1324 Marco Polo (died), Italian merchant and explorer (born 1254)
1349 The Jewish population of Basel, Switzerland, believed by the residents to be the cause of the ongoing Black Death, is rounded up and incinerated.
1431 Judges’ investigations for the trial of Joan of Arc begin in Rouen, France, the seat of the English occupation government.
1622 Empress Meishō of Japan (born) (died 1696)
1685 Tiberius Hemsterhuis (born), Dutch philologist (died 1766)
1728 Thomas Warton (born), English poet (died 1790)
1757 Louis Bertrand Castel (died), French mathematician (born 1688)
1768 In London, England, Great Britain, Philip Astley stages the first modern circus.
1793 Jean-Pierre Blanchard becomes the first person to fly in a balloon in the United States.
1799 British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger introduces an income tax of two shillings to the pound to raise funds for Great Britain’s war effort in the Napoleonic Wars.
1806 Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson receives a state funeral and is interred in St Paul’s Cathedral.
1811 Gilbert Abbott à Beckett (born), English journalist and author (died 1856)
1816 Sir Humphry Davy tests his safety lamp for miners at Hebburn Colliery.
1839 The French Academy of Sciences announces the Daguerreotype photography process.
1857 The Fort Tejon earthquake strikes California, registering an estimated magnitude of 7.9.
1858 Anson Jones (died), American politician, 4th President of the Republic of Texas (born 1798)
1858 Anson Jones, the last President of the Republic of Texas, commits suicide.
1859 Carrie Chapman Catt (born), American activist, founded the League of Women Voters and International Alliance of Women (died 1947)
1861 American Civil War: The “Star of the West” incident occurs near Charleston, South Carolina. It is considered by some historians to be the “First Shots of the American Civil War”.
1861 Mississippi becomes the second state to secede from the Union before the outbreak of the American Civil War.
1863 American Civil War: the Battle of Fort Hindman begins in Arkansas.
1870 Joseph Strauss (born), American engineer, co-designed the Golden Gate Bridge (died 1938)
1875 Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (born), American sculptor and art collector, founded the Whitney Museum of American Art (died 1942)
1876 Samuel Gridley Howe (died), American physician and activist (born 1801)
1879 John Broadus Watson (born), American psychologist (died 1958)
1880 The Great Gale of 1880 devastates parts of Oregon and Washington with high winds and heavy snow.
1881 Edouard Beaupré (born), Canadian giant and strongman (died 1904)
1886 Lloyd Loar (born), American sound engineer and instrument designer (died 1943)
1894 New England Telephone and Telegraph installs the first battery-operated telephone switchboard in Lexington, Massachusetts.
1895 Aaron Lufkin Dennison (died), American businessman (born 1812)
1900 Richard Halliburton (born), American adventurer and author (died 1939)
1908 Simone de Beauvoir (born), French author (died 1986)
1909 Ernest Shackleton, leading the Nimrod Expedition to the South Pole, plants the British flag 97 nautical miles (180 km; 112 mi) from the South Pole, the furthest anyone had ever reached at that time.
1911 Gypsy Rose Lee (born), American dancer, actress, and author (died 1970)
1913 Richard Nixon (born), American politician, 37th President of the United States (died 1994)
1914 Kenny Clarke (born), American drummer and composer (Modern Jazz Quartet) (died 1985)
1915 Fernando Lamas (born), Argentine actor (died 1982)
1916 World War I: The Battle of Gallipoli concludes with an Ottoman Empire victory when the last Allied forces are evacuated from the peninsula.
1917 World War I: the Battle of Rafa is fought near the Egyptian border with Palestine.
1918 Battle of Bear Valley: The last battle of the American Indian Wars.
1918 Charles-Émile Reynaud, French scientist and educator, invented the Praxinoscope (born 1844)
1925 Lee Van Cleef (born), American actor (died 1989)
1928 Judith Krantz (born), American author
1934 Bart Starr (born), American football player and coach
1936 Anne Rivers Siddons (born), American author
1938 Stuart Woods (born), American author
1939 Johann Strauss III (died), Austrian conductor (born 1866)
1941 Joan Baez (born), American singer-songwriter and activist
1941 World War II: First flight of the Avro Lancaster.
1941 World War II: The Greek Triton (Y-5) sinks the Italian submarine Neghelli in Otranto.
1944 Jimmy Page (born), English guitarist, songwriter, and producer (The Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin, The Honeydrippers, The Firm, and XYZ)
1945 World War II: The United States invades Luzon in the Philippines.
1947 Elizabeth “Betty” Short, the Black Dahlia, is last seen alive.
1951 Crystal Gayle (born), American singer-songwriter and producer
1959 Mark Martin (born), American race car driver
1960 President of Egypt Gamal Abdel Nasser opens construction on the Aswan Dam by detonating ten tons of dynamite to demolish twenty tons of granite on the east bank of the Nile.
1967 Dave Matthews (born), South African-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (Dave Matthews Band and Dave Matthews & Friends)
1981 Cozy Cole (died), American drummer (born 1909)
1982 Catherine (born), Duchess of Cambridge
1991 Representatives from the United States and Iraq meet at the Geneva Peace Conference to try to find a peaceful resolution to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.
1992 The Assembly of the Serb People in Bosnia and Herzegovina proclaims the creation of Republika Srpska, a new state within Yugoslavia.
1996 First Chechen War: Chechen separatists launch a raid against the helicopter airfield and later a civilian hospital in the city of Kizlyar in the neighboring Dagestan, which turns into a massive hostage crisis involving thousands of civilians.
2005 Mahmoud Abbas wins the election to replace Yasser Arafat as President of the Palestinian National Authority. He replaces interim presidentRawhi Fattouh.
2005 The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement and the Government of Sudan sign the Comprehensive Peace Agreement to end the Second Sudanese Civil War.
2013 A SeaStreak ferry travelling to lower Manhattan, New York City, crashes into the dock, injuring 85 people.
EO Smith
Latest posts by EO Smith (see all)
- Patriotism - 4 July, 2017
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- Alternative Facts and Science - 24 January, 2017