- 292 Earliest known date on a Maya inscription, possibly depicting the enthronement of King Siyaj Chan K'awiil I of Tikal (Stela 29 Tikal) [1]
- 939 The Major Occultation, or Ghaybat el-Kubra of Muhammad al-Mahdi
- 1099 First Crusade: 15,000 starving Christian soldiers march in religious procession around Jerusalem as its Muslim defenders look on
When The Bells Rang Out For Freedom
1283 War of the Sicilian Vespers: Battle of Malta
First Voyage of Vasco da Gama
1497 Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama departs on his first voyage, will become the 1st European to reach India by sea
- 1579 Our Lady of Kazan, a holy icon of the Russian Orthodox Church, was discovered underground in the city of Kazan, Tatarstan
Rhode Island Royal Charter
1663 King Charles II of England approves the Rhode Island Royal Charter giving royal recognition to the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations and freedoms to its colonists, among them Roger Williams
William III Appointed Stadholder
1672 William III is appointed stadholder by the States General in the Netherlands
- 1680 The first confirmed tornado in America kills a servant at Cambridge, Massachusetts
- 1693 NYC authorizes 1st police uniforms in American colonies
- 1709 Battle of Poltava; Russians defeat Swedes, end of Swedish empire as a major power
- 1716 Great Northern War: Battle of Dynekilen, a Danish-Norwegian force under Peter Tordenskjold traps and defeats Swedish force
Jonathan Edwards First Sermon
1731 Theologian Jonathan Edwards preaches his sermon "God Glorified in Man's Dependence" in Boston, later his first published sermon
- 1741 Theologian Jonathan Edwards preaches perhaps the most famous of all American sermons "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" at Enfield, Connecticut, part of the Great Awakening
- 1758 British and Colonial assault on French forces at Fort Ticonderoga, New York
United States Declaration of Independence
1776 Colonel John Nixon gives the 1st public reading of the Declaration of Independence to an assemblage of citizens in Philadelphia
- 1777 Independent Vermont introduces a new constitution, prohibiting slavery
- 1778 George Washington headquarters at West Point for his Continental Army
- 1792 France declares war on Prussia
- 1796 US State Department issues 1st US passport
- 1797 1st US senator (William Blount of Tennessee) expelled by impeachment
- 1800 Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse gives the first cowpox vaccination in the United States to his son to prevent smallpox
- 1805 American Bill Richmond knocks out Jack Holmes, Kilburn Wells, England
- 1816 Frost in Waltham, Massachusetts during "year without a summer"
- 1822 Chippewas turn over huge tract of land in Ontario to the United Kingdom
- 1833 Russia and Turkey sign defense treaty
Liberty Bell
1835 Liberty Bell cracks (again)
Darwin at Saint Helena
1836 Charles Darwin reaches Saint Helena in HMS Beagle and takes up lodgings near the tomb of Napoleon
Perry Sails into Tokyo Bay
1853 Commodore Matthew C. Perry sails his frigate Susquehanna into Tokyo Bay, opening Japan to Western influence and trade
Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act
1862 US Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act signed by Abraham Lincoln (not enforced)
- 1864 The Shinsengumi sabotage the Choshu-han shishi's planned attack on Kyoto, Japan at Ikedaya. This event is known as Ikedaya Jiken.
- 1870 Governor Holden of North Carolina declares Casswell County to be in a state of insurrection
- 1870 US Congress authorizes registration of trademarks
- 1874 The Mounties (North West Mounted Police) begin their March West from Fort Dufferin
- 1884 Benjamin Waugh and others found The London Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, in London; later expanded to become the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC)
Sullivan vs. Kilrain
1889 John L. Sullivan successfully defends last officially sanctioned, bare-knuckle world heavyweight prizefighting championship; Jake Kilrain's trainer throws in towel after 75 x 1-minute rounds near Hattiesburg, Mississippi
- 1889 Wall Street Journal begins publishing
- 1891 61°F, highest temperature for July 1891, in Baltimore and Philadelphia
- 1892 American Psychological Association organized in Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts
- 1892 St. John's, Newfoundland is devastated in the Great Fire of 1892
- 1895 Delagoa Bay Railway opens in South Africa
Charles Tupper Resigns
1896 Charles Tupper resigns as Prime Minister of Canada after losing the June 23rd election, his 69-day term the shortest in Canadian history
Cross of Gold Speech
1896 Orator William Jennings Bryan's "cross of gold" speech at Democratic convention in Chicago
- 1898 Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Red Donahue no-hits Boston Beaneaters, 5-0 at the Baker Bowl
- 1898 The shooting death of crime boss Soapy Smith releases Skagway, Alaska from his iron grip
US Fleet Occupies Isla Grande
1898 US battle fleet under Admiral George Dewey occupies Isla Grande at Manila
Accusations Against Manager McGraw
1902 Baltimore manager John McGraw is accused by AL President Ban Johnson of trying to wreck the Orioles & Washington Senators; negotiates his release from the Orioles, having already signed with NY Giants
- 1905 Part of Angel Island in San Francisco Bay allocated for Immigration Detention Center
- 1905 The soldiers of the Russian battleship "Potemkin" who mutinied, surrender to Romanian authorities, who turn ship over to Russian authorities soon after
- 1907 Florenz Ziegfeld staged 1st `Follies' on NY Theater roof
- 1908 Uprisings spread throughout Turkey
- 1911 Nan Aspinwall is 1st woman to make solo transcontinenal trip by horse
- 1912 G.E.V. Crutchley playing for Oxford scores 99 not out, retires with measles v Cambridge
Marquard Finally Loses
1912 Giants Rube Marquard loses after winning 21 straight
Erector Set Patented
1913 Alfred Carlton Gilbert's patent for the Erector Set is issued, it becomes one of the most popular toys of all time
Germany Replies to Lusitania Note
1915 The Germans reply to US President Woodrow Wilson's second Lusitania note by saying that Americans may sail on clearly marked neutral ships, but Germany does not deal with Wilson's other demands
- 1919 US President Woodrow Wilson returns to NYC from Versailles Peace Conference
Mittelholzer Flies to Spitsbergen
1923 Walter Mittelholzer flies a Junkers F-13 to Spitsbergen/Oostland
First President to Visit Alaska
1923 Warren G. Harding becomes 1st sitting US President to visit Alaska (Metlakahtla)
- 1928 Phillies set record of errorless 25 inning doubleheader
- 1932 Depression low point of Dow Jones Industrial Average, 41.22
- 1932 Herbert Sutcliffe scores his 100th 100, Yorkshire v Gloucshire
- 1933 US Public Works Administration becomes effective
- 1938 Would be start of England v Australia Test Cricket at Old Trafford Washout
- 1941 All Jews living in Baltic States are obligated to wear a Jewish Star
- 1943 4th day of Battle of Kursk, USSR: Operation Citadel - Nazi General Model uses last tank reserve
- 1943 British air raid sinks U-232
Mussert Meets Himmler
1943 Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging (Dutch National Socialist Movement) leader Anton Mussert meets with Heinrich Himmler
- 1943 US invasion fleet passes Bizerta, Tunisia
- 1944 British troops march into Caen, Normandy
- 1944 Japanese kamikaze attacks on US lines at Saipan
- 1946 Baseball grants $5,000 minimum salary
- 1947 Demolition begins for UN HQ in NYC
- 1947 Reports are broadcast that a UFO has crash landed in Roswell, New Mexico
- 1948 500th anniversary of the Russian Orthodox Church celebrated in Moscow
- 1949 Monte Irvin & Hank Thompson, 1st black players for New York Giants, 4-3 loss to Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field
- 1949 South Africa's Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act commences, prohibiting marriage or a sexual relationship between White people and people of other races [1]
- 1950 33.4 cm rain fall at York, Nebraska (state record)
MacArthur Made UN Commander
1950 General Douglas MacArthur named commander-in-chief of UN forces in Korea
- 1950 Leroy Deans awarded first Order of Purple Heart in Korea
Sports History
1951 Yankee Joe DiMaggio and manager Casey Stengel feud after Stengel pulls DiMaggio out of game
Conference of Interest
1957 First Pugwash Conference, the "Thinkers Lodge" held on nuclear disarmament at Pugwash, Nova Scotia, Canada, founded by Joseph Rotblat and hosted by Cyrus Eaton
Event of Interest
1957 Irish premier Eamon de Valera arrests Sinn Féin leaders
- 1961 Fred Trueman takes 5-0 in 24 balls to rip through Aussies
- 1961 Portuguese steamer "Save" breaks up off Mozambique, 227 die
- 1963 Reports of Charlie Finley's intention to move KC A's to Oakland
- 1963 US bans all monetary transactions with Cuba
- 1965 Canadian Pacific airliner crashes into Gustafsen Lake, British Columbia, due to a bomb on board killing 52 people - one of the great unsolved aviation mysteries [1]
Sports History
1965 Joe Morgan is 1st Houston player with 6 hits in a game
- 1966 King Mwambutsa IV Bangiriceng of Burundi is deposed by his son Prince Charles Ndizi
- 1966 US airline strike (until Aug 19th)
- 1967 Helen Weston of Detroit rolls a record 4,585 in 24 games
- 1968 Israeli-Egyptian artillery duel along Suez Canal
- 1969 IBM CICS is made generally available for the 360 mainframe computer
- 1969 US troop withdrawal begins in Vietnam
- 1970 SF Giant Jim Ray Hart is 8th to get 6 RBIs in an inning (5th)
- 1971 During street disturbances, British soldiers shoot dead two Catholic civilians in Free Derry; riots erupt, the Social Democratic and Labour Party withdraw from Stormont in protest
- 1971 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1972 US sells grain to USSR for $750 million
- 1973 NY Mets are 12½ games back in NL and go on to win pennant
Music History
1974 David Bowie's begins 6 consecutive nights of his "Diamond Dogs" tour at Tower Theatre in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania; several shows were recorded and released as the double LP "David Live" later in the year
- 1974 New York Yankees shortstop Jim Mason ties record with 4 doubles in 9 inning game
- 1974 USSR performs underground nuclear test
Event of Interest
1975 Israeli premier Yitzhak Rabin visits West Germany
- 1975 Quake damages over 2,000 temples in Pagan Burma, 20-foot-high seated Buddha of Thandawgya decapitated
Election of Interest
1975 US President Gerald Ford announced he'll seek Republican presidential nomination
- 1976 Randy Jones wins NL record 16 games before All Star break
- 1977 Sabra Starr finishes longest recorded belly dance (100 hrs)
- 1978 Pioneer-Venus 2 Multi-probe launched to Venus
- 1978 Sandro Pertini elected the 7th President of the Italian Republic
- 1979 Don Martina's MAN party wins election in Dutch Antilles
- 1979 The Democratic Republic of the Congo adoptsa new constitution
Voyager 2 Spacecraft
1979 Voyager 2 takes 1st ever photo of Jupiter's satellite Adrastea (J14)
- 1981 France performs nuclear test
- 1981 French Prime Minister Maurois nationalizes banks/plane/steel industry in France
Sports History
1982 Billy Martin records his 1,000th career win as a manager
- 1982 Porn star John Homes convicted of receiving stolen property
- 1982 Senegalese Trotskyist political party LCT is legally recognized
- 1983 Rudi Koopmans retains European middleweight title
- 1985 Marge Schott becomes CEO of Cincinnati Red
- 1986 Farthest thrown object-an "Aerobie" flying ring, 383 m (1,257')
- 1986 NASA establishes Safety, Reliability Maintain & Quality Assurance
- 1987 Kitty Dukakis reveals an addiction to amphetamines for 26 years
- 1988 American rockers and brothers Chico & Robert DeBarge indicted on drug trafficking charges
- 1988 Indians' Bud Black sets club record for most batters hit in inning (3)
- 1988 Miami Arena opens in Miami, Florida
Music History
1988 Stevie Wonder announces he will run for mayor of Detroit in 1992; he does not follow through
- 1989 Carlos Saul Menum becomes President of Argentina
- 1989 USSR performs nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in northeast Kazakhstan
- 1990 12:34:56 on 7/8/90 (1234567890)
- 1990 Brewers beat Angels 20-7, including 13 in 5th inning
- 1990 FIFA World Cup Final, Stadio Olimpico, Rome, Italy: 85th minute penalty by Andreas Brehme gives West Germany, 1-0 win over Argentina
- 1990 Trailing 7-0, Brewers tie Angels & then score 13 in 5th to win 20-7
- 1991 Major league umpire Steve Palermo and former NFL defensive lineman Terence Mann shot trying to help 2 waitresses from being robbed
- 1991 Pitts Pirate President Carl Barger becomes 1st President of Florida Marlins
- 1992 Conference for Security and Co-operation in Europe creates the office of High Commissioner on National Minorities
- 1992 Florida Marlins unveil their uniform
- 1992 Thomas Klestil installed as President of Austria
Sports History
1994 Preliminary trial rules there is enough evidence to try O.J. Simpson
- 1994 Sonia O'Sullivan runs female 2K world record (5:25.36)
- 1994 Space shuttle STS-65 (Columbia 17), launches
- 1994 St Maarten "Godfather" Claude Wathey sentenced to 1½ years
- 1995 1st CFL game between 2 US teams, Las Vegas Posse vs Sacramento Gold
- 1995 NHL Draft: Detroit Jr. Red Wings (OHL) defenceman Bryan Berard first pick by Ottawa Senators
Wimbledon Women's Tennis
1995 Wimbledon Women's Tennis: German superstar Steffi Graf beats Arantxa Sánchez Vicario of Spain 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 for her 6th Wimbledon title
Wannabe
1996 British girls group the Spice Girls release their debut single "Wannabe" in the UK
- 1997 NATO invites Poland, Hungary & Czech Republic to join
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
1999 "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" the 3rd book of the series by J. K. Rowling is published by Bloomsbury in the UK
- 1999 Allen Lee Davis is executed by electrocution by the state of Florida, the last use of the electric chair for capital punishment in Florida
- 2000 "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire", the 4th book in the series by J. K. Rowling is published in the UK (Bloomsbury) and the US (Scholastic)
- 2003 Sudan Airways Flight 39, with 116 people on board, crashes in Sudan; the only survivor is a two-year-old boy who subsequently dies as a result of his injuries
The Fantastic Four
2005 Marvel superhero film "The Fantastic Four" starring Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans and Michael Chiklis premieres
Pickens Plan
2008 American businessman T. Boone Pickens announces his "Pickens Plan", an energy policy that moves away from imported oil
Inception
2010 "Inception", directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, premieres in London
- 2010 During 1st round of the John Deere Classic, Paul Goydos becomes the 4th, and oldest player in PGA Tour history to shoot 59; round included 12 birdies and 6 pars
- 2011 Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched in the final mission of the U.S. Space Shuttle program
- 2012 Roadside car bomb kills 14 civilians in Afghanistan's Kandahar Province
Election of Interest
2012 Tens of thousands protest over election corruption in Mexico City after Enrique Peña Nieto's win in the country's presidential election
- 2013 42 people killed, hundreds injured after the Egyptian army raids a sit-in protest in Cairo
- 2013 A dozen people are killed and injured after a hotel collapses in Hyderabad, India
FIFA World Cup
2014 FIFA World Cup: Germany defeat Brazil by a record 7-1 in the semi-finals to make it to the final; Miroslav Klose of Germany breaks the World Cup goal scoring record with 16 goals
Event of Interest
2014 Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu instructs his defence forces to "take their gloves off" against Hamas and to take any means necessary to "restore peace" to Israeli citizens
- 2015 The New York Stock Exchange stops trading for nearly four hours due to a technical error
- 2015 The NFL's Washington Redskins have their trademark vacated on the grounds it may cause offence to native Americans
- 2016 Italian designer Maria Grazia Chiuri is the first woman to be appointed artistic director at French fashion house Christian Dior
- 2017 British Lions tie 15-15 with New Zealand All Blacks in their 3rd rugby match to tie the series
- 2017 Unesco declares Asmara, capital of Eritrea, a world heritage site for its Art Deco buildings
Event of Interest
2018 British Brexit Secretary David Davis resigns in a stand against Theresa May's new softer Brexit policy
- 2018 Eritrea and Ethiopia announce re-establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries after almost 20 years in Asmara, Eritrea
- 2018 Four boys are the first to be rescued after 16 days, from Tham Luang cave, Thailand, by Thai and international rescue team
- 2018 South Korean golfer Sei Young Ki breaks LPGA 72-hole scoring record with 31 under-par 257, also first to better -30, in winning Thornberry Creek Classic
- 2019 Congolese general and rebel leader Bosco Ntaganda convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court in the Hague
- 2019 Deutsche Bank begins laying off 18,000 employees worldwide as part of large overhaul of its operations
- 2019 US financier Jeffrey Epstein indicted on further charges of sex trafficking of minors
- 2020 Americans and Polynesians made contact around 1200 A.D. according to new genomic study in "Nature", people from eastern Polynesia had DNA from indigenous Colombia
- 2020 Australian city of Melbourne goes back into lockdown for six weeks after second outbreak of 700 active cases
- 2020 US government issues directive that more than 1 million international students will be stripped of their visas if their courses entirely online
Event of Interest
2021 A tiny Leonardo da Vinci sketch "Head of a Bear", the size of a post-it sells for £8.9 million ($12.2 m) at auction in London [1]
- 2021 Global known death toll from COVID-19 passes 4 million (equal to all deaths in battle since 1982) [1]
- 2021 Japan says the Olympics will be held without spectators as Tokyo announces state of emergency due to a surge in COVID-19
- 2021 MLB Padres relief pitcher Daniel Camarena gets his first hit, in his second career at bat - a grand slam - against Washington Nationals' Max Scherzer, in San Diego
- 2021 Zaila Avant-garde, American student, age 14, from Harvey, Louisiana, wins Scripps National Spelling Bee title
Assassination
2022 Former Prime Minister of Japan Shinzō Abe assassinated while giving a speech in Nara, Japan
Presidential Medal of Freedom
2022 Gymnast Simone Biles aged 25, becomes the youngest person to receive the US Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Joe Biden [1]
Elton John's Final Tour
2023 British singer-songwriter Elton John completes his international "Farewell Yellow Brick Road: The Final Tour" at the Tele2 Arena in Stockholm, Sweden
Dutch Government Collapses
2023 Dutch government led by Prime Minister Mark Rutte collapses over disagreements between coalition partners over asylum policies [1]
