1521 Battle of Mactan: Explorer Ferdinand Magellan is killed by natives in the Philippines led by chief Lapu-Lapu.
1521 Ferdinand Magellan (died), Portuguese explorer (born 1480)
1539 Re-founding of the city of Bogotá, New Granada (now Colombia), by Nikolaus Federmann and Sebastián de Belalcázar.
1565 Cebu is established becoming the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines.
1605 Pope Leo XI (died) (born 1535)
1656 Jan van Goyen (died), Dutch painter (born 1596)
1667 The blind and impoverished John Milton sells the copyright of Paradise Lost for £10.
1718 Thomas Lewis (born), Irish-American surveyor and lawyer (died 1790)
1737 Edward Gibbon (born), English historian and politician (died 1794)
1749 First performance of Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks in Green Park, London.
1755 Marc-Antoine Parseval (born), French mathematician (died 1836)
1777 American Revolutionary War: The Battle of Ridgefield: A British invasion force engages and defeats Continental Army regulars and militia irregulars at Ridgefield, Connecticut.
1782 William Talbot (died), 1st Earl Talbot, English politician (born 1710)
1791 Samuel Morse (born), American painter and inventor, co-invented the Morse code (died 1872)
1805 First Barbary War: United States Marines and Berbers attack the Tripolitan city of Derna (The “shores of Tripoli” part of the Marines’ hymn).
1810 Beethoven composes Für Elise.
1813 War of 1812: American troops capture the capital of Upper Canada in the Battle of York (present day Toronto, Canada).
1813 Zebulon Pike (died), American general and explorer (born 1779)
1820 Herbert Spencer (born), English biologist, anthropologist, sociologist, and philosopher (died 1903)
1822 Ulysses S. Grant (born), American general and politician, 18th President of the United States (died 1885)
1840 Edward Whymper (born), English mountaineer (died 1911)
1840 Foundation stone for new Palace of Westminster, London, is laid by wife of Sir Charles Barry.
1861 American President Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus.
1865 The New York State Senate creates Cornell University as the state’s land grant institution.
1865 The steamboat SS Sultana, carrying 2,400 passengers, explodes and sinks in the Mississippi River, killing 1,700, most of whom are Union survivors of the Andersonville and Cahaba Prisons.
1873 William Macready (died), English actor (born 1793)
1882 Ralph Waldo Emerson (died), American poet (born 1803)
1896 Rogers Hornsby (born), American baseball player, coach, and manager (died 1963)
1904 Cecil Day-Lewis (born), Irish-English poet and author (died 1972)
1909 Sultan of Ottoman Empire Abdul Hamid II is overthrown, and is succeeded by his brother, Mehmed V.
1911 Bruno Beger (born), German anthropologist (died 2009)
1911 Following the resignation and death of William P. Frye, a compromise is reached to rotate the office of President pro tempore of the United States Senate.
1913 Irving Adler (born), American mathematician, scientist, and author (died 2012)
1915 Alexander Scriabin (died), Russian pianist and composer (born 1872)
1915 John Labatt (died), Canadian businessman (born 1838)
1922 Jack Klugman (born), American actor (died 2012)
1932 Casey Kasem (born), American radio host and voice actor, co-created American Top 40
1936 Karl Pearson (died), English mathematician (born 1857)
1936 The United Auto Workers (UAW) gains autonomy from the American Federation of Labor.
1937 Sandy Dennis (born), American actress (died 1992)
1942 Jim Keltner (born), American drummer (Traveling Wilburys, Plastic Ono Band, and Delaney & Bonnie and Friends)
1943 Helmut Marko (born), Austrian race car driver
1944 Cuba Gooding, Sr. (born), American singer and actor (The Main Ingredient)
1944 Michael Fish (born), English meteorologist
1945 World War II: Benito Mussolini is arrested by Italian partisans in Dongo, while attempting escape disguised as a German soldier.
1947 Pete Ham (born), Welsh singer-songwriter and guitarist (Badfinger) (died 1975)
1948 Kate Pierson (born), American singer-songwriter and bass player (The B-52’s and NiNa)
1950 Apartheid: In South Africa, the Group Areas Act is passed formally segregating races.
1951 Ace Frehley (born), American guitarist and songwriter (Kiss, Wicked Lester, and Frehley’s Comet)
1953 Operation Moolah is initiated by U.S. General Mark W. Clark against Communist pilots in the Korean War.
1959 Sheena Easton (born), Scottish singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
1960 Togo gains independence from French-administered UN trusteeship.
1961 Sierra Leone is granted its independence from the United Kingdom, with Milton Margai as the first Prime Minister.
1965 Edward R. Murrow (died), American journalist (born 1908)
1967 Expo 67 officially opens in Montreal, Canada with a large opening ceremony broadcast around the world. It opens to the public the next day.
1968 Dana Milbank (born), American journalist
1969 Cory Booker (born), American lawyer and politician, 36th Mayor of Newark
1972 Nigel Barker (born), English photographer
1974 10,000 protestors march in Washington, D.C., calling for the impeachment of U.S. President Richard Nixon
1978 Former United States President Nixon aide John D. Ehrlichman is released from an Arizona prison after serving 18 months for Watergate-related crimes.
1981 Xerox PARC introduces the computer mouse.
1987 The U.S. Department of Justice bars Austrian President Kurt Waldheim from entering the United States, saying he had aided in the deportation and execution of thousands of Jews and others as a German Army officer during World War II.
1989 Konosuke Matsushita (died), Japanese businessman, founded Panasonic (born 1894)
1992 Betty Boothroyd becomes the first woman to be elected Speaker of the British House of Commons in its 700-year history.
1992 The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, comprising Serbia and Montenegro, is proclaimed.
1994 South African general election, 1994: The first democratic general election in South Africa, in which black citizens could vote. The Interim Constitution comes into force.
1996 The 1996 Lebanon war ends.
1998 Carlos Castaneda (died), Peruvian-American author (born 1925)
1999 Al Hirt (died), American trumpet player and bandleader (born 1922)
2002 Ruth Handler (died), American businesswoman, created the Barbie doll (born 1916)
2002 The last successful telemetry from the NASA space probe Pioneer 10.
2005 The superjumbo jet aircraft Airbus A380 makes its first flight from Toulouse, France.
2006 Construction begins on the Freedom Tower for the new World Trade Center in New York City.
2011 The April 25–28, 2011 tornado outbreak devastates parts of the Southeastern United States, especially the states of Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, and Tennessee. 205 tornadoes touched down on April 27 alone, killing more than 300 and injuring hundreds more.
EO Smith
Latest posts by EO Smith (see all)
- Patriotism - 4 July, 2017
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- Alternative Facts and Science - 24 January, 2017