480 BC Greeks defeat Persians in the Battle of Salamis
1187 Saladin begins the Siege of Jerusalem.
1519 Ferdinand Magellan sets sail from Sanlúcar de Barrameda with about 270 men on his expedition to circumnavigate the globe.
1593 Gottfried Scheidt (born), German organist and composer (died 1661)
1596 Diego de Montemayor founds the city of Monterrey in New Spain.
1627 Jan Gruter (died), Dutch critic and scholar (born 1560)
1630 Claudio Saracini (died), Italian lute player and composer (born 1586)
1639 Johannes Meursius (died), Dutch scholar (born 1579)
1685 Giuseppe Matteo Alberti (born), Italian violinist and composer (died 1751)
1697 The Treaty of Rijswijk is signed by France, England, Spain, the Holy Roman Empire and the Dutch Republic ending the Nine Years’ War (1688–97).
1737 The finish of the Walking Purchase which forces the cession of 1.2 million acres (4,860 km²) of Lenape-Delaware tribal land to the Pennsylvania Colony.
1778 Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen (born), Russian admiral, cartographer, and explorer (died 1852)
1793 Fletcher Christian (died), English lieutenant (born 1764)
1815 Nicolas Desmarest (died), French geologist (born 1725)
1835 Ragamuffin rebels capture Porto Alegre, then capital of the Brazilian imperial province of Rio Grande do Sul, triggering the start of ten-year-long Ragamuffin War.
1842 James Dewar (born), Scottish chemist and physicist (died 1923)
1844 William H. Illingworth (born), American photographer (died 1893)
1848 The American Association for the Advancement of Science is created.
1852 Philander Chase (died), American bishop and educator, founded Kenyon College (born 1775)
1857 The Indian Rebellion of 1857 ends with the recapture of Delhi by troops loyal to the East India Company.
1860 The Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII of the United Kingdom) visits the United States.
1861 Herbert Putnam (born), American lawyer and publisher, 8th Librarian of Congress (died 1955)
1863 American Civil War: The Battle of Chickamauga ends.
1881 Chester A. Arthur is inaugurated as the 21st President of the United States following the assassination of James Garfield.
1893 Charles Duryea and his brother road-test the first American-made gasoline-powered automobile.
1906 Cunard Line’s RMS Mauretania is launched at the Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson shipyard in Newcastle upon Tyne, England.
1909 The Parliament of the United Kingdom passes the South Africa Act 1909, creating the Union of South Africa from the British Colonies of the Cape of Good Hope, Natal, Orange River Colony, and the Transvaal Colony.
1910 The ocean liner SS France, later known as the “Versailles of the Atlantic”, is launched.
1913 Sidney Dillon Ripley (born), American ornithologist (died 2001)
1917 Fernando Rey (born), Spanish actor (died 1994)
1917 Red Auerbach (born), American basketball player and coach (died 2006)
1921 Chico Hamilton (born), American drummer, composer, and bandleader (died 2013)
1925 Bobby Nunn (born), American singer (The Coasters and The Robins) (died 1986)
1926 Libero Liberati (born), Italian motorcycle racer (died 1962)
1929 Anne Meara (born), American actress, producer, and screenwriter
1932 Wovoka (died), American religious leader, founded the Ghost Dance Movement (born 1856)
1934 Sophia Loren (born), Italian-Swiss actress and singer
1942 Gérald Tremblay (born), Canadian businessman and politician, 41st Mayor of Montreal
1945 Eduard Wirths (died), German physician (born 1909)
1945 Jack Thayer (died), American survivor of the sinking of the RMS Titanic (born 1894)
1945 William Seabrook (died), American occultist, journalist, and explorer (born 1884)
1946 Pete Coors (born), American businessman and politician
1946 The first Cannes Film Festival is held, having been delayed seven years due to World War II.
1947 Fiorello La Guardia (died), American politician, 99th Mayor of New York City (born 1882)
1948 Chuck Panozzo (born), American bass player (Styx)
1948 George R. R. Martin (born), American author, screenwriter, and producer
1948 John Panozzo (born), American drummer (Styx) (died 1996)
1951 Javier Marías (born), Spanish journalist, author, and academic
1957 Jean Sibelius (died), Finnish composer (born 1865)
1962 James Meredith, an African-American, is temporarily barred from entering the University of Mississippi.
1967 RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 is launched at John Brown & Company, Clydebank, Scotland. It is operated by the Cunard Line.
1971 Having weakened after making landfall in Nicaragua the previous day, Hurricane Irene regains enough strength to be renamed Hurricane Olivia, making it the first known hurricane to cross from the Atlantic Ocean into the Pacific.
1972 Pierre-Henri Simon (died), French historian and author (born 1903)
1973 Billie Jean King beats Bobby Riggs in The Battle of the Sexes tennis match at the Houston Astrodome in Houston, Texas.
1973 Jim Croce (died), American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1943)
1975 Juan Pablo Montoya (born), Colombian race car driver
1977 The Socialist Republic of Vietnam is admitted to the United Nations.
1978 Héctor Camacho, Jr. (born), Puerto Rican-American boxer
1979 A coup d’état in the Central African Empire overthrows Emperor Bokasa I.
1982 The National Football League players begin a 57-day strike.
1984 A suicide bomber in a car attacks the U.S. embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, killing twenty-two people.
1985 Capital gains tax is introduced in Australia, one of a number of tax reforms by the Hawke/Keating government.
1989 Richie Ginther (died), American race car driver (born 1930)
1996 Paul Erdős (died), Hungarian-Polish mathematician (born 1913)
1996 Paul Weston (died), American pianist, composer, and conductor (born 1912)
1999 Raisa Gorbachova (died) Russian wife of Mikhail Gorbachev (born 1932)
2000 The United Kingdom’s MI6 Secret Intelligence Service building is attacked by individuals using a Russian-built RPG-22 anti-tank missile. The perpetrators remain unidentified.
2001 In an address to a joint session of Congress and the American people, U.S. President George W. Bush declares a “war on terror”.
2005 Simon Wiesenthal (died), Ukrainian-Austrian holocaust survivor (born 1908)
2006 Armin Jordan (died), Swiss conductor (born 1932)
2007 Between 15,000 and 20,000 protesters marched on Jena, Louisiana, in support of six black youths who had been convicted of assaulting a white classmate.
2008 A dump truck full of explosives detonates in front of the Marriott hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan, killing 54 people and injuring 266 others.
2010 Leonard Skinner (died), American educator (born 1933)
2011 The United States ends its “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, allowing gay men and women to serve openly for the first time.
2012 Richard H. Cracroft (died), American academic and author (born 1936)
EO Smith
Latest posts by EO Smith (see all)
- Patriotism - 4 July, 2017
- The Super Sucker Bowl - 10 February, 2017
- Alternative Facts and Science - 24 January, 2017