Template:On this day - August 20

Miguel López de Legazpi

• 1487 – In Spain, the Christian troops enter Gibralfaro and the last Muslim governor of Málaga, Hamet el Zegrí, is captured and excluded from the capitulation, ending up as a slave in Carmona (Seville).
• 1561 – In the present-day Jujuy Province (Argentina), Juan Pérez de Zurita founds the settlement of Nieva.
• 1572 – Death of Miguel López de Legazpi, Spanish admiral and explorer, first governor of the Captaincy General of the Philippines and founder of the cities of Cebu and Manila (b. 1502).
• 1775 – In Arizona, Spanish settlers found the Royal Presidio of San Agustín del Tucsón, which would become the city of Tucson.
• 1818 – King Kamehameha I signs a treaty with Captain Hipólito Buchardo by which, among other things, Hawaii became the first country to recognize the independence of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata.
• 1821 – Birth of Robustiana Armiño, Spanish poet and journalist (d. 1890).
• 1847 – American troops defeat Mexican troops at Padierna and Churubusco, during the War of the American Intervention in Mexico.
• 1879 – Birth of Salvador González Anaya, Spanish poet and novelist, who also served as Mayor of Málaga (d. 1955).
• 1920 – Birth of Juana Lecaros, Chilean painter, engraver and writer (d. 1993).
• 1940 – Birth of Alberto Pandolfi Arbulú, mechanical engineer, businessman and politician, President of the Council of Ministers of Peru on two occasions (1996–1998, 1998–1999).
• 1940 – In Mexico City, the Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky is gravely wounded with an ice axe by Ramón Mercader. He will die the following day.
• 1962 – Death of Heraclio Alfaro Fournier, Spanish engineer and aviator (b. 1893).
• 2008 – At Madrid–Barajas Airport (Madrid, Spain), a plane with 172 passengers suffers an accident a few seconds after takeoff, with a total of 154 dead and 18 survivors.