867 Emperor Uda (born) of Japan (died 931)
1194 Casimir II the Just (died), Polish son of Bolesław III Wrymouth (born 1138)
1215 Rebel barons renounce their allegiance to King John of England — part of a chain of events leading to the signing of the Magna Carta.
1260 Kublai Khan becomes ruler of the Mongol Empire.
1494 Christopher Columbus lands on the island of Jamaica and claims it for Spain.
1671 Edward Montagu (died), 2nd Earl of Manchester, English general and politician (born 1602)
1672 Samuel Cooper (died), English painter (born 1609)
1762 Russia and Prussia sign the Treaty of St. Petersburg.
1809 Mary Kies becomes the first woman awarded a U.S. patent, for a technique of weaving straw with silk and thread.
1813 Søren Kierkegaard (born), Danish philosopher and author (died 1855)
1818 Karl Marx (born), German philosopher (died 1883)
1821 Emperor Napoleon I (born 1769) dies in exile on the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean.
1826 Eugénie de Montijo (born), French wife of Napoleon III (died 1920)
1830 John Batterson Stetson (born), American businessman, founded the John BORN Stetson Company (died 1906)
1832 Hubert Howe Bancroft (born), American historian and ethnologist (died 1918)
1833 Ferdinand von Richthofen (born), German geographer (died 1905)
1834 Viktor Hartmann (born), Russian architect and painter (died 1873)
1835 In Belgium, the first railway in continental Europe opens between Brussels and Mechelen.
1860 Giuseppe Garibaldi sets sail from Genoa, leading the expedition of the Thousand to conquer the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and giving birth to the Kingdom of Italy.
1862 Cinco de Mayo: troops led by Ignacio Zaragoza halt a French invasion in the Battle of Puebla in Mexico.
1864 American Civil War: The Battle of the Wilderness begins in Spotsylvania County, Virginia.
1864 Nellie Bly (born), American journalist and author (died 1922)
1865 In North Bend, Ohio (a suburb of Cincinnati), the first train robbery in the United States takes place.
1866 Memorial Day first celebrated in United States at Waterloo, New York.
1877 American Indian Wars: Sitting Bull leads his band of Lakota into Canada to avoid harassment by the United States Army under Colonel Nelson Miles.
1890 Christopher Morley (born), American journalist and author (died 1957)
1891 The Music Hall in New York City (later known as Carnegie Hall) has its grand opening and first public performance, with Tchaikovsky as the guest conductor.
1901 Blind Willie McTell (born), American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1959)
1903 James Beard (born), American chef and author (died 1985)
1904 Pitching against the Philadelphia Athletics at the Huntington Avenue Grounds Cy Young. of the Boston Americans, throws the first perfect game in the modern era of baseball.
1905 Floyd Gottfredson (born), American illustrator (died 1986)
1905 The trial in the Stratton Brothers case begins in London, England; it marks the first time that fingerprint evidence is used to gain a conviction for murder.
1908 Kurt Böhme (born), German opera singer (died 1989)
1910 Leo Lionni (born), American author and illustrator (died 1999)
1914 Tyrone Power (born), American actor (died 1958)
1915 Alice Faye (born), American actress and singer (died 1998)
1925 Scopes Trial: serving of an arrest warrant on John T. Scopes for teaching evolution in violation of the Butler Act.
1925 The government of South Africa declares Afrikaans an official language.
1934 The first Three Stooges short, Woman Haters, is released.
1936 Italian troops occupy Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
1936 Patrick Gowers (born), English composer
1937 Delia Derbyshire (born), English DJ and composer (White Noise) (died 2001)
1938 Michael Murphy (born), American actor
1940 Lance Henriksen (born), American actor
1941 Emperor Haile Selassie returns to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; the country commemorates the date as Liberation Day or Patriots’ Victory Day.
1942 Tammy Wynette (born), American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1998)
1944 John Rhys-Davies (born), Welsh actor
1945 World War II: Canadian and British troops liberate the Netherlands and Denmark from German occupation when Wehrmacht troops capitulate.
1946 The International Military Tribunal for the Far East begins in Tokyo with twenty-eight Japanese military and government officials accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
1948 Bill Ward (born), English drummer and songwriter (Black Sabbath and Mythology)
1955 West Germany gains full sovereignty.
1959 Brian Williams (born), American journalist
1960 Jeremy Wade (born), English biologist and author
1961 The Mercury program: Mercury-Redstone 3 Alan Shepard becomes the first American to travel into outer space, on a sub-orbital flight.
1962 Jenifer McKitrick (born), American songwriter
1962 Nicolas Vanier (born), Senegalese explorer, author, and director
1963 Scott Westerfeld (born), American author
1963 Simon Rimmer (born), English chef and author
1966 Shawn Drover (born), Canadian drummer (Megadeth and Eidolon)
1973 Secretariat (horse) wins the 1973 Kentucky Derby in 1:59 2/5, a still standing record.
1980 Operation Nimrod: The British Special Air Service storms the Iranian embassy in London after a six-day siege.
1981 Bobby Sands dies in the Long Kesh prison hospital after 66 days of hunger-striking, aged 27.
1987 Iran-Contra affair: start of Congressional televised hearings in the United States of America
1988 Adele (born), English singer-songwriter and musician
1991 A riot breaks out in the Mt. Pleasant section of Washington, DIEDC. after police shoot a Salvadoran man.
1994 American teenager Michael P. Fay is caned in Singapore for theft and vandalism.
2001 Clifton Hillegass (died), American publisher, created CliffsNotes (born 1918)
2002 Paul Wilbur Klipsch (died), American engineer, founded Klipsch Audio Technologies (born 1904)
2003 Linkedin was officially founded by Reid Hoffman, Allen Blue, Konstantin Guericke, Eric Ly, and Jean-Luc Vaillant
2006 The government of Sudan signs an accord with the Sudan Liberation Army.
2008 Irv Robbins (died), Canadian-American businessman, co-founder of Baskin-Robbins (born 1917)
2010 Mass protests in Greece erupt in response to austerity measures imposed by the government as a result of the Greek debt crisis.
EO Smith
Latest posts by EO Smith (see all)
- Patriotism - 4 July, 2017
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- Alternative Facts and Science - 24 January, 2017