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Pre-1600

* 362 BCBattle of Mantinea: The
Thebans Thebes (; ell, Θήβα, ''Thíva'' ; grc, Θῆβαι, ''Thêbai'' .) is a city in Boeotia, Central Greece. It played an important role in Greek myths, as the site of the stories of Cadmus, Oedipus, Dionysus, Heracles and others. Archaeolog ...
, led by
Epaminondas Epaminondas (; grc-gre, Ἐπαμεινώνδας; 419/411–362 BC) was a Greek general of Thebes and statesman of the 4th century BC who transformed the Ancient Greek city-state, leading it out of Spartan subjugation into a pre-eminent posit ...
, defeated the
Sparta Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referre ...
ns. * 414 – Emperor
Theodosius II Theodosius II ( grc-gre, Θεοδόσιος, Theodosios; 10 April 401 – 28 July 450) was Roman emperor for most of his life, proclaimed ''Augustus (title), augustus'' as an infant in 402 and ruling as the eastern Empire's sole emperor after ...
, age 13, yields power to his older sister
Aelia Pulcheria Aelia Pulcheria (; grc-gre, Πουλχερία; 19 January 398 or 399 – July 453) was an Eastern Roman empress who advised her brother emperor Theodosius II during his minority and then became wife to emperor Marcian from November 450 to he ...
, who reigned as
regent A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...
and proclaimed herself empress ('' Augusta'') of the
Eastern Roman Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
. *
836 __NOTOC__ Year 836 ( DCCCXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Abbasid Caliphate * Driven by tensions between his favoured Turkish guard and the popula ...
– ''
Pactum Sicardi The Pactum Sicardi was a treaty signed on 4 July 836 between the Greek Duchy of Naples, including its satellite city-states of Sorrento and Amalfi, represented by Bishop John IV and Duke Andrew II, and the Lombard Prince of Benevento, Sicard. ...
'', a peace treaty between the
Principality of Benevento The Duchy of Benevento (after 774, Principality of Benevento) was the southernmost Lombard duchy in the Italian Peninsula that was centred on Benevento, a city in Southern Italy. Lombard dukes ruled Benevento from 571 to 1077, when it was conq ...
and the Duchy of Naples, is signed. *
993 Year 993 ( CMXCIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Spring – The 12-year-old King Otto III gives the Sword of Saints Cosmas and Damian ...
Ulrich of Augsburg Ulrich of Augsburg (890 – 4 July 973), sometimes spelled Uodalric or Odalrici, was Prince-Bishopric of Augsburg in Germany. He was the first saint to be canonized not by a local authority but by the Pope. Life Early years Much of the informa ...
is
canonized Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of s ...
as a saint. * 1054 – A supernova, called SN 1054, is seen by Chinese
Song dynasty The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...
,
Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
, and possibly
Amerindian The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples. Many Indigenous peoples of the Am ...
observers near the star
Zeta Tauri Zeta Tauri (ζ Tauri, abbreviated Zeta Tau, ζ Tau) is a binary star in the zodiac constellation of Taurus, the Bull. It has an apparent visual magnitude of about 3.0, which is bright enough to be seen with the naked eye. Parallax meas ...
. For several months it remains bright enough to be seen during the day. Its remnants form the
Crab Nebula The Crab Nebula (catalogue designations Messier object, M1, New General Catalogue, NGC 1952, Taurus (constellation), Taurus A) is a supernova remnant and pulsar wind nebula in the constellation of Taurus (constellation), Taurus. The common name ...
. * 1120
Jordan II of Capua Jordan II ( it, Giordano) (died 19 December 1127) was the third son of Prince Jordan I of Capua and Princess Gaitelgrima, a daughter of Prince Guaimar IV of Salerno. He was, from at least May 1109, the lord of Nocera, and, after June 1120, Pri ...
is anointed as prince after his infant nephew's death. * 1187 – The
Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...
: Battle of Hattin:
Saladin Yusuf ibn Ayyub ibn Shadi () ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known by the epithet Saladin,, ; ku, سه‌لاحه‌دین, ; was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from an ethnic Kurdish family, he was the first of both Egypt and ...
defeats
Guy of Lusignan Guy of Lusignan (c. 1150 – 18 July 1194) was a French Poitevin knight, son of Hugh VIII of Lusignan and as such born of the House of Lusignan. He was king of Jerusalem from 1186 to 1192 by right of marriage to Sibylla of Jerusalem, and King ...
,
King of Jerusalem The King of Jerusalem was the supreme ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, a Crusader states, Crusader state founded in Jerusalem by the Latin Church, Latin Catholic leaders of the First Crusade, when the city was Siege of Jerusalem (1099), conqu ...
. * 1253 – Battle of West-Capelle:
John I of Avesnes John of Avesnes (1 May 1218 – 24 December 1257) was the count of Hainaut from 1246 to his death. Life Born in Houffalize, John was the eldest son of Margaret II of Flanders by her first husband, Bouchard IV of Avesnes. As the marriage of Marg ...
defeats
Guy of Dampierre Guy of Dampierre (french: Gui de Dampierre; nl, Gwijde van Dampierre) ( – 7 March 1305, Compiègne) was the Count of Flanders (1251–1305) and Marquis of Namur (1264–1305). He was a prisoner of the French when his Flemings defeated the ...
. * 1359
Francesco II Ordelaffi Francesco II Ordelaffi (c. 1300–1374), also known as Cecco II, was a lord of Forlì, the son of Sinibaldo Ordelaffi (died 1337, brother of Scarpetta and Francesco) and Orestina Calboli, and the grandson of Teobaldo I Ordelaffi. Initially h ...
of
Forlì Forlì ( , ; rgn, Furlè ; la, Forum Livii) is a ''comune'' (municipality) and city in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, and is the capital of the province of Forlì-Cesena. It is the central city of Romagna. The city is situated along the Via E ...
surrenders to the Papal commander Gil de Albornoz. * 1456
Ottoman–Hungarian wars The Ottoman–Hungarian Wars were a series of battles between the Ottoman Empire and the medieval Kingdom of Hungary. Following the Byzantine Civil War, the Ottoman capture of Gallipoli, and the decisive Battle of Kosovo, the Ottoman Empire ...
: The Siege of Nándorfehérvár (Belgrade) begins. * 1534Christian III is elected King of Denmark and Norway in the town of Rye. * 1584
Philip Amadas Philip Amadas (1550–1618) was a naval commander and explorer in Elizabethan England. Little is known from his early life, but he grew up within a wealthy merchant family in southwestern England. Amadas was instrumental in the early years of t ...
and
Arthur Barlowe Arthur Barlowe (1550 – 1620) was one of two British captains (the other was Philip Amadas) who, under the direction of Sir Walter Raleigh, left England in 1584 to find land in North America to claim for Queen Elizabeth I of England. Hiaccoun ...
arrive at
Roanoke Island Roanoke Island () is an island in Dare County, North Carolina, Dare County, bordered by the Outer Banks of North Carolina, United States. It was named after the historical Roanoke (tribe), Roanoke, a Carolina Algonquian people who inhabited the ar ...


1601–1900

* 1610 – The
Battle of Klushino The Battle of Klushino, or the Battle of Kłuszyn, was fought on 4 July 1610, between forces of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Tsardom of Russia during the Polish–Muscovite War, part of Russia's Time of Troubles. The battle occ ...
is fought between forces of the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and, after 1791, as the Commonwealth of Poland, was a bi-confederal state, sometimes called a federation, of Crown of the Kingdom of ...
and
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
during the Polish–Muscovite War. *
1634 Events January–March * January 12– After suspecting that he will be dismissed, Albrecht von Wallenstein, supreme commander of the Holy Roman Empire's Army, demands that his colonels sign a declaration of personal loyalty. ...
– The city of
Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières (, – 'Three Rivers') is a city in the Mauricie administrative region of Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice River, Saint-Maurice and Saint Lawrence River, Saint Lawrence rivers, on the north shore of the Sain ...
is founded in
New France New France (french: Nouvelle-France) was the area colonized by France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Great Britain and Spai ...
(now Quebec, Canada). *
1744 Events January–March * January 6 – The Royal Navy ship ''Bacchus'' engages the Spanish Navy privateer ''Begona'', and sinks it; 90 of the 120 Spanish sailors die, but 30 of the crew are rescued. * January 24 – The Dag ...
– The
Treaty of Lancaster The Six Nations land cessions were a series of land cessions by the Haudenosaunee and Lenape which ceded large amounts of land, including both recently conquered territories acquired from other indigenous peoples in the Beaver Wars and ancestral ...
, in which the
Iroquois The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...
cede lands between the
Allegheny Mountains The Allegheny Mountain Range (; also spelled Alleghany or Allegany), informally the Alleghenies, is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the Eastern United States and Canada and posed a significant barrier to land travel in less devel ...
and the
Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...
to the British colonies, was signed in
Lancaster, Pennsylvania Lancaster, ( ; pdc, Lengeschder) is a city in and the county seat of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. It is one of the oldest inland cities in the United States. With a population at the 2020 census of 58,039, it ranks 11th in population amon ...
. * 1774Orangetown Resolutions are adopted in the
Province of New York The Province of New York (1664–1776) was a British proprietary colony and later royal colony on the northeast coast of North America. As one of the Middle Colonies, New York achieved independence and worked with the others to found the Uni ...
, one of many protests against the British Parliament's
Coercive Acts The Intolerable Acts were a series of punitive laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 after the Boston Tea Party. The laws aimed to punish Massachusetts colonists for their defiance in the Tea Party protest of the Tea Act, a tax measure ...
. * 1776
American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...
: The
United States Declaration of Independence The United States Declaration of Independence, formally The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen States of America, is the pronouncement and founding document adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting at Pennsylvania State House ...
is adopted by the
Second Continental Congress The Second Continental Congress was a late-18th-century meeting of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that united in support of the American Revolutionary War. The Congress was creating a new country it first named "United Colonies" and in 1 ...
. * 1778
American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
: U.S. forces under George Clark capture
Kaskaskia The Kaskaskia were one of the indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands. They were one of about a dozen cognate tribes that made up the Illiniwek Confederation, also called the Illinois Confederation. Their longstanding homeland was in t ...
during the
Illinois campaign The Illinois campaign, also known as Clark's Northwestern campaign (1778–1779), was a series of events during the American Revolutionary War in which a small force of Virginia militiamen, led by George Rogers Clark, seized control of several B ...
. * 1802 – At
West Point, New York West Point is the oldest continuously occupied military post in the United States. Located on the Hudson River in New York, West Point was identified by General George Washington as the most important strategic position in America during the Ame ...
, the
United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a fort, since it sits on strategic high groun ...
opens. * 1803 – The
Louisiana Purchase The Louisiana Purchase (french: Vente de la Louisiane, translation=Sale of Louisiana) was the acquisition of the territory of Louisiana by the United States from the French First Republic in 1803. In return for fifteen million dollars, or app ...
is announced to the American people. * 1817 – In
Rome, New York Rome is a city in Oneida County, New York, United States, located in the Central New York, central part of the state. The population was 32,127 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Rome is one of two principal cities in the Utica–Ro ...
, construction on the
Erie Canal The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east-west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie. Completed in 1825, the canal was the first navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, vastly reducing t ...
begins. * 1818US Flag Act of 1818 goes into effect creating a 13 stripe flag with a star for each state. New stars would be added on 4th of July after a new state had been admitted

* 1826
John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Befor ...
and
Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...
, respectively the second and third presidents of the United States, die on the same day, on the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the
United States Declaration of Independence The United States Declaration of Independence, formally The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen States of America, is the pronouncement and founding document adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting at Pennsylvania State House ...
. Adams' last words were, "Thomas Jefferson survives," not knowing that Jefferson had died hours earlier. *
1827 Events January–March * January 5 – The first regatta in Australia is held, taking place on Tasmania (called at the time ''Van Diemen's Land''), on the River Derwent at Hobart. * January 15 – Furman University, founded in 1826, b ...
Slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
is abolished in the
State of New York New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. state ...
. * 1831Samuel Francis Smith writes "
My Country, 'Tis of Thee "America (My Country, 'Tis of Thee)" is an American patriotic song, the lyrics of which were written by Samuel Francis Smith. The song served as one of the ''de facto'' national anthems of the United States (along with songs like "Hail, Columb ...
" for the Boston, Massachusetts July 4 festivities. * 1832John Neal delivers the first public lecture in the US to advocate the rights of women. *
1837 Events January–March * January 1 – The destructive Galilee earthquake causes 6,000–7,000 casualties in Ottoman Syria. * January 26 – Michigan becomes the 26th state admitted to the United States. * February – Charles Dickens's ...
Grand Junction Railway The Grand Junction Railway (GJR) was an early railway company in the United Kingdom, which existed between 1833 and 1846 when it was amalgamated with other railways to form the London and North Western Railway. The line built by the company w ...
, the world's first long-distance railway, opens between
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
and
Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
. * 1838 – The
Iowa Territory The Territory of Iowa was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 4, 1838, until December 28, 1846, when the southeastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of Iowa. The remaind ...
is organized. *
1845 Events January–March * January 10 – Elizabeth Barrett receives a love letter from the younger poet Robert Browning; on May 20, they meet for the first time in London. She begins writing her ''Sonnets from the Portuguese''. * January 23 ...
Henry David Thoreau Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817May 6, 1862) was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading Transcendentalism, transcendentalist, he is best known for his book ''Walden'', a reflection upon simple living in natural su ...
moves into a small cabin on
Walden Pond Walden Pond is a pond in Concord, Massachusetts, in the United States. A famous example of a kettle hole, it was formed by retreating glaciers 10,000–12,000 years ago. The pond is protected as part of Walden Pond State Reservation, a state pa ...
in Concord, Massachusetts. Thoreau's account of his two years there, ''
Walden ''Walden'' (; first published in 1854 as ''Walden; or, Life in the Woods'') is a book by American transcendentalist writer Henry David Thoreau. The text is a reflection upon the author's simple living in natural surroundings. The work is part ...
'', will become a touchstone of the environmental movement. * 1855 – The first edition of
Walt Whitman Walter Whitman (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among t ...
's book of poems, ''
Leaves of Grass ''Leaves of Grass'' is a poetry collection by American poet Walt Whitman. Though it was first published in 1855, Whitman spent most of his professional life writing and rewriting ''Leaves of Grass'', revising it multiple times until his death. T ...
'', is published in
Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
. *
1862 Events January–March * January 1 – The United Kingdom annexes Lagos Island, in modern-day Nigeria. * January 6 – French intervention in Mexico: French, Spanish and British forces arrive in Veracruz, Mexico. * January ...
Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequel ...
tells
Alice Liddell Alice Pleasance Hargreaves (''née'' Liddell, ; 4 May 1852 – 16 November 1934), was an English woman who, in her childhood, was an acquaintance and photography subject of Lewis Carroll. One of the stories he told her during a boating trip beca ...
a story that would grow into ''
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (commonly ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English novel by Lewis Carroll. It details the story of a young girl named Alice (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland), Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into a ...
'' and its sequels. * 1863
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
:
Siege of Vicksburg The siege of Vicksburg (May 18 – July 4, 1863) was the final major military action in the Vicksburg campaign of the American Civil War. In a series of maneuvers, Union Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and his Army of the Tennessee crossed the Missis ...
:
Vicksburg, Mississippi Vicksburg is a historic city in Warren County, Mississippi, United States. It is the county seat, and the population at the 2010 census was 23,856. Located on a high bluff on the east bank of the Mississippi River across from Louisiana, Vic ...
surrenders to U.S. forces under
Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...
after 47 days of siege. * 1863 – American Civil War:
Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...
forces repulse a
Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...
army at the
Battle of Helena The Battle of Helena was fought on July 4, 1863, near Helena, Arkansas, as part of the American Civil War. Union troops had captured the city in July 1862, and had been using it as a base of operations. Over 7,500 Confederate troops led by Li ...
in Arkansas. The Confederate loss fails to relieve pressure on the besieged city of
Vicksburg Vicksburg most commonly refers to: * Vicksburg, Mississippi, a city in western Mississippi, United States * The Vicksburg Campaign, an American Civil War campaign * The Siege of Vicksburg, an American Civil War battle Vicksburg is also the name of ...
, and paves the way for the Union to capture
Little Rock ( The "Little Rock") , government_type = Council-manager , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_party = D , leader_title2 = Council , leader_name2 ...
. * 1863 – American Civil War: The
Army of Northern Virginia The Army of Northern Virginia was the primary military force of the Confederate States of America in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It was also the primary command structure of the Department of Northern Virginia. It was most oft ...
withdraws from the battlefield after losing the
Battle of Gettysburg The Battle of Gettysburg () was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, by Union and Confederate forces during the American Civil War. In the battle, Union Major General George Meade's Army of the Po ...
, signalling an end to the
Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...
invasion An invasion is a Offensive (military), military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitics, geopolitical Legal entity, entity aggressively enter territory (country subdivision), territory owned by another such entity, gen ...
of
U.S. territory In the United States, a territory is any extent of region under the sovereign jurisdiction of the federal government of the United States, including all waters (around islands or continental tracts). The United States asserts sovereign rights for ...
. * 1879
Anglo-Zulu War The Anglo-Zulu War was fought in 1879 between the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom. Following the passing of the British North America Act of 1867 forming a federation in Canada, Lord Carnarvon thought that a similar political effort, coupl ...
: The Zululand capital of
Ulundi Ulundi, also known as Mahlabathini, is a town in the Zululand District Municipality. At one time the capital of Zulu Kingdom in South Africa and later the capital of the Bantustan of KwaZulu, Ulundi now lies in KwaZulu-Natal Province (of which, ...
is captured by British troops and burned to the ground, ending the war and forcing King
Cetshwayo King Cetshwayo kaMpande (; ; 1826 – 8 February 1884) was the king of the Zulu Kingdom from 1873 to 1879 and its Commander in Chief during the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879. His name has been transliterated as Cetawayo, Cetewayo, Cetywajo and Ketchw ...
to flee. * 1881 – In
Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...
, the
Tuskegee Institute Tuskegee University (Tuskegee or TU), formerly known as the Tuskegee Institute, is a private, historically black land-grant university in Tuskegee, Alabama. It was founded on Independence Day in 1881 by the state legislature. The campus was de ...
opens. * 1886 – The
Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...
's first scheduled train from Montreal arrives in
Port Moody Port Moody is a city in British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It envelops the east end of Burrard Inlet and is the smallest of the Tri-Cities, bordered by Coquitlam on the east and south an ...
on the Pacific coast, after six days of travel. * 1887 – The founder of
Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
, Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, joins Sindh-Madrasa-tul-Islam,
Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...
. *
1892 Events January–March * January 1 – Ellis Island begins accommodating immigrants to the United States. * February 1 - The historic Enterprise Bar and Grill was established in Rico, Colorado. * February 27 – Rudolf Diesel applies for ...
Western Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands ( Manono and Apolima); ...
changes the
International Date Line The International Date Line (IDL) is an internationally accepted demarcation on the surface of Earth, running between the South and North Poles and serving as the boundary between one calendar day and the next. It passes through the Pacific O ...
, causing Monday (July 4) to occur twice, resulting in a year with 367 days. * 1894 – The short-lived
Republic of Hawaii The Republic of Hawaii ( Hawaiian: ''Lepupalika o Hawaii'') was a short-lived one-party state in Hawaii between July 4, 1894, when the Provisional Government of Hawaii had ended, and August 12, 1898, when it became annexed by the United State ...
is proclaimed by
Sanford B. Dole Sanford Ballard Dole (April 23, 1844 – June 9, 1926) was a lawyer and jurist from the Hawaiian Islands. He lived through the periods when Hawaii was a kingdom, protectorate, republic, and territory. A descendant of the American missionary ...
. * 1898 – En route from New York to
Le Havre Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very cl ...
, the SS ''La Bourgogne'' collides with another ship and sinks off the coast of
Sable Island Sable Island (french: île de Sable, literally "island of sand") is a small Canadian island situated southeast of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and about southeast of the closest point of mainland Nova Scotia in the North Atlantic Ocean. The island i ...
, with the loss of 549 lives.


1901–present

* 1901
William Howard Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected pr ...
becomes American governor of the Philippines. * 1903 – The
Philippine–American War The Philippine–American War or Filipino–American War ( es, Guerra filipina-estadounidense, tl, Digmaang Pilipino–Amerikano), previously referred to as the Philippine Insurrection or the Tagalog Insurgency by the United States, was an arm ...
is officially concluded. * 1910 – The Johnson–Jeffries riots occur after African-American boxer Jack Johnson knocks out white boxer Jim Jeffries in the 15th round. Between 11 and 26 people are killed and hundreds more injured. * 1911 – A massive heat wave strikes the northeastern United States, killing 380 people in eleven days and breaking temperature records in several cities. * 1913
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...
addresses
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
veterans at the
Great Reunion of 1913 The 1913 Gettysburg reunion was a Gettysburg Battlefield encampment of American Civil War veterans for the Battle of Gettysburg's 50th anniversary. The June 29–July 4 gathering of 53,407 veterans (~8,750 Confederate) was the largest ever Civil ...
. *
1914 This year saw the beginning of what became known as World War I, after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian throne was Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip. It als ...
– The funeral of
Archduke Franz Ferdinand Archduke Franz Ferdinand Carl Ludwig Joseph Maria of Austria, (18 December 1863 – 28 June 1914) was the heir presumptive to the throne of Austria-Hungary. His assassination in Sarajevo was the most immediate cause of World War I. F ...
and his wife Sophie takes place in
Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...
, six days after their assassinations in
Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its a ...
. * 1918
Mehmed V Mehmed V Reşâd ( ota, محمد خامس, Meḥmed-i ḫâmis; tr, V. Mehmed or ; 2 November 1844 – 3 July 1918) reigned as the 35th and penultimate Ottoman Sultan (). He was the son of Sultan Abdulmejid I. He succeeded his half-brother ...
died at the age of 73 and
Ottoman sultan The sultans of the Ottoman Empire ( tr, Osmanlı padişahları), who were all members of the Ottoman dynasty (House of Osman), ruled over the transcontinental empire from its perceived inception in 1299 to its dissolution in 1922. At its hei ...
Mehmed VI ascends to the throne. * 1918 –
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
: The Battle of Hamel, a successful attack by the
Australian Corps The Australian Corps was a World War I army corps that contained all five Australian infantry divisions serving on the Western Front. It was the largest corps fielded by the British Empire in France. At its peak the Australian Corps numbered 10 ...
against German positions near the town of Le Hamel on the Western Front. * 1918 –
Bolshevik The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...
s kill Tsar
Nicholas II of Russia Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov; spelled in pre-revolutionary script. ( 186817 July 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer,. was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Pola ...
and his family (
Julian calendar The Julian calendar, proposed by Roman consul Julius Caesar in 46 BC, was a reform of the Roman calendar. It took effect on , by edict. It was designed with the aid of Greek mathematicians and astronomers such as Sosigenes of Alexandr ...
date). * 1927 – First flight of the
Lockheed Vega The Lockheed Vega is an American five- to seven-seat high-wing monoplane airliner built by the Lockheed Corporation starting in 1927. It became famous for its use by a number of record-breaking pilots who were attracted to the rugged and very l ...
. *
1939 This year also marks the start of the Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 ** Third Reich *** Jews are forbidden to ...
Lou Gehrig Henry Louis Gehrig (born Heinrich Ludwig Gehrig ; June 19, 1903June 2, 1941) was an American professional baseball first baseman who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees (1923–1939). Gehrig was renowned f ...
, recently diagnosed with
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or Lou Gehrig's disease, is a neurodegenerative disease that results in the progressive loss of motor neurons that control voluntary muscles. ALS is the most comm ...
, informs a crowd at
Yankee Stadium Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx, New York City. It is the home field of the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball, and New York City FC of Major League Soccer. Opened in April 2009, the stadium replaced the origi ...
that he considers himself "The luckiest man on the face of the earth", then announces his retirement from major league
baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...
. *
1941 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January–August – 10,072 men, women and children with mental and physical disabilities are asphyxiated with carbon monoxide in a gas chamber, at Hadamar Eu ...
Nazi crimes against the Polish nation Crimes against the Polish nation committed by Nazi Germany and Axis collaborationist forces during the invasion of Poland, along with auxiliary battalions during the subsequent occupation of Poland in World War II, consisted of the murder of ...
:
Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
troops massacre Polish scientists and writers in the captured
Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...
city of
Lviv Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine ...
. * 1941 –
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
: The
Burning of the Riga synagogues The burning of the Riga synagogues occurred in 1941, during the first days of the World War II Nazi German occupation of the city of Riga, the capital and largest city in the country of Latvia. Many Jews confined in the synagogues died in the ...
: The Great Choral Synagogue in German-occupied
Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...
is burnt with 300 Jews locked in the basement. *
1942 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Declaration by United Nations is signed by China, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union, and 22 other nations, in wh ...
– World War II: The 250-day Siege of Sevastopol in the
Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...
ends when the city falls to
Axis An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to: Mathematics * Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis * Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinat ...
forces. *
1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 – ...
– World War II: The
Battle of Kursk The Battle of Kursk was a major World War II Eastern Front engagement between the forces of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union near Kursk in the southwestern USSR during late summer 1943; it ultimately became the largest tank battle in history. ...
, the largest full-scale battle in history and the world's largest tank battle, begins in the village of
Prokhorovka Prokhorovka (russian: Про́хоровка) is the name of several inhabited localities in Russia. ;Urban localities * Prokhorovka, Belgorod Oblast, a settlement in Prokhorovsky District of Belgorod Oblast ;Rural localities * Prokhorovka, Irk ...
. * 1943 – World War II: In
Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...
, a
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
B-24 Liberator bomber crashes into the sea in an apparent accident moments after takeoff, killing sixteen passengers on board, including general
Władysław Sikorski Władysław Eugeniusz Sikorski (; 20 May 18814 July 1943) was a Polish military and political leader. Prior to the First World War, Sikorski established and participated in several underground organizations that promoted the cause for Polish i ...
, the commander-in-chief of the Polish Army and the Prime Minister of the Polish government-in-exile; only the pilot survives. *
1946 Events January * January 6 - The 1946 North Vietnamese parliamentary election, first general election ever in Vietnam is held. * January 7 – The Allies recognize the Austrian republic with its 1937 borders, and divide the country into f ...
– The
Kielce pogrom The Kielce pogrom was an outbreak of violence toward the Jewish community centre's gathering of refugees in the city of Kielce, Poland on 4 July 1946 by Polish soldiers, police officers, and civiliansPhilippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...
attains full independence from the United States. *
1947 It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country in ...
– The "Indian Independence Bill" is presented before the
British House of Commons The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 mem ...
, proposing the independence of the
Provinces of British India A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...
into two sovereign countries: India and
Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
. * 1950
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
:
Radio Free Europe Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a United States government funded organization that broadcasts and reports news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus, and the Middle East where it says tha ...
first broadcasts. *
1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United ...
– Cold War: A court in
Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...
sentences American journalist
William N. Oatis William Nathan Oatis (January 4, 1914 – September 16, 1997) was an American journalist who gained international attention when he was charged with espionage by the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic in 1951. He was subsequently jailed until 1953 ...
to ten years in prison on charges of
espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangibl ...
. * 1951 –
William Shockley William Bradford Shockley Jr. (February 13, 1910 – August 12, 1989) was an American physicist and inventor. He was the manager of a research group at Bell Labs that included John Bardeen and Walter Brattain. The three scientists were jointly ...
announces the invention of the
junction transistor A bipolar junction transistor (BJT) is a type of transistor that uses both electrons and electron holes as charge carriers. In contrast, a unipolar transistor, such as a field-effect transistor, uses only one kind of charge carrier. A bipolar ...
. *
1954 Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...
Rationing Rationing is the controlled distribution of scarce resources, goods, services, or an artificial restriction of demand. Rationing controls the size of the ration, which is one's allowed portion of the resources being distributed on a particular ...
ends in the United Kingdom. * 1960 – Due to the post-Independence Day admission of Hawaii as the 50th
U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...
on
August 21 Events Pre-1600 * 959 – Eraclus becomes the 25th bishop of Liège. * 1140 – Song dynasty general Yue Fei defeats an army led by Jin dynasty general Wuzhu at the Battle of Yancheng during the Jin–Song Wars. *1169 – Battle o ...
, 1959, the 50-star
flag of the United States The national flag of the United States, United States of America, often referred to as the ''American flag'' or the ''U.S. flag'', consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red (top and bottom) alternating with white, with a blue rect ...
debuts in
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
, almost ten and a half months later (see
Flag Acts (United States) The Flag Acts are three laws that sought to define the design of the flag of the United States. All the submitted suggestions were remarkably short, the shortest being a sentence of 31 words, and the longest being a title and two sentences of 1 ...
). *
1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba ( Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 ...
– On its maiden voyage, the Soviet nuclear-powered submarine ''K-19'' suffers a complete loss of coolant to its reactor. The crew are able to effect repairs, but 22 of them die of radiation poisoning over the following two years. * 1966 – U.S. President
Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...
signs the
Freedom of Information Act Freedom of Information Act may refer to the following legislations in different jurisdictions which mandate the national government to disclose certain data to the general public upon request: * Freedom of Information Act 1982, the Australian act * ...
into United States law. The act went into effect the next year. *
1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...
Israeli commandos raid Entebbe airport in
Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...
, rescuing all but four of the passengers and crew of an
Air France Air France (; formally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. It is a subsidiary of the Air France–KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global air ...
jetliner seized by Palestinian terrorists. * 1976 – The U.S. celebrates its
Bicentennial __NOTOC__ A bicentennial or bicentenary is the two-hundredth anniversary of a part, or the celebrations thereof. It may refer to: Europe *French Revolution bicentennial, commemorating the 200th anniversary of 14 July 1789 uprising, celebrated ...
. * 1977 – The
George Jackson Brigade The George Jackson Brigade was a revolutionary group founded in the mid-1970s, based in Seattle, Washington, and named after George Jackson, a dissident prisoner and Black Panther member shot and killed during an alleged escape attempt at San ...
plants a bomb at the main power substation for the
Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
state capitol in Olympia, in solidarity with a prison strike at the Walla Walla State Penitentiary Intensive Security Unit. *
1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...
– Three Iranian diplomats and a journalist are kidnapped in Lebanon by Phalange forces, and their fate remains unknown. *
1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...
– In France, former
Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...
chief
Klaus Barbie Nikolaus "Klaus" Barbie (25 October 1913 – 25 September 1991) was a German operative of the SS and SD who worked in Vichy France during World War II. He became known as the "Butcher of Lyon" for having personally tortured prisoners—primar ...
(a.k.a. the "Butcher of Lyon") is convicted of
crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity are widespread or systemic acts committed by or on behalf of a ''de facto'' authority, usually a state, that grossly violate human rights. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity do not have to take place within the ...
and sentenced to life imprisonment. *
1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...
Rwandan genocide The Rwandan genocide occurred between 7 April and 15 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. During this period of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi minority ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Twa, were killed by armed Hutu ...
:
Kigali Kigali () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Rwanda. It is near the nation's geographic centre in a region of rolling hills, with a series of valleys and ridges joined by steep slopes. As a primate city, Kigali has been Rwa ...
, the Rwandan capital, is captured by the
Rwandan Patriotic Front The Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF–Inkotanyi, french: Front patriotique rwandais, FPR) is the ruling political party in Rwanda. Led by President Paul Kagame, the party has governed the country since its armed wing defeated government forces, wi ...
, ending the genocide in the city. *
1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
's
Pathfinder Pathfinder may refer to: Businesses * Pathfinder Energy Services, a division of Smith International * Pathfinder Press, a publisher of socialist literature Computing and information science * Path Finder, a Macintosh file browser * Pathfinder ( ...
space probe lands on the surface of
Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...
. * 1998 – Japan launches the Nozomi probe to
Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...
, joining the United States and Russia as a
space Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider ...
exploring nation. * 2001Vladivostock Air Flight 352 crashes on approach to Irkutsk Airport killing all 145 people on board. *
2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...
– A
Boeing 707 The Boeing 707 is an American, long-range, narrow-body airliner, the first jetliner developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype first flown in 1954, the initial first flew on December 20, ...
crashes near
Bangui M'Poko International Airport Bangui M'Poko International Airport is an international airport located northwest of Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic. In 2004, the airport served 53,862 passengers. In 2012, the airport had an average attendance of about 120,0 ...
in
Bangui Bangui () (or Bangî in Sango, formerly written Bangi in English) is the capital and largest city of the Central African Republic. It was established as a French outpost in 1889 and named after its location on the northern bank of the Ubangi ...
,
Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR; ; , RCA; , or , ) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the DR Congo to the south, the Republic of th ...
, killing 28. * 2004 – The cornerstone of the
Freedom Tower One World Trade Center (also known as One World Trade, One WTC, and formerly Freedom Tower) is the main building of the rebuilt World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Designed by David Childs of Skidmore, Owings & M ...
is laid on the
World Trade Center site The World Trade Center site, often referred to as "Ground zero#World Trade Center, Ground Zero" or "the Pile" immediately after the September 11 attacks, is a 14.6-acre (5.9 ha) area in Lower Manhattan in New York City. The site is bounde ...
in New York City. * 2004 –
Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
beats
Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
in the
UEFA Euro 2004 Final The UEFA Euro 2004 Final was the final match of Euro 2004, the 12th European Championship, a football competition organised by UEFA for the senior men's national teams of its member associations. The match was played at the Estádio da Luz in ...
and becomes European Champion for first time in its history. *
2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...
– The Deep Impact collider hits the
comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena ar ...
Tempel 1 Tempel 1 (official designation: 9P/Tempel) is a periodic Jupiter-family comet discovered by Wilhelm Tempel in 1867. It completes an orbit of the Sun every 5.5 years. Tempel 1 was the target of the ''Deep Impact'' space mission, which photograph ...
. *
2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...
Space Shuttle program The Space Shuttle program was the fourth human spaceflight program carried out by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which accomplished routine transportation for Earth-to-orbit crew and cargo from 1981 to 2011. Its ...
: ''
Discovery Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discovery ...
'' launches
STS-121 STS-121 was a 2006 NASA Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) flown by . The main purposes of the mission were to test new safety and repair techniques introduced following the ''Columbia'' disaster of February 2003 as w ...
to the
International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ...
. The event gained wide media attention as it was the only shuttle launch in the program's history to occur on the United States' Independence Day. *
2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...
– The
Statue of Liberty The Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''; French: ''La Liberté éclairant le monde'') is a List of colossal sculpture in situ, colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, in the U ...
's crown reopens to the public after eight years of closure due to security concerns following the
September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...
. * 2009 – The first of four days of bombings begins on the southern
Philippine The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...
island group of
Mindanao Mindanao ( ) ( Jawi: مينداناو) is the second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the island is part of an island group of ...
. *
2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...
– The discovery of particles consistent with the Higgs boson at the
Large Hadron Collider The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world's largest and highest-energy particle collider. It was built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) between 1998 and 2008 in collaboration with over 10,000 scientists and hundred ...
is announced at
CERN The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN (; ; ), is an intergovernmental organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. Established in 1954, it is based in a northwestern suburb of Gene ...
. *
2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...
– Chile claims its first title in international
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
by defeating Argentina in the 2015 Copa América Final.


Births


Pre-1600

* 68Salonia Matidia, Roman daughter of
Ulpia Marciana Ulpia Marciana (August 48 – 112) was the beloved elder sister of Roman Emperor Trajan and grandmother of empress Vibia Sabina the wife of Hadrian. Upon her death her brother had her deified. Life She was the eldest child born to Roman woman ...
(d. 119) * 1095
Usama ibn Munqidh Majd ad-Dīn Usāma ibn Murshid ibn ʿAlī ibn Munqidh al-Kināni al-Kalbī (also Usamah, Ousama, etc.; ar, مجد الدّين اُسامة ابن مُرشد ابن على ابن مُنقذ الكنانى الكلبى) (4 July 1095 – 17 Nove ...
, Muslim poet, author and faris (Knight) (d. 1188) *
1330 Year 1330 ( MCCCXXX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events January–December * July 28 – Battle of Velbazhd: The Bulgarians under Tsar Michael Shishman (who is ...
Ashikaga Yoshiakira was the second ''shōgun'' of the Ashikaga shogunate who reigned from 1358 to 1367 during the Muromachi period of Japan. Yoshiakira was the son of the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Muromachi shogunate, Ashikaga Takauji. His mother was ...
, Japanese shōgun (d. 1367) * 1477
Johannes Aventinus Johann Georg Turmair (or Thurmayr) (4 July 1477 – 9 January 1534), known by the pen name Johannes Aventinus (Latin for "John of Abensberg") or Aventin, was a Bavarian Renaissance humanist historian and philologist. He authored the 1523 ...
, Bavarian historian and philologist (d. 1534) * 1546Murad III, Ottoman sultan (d. 1595)


1601–1900

* 1656John Leake, Royal Navy admiral (d. 1720) * 1694
Louis-Claude Daquin Louis-Claude Daquin (or D'Aquino, d'Aquin, d'Acquin; July 4, 1694 – June 15, 1772) was a French composer, writing in the Baroque and Galant styles. He was a virtuoso organist and harpsichordist. Life Louis-Claude Daquin was born in Paris to a f ...
, French organist and composer (d. 1772) * 1715
Christian Fürchtegott Gellert Christian Fürchtegott Gellert (4 July 171513 December 1769) was a German poet, one of the forerunners of the golden age of German literature that was ushered in by Lessing. Biography Gellert was born at Hainichen in Saxony, at the foot of th ...
, German poet and academic (d. 1769) *
1719 Events January–March * January 8 – Carolean Death March begins: A catastrophic retreat by a largely-Finnish Swedish- Carolean army under the command of Carl Gustaf Armfeldt across the Tydal mountains in a blizzard kills around 3,7 ...
Michel-Jean Sedaine Michel-Jean Sedaine (2 June 1719 – 17 May 1797) was a French dramatist and librettist, especially noted for his librettos for '' opéras comiques'', in which he took an important and influential role in the advancement of the genre from th ...
, French playwright (d. 1797) * 1729
George Leonard George Burr Leonard (August 9, 1923 – January 6, 2010) was an American writer, editor, and educator who wrote extensively about education and human potential. He served as President Emeritus of the Esalen Institute, past-president of the ...
, American lawyer, jurist and politician (d. 1819) * 1753
Jean-Pierre Blanchard Jean-Pierre rançoisBlanchard (4 July 1753 – 7 March 1809) was a French inventor, best known as a pioneer of gas balloon flight, who distinguished himself in the conquest of the air in a balloon, in particular the first crossing of the Englis ...
, French inventor, best known as a pioneer in balloon flight (d. 1809) * 1790
George Everest Colonel Sir George Everest CB FRS FRAS FRGS (; 4 July 1790 – 1 December 1866) was a British surveyor and geographer who served as Surveyor General of India from 1830 to 1843. After receiving a military education in Marlow, Everest joined ...
, Welsh geographer and surveyor (d. 1866) *
1799 Events January–June * January 9 – 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 French Revolutionary Wars. * January ...
Oscar I of Sweden Oscar I (born Joseph François Oscar Bernadotte; 4 July 1799 – 8 July 1859) was King of Sweden and Norway from 8 March 1844 until his death. He was the second monarch of the House of Bernadotte. The only child of King Charles XIV John, Oscar i ...
(d. 1859) *
1804 Events January–March * January 1 – Haiti gains independence from France, and becomes the first black republic, having the only successful slave revolt ever. * February 4 – The Sokoto Caliphate is founded in West Africa. * Februa ...
Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion. He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associated with that t ...
, American novelist and short story writer (d. 1864) * 1807
Giuseppe Garibaldi Giuseppe Maria Garibaldi ( , ;In his native Ligurian language, he is known as ''Gioxeppe Gaibado''. In his particular Niçard dialect of Ligurian, he was known as ''Jousé'' or ''Josep''. 4 July 1807 – 2 June 1882) was an Italian general, patr ...
, Italian general and politician (d. 1882) *
1816 This year was known as the ''Year Without a Summer'', because of low temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere, possibly the result of the Mount Tambora volcanic eruption in Indonesia in 1815, causing severe global cooling, catastrophic in s ...
Hiram Walker, American businessman, founded Canadian Club whisky (d. 1899) * 1826
Stephen Foster Stephen Collins Foster (July 4, 1826January 13, 1864), known also as "the father of American music", was an American composer known primarily for his parlour music, parlour and Minstrel show, minstrel music during the Romantic music, Romantic ...
, American songwriter and composer (d. 1864) *
1842 Events January–March * January ** Michael Alexander takes office, as the first appointee to the Anglican-German Bishopric in Jerusalem. ** American medical student William E. Clarke of Berkshire Medical College becomes the first pe ...
Hermann Cohen Hermann Cohen (4 July 1842 – 4 April 1918) was a German Jewish philosophy, philosopher, one of the founders of the University of Marburg, Marburg school of neo-Kantianism, and he is often held to be "probably the most important Jewish ph ...
, German philosopher (d. 1918) *
1845 Events January–March * January 10 – Elizabeth Barrett receives a love letter from the younger poet Robert Browning; on May 20, they meet for the first time in London. She begins writing her ''Sonnets from the Portuguese''. * January 23 ...
Thomas John Barnardo Thomas John Barnardo (4 July 184519 September 1905) was an Irish-born philanthropist and founder and director of homes for poor and deprived children. From the foundation of the first Barnardo's home in 1867 to the date of Barnardo's death, nea ...
, Irish philanthropist and humanitarian (d. 1905) * 1847
James Anthony Bailey James Anthony Bailey (July 4, 1847 – April 11, 1906), born James Anthony McGinnis, was an American owner and manager of several 19th-century circuses, including The Barnum and Bailey Greatest Show on Earth. Early life James Anthony McGinn ...
, American circus ringmaster, co-founded Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (d. 1906) *
1854 Events January–March * January 4 – The McDonald Islands are discovered by Captain William McDonald aboard the ''Samarang''. * January 6 – The fictional detective Sherlock Holmes is perhaps born. * January 9 – The Teut ...
Victor Babeș, Romanian physician and biologist (d. 1926) *
1868 Events January–March * January 2 – British Expedition to Abyssinia: Robert Napier leads an expedition to free captive British officials and missionaries. * January 3 – The 15-year-old Mutsuhito, Emperor Meiji of Jap ...
Henrietta Swan Leavitt Henrietta Swan Leavitt (; July 4, 1868 – December 12, 1921) was an American astronomer. A graduate of Radcliffe College, she worked at the Harvard College Observatory as a "computer", tasked with examining photographic plates in order to measu ...
, American astronomer and academic (d. 1921) * 1886Tom Longboat, Canadian runner and soldier (d. 1949) * 1871
Hubert Cecil Booth Hubert Cecil Booth (4 July 1871 – 14 January 1955) was an English engineer, best known for having invented one of the first powered vacuum cleaners. He also designed Ferris wheels, suspension bridges and factories. Later he became Chairm ...
, English engineer (d. 1955) *
1872 Events January–March * January 12 – Yohannes IV is crowned Emperor of Ethiopia in Axum, the first ruler crowned in that city in over 500 years. * February 2 – The government of the United Kingdom buys a number of forts on ...
Calvin Coolidge Calvin Coolidge (born John Calvin Coolidge Jr.; ; July 4, 1872January 5, 1933) was the 30th president of the United States from 1923 to 1929. Born in Vermont, Coolidge was a History of the Republican Party (United States), Republican lawyer ...
, American lawyer and politician, 30th
President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...
(d. 1933) * 1874
John McPhee John Angus McPhee (born March 8, 1931) is an American writer. He is considered one of the pioneers of creative nonfiction. He is a four-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in the category General Nonfiction, and he won that award on the four ...
, Australian journalist and politician, 27th
Premier of Tasmania The premier of Tasmania is the head of the executive government in the Australian state of Tasmania. By convention, the leader of the party or political grouping which has majority support in the House of Assembly is invited by the governor of Ta ...
(d. 1952) * 1880
Victor Kraft Victor Kraft (4 July 1880 – 3 January 1975) was an Austrian philosopher. He is best known for being a member of the Vienna Circle. Early life and education Kraft studied philosophy, geography and history at the University of Vienna. He partic ...
, Austrian philosopher from the Vienna Circle (d. 1975) * 1881
Ulysses S. Grant III Ulysses Simpson Grant III (July 4, 1881August 29, 1968) was a United States Army officer and planner. He was the son of Frederick Dent Grant, and the grandson of General of the Army and American President Ulysses S. Grant. Early life and educat ...
, American general (d. 1968) *
1883 Events January–March * January 4 – ''Life'' magazine is founded in Los Angeles, California, United States. * January 10 – A fire at the Newhall Hotel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, kills 73 people. * Ja ...
Rube Goldberg Reuben Garrett Lucius Goldberg (July 4, 1883 – December 7, 1970), known best as Rube Goldberg, was an American cartoonist, sculptor, author, engineer, and inventor. Goldberg is best known for his popular cartoons depicting complicated gadge ...
, American sculptor, cartoonist, and engineer (d. 1970) * 1887Pio Pion, Italian engineer and businessman (d. 1965) * 1888
Henry Armetta Henry Armetta (born Enrico Armetta; July 4, 1888 – October 21, 1945) was an American character actor who appeared in at least 150 American films, beginning in silent movies. His last film was released posthumously in 1946, the year after his d ...
, Italian-American actor and singer (d. 1945) * 1895
Irving Caesar Irving Caesar (born Isidor Keiser, July 4, 1895 – December 18, 1996) was an American lyricist and theater composer who wrote lyrics for numerous song standards, including " Swanee", "Sometimes I'm Happy", " Crazy Rhythm", and " Tea for T ...
, American songwriter and composer (d. 1996) * 1896
Mao Dun Shen Dehong (Shen Yanbing; 4 July 1896 – 27 March 1981), known by the pen name of Mao Dun, was a Chinese essayist, journalist, novelist, and playwright. Mao Dun, as a 20th-century Chinese novelist, literary and cultural critic, and Minis ...
, Chinese journalist, author, and critic (d. 1981) * 1897Alluri Sitarama Raju, Indian activist (d. 1924) * 1898
Pilar Barbosa Pilar Barbosa de Rosario This name uses Spanish marriage naming customs; the first is the maiden family name '' "Barbosa"'' and the second or matrimonial family name is ''de "Rosario"''. (July 4, 1898 – January 22, 1997) was an educator, histor ...
, Puerto Rican-American historian and activist (d. 1997) * 1898 –
Gertrude Lawrence Gertrude Lawrence (4 July 1898 – 6 September 1952) was an English actress, singer, dancer and musical comedy performer known for her stage appearances in the West End of London and on Broadway in New York. Early life Lawrence was born Gertr ...
, British actress, singer, and dancer (d. 1952) * 1898 –
Gulzarilal Nanda Gulzarilal Nanda (4 July 1898 – 15 January 1998) was an Indian politician and economist who specialized in labour issues. He was the Interim Prime Minister of India for two 13-day tenures following the deaths of Jawaharlal Nehru in 1964 and L ...
, Indian politician (d. 1998) * 1898 –
Gertrude Weaver American supercentenarians are citizens or residents of the United States who have attained or surpassed 110 years of age. , the Gerontology Research Group (GRG) had validated the longevity claims of 782 American supercentenarians. As of , it lis ...
, American supercentenarian (d. 2015) *
1900 As of March 1 ( O.S. February 17), when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, the Julian calendar fell one day further behind, bringing the difference to 13 days until February 28 ( O.S. February 15), 2 ...
Belinda Dann, Indigenous Australian who was one of the Stolen Generation, reunited with family aged 107 (d. 2007) * 1900 – Nellie Mae Rowe, American folk artist (d. 1982)


1901–present

* 1902
Meyer Lansky Meyer Lansky (born Maier Suchowljansky; July 4, 1902 – January 15, 1983), known as the "Mob's Accountant", was an American organized crime figure who, along with his associate Charles "Lucky" Luciano, was instrumental in the development of the ...
, American gangster (d. 1983) * 1902 –
George Murphy George Lloyd Murphy (July 4, 1902 – May 3, 1992) was an American dancer, actor, and politician. Murphy was a song-and-dance leading man in many big-budget Hollywood musicals from 1930 to 1952. He was the president of the Screen Actors Guild fro ...
, American actor and politician (d. 1992) * 1903
Flor Peeters Franciscus Florentinus Peeters, Baron Peeters (4 July 1903 – 4 July 1986) was a Belgian composer, organist and academic teacher. He was director of the Conservatorium in Antwerp, Belgium, and organist at Mechelen Cathedral from 1923 to his deat ...
, Belgian organist, composer, and educator (d. 1986) * 1904
Angela Baddeley Madeleine Angela Clinton-Baddeley, CBE (4 July 1904 – 22 February 1976) was an English stage and television actress, best-remembered for her role as household cook Mrs. Bridges in the period drama '' Upstairs, Downstairs''. Her stage career ...
, English actress (d. 1976) * 1905
Irving Johnson __NOTOC__ Irving McClure Johnson (July 4, 1905 – January 2, 1991) was an American sail training pioneer, adventurer, lecturer and writer. Johnson was born in Hadley, Massachusetts, the fifth child of the writer Clifton Johnson (author), C ...
, American sailor and author (d. 1991) * 1905 –
Robert Hankey, 2nd Baron Hankey Robert Maurice Alers Hankey, 2nd Baron Hankey, (4 July 1905 – 28 October 1996) was a British diplomat and public servant. Background and education Hankey was the eldest son of Maurice Hankey, 1st Baron Hankey, and Adeline, daughter of Abraham ...
, British diplomat and public servant (d. 1996) * 1905 – Lionel Trilling, American critic, essayist, short story writer, and educator (d. 1975) * 1906
Vincent Schaefer Vincent Joseph Schaefer (July 4, 1906 – July 25, 1993) was an American chemist and meteorologist who developed cloud seeding. On November 13, 1946, while a researcher at the General Electric Research Laboratory, Schaefer modified clouds in the B ...
, American chemist and meteorologist (d. 1993) * 1907
John Anderson John Anderson may refer to: Business *John Anderson (Scottish businessman) (1747–1820), Scottish merchant and founder of Fermoy, Ireland * John Byers Anderson (1817–1897), American educator, military officer and railroad executive, mentor of ...
, American discus thrower (d. 1948) * 1907 –
Howard Taubman Hyman Howard Taubman (July 4, 1907 – January 8, 1996) was an American music critic, theater critic, and author. Biography Born in Manhattan, Taubman attended DeWitt Clinton High School and then won a four-year scholarship to Cornell University, ...
, American author and critic (d. 1996) *
1909 Events January–February * January 4 – Explorer Aeneas Mackintosh of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition escaped death by fleeing across ice floes. * January 7 – Colombia recognizes the independence of Panama. * Januar ...
Alec Templeton Alec Andrew Templeton (4 July 1909/1028 March 1963) was a Welsh composer, pianist, and satirist. Templeton was born in Cardiff, Wales. There is some confusion concerning Alec Templeton's year of birth. Most published and Internet biographies g ...
, Welsh composer, pianist and satirist (d. 1963) * 1910
Robert K. Merton Robert King Merton (born Meyer Robert Schkolnick; July 4, 1910 – February 23, 2003) was an American sociologist who is considered a founding father of modern sociology, and a major contributor to the subfield of criminology. He served as th ...
, American sociologist and scholar (d. 2003) * 1910 –
Gloria Stuart Gloria Frances Stuart (born Gloria Stewart; July 4, 1910 September 26, 2010) was an American actress, visual artist, and activist. She was known for her roles in Pre-Code films, and garnered renewed fame late in life for her portrayal of Rose ...
, American actress (d. 2010) * 1911Bruce Hamilton, Australian public servant (d. 1989) * 1911 –
Mitch Miller Mitchell William Miller (July 4, 1911 – July 31, 2010) was an American choral conductor, record producer, record-industry executive, and professional oboist. He was involved in almost all aspects of the industry, particularly as a conductor ...
, American singer and producer (d. 2010) * 1911 –
Elizabeth Peratrovich Elizabeth Peratrovich (née Elizabeth Jean Wanamaker, ; July 4, 1911December 1, 1958) was an American civil rights activist, Grand President of the Alaska Native Sisterhood, and member of the Tlingit nation who worked for equality on behalf of ...
, Alaskan-American civil rights activist (d. 1958) *
1914 This year saw the beginning of what became known as World War I, after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian throne was Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip. It als ...
Nuccio Bertone Giuseppe Bertone, also called "Nuccio", (4 July 1914, in Turin – 26 February 1997, in Turin) was an automobile designer and constructor. He took over Carrozzeria Bertone from his father, Giovanni after World War II, growing the small business t ...
, Italian automobile designer (d. 1997) *
1915 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January * January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction". *January 1 ...
Timmie Rogers Timmie Rogers (born Timothy Louis Ancrum July 4, 1915 – December 17, 2006) was an American comedian, singer-songwriter, bandleader and actor who appeared on many national TV shows in the 1960s and 1970s. Rogers was one of the first Black comed ...
, American actor and singer-songwriter (d. 2006) * 1916
Iva Toguri D'Aquino Iva Ikuko Toguri D'Aquino ( ja, 戸栗郁子 アイバ; July 4, 1916 – September 26, 2006) was a Japanese-American disc jockey and radio personality who participated in English-language radio broadcasts transmitted by Radio Tokyo to Allied t ...
, American typist and broadcaster (d. 2006) * 1918
Eppie Lederer Esther Pauline "Eppie" Lederer (née Friedman; July 4, 1918 – June 22, 2002), better known by the pen name Ann Landers, was an American advice columnist and eventually a nationwide media celebrity. She began writing the "Ask Ann Landers" colu ...
, American journalist and radio host (d. 2002) * 1918 –
Johnnie Parsons Johnnie Woodrow Parsons'' The Talk of Gasoline Alley'' – 1070-AM WIBC, May 15, 2007 (July 4, 1918 – September 8, 1984) was an American race car driver from Los Angeles, California who won the Indianapolis 500 in 1950. During his racing care ...
, American race car driver (d. 1984) * 1918 – King
Taufa'ahau Tupou IV George Tupou I (4 December 1797 – 18 February 1893), originally known as Tāufaʻāhau I, was the first king of modern Tonga. He adopted the name Siaosi (originally Jiaoji), the Tongan equivalent of ''George'', after King George III of the U ...
of Tonga, (d. 2006) * 1918 –
Alec Bedser Sir Alec Victor Bedser (4 July 1918 – 4 April 2010) was a professional English cricketer, primarily a medium-fast bowler. He is widely regarded as one of the best English cricketers of the 20th century. Bedser played first-class cricket fo ...
, English cricketer (d. 2010) * 1918 –
Eric Bedser Eric Arthur Bedser (4 July 1918 – 24 May 2006) was a cricketer who played for Surrey County Cricket Club. He was the elder identical twin brother of Alec Bedser (1918–2010), widely regarded as one of England's top bowlers of the 20th centur ...
, English cricketer (d. 2006) * 1918 –
Pauline Phillips Pauline Esther "Popo" Phillips (born Friedman; July 4, 1918 – January 16, 2013), also known as Abigail Van Buren, was an American advice columnist and radio show host who began the well-known ''Dear Abby'' newspaper column in 1956. It became t ...
, American journalist and radio host, created Dear Abby (d. 2013) * 1920
Norm Drucker Norm Drucker (July 4, 1920 – February 6, 2015) was a major influence in professional basketball officiating for over 35 years. His NBA and ABA officiating career as both a referee and Supervisor of Officials spanned the careers of all-time pro ba ...
, American basketball player and referee (d. 2015) * 1920 –
Leona Helmsley Leona Roberts Helmsley (July 4, 1920 – August 20, 2007) was an American businesswoman. Her flamboyant personality and reputation for tyrannical behavior earned her the nickname Queen of Mean. After allegations of non-payment were made by co ...
, American businesswoman (d. 2007) * 1920 – Fritz Wilde, German footballer and manager (d. 1977) * 1920 – Paul Bannai, American politician (d. 2019) * 1921
Gérard Debreu Gérard Debreu (; 4 July 1921 – 31 December 2004) was a French-born economist and mathematician. Best known as a professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley, where he began work in 1962, he won the 1983 Nobel Memorial Prize ...
, French economist and mathematician,
Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...
laureate (d. 2004) * 1921 – Nasser Sharifi, Iranian sports shooter * 1921 –
Metropolitan Mikhail of Asyut Metropolitan Mikhail ( ar, نيافة الأنبا ميخائيل مطران أسيوط) (4 July 1921 – 23 November 2014), was the Elder Metropolitan of the Holy Metropolis of Asyut ( Lycopolis), ( Hieracon, ( Hierakonopolis) and ( Apollonopol ...
(d. 2014) * 1921 – Philip Rose, American actor, playwright, and producer (d. 2011) * 1921 – Tibor Varga, Hungarian violinist and conductor (d. 2003) *
1922 Events January * January 7 – Dáil Éireann (Irish Republic), Dáil Éireann, the parliament of the Irish Republic, ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64–57 votes. * January 10 – Arthur Griffith is elected President of Dáil Éirean ...
R. James Harvey, American politician (d. 2019) * 1923
Rudolf Friedrich Rudolf Friedrich (4 July 1923 – 15 October 2013) was a Swiss politician, lawyer and member of the Swiss Federal Council (1982–1984). He was elected to the Swiss Federal Council on 8 December 1982 and, for health reason, resigned his of ...
, Swiss lawyer and politician (d. 2013) * 1924
Eva Marie Saint Eva Marie Saint (born July 4, 1924) is an American actress of film, theatre and television. In a career spanning over 70 years, she has won an Academy Award and a Primetime Emmy Award, alongside nominations for a Golden Globe Award and two Brit ...
, American actress * 1924 –
Delia Fiallo Delia Fiallo (4 July 1924 – 29 June 2021) was a Cuban author and screenwriter who lived in Miami, Florida. She was one of the most distinguished representatives of the contemporary romance novel, dabbling in various genres which appeared in he ...
, Cuban author and screenwriter (d. 2021) *
1925 Events January * January 1 ** The Syrian Federation is officially dissolved, the State of Aleppo and the State of Damascus having been replaced by the State of Syria. * January 3 – Benito Mussolini makes a pivotal speech in the Italia ...
Ciril Zlobec, Slovene poet, writer, translator, journalist and politician (d. 2018) * 1925 –
Dorothy Head Knode Alice Dorothy Head Knode (née Head; July 4, 1925 – October 25, 2015), also known as Dottie Head Knode, was an American tennis player who reached the women's singles final of the French Open, French International Championships in 1955, losing t ...
, American tennis player (d. 2015) * 1926
Alfredo Di Stéfano Alfredo (, ) is a cognate of the Anglo-Saxon name Alfred and a common Italian, Galician, Portuguese and Spanish language personal name. People with the given name include: *Alfredo (born 1946), Brazilian footballer born as Alfredo Mostarda Fil ...
, Argentinian-Spanish footballer and coach (d. 2014) * 1926 –
Lake Underwood Lake Underwood (July 4, 1926 – September 12, 2008) was an American entrepreneur who competed as a champion in the racing of prototype automobiles and motorcycles. He was a master mechanic who, although high performance fuel delivery and carburet ...
, American race car driver and businessman (d. 2008) * 1927
Gina Lollobrigida Luigia "Gina" Lollobrigida (born 4 July 1927) is an Italian actress, photojournalist, and politician. She was one of the highest-profile European actresses of the 1950s and early 1960s, a period in which she was an international sex symbol. As o ...
, Italian actress and photographer * 1927 –
Neil Simon Marvin Neil Simon (July 4, 1927 – August 26, 2018) was an American playwright, screenwriter and author. He wrote more than 30 plays and nearly the same number of movie screenplays, mostly film adaptations of his plays. He has received mo ...
, American playwright and screenwriter (d. 2018) * 1928Giampiero Boniperti, Italian footballer and politician (d. 2021) * 1928 –
Teofisto Guingona Jr. Teofisto "Tito" Tayko Guingona Jr. (born July 4, 1928) is a Filipino politician and diplomat who served as the 11th vice president of the Philippines from 2001 to 2004, during the first term of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Born in San ...
, Filipino politician; 11th Vice President of the Philippines * 1928 –
Jassem Alwan Jassem Alwan ( ar, جاسم علوان, ''Jāsim ʿAlwān'') (born 4 July 1928 – died 3 January 2018 in Cairo) was a prominent colonel in the Syrian Army, particularly during the period of the United Arab Republic (UAR) (1958–1961) when he serv ...
, Syrian Army Officer (d. 2018) * 1928 – Shan Ratnam, Sri Lankan physician and academic (d. 2001) * 1928 – Chuck Tanner, American baseball player and manager (d. 2011) *1929 – Al Davis, American football player, coach, and manager (d. 2011) * 1929 – Bill Tuttle, American baseball player (d. 1998) *1930 – George Steinbrenner, American businessman (d. 2010) *1931 – Stephen Boyd, Northern Ireland-born American actor (d. 1977) * 1931 – Rick Casares, American football player and soldier (d. 2013) * 1931 – Sébastien Japrisot, French author, director, and screenwriter (d. 2003) * 1931 – Peter Richardson (cricketer), Peter Richardson, English cricketer (d. 2017) *1932 – Aurèle Vandendriessche, Belgian runner *1934 – Yvonne B. Miller, American academic and politician (d. 2012) * 1934 – Colin Welland, English actor and screenwriter (d. 2015) *1935 – Paul Scoon, Grenadian politician, 2nd Governor-General of Grenada (d. 2013) *1936 – Zdzisława Donat, Polish soprano and actress *1937 – Thomas Nagel, American philosopher and academic * 1937 – Queen Sonja of Norway * 1937 – Richard Rhodes, American journalist and historian * 1937 – Eric Walters (newsreader), Eric Walters, Australian journalist (d. 2010) *1938 – Steven Rose, English biologist and academic * 1938 – Bill Withers, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2020) *1940 – Pat Stapleton (ice hockey), Pat Stapleton, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2020) *
1941 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January–August – 10,072 men, women and children with mental and physical disabilities are asphyxiated with carbon monoxide in a gas chamber, at Hadamar Eu ...
– Sam Farr, American politician * 1941 – Tomaž Šalamun, Croatian-Slovenian poet and academic (d. 2014) * 1941 – Pavel Sedláček (musician), Pavel Sedláček, Czech singer-songwriter and guitarist * 1941 – Brian Willson, American soldier, lawyer, and activist *
1942 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Declaration by United Nations is signed by China, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union, and 22 other nations, in wh ...
– Hal Lanier, American baseball player, coach, and manager * 1942 – Floyd Little, American football player and coach (d. 2021) * 1942 – Stefan Meller, French-Polish academic and politician, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Poland), Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 2008) * 1942 – Prince Michael of Kent * 1942 – Peter Rowan, American singer-songwriter and guitarist *
1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 – ...
– Conny Bauer, German trombonist * 1943 – Emerson Boozer, American football player and sportscaster * 1943 – Adam Hart-Davis, English historian, author, and photographer * 1943 – Geraldo Rivera, American lawyer, journalist, and author * 1943 – Fred Wesley, American jazz and funk trombonist * 1943 – Alan Wilson (musician), Alan Wilson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1970) *1945 – Andre Spitzer, Romanian-Israeli fencer and coach (d. 1972) *
1946 Events January * January 6 - The 1946 North Vietnamese parliamentary election, first general election ever in Vietnam is held. * January 7 – The Allies recognize the Austrian republic with its 1937 borders, and divide the country into f ...
– Ron Kovic, American author and activist * 1946 – Michael Milken, American businessman and philanthropist *
1947 It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country in ...
– Lembit Ulfsak, Estonian actor and director (d. 2017) *1948 – René Arnoux, French race car driver * 1948 – Tommy Körberg, Swedish singer and actor * 1948 – Jeremy Spencer, English singer-songwriter and guitarist * 1950 – Philip Craven, English basketball player and swimmer * 1950 – David Jensen, Canadian-English radio and television host *
1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United ...
– John Alexander (Australian politician), John Alexander, Australian tennis player and politician * 1951 – Ralph Johnson (musician), Ralph Johnson, American R&B drummer and percussionist * 1951 – Vladimir Tismăneanu, Romanian-American political scientist, sociologist, and academic * 1951 – Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, American lawyer and politician, 6th Lieutenant Governor of Maryland *1952 – Álvaro Uribe, Colombian lawyer and politician, 39th President of Colombia * 1952 – Carol MacReady, English actress * 1952 – John Waite, English singer-songwriter and guitarist * 1952 – Paul Rogat Loeb, American author and activist *1953 – Francis Maude, English lawyer and politician, Minister for the Cabinet Office *
1954 Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...
– Jim Beattie (baseball), Jim Beattie, American baseball player, coach, and manager * 1954 – Morganna, American model, actress, and dancer * 1954 – Devendra Kumar Joshi, 21st Chief of Naval Staff (India), Chief of Naval Staff of the Indian Navy *1955 – Eero Heinäluoma, Finnish politician * 1955 – Kevin Nichols, Australian cyclist *1956 – Robert Sinclair MacKay, British academic and educator *1957 – Rein Lang, Estonian politician and diplomat, 25th Minister of Foreign Affairs (Estonia), Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs *1958 – Vera Leth, Greenlandic Ombudsman * 1958 – Kirk Pengilly, Australian guitarist, saxophonist, and songwriter * 1958 – Carl Valentine, English-Canadian footballer, coach, and manager *1959 – Victoria Abril, Spanish actress and singer * 1960 – Roland Ratzenberger, Austrian race car driver (d. 1994) *
1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba ( Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 ...
– Richard Garriott, English-American video game designer, created the Ultima (series), Ultima series *1962 – Pam Shriver, American tennis player and sportscaster *1963 – Henri Leconte, French tennis player and sportscaster * 1963 – Laureano Márquez, Spanish-Venezuelan political scientist and journalist * 1963 – José Oquendo, Puerto Rican-American baseball player and coach * 1963 – Sonia Pierre, Haitian-Dominican human rights activist (d. 2011) *1964 – Cle Kooiman, American soccer player and manager * 1964 – Elie Saab, Lebanese fashion designer * 1964 – Edi Rama, Albanian politician * 1964 – Mark Slaughter, American singer-songwriter and producer * 1964 – Mark Whiting, American actor, director, and screenwriter *1965 – Harvey Grant, American basketball player and coach * 1965 – Horace Grant, American basketball player and coach * 1965 – Kiriakos Karataidis, Greek footballer and manager * 1965 – Gérard Watkins, English actor and playwright * 1966 – Ronni Ancona, Scottish actress and screenwriter * 1966 – Minas Hantzidis, German-Greek footballer * 1966 – Lee Reherman, American actor (d. 2016) *1967 – Vinny Castilla, Mexican baseball player and manager * 1967 – Sébastien Deleigne, French athlete *1969 – Al Golden, American football player and coach * 1969 – Todd Marinovich, American football player and coach * 1969 – Wilfred Mugeyi, Zimbabwean footballer and coach *1972 – Stephen Giles, Canadian canoe racer and engineer * 1972 – Mike Knuble, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach *1973 – Keiko Ihara, Japanese race car driver * 1973 – Gackt, Japanese musician, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor * 1973 – Michael Johnson (footballer, born 1973), Michael Johnson, English-Jamaican footballer and manager * 1973 – Anjelika Krylova, Russian ice dancer and coach * 1973 – Jan Magnussen, Danish race car driver * 1973 – Tony Popovic, Australian footballer and manager *1974 – Jill Craybas, American tennis player * 1974 – La'Roi Glover, American football player and sportscaster * 1974 – Adrian Griffin, American basketball player and coach *
1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...
– Daijiro Kato, Japanese motorcycle racer (d. 2003) * 1976 – Yevgeniya Medvedeva-Arbuzova, Yevgeniya Medvedeva, Russian skier *1978 – Marcos Daniel, Brazilian tennis player * 1978 – Émile Mpenza, Belgian footballer *1979 – Siim Kabrits, Estonian politician * 1979 – Josh McCown, American football player * 1979 – Renny Vega, Venezuelan footballer *1980 – Kwame Steede, Bermudan footballer *1981 – Dedé (Angolan footballer), Dedé, Angolan footballer * 1981 – Brock Berlin, American football player * 1981 – Christoph Preuß, German footballer * 1981 – Francisco Cruceta, Dominican baseball player * 1981 – Will Smith (defensive end), Will Smith, American football player (d. 2016) *
1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...
– Vladimir Boisa, Georgian basketball player * 1982 – Vladimir Gusev (cyclist), Vladimir Gusev, Russian cyclist * 1982 – Jeff Lima, New Zealand rugby league player * 1982 – Michael "The Situation" Sorrentino, American model, author and television personality *1983 – Melanie Fiona, Canadian singer-songwriter * 1983 – Amantle Montsho, Botswanan sprinter * 1983 – Miguel Pinto, Chilean footballer * 1983 – Amol Rajan, Indian-English journalist * 1983 – Mattia Serafini, Italian footballer *1984 – Jin Akanishi, Japanese singer-songwriter * 1984 – Miguel Santos Soares, Timorese footballer * 1985 – Kane Tenace, Australian footballer * 1985 – Dimitrios Mavroeidis, Greek basketball player * 1985 – Wason Rentería, Colombian footballer *1986 – Ömer Aşık, Turkish basketball player * 1986 – Nguyen Ngoc Duy, Vietnamese footballer * 1986 – Rafael Arévalo, Salvadoran tennis player * 1986 – Willem Janssen (footballer, born 1986), Willem Janssen, Dutch footballer * 1986 – Terrance Knighton, American football player * 1986 – Marte Elden, Norwegian skier *
1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...
– Wude Ayalew, Ethiopian runner * 1987 – Guram Kashia, Georgian footballer *1988 – Angelique Boyer, French-Mexican actress *1989 – Benjamin Büchel, Liechtensteiner footballer *1990 – Jake Gardiner, American ice hockey player * 1990 – Richard Mpong, Ghanaian footballer * 1990 – Naoki Yamada, Japanese footballer * 1990 – Ihar Yasinski, Belarusian footballer *1992 – Ángel Romero (footballer), Ángel Romero, Paraguayan footballer * 1992 – Óscar Romero (footballer), Óscar Romero, Paraguayan footballer *1993 – Tom Barkhuizen, English footballer *1995 – Post Malone, American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer *1999 – Moa Kikuchi, Japanese musician *2003 – Polina Bogusevich, Russian singer


Deaths


Pre-1600

* 673 – Ecgberht of Kent, Ecgberht, king of Kent * 907 – Luitpold, Margrave of Bavaria, Luitpold, margrave of Duchy of Bavaria, Bavaria * 907 – Dietmar I (archbishop of Salzburg), Dietmar I, archbishop of Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Salzburg, Salzburg * 910 – Luo Shaowei, Chinese warlord (b. 877) * 940 – Wang Jianli, Chinese general (b. 871) * 943 – Taejo of Goryeo, Korean king (b. 877) * 945 – Zhuo Yanming, Chinese Bhikkhu, Buddhist monk and emperor * 965 – Pope Benedict V, Benedict V, pope of the Catholic Church * 973 –
Ulrich of Augsburg Ulrich of Augsburg (890 – 4 July 973), sometimes spelled Uodalric or Odalrici, was Prince-Bishopric of Augsburg in Germany. He was the first saint to be canonized not by a local authority but by the Pope. Life Early years Much of the informa ...
, German bishop and saint (b. 890) * 975 – Gwangjong of Goryeo, Korean king (b. 925) * 1187 – Raynald of Châtillon, French knight (b. 1125) *1307 – Rudolf I of Bohemia (b. 1281) *1336 – Saint Elizabeth of Portugal (b. 1271) *1429 – Carlo I Tocco, ruler of Epirus (b. 1372) *1533 – John Frith (martyr), John Frith, English priest, writer, and martyr (b. 1503) *1541 – Pedro de Alvarado, Spanish general and explorer (b. 1495) * 1546 – Hayreddin Barbarossa, Ottoman admiral (b. 1478) *1551 – Gregory Cromwell, 1st Baron Cromwell, English politician (b. 1514)


1601–1900

*1603 – Philippe de Monte, Flemish composer and educator (b. 1521) *1623 – William Byrd, English composer (b. c. 1540) *1644 – Brian Twyne, English academic, antiquarian and archivist (b. 1581) *1648 – Antoine Daniel, French missionary and saint, one of the eight Canadian Martyrs (b. 1601) *1742 – Luigi Guido Grandi, Italian monk, mathematician, and engineer (b. 1671) *1754 – Philippe Néricault Destouches, French playwright and author (b. 1680) *1761 – Samuel Richardson, English author and painter (b. 1689) *1780 – Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine (b. 1712) *1787 – Charles, Prince of Soubise, Marshal of France (b. 1715) *1821 – Richard Cosway, English painter and academic (b. 1742) * 1826
John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Befor ...
, American lawyer and politician, 2nd
President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...
(b. 1735) * 1826 –
Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...
, American architect, lawyer, and politician, 3rd
President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...
(b. 1743) * 1831 – James Monroe, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 5th
President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...
(b. 1758) *1848 – François-René de Chateaubriand, French historian and politician (b. 1768) *1850 – William Kirby (entomologist), William Kirby, English entomologist and author (b. 1759) *
1854 Events January–March * January 4 – The McDonald Islands are discovered by Captain William McDonald aboard the ''Samarang''. * January 6 – The fictional detective Sherlock Holmes is perhaps born. * January 9 – The Teut ...
– Karl Friedrich Eichhorn, German academic and jurist (b. 1781) *1857 – William L. Marcy, American lawyer, judge, and politician, 21st United States Secretary of State (b. 1786) * 1881 – Johan Vilhelm Snellman, Finnish philosopher and politician (b. 1806) *1882 – Joseph Brackett, American composer and author (b. 1797) * 1886 – Poundmaker, Canadian tribal chief (b. 1797) *1891 – Hannibal Hamlin, American lawyer and politician, 15th Vice President of the United States (b. 1809)


1901–present

* 1901 – Johannes Schmidt (linguist), Johannes Schmidt, German linguist and academic (b. 1843) * 1902 – Vivekananda, Indian monk and saint (b. 1863) * 1905 – Élisée Reclus, French geographer and author (b. 1830) * 1910 – Melville Fuller, American lawyer and jurist, Chief Justice of the United States (b. 1833) * 1910 – Giovanni Schiaparelli, Italian astronomer and historian (b. 1835) * 1916 – Alan Seeger, American soldier and poet (b. 1888) *
1922 Events January * January 7 – Dáil Éireann (Irish Republic), Dáil Éireann, the parliament of the Irish Republic, ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64–57 votes. * January 10 – Arthur Griffith is elected President of Dáil Éirean ...
– Lothar von Richthofen, German lieutenant and pilot (b. 1894) * 1926 – Pier Giorgio Frassati, Italian activist and saint (b. 1901) *1934 – Marie Curie, French-Polish physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1867) *1938 – Otto Bauer, Austrian philosopher and politician, Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs, Austrian Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1881) * 1938 – Suzanne Lenglen, French tennis player (b. 1899) *
1941 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January–August – 10,072 men, women and children with mental and physical disabilities are asphyxiated with carbon monoxide in a gas chamber, at Hadamar Eu ...
– Antoni Łomnicki, Polish mathematician and academic (b. 1881) *
1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 – ...
Władysław Sikorski Władysław Eugeniusz Sikorski (; 20 May 18814 July 1943) was a Polish military and political leader. Prior to the First World War, Sikorski established and participated in several underground organizations that promoted the cause for Polish i ...
, Polish general and politician, 9th List of Prime Ministers of Poland, Prime Minister of the Second Republic of Poland (b. 1881) *
1946 Events January * January 6 - The 1946 North Vietnamese parliamentary election, first general election ever in Vietnam is held. * January 7 – The Allies recognize the Austrian republic with its 1937 borders, and divide the country into f ...
– Taffy O'Callaghan, Welsh footballer and coach (b. 1906) *1948 – Monteiro Lobato, Brazilian journalist and author (b. 1882) *1949 – François Brandt, Dutch rower and engineer (b. 1874) *1963 – Bernard Freyberg, 1st Baron Freyberg, New Zealand general and politician, 7th Governor-General of New Zealand (b. 1889) * 1963 – Clyde Kennard, American activist and martyr (b. 1927) * 1963 – Pingali Venkayya, Indian activist, designed the Flag of India (b. 1876) *1964 – Gaby Morlay, French actress and singer (b. 1893) *1969 – Henri Decoin, French director and screenwriter (b. 1890) *1970 – Barnett Newman, American painter and illustrator (b. 1905) * 1970 – Harold Stirling Vanderbilt, American sailor and businessman (b. 1884) *1971 – August Derleth, American anthologist and author (b. 1909) * 1971 – Thomas C. Hart, American admiral and politician (b. 1877) *1974 – Georgette Heyer, English author (b. 1902) * 1974 – André Randall, French actor (b. 1892) *
1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...
– Yonatan Netanyahu, Israeli colonel (b. 1946) * 1976 – Antoni Słonimski, Polish poet and playwright (b. 1895) * 1977 – Gersh Budker, Ukrainian physicist and academic (b. 1918) *1979 – Lee Wai Tong, Chinese footballer and manager (b. 1905) *1980 – Maurice Grevisse, Belgian linguist and author (b. 1895) *1984 – Jimmie Spheeris, American singer-songwriter (b. 1949) *1986 – Paul-Gilbert Langevin, French musicologist, critique musical and physicist (b. 1933) * 1986 –
Flor Peeters Franciscus Florentinus Peeters, Baron Peeters (4 July 1903 – 4 July 1986) was a Belgian composer, organist and academic teacher. He was director of the Conservatorium in Antwerp, Belgium, and organist at Mechelen Cathedral from 1923 to his deat ...
, Belgian organist and composer (b. 1903) * 1986 – Oscar Zariski, Belarusian-American mathematician and academic (b. 1899) *1988 – Adrian Adonis, American wrestler (b. 1954) *1990 – Olive Ann Burns, American journalist and author (b. 1924) *1991 – Victor Chang, Chinese-Australian surgeon and physician (b. 1936) * 1991 – Art Sansom, American cartoonist (b. 1920) *1992 – Astor Piazzolla, Argentinian bandoneon player and composer (b. 1921) *1993 – Bona Arsenault, Canadian historian, genealogist, and politician (b. 1903) *
1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...
– Joey Marella, American wrestling referee (b. 1964) *1995 – Eva Gabor, Hungarian-American actress and singer (b. 1919) * 1995 – Bob Ross, American painter and television host (b. 1942) *
1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...
– Charles Kuralt, American journalist (b. 1934) * 1997 – John Zachary Young, English zoologist and neurophysiologist (b. 1907) *1999 – Leo Garel, American illustrator and educator (b. 1917) *2000 – Gustaw Herling-Grudziński, Polish journalist and author (b. 1919) *
2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...
– Gerald Bales, Canadian organist and composer (b. 1919) * 2002 – Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., American general (b. 1912) *2003 – Larry Burkett, American author and radio host (b. 1939) * 2003 – André Claveau, French singer (b. 1915) * 2003 – Barry White, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer (b. 1944) * 2004 – Jean-Marie Auberson, Swiss violinist and conductor (b. 1920) *
2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...
– Cliff Goupille, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1915) * 2005 – Hank Stram, American football player and coach (b. 1923) *2007 – Bill Pinkney, American singer (b. 1925) *2008 – Thomas M. Disch, American author and poet (b. 1940) * 2008 – Jesse Helms, American politician (b. 1921) * 2008 – Evelyn Keyes, American actress (b. 1916) * 2008 – Terrence Kiel, American football player (b. 1980) * 2008 – Charles Wheeler (journalist), Charles Wheeler, German-English soldier and journalist (b. 1923) *
2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...
– Brenda Joyce (actress), Brenda Joyce, American actress (b. 1917) * 2009 – Allen Klein, American businessman and talent agent, founded ABKCO Records (b. 1931) * 2009 – Drake Levin, American guitarist (b. 1946) * 2009 – Steve McNair, American football player (b. 1973) * 2009 – Lasse Strömstedt, Swedish author and actor (b. 1935) * 2009 – Jean-Baptiste Tati Loutard, Congolese poet and politician (b. 1938) *2010 – Robert Neil Butler, American physician and author (b. 1927) *
2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...
– Hiren Bhattacharyya, Indian poet and author (b. 1932) * 2012 – Jimmy Bivins, American boxer (b. 1919) * 2012 – Jeong Min-hyeong, South Korean footballer (b. 1987) * 2012 – Eric Sykes, English actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1923) *2013 – Onllwyn Brace, Welsh rugby player and sportscaster (b. 1932) * 2013 – Jack Crompton, English footballer and manager (b. 1921) * 2013 – James Fulton (dermatologist), James Fulton, American dermatologist and academic (b. 1940) * 2013 – Charles A. Hines, American general (b. 1935) * 2013 – Bernie Nolan, Irish singer (b. 1960) *2014 – Giorgio Faletti, Italian author, screenwriter, and actor (b. 1950) * 2014 – C. J. Henderson (writer), C. J. Henderson, American author and critic (b. 1951) * 2014 – Earl Robinson (baseball), Earl Robinson, American baseball player (b. 1936) * 2014 – Richard Mellon Scaife, American businessman (b. 1932) *
2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...
– Nedelcho Beronov, Bulgarian judge and politician (b. 1928) * 2015 – William Conrad Gibbons, American historian, author, and academic (b. 1926) *2016 – Abbas Kiarostami, Iranian film director, screenwriter, poet, and photographer (b. 1940) *2017 – John Blackwell (musician), John Blackwell, American R&B, funk, and jazz drummer (b. 1973) * 2017 – Daniil Granin, Soviet and Russian author (b. 1919) * 2017 – Gene Conley, American MLB player and NBA player (b. 1930) *2018 – Henri Dirickx, Belgian footballer (b. 1927) * 2018 – Robby Müller, Dutch cinematographer (b. 1940) *2021 – Harmoko, Indonesian politician, former parliament speaker and government minister (b. 1939) *2022 – Cláudio Hummes, Brazilian prelate of the Catholic Church (b. 1934)


Holidays and observances

*Christian feast day: **Andrew of Crete **Bertha of Artois **Blessed Catherine Jarrige **Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati **Elizabeth of Aragon, Elizabeth of Aragon (or of Portugal) **Oda of Canterbury **
Ulrich of Augsburg Ulrich of Augsburg (890 – 4 July 973), sometimes spelled Uodalric or Odalrici, was Prince-Bishopric of Augsburg in Germany. He was the first saint to be canonized not by a local authority but by the Pope. Life Early years Much of the informa ...
**July 4 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) *Flag flying days in Norway, Birthday of Queen Sonja (Norway) *The first evening of Dree Festival, celebrated until July 7 (Apatani people, Arunachal Pradesh, India) * Independence Day, celebrates the United States Declaration of Independence, Declaration of Independence of the United States from Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain in 1776 (United States and its Dependent territories of the United States, dependencies) *Liberation Day (Northern Mariana Islands) *Liberation Day (Rwanda) *Republic Day (Philippines)


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:July 04 Days of the year July