Vancouver has hosted many international conferences and events, including the 1954 Commonwealth Games, UN Habitat I, Expo 86, APEC Canada 1997, the World Police and Fire Games in 1989 and 2009; several matches of 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup including the finals at BC Place in Downtown Vancouver, and the 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics which were held in Vancouver and Whistler, a resort community 125 km (78 mi) north of the city. In 1969, Greenpeace was founded in Vancouver. The city became the permanent home to TED conferences in 2014.

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Greenpeace's first 'activist' action took place in September 1971, when the founders of the group chartered a boat, the Phyllis Cormack, piloted by John Cormack, and tried to sail to the Alaskan island of Amchitka, where the U.S. Army planned to perform an underground nuclear test in a very active earthquake zone. The ship sailed towards Amchitka and faced the U.S. Coast Guard ship Confidence[28] which forced the activists to turn back. Because of this and the increasingly bad weather the crew decided to return to Canada only to find out that the news about their journey and reported support from the crew of the Confidence had generated sympathy for their protest.[28] After this, Greenpeace tried to navigate to the test site with other vessels, until the U.S. detonated the bomb.[28] The nuclear test was criticized and the U.S. decided not to continue with further test plans at Amchitka.

The sinking of Rainbow Warrior, codenamed Opération Satanique, was a bombing operation by the "action" branch of the French foreign intelligence services, the Direction générale de la sécurité extérieure (DGSE), carried out on 10 July 1985. During the operation, two operatives sank the flagship of the Greenpeace fleet, Rainbow Warrior, at the Port of Auckland in New Zealand on her way to a protest against a planned French nuclear test in Moruroa. Fernando Pereira, a photographer, drowned on the sinking ship.

France initially denied responsibility, but two French agents were captured by New Zealand Police and charged with arson, conspiracy to commit arson, willful damage, and murder. The scandal resulted in the resignation of the French Defence Minister Charles Hernu, while the two agents pleaded guilty to manslaughter and were sentenced to ten years in prison. They spent a little over two years confined to the French island of Hao before being freed by the French government

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The city of Auckland was founded on 18 September 1840 and was officially declared New Zealand's capital in 1841,[19][20] and the transfer of the administration from Russell (now Old Russell) in the Bay of Islands was completed in 1842. However, even in 1840 Port Nicholson (later renamed Wellington) was seen as a better choice for an administrative capital because of its proximity to the South Island, and Wellington became the capital in 1865.

A developed country, New Zealand ranks highly in international comparisons, particularly in education, protection of civil liberties, government transparency, and economic freedom. It underwent major economic changes during the 1980s, which transformed it from a protectionist to a liberalised free-trade economy. The service sector dominates the national economy, followed by the industrial sector, and agriculture; international tourism is a significant source of revenue. Nationally, legislative authority is vested in an elected, unicameral Parliament, while executive political power is exercised by the Cabinet, led by the prime minister, currently Jacinda Ardern. Queen Elizabeth II is the country's monarch and is represented by a governor-general, currently Dame Patsy Reddy. In addition, New Zealand is organised into 11 regional councils and 67 territorial authorities for local government purposes. The Realm of New Zealand also includes Tokelau (a dependent territory); the Cook Islands and Niue (self-governing states in free association with New Zealand); and the Ross Dependency, which is New Zealand's territorial claim in Antarctica.

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The first European explorer to visit what would become New Zealand, was the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman in 1642. After a hostile encounter with the local Maori tribes in which four of Tasman's crew were killed, the islands were not visited for the next 127 years. In 1769, British explorer, Captain James Cook arrived and mapped almost the entire coastline.

Cook commanded HMS Resolution on his second voyage, while Tobias Furneaux commanded its companion ship, HMS Adventure. Cook's expedition circumnavigated the globe at an extreme southern latitude, becoming one of the first to cross the Antarctic Circle on 17 January 1773. In the Antarctic fog, Resolution and Adventure became separated. Furneaux made his way to New Zealand, where he lost some of his men during an encounter with Māori, and eventually sailed back to Britain, while Cook continued to explore the Antarctic, reaching 71°10'S on 31 January 1774.

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March 31, 1774  - The British Parliament passes the Boston Port Act, closing the port of Boston, Massachusetts as punishment for the Boston Tea Party.

March 31, 1870- Thomas Mundy Peterson of Perth Amboy, New Jersey is the first African American to vote in the US under provisions of the 15th Amendment to the Constitution, in a local election on town's charter

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During the time of the US slave trade, Perth Amboy was New Jersey's primary inbound port for African slaves.

New Jersey is the fourth-smallest state by area but the 11th-most populous, with 9,294,493 residents as of 2020 and an area of 8,722.58 square miles, making it the most densely populated of the 50 U.S. states.

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New Jersey was the third state admitted to the Union, on December 18, 1787.

Dec 7, 1787- Delaware is the 1st state to ratify the US constitution

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Dec. 7, 1941 -  The Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service launched a surprise attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet based at Pearl Harbor naval base in Honolulu, Hawaiian Territory. Four U.S. battleships were sunk and four more seriously damaged. Many other smaller ships were sunk or damaged and 188 aircraft were destroyed. 2,335 American servicemen were killed. It was this event that precipitated the United States entry into World War II.

Dec. 8, 1941- The British House of Commons convened on short notice in light of recent events. Winston Churchill made a speech concluding, "We have at least four-fifths of the population of the globe upon our side. We are responsible for their safety and for their future. In the past we have had a light which flickered, in the present we have a light which flames, and in the future there will be a light which shines over all the land and sea!"