Events Pre-1600 3114 BC – The Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, used by several pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilizations, notably the Maya, begins. 2492 BC – Traditional date of the defeat of Bel by Hayk, progenitor and founder of the Armenian nation. 106 – The south-western part of Dacia (modern Romania) becomes a Roman province: Roman Dacia. 117 – Hadrian is proclaimed Roman emperor, two days after Trajan's death. 355 – Claudius Silvanus, accused of treason, proclaims himself Roman Emperor against Constantius II. 490 – Battle of Adda: The Goths under Theodoric the Great and his ally Alaric II defeat the forces of Odoacer on the Adda River, near Milan. 923 – The Qarmatians of Bahrayn capture and pillage the city of Basra. 1315 – The Great Famine of Europe becomes so dire that even the king of England has difficulties buying bread for himself and his entourage. 1332 – Wars of Scottish Independence: Battle of Dupplin Moor: Scots under Domhnall II, Earl of Mar are routed by Edward Balliol. 1473 – The Battle of Otlukbeli: Mehmed the Conqueror of the Ottoman Empire decisively defeats Uzun Hassan of Aq Qoyunlu. 1492 – Rodrigo de Borja is elected as Head of the Catholic Church, taking the name Pope Alexander VI.
1601–1900 1675 – Franco-Dutch War: Forces of the Holy Roman Empire defeat the French in the Battle of Konzer Brücke. 1685 – Morean War: The 49-day Siege of Coron ends with the surrender and massacre of its garrison by the Venetians. 1786 – Captain Francis Light establishes the British colony of Penang in Malaysia. 1804 – Francis II assumes the title of first Emperor of Austria. 1812 – Peninsular War: French troops engage British-Portuguese forces in the Battle of Majadahonda. 1813 – In Colombia, Juan del Corral declares the independence of Antioquia. 1858 – The Eiger in the Bernese Alps is ascended for the first time by Charles Barrington accompanied by Christian Almer and Peter Bohren. 1871 – An explosion of guncotton occurs in Stowmarket, England, killing 28. 1898 – Spanish–American War: American troops enter the city of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico.
1901–present 1918 – World War I: The Battle of Amiens ends. 1919 – Germany's Weimar Constitution is signed into law.Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p762 1920 – The 1920 Cork hunger strike begins which eventually results in the deaths of three Irish Republicans including the Lord Mayor of Cork Terence MacSwiney. 1920 – The Latvian–Soviet Peace Treaty, which relinquished Russia's authority and pretenses to Latvia, is signed, ending the Latvian War of Independence. 1929 – Babe Ruth becomes the first baseball player to hit 500 home runs in his career with a home run at League Park in Cleveland, Ohio. 1934 – The first civilian prisoners arrive at the Federal prison on Alcatraz Island. 1942 – Actress Hedy Lamarr and composer George Antheil receive a patent for a Frequency-hopping spread spectrum communication system that later became the basis for modern technologies in wireless telephones, two-way radio communications, and Wi-Fi. 1945 – Poles in Kraków engage in a pogrom against Jews in the city, killing one and wounding five. 1952 – Hussein bin Talal is proclaimed King of Jordan. 1959 – Sheremetyevo International Airport, the second-largest airport in Russia, opens. 1960 – Chad declares independence from France. 1961 – The former Portuguese territories in India of Dadra and Nagar Haveli are merged to create the Union Territory Dadra and Nagar Haveli. 1962 – Vostok 3 launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome and cosmonaut Andrian Nikolayev becomes the first person to float in microgravity. 1965 – Race riots (the Watts Riots) begin in the Watts area of Los Angeles, California. 1969 – The Apollo 11 astronauts are released from a three-week quarantine following their liftoff from the Moon. 1972 – Vietnam War: The last United States ground combat unit leaves South Vietnam. 1973 – At the 1520 Sedgwick Avenue apartment building in The Bronx, New York, DJ Kool Herc hosts a house party widely considered to mark the birthplace of hip-hop culture and music. DJ Kool Herc demonstrates a new technique of beat juggling and Coke La Rock performs a new style of vocal performance called rapping. 1975 – East Timor: Governor Mário Lemos Pires of Portuguese Timor abandons the capital Dili, following a coup by the Timorese Democratic Union (UDT) and the outbreak of civil war between UDT and Fretilin. 1979 – Two Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-134s collide over the Ukrainian city of Dniprodzerzhynsk and crash, killing all 178 aboard both airliners. 1982 – A bomb explodes on Pan Am Flight 830, en route from Tokyo, Japan to Honolulu, Hawaii, killing one passenger and injuring 15 others. 1984 – "We begin bombing in five minutes": United States President Ronald Reagan, while running for re-election, jokes while preparing to make his weekly Saturday address on National Public Radio. 1988 – A meeting between Sayyed Imam Al-Sharif, Osama bin Laden, Abdullah Yusuf Azzam, and leaders of Egyptian Islamic Jihad in Afghanistan culminates in the formation of Al-Qaeda. 1991 – Nickelodeon's first line of "Nicktoons" (Doug, Rugrats and Ren & Stimpy) premiere on the channel. 1992 – The Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota opens. At the time, it is the largest shopping mall in the United States. 1995 – The Russell Hill subway accident in Toronto kills three and injures 30, due to a combination of human error and a safety system design flaw. 1996 – The killing of Tassos Isaac by Turkish nationalists of the Grey Wolves in the United Nations Buffer Zone in Cyprus. 2000 – An air rage incident occurs on board Southwest Airlines Flight 1763 when 19-year-old Jonathan Burton attempts to storm the cockpit, but he is subdued by other passengers and dies from his injuries. 2003 – NATO takes over command of the peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, marking its first major operation outside Europe in its 54-year-history. 2003 – Jemaah Islamiyah leader Riduan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali, is arrested in Bangkok, Thailand. 2006 – The oil tanker MT Solar 1 sinks off the coast of Guimaras and Negros Islands in the Philippines, causing the country's worst oil spill. 2012 – At least 306 people are killed and 3,000 others injured in a pair of earthquakes near Tabriz, Iran. 2017 – At least 41 people are killed and another 179 injured after two passenger trains collide in Alexandria, Egypt. 2023 – Luna 25 launches from the Vostochny Cosmodrome.
Births Pre-1600 1086 – Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (died 1125) 1384 – Yolande of Aragon (died 1442) 1472 – Nikolaus von Schönberg, Catholic cardinal (died 1537) 1510 – Margaret Paleologa, Sovereign Marchioness of Montferrat (died 1566)
1601–1900 1673 – Richard Mead, English physician and astrologer (died 1754) 1718 – Frederick Haldimand, Swiss-English general and politician, 22nd Governor of Quebec (died 1791) 1722 – Richard Brocklesby, English physician (died 1797) 1748 – Joseph Schuster, German composer (died 1812) 1778 – Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, Prussian gymnast, educator, and politician (died 1852) 1794 – James B. Longacre, American engraver (died 1869) 1807 – David Rice Atchison, American general, lawyer, and politician (died 1886) 1808 – William W. Chapman, American lawyer and politician (died 1892) 1816 – Frederick Innes, Scottish-Australian politician, 9th Premier of Tasmania (died 1882) 1833 – Robert G. Ingersoll, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (died 1899) 1833 – Kido Takayoshi, Japanese samurai and politician (died 1877) 1836 – Warren Brown, American historian and politician (died 1919) 1837 – Marie François Sadi Carnot, French engineer and politician, 4th President of the French Republic (died 1894) 1855 – John Hodges, Australian cricketer (died 1933) 1858 – Christiaan Eijkman, Dutch physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1930) 1860 – Ottó Bláthy, Hungarian engineer and chess player (died 1939) 1870 – Tom Richardson, English cricketer (died 1912) 1874 – Princess Louise Charlotte of Saxe-Altenburg (died 1953) 1877 – Adolph M. Christianson, American lawyer and judge (died 1954) 1878 – Oliver W. F. Lodge, English poet and author (died 1955) 1881 – Aleksander Aberg, Estonian wrestler (died 1920) 1884 – Hermann Wlach, Austrian-Swiss actor (died 1962) 1885 – Stephen Butterworth, English physicist and engineer (died 1958) 1891 – Stancho Belkovski, Bulgarian architect and educator (died 1962) 1891 – Edgar Zilsel, Austrian historian and philosopher of science, linked to the Vienna Circle (died 1944) 1892 – Hugh MacDiarmid, Scottish poet and linguist (died 1978) 1892 – Eiji Yoshikawa, Japanese author (died 1962) 1897 – Enid Blyton, English author, poet, and educator (died 1968) 1897 – Louise Bogan, American poet and critic (died 1970) 1898 – Peter Mohr Dam, Faroese educator and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands (died 1968) 1900 – Charley Paddock, American sprinter (died 1943) 1900 – Philip Phillips, American archaeologist and scholar (died 1994)
1901–present 1902 – Alfredo Binda, Italian cyclist (died 1986) 1902 – Lloyd Nolan, American actor (died 1985) 1902 – Christian de Castries, French general (died 1991) 1905 – Erwin Chargaff, Austrian-American biochemist and academic (died 2002) 1905 – Ernst Jaakson, Estonian diplomat (died 1998) 1907 – Ted a'Beckett, Australian cricketer and lawyer (died 1989) 1908 – Don Freeman, American author and illustrator (died 1978) 1908 – Torgny T:son Segerstedt, Swedish sociologist and philosopher (died 1999) 1909 – Yūji Koseki, Japanese composer (died 1989) 1909 – Uku Masing, Estonian philosopher and theologian (died 1985) 1911 – Thanom Kittikachorn, Thai field marshal and politician, 10th Prime Minister of Thailand (died 2004) 1912 – Eva Ahnert-Rohlfs, German astronomer and academic (died 1954) 1912 – Raphael Blau, American screenwriter and producer (died 1996) 1913 – Paul Dupuis, Canadian actor (died 1976) 1913 – Bob Scheffing, American baseball player and manager (died 1985) 1913 – Angus Wilson, English author and academic (died 1991) 1915 – Morris Weiss, American author and illustrator (died 2014) 1916 – Johnny Claes, English-Belgian race car driver and trumpet player (died 1956) 1919 – Luis Olmo, Puerto Rican-American baseball player and manager (died 2017) 1920 – Mike Douglas, American singer and talk show host (died 2006) 1920 – Chuck Rayner, Canadian ice hockey player (died 2002) 1921 – Alex Haley, American historian and author (died 1992) 1922 – Mavis Gallant, Canadian short story writer (died 2014) 1922 – John "Mule" Miles, American baseball player (died 2013) 1923 – Stan Chambers, American journalist and actor (died 2015) 1925 – Floyd Curry, Canadian ice hockey player and manager (died 2006) 1925 – Arlene Dahl, American actress, businesswoman and writer (died 2021) 1926 – Aaron Klug, Lithuanian-English chemist and biophysicist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2018) 1927 – Raymond Leppard, English harpsichord player and conductor (died 2019) 1927 – Stuart Rosenberg, American director and producer (died 2007) 1929 – Manabendra Mukhopadhyay, Indian singer (died 1992) 1932 – Fernando Arrabal, Spanish actor, director, and playwright 1932 – Izzy Asper, Canadian lawyer, businessman, and politician, founded Canwest (died 2003) 1932 – Geoffrey Cass, English businessman 1932 – Peter Eisenman, American architect, designed the City of Culture of Galicia 1932 – John Gorrie, English director and screenwriter 1933 – Jerry Falwell, American minister and television host (died 2007) 1933 – Jerzy Grotowski, Polish director and producer (died 1999) 1933 – Tamás Vásáry, Hungarian pianist and conductor (died 2026) 1934 – Bob Hepple, South African lawyer and academic (died 2015) 1936 – Andre Dubus, American short story writer, essayist, and memoirist (died 1999) 1936 – Bill Monbouquette, American baseball player and coach (died 2015) 1936 – Jonathan Spence, English-American historian and academic (died 2021)