Events Pre-1600 363 – Jovian is proclaimed Roman emperor following the death of emperor Julian in the previous night. 678 – Pope Agatho is consecrated following the death of pope Donus two months prior. 1499 – Amerigo Vespucci sights what is now Amapá State in Brazil. 1556 – The thirteen Stratford Martyrs are burned at the stake near London for their Protestant beliefs.
1601–1900 1743 – In the Battle of Dettingen, George II becomes the last reigning British monarch to participate in a battle. 1760 – Anglo-Cherokee War: Cherokee warriors defeat British forces at the Battle of Echoee near present-day Otto, North Carolina. 1806 – British forces take Buenos Aires during the first of the British invasions of the River Plate. 1844 – Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, and his brother Hyrum Smith, are killed by a mob at the Carthage, Illinois jail. 1864 – American Civil War: Confederate forces defeat Union forces during the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain during the Atlanta campaign. 1895 – The inaugural run of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's Royal Blue from Washington, D.C., to New York City, the first U.S. passenger train to use electric locomotives. 1898 – The first solo circumnavigation of the globe is completed by Joshua Slocum from Briar Island, Nova Scotia.
1901–present 1905 – During the Russo-Japanese War, sailors start a mutiny aboard the Russian battleship Potemkin. 1914 – The Illinois Monument is dedicated at Cheatham Hill in what is now the Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park. 1924 – The Johor–Singapore Causeway opens after five years of construction, providing a land connection for road and rail vehicles travelling between Johor and Singapore. 1927 – Prime Minister of Japan Tanaka Giichi convenes an eleven-day conference to discuss Japan's strategy in China. The Tanaka Memorial, a forged plan for world domination, is later claimed to be a secret report leaked from this conference. 1928 – The Rovaniemi township decree is promulgated, as a result of which Rovaniemi secedes from the old rural municipality as its own market town on January 1, 1929.Tällaista oli elämä Rovaniemen kauppalassa ennen kuin siitä tuli kaupunki – lapsia oli niin paljon, että koulut olivat tupaten täynnä, teiden kunnosta naristiin ja ulkopaikkakuntalaiset rötöstelivät – Lapin Kansa (in Finnish) 1941 – Romanian authorities launch one of the most violent pogroms in Jewish history in the city of Iași, resulting in the murder of at least 13,266 Jews. 1941 – World War II: German troops capture the city of Białystok during Operation Barbarossa. 1944 – World War II: Mogaung is the first place in Burma to be liberated from the Japanese by British Chindits, supported by the Chinese. 1946 – In the Canadian Citizenship Act, the Parliament of Canada establishes the definition of Canadian citizenship. 1950 – The United States decides to send troops to fight in the Korean War. 1954 – The Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant, the Soviet Union's first nuclear power station, opens in Obninsk, near Moscow. 1954 – The FIFA World Cup quarterfinal match between Hungary and Brazil, highly anticipated to be exciting, instead turns violent, with three players ejected and further fighting continuing after the game. 1957 – Hurricane Audrey makes landfall near the Texas–Louisiana border, killing over 400 people, mainly in and around Cameron, Louisiana. 1973 – The President of Uruguay Juan María Bordaberry dissolves Parliament and establishes a dictatorship. 1974 – U.S. president Richard Nixon visits the Soviet Union. 1976 – Air France Flight 139 (Tel Aviv-Athens-Paris) is hijacked en route to Paris by the PFLP and redirected to Entebbe, Uganda. 1977 – France grants independence to Djibouti. 1977 – Constitution for the Federation of Earth was adopted by the second session of the World Constituent Assembly, held at Innsbruck, Austria. 1980 – The 'Ustica massacre': Itavia Flight 870 crashes in the sea while en route from Bologna to Palermo, Italy, killing all 81 on board. 1981 – The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party issues its "Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party Since the Founding of the People's Republic of China", laying the blame for the Cultural Revolution on Mao Zedong. 1982 – Space Shuttle Columbia launched from the Kennedy Space Center on the final research and development flight mission, STS-4. 1988 – The Gare de Lyon rail accident in Paris, France, kills 56 people. 1988 – Villa Tunari massacre: Bolivian anti-narcotics police kill nine to 12 and injure over a hundred protesting coca-growing peasants. 1991 – Two days after it had declared independence, Slovenia is invaded by Yugoslav troops, tanks, and aircraft, starting the Ten-Day War. 1994 – Members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult release sarin gas in Matsumoto, Japan. Seven people are killed, 660 injured. 1995 – Space Shuttle Atlantis launches on STS-71, the first space shuttle mission to dock with the Russian space station Mir. 2007 – Tony Blair resigns as British Prime Minister, a position he had held since 1997. Chancellor Gordon Brown succeeds him. 2007 – The Brazilian Military Police invades the favelas of Complexo do Alemão in an episode which is remembered as the Complexo do Alemão massacre. 2008 – In a highly scrutinized election, President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe is re-elected in a landslide after his opponent Morgan Tsvangirai had withdrawn a week earlier, citing violence against his party's supporters. 2013 – NASA launches the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph space probe to observe the Sun. 2014 – At least fourteen people are killed when a Gas Authority of India Limited pipeline explodes in the East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh, India. 2015 – Formosa Fun Coast fire: A dust fire occurs at a recreational water park in Taiwan, killing 15 people and injuring 497 others, 199 critically. 2017 – A series of powerful cyberattacks using the Petya malware target websites of Ukrainian organizations and counterparts with Ukrainian connections around the globe. 2024 – U.S. President Joe Biden debates former U.S. President Donald Trump. Biden's perceived poor performance leads to his withdrawal from the election on July 21.
Births Pre-1600 850 – Ibrahim II of Ifriqiya, Aghlabid emir (died 902) 1350 – Manuel II Palaiologos, Byzantine emperor (died 1425) 1430 – Henry Holland, 3rd Duke of Exeter, Lancastrian leader (died 1475) 1462 – Louis XII, king of France (died 1515) 1464 – Ernst II of Saxony, Archbishop of Magdeburg (1476–1513) (died 1513) 1497 – Ernest I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (died 1546) 1550 – Charles IX, king of France (died 1574) 1596 – Maximilian, Prince of Dietrichstein (died 1655)
1601–1900 1696 – William Pepperrell, American merchant and soldier (died 1759) 1717 – Louis-Guillaume Le Monnier, French botanist and physicist (died 1799) 1767 – Alexis Bouvard, French astronomer and academic (died 1843) 1805 – Napoléon Coste, French guitarist and composer (died 1883) 1806 – Augustus De Morgan, English mathematician and logician (died 1871) 1812 – Anna Cabot Lowell Quincy Waterston, American writer (died 1899) 1817 – Louise von François, German author (died 1893) 1828 – Bryan O'Loghlen, Irish-Australian politician, 13th Premier of Victoria (died 1905) 1838 – Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Indian journalist, author, and poet (died 1894) 1838 – Paul Mauser, German weapon designer, designed the Gewehr 98 (died 1914) 1846 – Charles Stewart Parnell, Irish politician (died 1891) 1850 – Jørgen Pedersen Gram, Danish mathematician and academic (died 1919) 1850 – Lafcadio Hearn, Greek-Japanese historian and author (died 1904) 1862 – May Irwin, Canadian-American actress and singer (died 1938) 1865 – John Monash, Australian engineer and general (died 1931) 1869 – Kate Carew, American illustrator and journalist (died 1961) 1869 – Emma Goldman, Lithuanian-Canadian philosopher and activist (died 1940) 1869 – Hans Spemann, German embryologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1941) 1870 – Frank Rattray Lillie, American zoologist and embryologist (died 1947) 1872 – Heber Doust Curtis, American astronomer (died 1942) 1872 – Paul Laurence Dunbar, American author, poet, and playwright (died 1906) 1880 – Helen Keller, American author, academic, and activist (died 1968) 1882 – Eduard Spranger, German philosopher and academic (died 1963) 1884 – Gaston Bachelard, French philosopher and poet (died 1962) 1885 – Arthur Lismer, English-Canadian painter known for his landscapes (died 1969) 1885 – Pierre Montet, French historian and academic (died 1966) 1885 – Guilhermina Suggia, Portuguese cellist (died 1950) 1886 – Charlie Macartney, Australian cricketer and soldier (died 1958) 1888 – Lewis Bernstein Namier, Polish-English historian and academic (died 1960) 1888 – Antoinette Perry, American actress and director (died 1946) 1892 – Paul Colin, French illustrator (died 1985) 1899 – Juan Trippe, American businessman, founded Pan American World Airways (died 1981) 1900 – Dixie Brown, British boxer (died 1957)
1901–present 1901 – Merle Tuve, American geophysicist and academic (died 1982) 1905 – Armand Mondou, Canadian ice hockey player (died 1976) 1906 – Vernon Watkins, Welsh-American poet and painter (died 1967) 1907 – John McIntire, American actor (died 1991) 1908 – João Guimarães Rosa, Brazilian physician and author (died 1967) 1911 – Marion M. Magruder, American Marine officer, commander of the VMF(N)-533 squadron (died 1997) 1912 – E. R. Braithwaite, Guyanese novelist, writer, teacher, and diplomat (died 2016) 1913 – Elton Britt, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1972) 1913 – Philip Guston, American painter and academic (died 1980) 1913 – Willie Mosconi, American pool player (died 1993) 1914 – Robert Aickman, English author and activist, co-founded the Inland Waterways Association (died 1981) 1914 – Helena Benitez, Filipina academic and administrator (died 2016) 1914 – Giorgio Almirante, Italian journalist and politician (died 1988) 1915 – Grace Lee Boggs, American philosopher, author, and activist (died 2015) 1915 – John Alexander Moore, American zoologist and academic (died 2002) 1916 – Robert Normann, Norwegian guitarist (died 1998) 1918 – Adolph Kiefer, American swimmer (died 2017) 1919 – M. Carl Holman, American author, educator, poet, and playwright (died 1988) 1919 – Amala Shankar, Indian danseuse (died 2020) 1920 – Fernando Riera, Chilean football player and manager (died 2010) 1921 – Muriel Pavlow, English actress (died 2019) 1922 – George Walker, American composer (died 2018) 1923 – Jacques Berthier, French organist and composer (died 1994) 1923 – Elmo Hope, American pianist and composer (died 1967) 1924 – Bob Appleyard, English cricketer and businessman (died 2015) 1925 – Leonard Lerman, American geneticist and biologist (died 2012) 1925 – Doc Pomus, American singer-songwriter (died 1991) 1925 – Wayne Terwilliger, American second baseman, coach, and manager (died 2021) 1927 – Bob Keeshan, American actor and producer (died 2004) 1928 – Rudy Perpich, American dentist and politician, 34th Governor of Minnesota (died 1995) 1929 – Dick the Bruiser, American football player and wrestler (died 1991) 1929 – Peter Maas, American journalist and author (died 2001) 1930 – Ross Perot, American businessman and politician (died 2019) 1930 – Tommy Kono, Japanese American weightlifter (died 2016) 1931 – Charles Bronfman, Canadian-American businessman and philanthropist 1931 – Martinus J. G. Veltman, Dutch physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2021) 1932 – Eddie Kasko, American baseball player and manager (died 2020) 1932 – Anna Moffo, American operatic soprano (died 2006) 1932 – Hugh Wood, English composer (died 2021) 1936 – Lucille Clifton, American author and poet (died 2010) 1936 – Shirley Anne Field, English actress (died 2023) 1937 – Joseph P. Allen, American physicist and astronaut 1937 – Otto Herrigel, Namibian lawyer and politician (died 2013)