• 1483 – Richard III is crowned King of England.
  • 1484 – Portuguese sea captain Diogo Cão finds the mouth of the Congo River.
  • 1495 – First Italian War: Battle of Fornovo: Charles VIII defeats the Holy League.
  • 1535 – Sir Thomas More is executed for treason against King Henry VIII of England.
  • 1557 – King Philip II of Spain, consort of Queen Mary I of England, sets out from Dover to war with France, which eventually resulted in the loss of the City of Calais, the last English possession on the continent, and Mary I never seeing her husband again.
  • 1560 – The Treaty of Edinburgh is signed by Scotland and England.1573 – Córdoba, Argentina, is founded by Jerónimo Luis de Cabrera.
  • 1573 – French Wars of Religion: Siege of La Rochelle ends.
  • 1614 – Żejtun and the surrounding villages suffer a raid from Ottoman forces. This was the last unsuccessful attempt by the Ottomans to conquer the island of Malta.
  • 1630 – Thirty Years’ War: Four thousand Swedish troops under Gustavus Adolphus land in Pomerania, Germany.
  • 1685 – Battle of Sedgemoor: Last battle of the Monmouth Rebellion. troops of King James II defeat troops of James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth.
  • 1699 – Captain William Kidd, the pirate, was captured in Boston, MA, and deported back to England.
  • 1751 – Pope Benedict XIV suppresses the Patriarchate of Aquileia and establishes from its territory the Archdiocese of Udine and Gorizia.
  • 1777 – American Revolutionary War: Siege of Fort Ticonderoga: After a bombardment by British artillery under General John Burgoyne, American forces retreat from Fort Ticonderoga, New York.
  • 1779 – Battle of Grenada: The French defeat British naval forces during the American Revolutionary War.
  • 1801 – First Battle of Algeciras: Outnumbered French Navy ships defeat the Royal Navy in the fortified Spanish port of Algeciras.
  • 1809 – The second day of the Battle of Wagram; France defeats the Austrian army in the largest battle to date of the Napoleonic Wars.
  • 1854 – In Jackson, Michigan, the first convention of the United States Republican Party is held.
  • 1865 – The first issue of The Nation magazine is published.
  • 1854 – In Jackson, MI, the Republican Party held its first convention.
  • 1885 – Louis Pasteur successfully tested his anti-rabies vaccine. The child used in the test later became the director of the Pasteur Institute.
  • 1905 – Fingerprints were exchanged for the first time between officials in Europe and the U.S. The person in question was John Walker.
  • 1917 – During World War I, Arab forces led by T.E. Lawrence captured the port of Aqaba from the Turks.
  • 1919 – A British dirigible landed in New York at Roosevelt Field. It completed the first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by an airship.
  • 1923 – The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was established.
  • 1942 – Diarist Anne Frank and her family took refuge from the Nazis in Amsterdam.
  • 1945 – U.S. President Truman signed an order creating the Medal of Freedom.
  • 1945 – Nicaragua became the first nation to formally accept the United Nations Charter.
  • 1966 – Malawi became a republic within the Commonwealth with Dr. Hastings Banda as its first president.
  • 1967 – The Biafran War erupted. The war lasted two-and-a-half years. About 600,000 people died.
  • 1981 – Former President of Argentina Isabel Peron was freed after five years of house arrest by a federal court.
  • 1983 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that retirement plans could not pay women smaller monthly payments solely because of their gender.
  • 1985 – The submarine Nautilus arrived in Groton, Connecticut. The vessel had been towed from Mare Island Naval Shipyard.
  • 1989 – The U.S. Army destroyed its last Pershing 1-A missiles at an ammunition plant in Karnack, TX. The dismantling was under the terms of the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty.
  • 1997 – The Mars Pathfinder released Sojourner, a robot rover on the surface of Mars. The spacecraft landed on the red planet on July 4th.
  • 1997 – In Cambodia, Second Prime Minister Hun Sen ousted First Prime Minister Norodom Ranariddh and claimed to have the capital under his control.
  • 1998 – Protestants rioted in many parts of Northern Ireland after British authorities blocked an Orange Order march in Portadown.
  • 2003 – The 70-metre Yevpatoria Planetary Radar sends a METI message (Cosmic Call 2) to five stars: Hip 4872, HD 245409, 55 Cancri (HD 75732), HD 10307 and 47 Ursae Majoris (HD 95128). The messages will arrive to these stars in 2036, 2040, 2044, and 2049, respectively.
  • 2006 – The Nathu La pass between India and China, sealed during the Sino-Indian War, re-opens for trade after 44 years.
  • 2013 – At least 42 people are killed in a shooting at a school in Yobe State, Nigeria.
  • 2013 – A Boeing 777 operating as Asiana Airlines Flight 214 crashes at San Francisco International Airport, killing three and injuring 181 of the 307 people on board.