current 13.76 tonnes (30,300 lb) bell by Whitechapel Bell Foundry.
1864 Archduke Maximilian of Habsburg is proclaimed emperor of Mexico during the French intervention in Mexico.
1865 American Civil War: A day after his surrender to Union forces, Confederate General Robert E. Lee addresses his troops for the last time.
1866 The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) is founded in New York City by Henry Bergh.
1868 At Arogee in Abyssinia, British and Indian forces defeat an army of Emperor Tewodros II. While 700 Ethiopians are killed and many more injured, only two British/Indian troops die.
1872 The first Arbor Day is celebrated in Nebraska.
1887 On Easter Sunday, Pope Leo XIII authorizes the establishment of the Catholic University of America.
1912 RMS Titanic sets sail from Southampton, England on her maiden and only voyage.
1916 The Professional Golfers' Association of America (PGA) is created in New York City.
1919 Mexican Revolution leader Emiliano Zapata is ambushed and shot dead by government forces in Morelos.
1925 The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is first published in New York City, by Charles Scribner's Sons.
1941 World War II: The Axis powers establish the Independent State of Croatia.
1944 Rudolf Vrba and Alfrιd Wetzler escape from Birkenau death camp.
1957 The Suez Canal is reopened for all shipping after being closed for three months.
1963 One hundred twenty-nine American sailors die when the submarine USS Thresher sinks at sea.
1968 The TEV Wahine, a New Zealand ferry sinks in Wellington harbour due to a fierce storm- the strongest winds ever in Wellington. Out of the 734 people on board, fifty-three died.
1970 Paul McCartney announces that he is leaving The Beatles for personal and professional reasons.
1971 Ping-pong diplomacy: In an attempt to thaw relations with the United States, China hosts the U.S. table tennis team for a week-long visit.
1972 Tombs containing bamboo slips, among them Sun Tzu's Art of War and Sun Bin's lost military treatise, are accidentally discovered by construction workers in Shandong.
1972 Vietnam War: For the first time since November 1967, American B-52 bombers reportedly begin bombing North Vietnam.
1973 Invicta International Airlines Flight 435 crashes in a snowstorm on approach to Basel, Switzerland killing 108 people.
1979 Red River Valley tornado outbreak: A tornado lands in Wichita Falls, Texas killing 42 people.
1988 The Ojhri Camp explosion kills or injures more than 1,000 people in Rawalpindi and Islamabad.
1991 Italian ferry MS Moby Prince collides with an oil tanker in dense fog off Livorno, Italy killing 140.
1991 A rare tropical storm develops in the South Atlantic Ocean near Angola; the first to be documented by satellites.
1998 The Good Friday Agreement is signed in Northern Ireland.
2009 President of Fiji Ratu Josefa Iloilo announces the abrogation of the constitution and assumes all governance in the country, creating a constitutional crisis.
2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154M crashes near Smolensk, Russia, killing 96 people, including Polish President Lech Kaczyński, his wife, and dozens of other senior officials and dignitaries.
2016 The Paravur temple accident in which a devastating fire caused by the explosion of firecrackers stored for Vishu, kills more than one hundred people out of the thousands gathered for seventh day of Bhadrakali worship.
2016 An earthquake, of 6.6 magnitude, strikes 39 km west-southwest of Ashkasham, shakes up India, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Srinagar and Pakistan.