Events Pre-1600 326 – The old St. Peter's Basilica is consecrated by Pope Sylvester I. 401 – The Visigoths, led by king Alaric I, cross the Alps and invade northern Italy. 1095 – The Council of Clermont begins: called by Pope Urban II, it led to the First Crusade to the Holy Land. 1105 – Maginulfo is elected Antipope Sylvester IV in opposition to Pope Paschal II. 1210 – Pope Innocent III excommunicates Holy Roman Emperor Otto IV for invading the Kingdom of Sicily after promising to recognize papal control over it.; ; ; 1302 – Pope Boniface VIII issues the Papal bull Unam sanctam, claiming spiritual supremacy for the papacy. 1421 – St Elizabeth's flood: A dike in the Grote Hollandse Waard in the Netherlands breaks, killing about 10,000 people. 1493 – Christopher Columbus first sights the island now known as Puerto Rico.
1601–1900 1601 – Tiryaki Hasan Pasha, an Ottoman provincial governor, routs the Habsburg forces commanded by Archduke Ferdinand II of Austria who were besieging Nagykanizsa.; 1626 – The new St. Peter's Basilica in Rome is consecrated. 1730 – The future Frederick the Great of Prussia is granted a pardon by his father and is released from confinement. 1760 – The rebuilt debtors' prison, at the Castellania in Valletta, receives the first prisoners. 1803 – The Battle of Vertières, the last major battle of the Haitian Revolution, is fought, leading to the establishment of the Republic of Haiti, the first black republic in the Western Hemisphere. 1809 – Napoleonic Wars: In a naval action, French frigates defeat British East Indiamen in the Bay of Bengal. 1812 – Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Krasnoi ends in French defeat, but Marshal of France Michel Ney's leadership leads to him becoming known as "the bravest of the brave". 1863 – King Christian IX of Denmark signs the November constitution that declares Schleswig to be part of Denmark. This is seen by the German Confederation as a violation of the London Protocol and leads to the German–Danish war of 1864. 1867 – An earthquake strikes the Virgin Islands, triggering the largest tsunami witnessed in the Caribbean and killing dozens. 1872 – Susan B. Anthony and 14 other women are arrested for voting illegally in the United States presidential election of 1872. 1883 – In the "day of two noons", American and Canadian railroad companies institute four standard continental time zones, ending the confusion of thousands of local times. 1889 - Elisha P. Ferry is inaugurated as first governor of Washington.
1901–present 1901 – Britain and the United States sign the Hay–Pauncefote Treaty, which nullifies the Clayton–Bulwer Treaty and withdraws British objections to an American-controlled canal in Panama. 1903 – The Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty is signed by the United States and Panama, giving the United States exclusive rights over the Panama Canal Zone. 1905 – Prince Carl of Denmark becomes King Haakon VII of Norway. 1909 – Two United States warships are sent to Nicaragua after 500 revolutionaries (including two Americans) are executed by order of José Santos Zelaya. 1910 – In their campaign for women's voting rights, hundreds of suffragettes march to the British Parliament in London. Several are beaten by police, newspaper attention embarrasses the authorities, and the march is dubbed Black Friday. 1916 – World War I: First Battle of the Somme: In France, British Expeditionary Force commander Douglas Haig calls off the battle which started on July 1, 1916. 1918 – Latvia declares its independence from Russia. 1928 – Release of the animated short Steamboat Willie, the first fully synchronized sound cartoon. 1929 – Grand Banks earthquake: Off the south coast of Newfoundland in the Atlantic Ocean, a Richter magnitude 7.2 submarine earthquake, centered on the Grand Banks, breaks 12 submarine transatlantic telegraph cables and triggers a tsunami that destroys many south coast communities in the Burin Peninsula. 1940 – World War II: German leader Adolf Hitler and Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano meet to discuss Benito Mussolini's disastrous Italian invasion of Greece. 1943 – World War II: In the first action of the Berlin Air Offensive, four hundred and forty Royal Air Force planes bomb Berlin causing only light damage and killing 131. The RAF loses nine aircraft and 53 air crew. 1944 – The Popular Socialist Youth is founded in Cuba. 1947 – The Ballantyne's Department Store fire in Christchurch, New Zealand, kills 41; it is the worst fire disaster in the history of New Zealand. 1949 – The Iva Valley Shooting occurs after the coal miners of Enugu in Nigeria go on strike over withheld wages; 21 miners are shot dead and 51 are wounded by police under the supervision of the British colonial administration of Nigeria. 1961 – Vietnam War: United States President John F. Kennedy sends 18,000 military advisors to South Vietnam.Defending the Free World: John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, and the Vietnam War, 1961–1965 p. 56The Fog of War: Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara p. 282 1963 – The Bell Telephone Company introduces the first push-button telephone. 1970 – U.S. President Richard Nixon asks the U.S. Congress for $155 million in supplemental aid for the Cambodian government. 1971 – Oman declares its independence from the United Kingdom. 1978 – The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet makes its first flight, at the Naval Air Test Center in Maryland, United States. 1978 – In Jonestown, Guyana, Jim Jones leads his Peoples Temple to a mass murder–suicide that claimed 918 lives in all, 909 of them in Jonestown itself, including over 270 children. 1983 – Aeroflot Flight 6833 is hijacked en route from Tbilisi to Leningrad. After returning to Tbilisi, the aircraft is subsequently raided on the ground, resulting in seven deaths. თვითმფრინავის გამტაცებლები (The Hijackers). Archive Administration of Ministry of Internal Affairs. Retrieved 25 April 2008. 1985 – The first comic of Calvin and Hobbes is published in ten newspapers. 1987 – King's Cross fire: In London, 31 people die in a fire at the city's busiest underground station, King's Cross St Pancras. 1991 – Shiite Muslim kidnappers in Lebanon release Anglican Church envoys Terry Waite and Thomas Sutherland. 1991 – After an 87-day siege, the Croatian city of Vukovar capitulates to the besieging Yugoslav People's Army and allied Serb paramilitary forces. 1991 – The autonomous Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia, which would in 1993 become a republic, was established in Bosnia and Herzegovina. 1993 – In the United States, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is approved by the House of Representatives. 1993 – In South Africa, 21 political parties approve a new constitution, expanding voting rights and ending white minority rule. 1996 – A fire occurs on a train traveling through the Channel Tunnel from France to England causing several injuries and damaging approximately 500 metres (1,600 ft) of tunnel. 1999 – At Texas A&M University, the Aggie Bonfire collapses killing 12 students and injuring 27 others. 2002 – Iraq disarmament crisis: United Nations weapons inspectors led by Hans Blix arrive in Iraq. 2003 – The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rules 4–3 in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health that the state's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional and gives the state legislature 180days to change the law making Massachusetts the first state in the United States to grant marriage rights to same-sex couples. 2012 – Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria becomes the 118th Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. 2013 – NASA launches the MAVEN probe to Mars. 2020 – The Utah monolith, built sometime in 2016 is discovered by state biologists of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.
Births Pre-1600 701 – Itzam K'an Ahk II, Mayan ruler (died 757) 709 – Emperor Kōnin of Japan (died 782) 1522 – Lamoral, Count of Egmont (died 1568) 1571 – Hippolytus Guarinonius, Italian physician and polymath (died 1654) 1576 – Philipp Ludwig II, Count of Hanau-Münzenberg (died 1612)
1601–1900 1630 – Eleonora Gonzaga, Italian wife of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor (died 1686) 1647 – Pierre Bayle, French philosopher and author (died 1706) 1727 – Philibert Commerson, French physician and explorer (died 1773) 1736 – Carl Friedrich Christian Fasch, German harpsichord player and composer (died 1800) 1756 – Thomas Burgess, English bishop and philosopher (died 1837) 1772 – Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia (died 1806) 1774 – Wilhelmine of Prussia, Queen of the Netherlands (died 1837) 1785 – David Wilkie, Scottish painter and academic (died 1841) 1786 – Carl Maria von Weber, German composer and conductor (probable; died 1826) 1787 – Louis Daguerre, French artist, photographer and inventor (died 1851) 1804 – Alfonso Ferrero La Marmora, Italian general and politician, 6th Prime Minister of Italy (died 1878) This cites G. Massani, Il generale Alfonso La Marmora (Milan, 1880) 1810 – Asa Gray, American botanist and academic (died 1888) 1832 – Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld, Finnish-Swedish geologist and explorer (died 1901) 1833 – James Patterson, English-Australian politician, 17th Premier of Victoria (died 1895) 1836 – W. S. Gilbert, English playwright, poet, and illustrator (died 1911) 1839 – August Kundt, German physicist and educator (died 1894) 1856 – Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich of Russia (died 1929) 1860 – Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Polish pianist, composer, and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland (died 1941) 1862 – John Matthew Moore, American politician (died 1940) 1866 – Henry Daglish, Australian politician, Premier of Western Australia (died 1920) 1871 – Robert Hugh Benson, English Catholic priest and novelist (died 1914) 1874 – Clarence Day, American author and poet (died 1935) 1876 – Victor Hémery, French racing driver (died 1950) 1880 – Naum Torbov, Bulgarian architect, designed the Central Sofia Market Hall (died 1952) 1882 – Amelita Galli-Curci, Italian-American soprano (died 1963) 1882 – Wyndham Lewis, English painter and critic (died 1957) 1882 – Jacques Maritain, French philosopher and author (died 1973) 1882 – Frances Gertrude McGill, pioneering Canadian forensic pathologist (died 1959) 1883 – Carl Vinson, American judge and politician (died 1981) 1886 – Ferenc Münnich, Hungarian soldier and politician, 47th Prime Minister of Hungary (died 1967) 1888 – Frances Marion, American screenwriter, novelist and journalist (died 1973) 1889 – Stanislav Kosior, Polish-Russian politician (died 1939) 1890 – Laura Negley, American politician, member of the Texas House of Representatives (died 1973) 1891 – Gio Ponti, Italian architect, industrial designer, furniture designer, artist, and publisher. (died 1979) 1897 – Patrick Blackett, Baron Blackett, English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1974) 1899 – Eugene Ormandy, Hungarian-American violinist and conductor (died 1985) 1899 – Howard Thurman, American author, philosopher and civil rights activist (died 1981)
1901–present 1901 – George Gallup, American statistician (died 1984) 1901 – V. Shantaram, Indian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (died 1984) 1901 – Craig Wood, American golfer (died 1968) 1904 – Masao Koga, Japanese composer and guitarist (died 1978) 1904 – Alan Lennox-Boyd, 1st Viscount Boyd of Merton, English lieutenant and politician, Secretary of State for the Colonies (died 1983) 1906 – Sait Faik Abasıyanık, Turkish author and poet (died 1954) 1906 – Alec Issigonis, Greek-English car designer, designed the mini car (died 1988) 1906 – Klaus Mann, German-American novelist, short story writer, and critic (died 1949) 1906 – George Wald, American neurobiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1997) 1907 – Gustav Nezval, Czech actor (died 1998) 1907 – Compay Segundo, Cuban singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2003) 1908 – Imogene Coca, American actress, comedian, and singer (died 2001)