today in History June 3rd.

1621
The Dutch Republic established the West India Company following the model of the East India Company and chartered trade in the Caribbean.
1839
Lin Zexu, the imperial envoy of China's Qing Dynasty, publicly destroyed 19,000 chests of opium belonging to British merchants in Humen, triggering the first Opium War (pictured).
1937
The abdicated former British King Edward VIII and American celebrity Wallis Simpson held a wedding in Tours, France.
1998
101 people were killed when an intercity express train from Munich to Hamburg derailed in Lower Saxony, Germany.
year 2006
Montenegro's parliament declared independence in accordance with the results of the referendum, and Serbia and Montenegro have since disintegrated.