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1419 - First Defenestration of Prague.

1502 - Christopher Columbus lands at Guanaja in the Bay Islands off the coast of Honduras during his fourth voyage.

1608 - At Ticonderoga (now Crown Point, New York), Samuel de Champlain shoots and kills two Iroquois chiefs. This was to set the tone for French-Iroquois relations for the next one hundred years.

1619 - In Jamestown, Virginia, the first representative assembly in the Americas, the House of Burgesses, convenes for the first time.

1629 - An earthquake in Naples, Italy kills 10,000 people.

1729 - Baltimore, Maryland is founded.

1733 - First Freemasons lodge opened in what will become the United States.

1756 - Bartolomeo Rastrelli presents the newly-built Catherine Palace to Empress Elizabeth and her courtiers.

1825 - Malden Island discovered.

1863 - Indian Wars: Chief Pocatello of the Shoshone tribe signs the Treaty of Box Elder, promising to stop harassing the emigrant trails in southern Idaho and northern Utah.

1864 - American Civil War: Battle of the Crater - Union forces attempt to break Confederate lines by exploding a large bomb under their trenches.

1930 - In Montevideo, Uruguay win the first Football World Cup.

1932 - Olympic Games: The Games of the X Olympiad open in Los Angeles, California.

1932 - Walt Disney's Flowers and Trees, the first Academy Award winning cartoon and first cartoon short to use Technicolor, premieres.

1945 - World War II: Japanese submarine I-58 sinks the USS Indianapolis (CA-35), killing 883 seamen.

1953 - Rikidōzan holds a ceremony announcing the establishment of the Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance.

1954 - Elvis Presley makes his debut as a public performer.

1956 - A Joint Resolution of the U.S. Congress is signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, authorizing "In God We Trust" as the U.S. national motto.

1965 - US President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Social Security Act of 1965 into law, establishing Medicare and Medicaid.

1966 - At Wembley Stadium, host England wins the Football World Cup, After drawing 2-2 at the end of 90 minutes, England beat West Germany 4 to 2.

1969 - Vietnam War: US President Richard M. Nixon makes an unscheduled visit to South Vietnam and meets with President Nguyen Van Thieu and with U.S. military commanders.

1970 - Powder Ridge Rock Festival.

1971 - Project Apollo: Apollo 15 Mission - David Scott and James Irwin on Lunar module, Falcon, land with first Lunar Rover on the moon.

1971 - An All Nippon Airways Boeing 727 and a Japanese Air Force F-86 collide over Morioka, Japan killing 162.

1974 - Watergate Scandal: US President Richard M. Nixon releases subpoenaed White House recordings after being ordered to do so by the United States Supreme Court.

1975 - Jimmy Hoffa disappears from the parking lot of the Machus Red Fox restaurant in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, at about 2:30 p.m. He is never seen or heard from again.

1980 - Vanuatu gains independence.

1990 - The first Saturn automobile rolls off the assembly line.

1997 - A double suicide bombing kills 14 people in Jerusalem,Israel.

1997 - Eighteen lives are lost in the Thredbo Landslide in New South Wales, Australia.

2002 - Los Angeles Sparks center Lisa Leslie became the first woman to dunk in a WNBA league basketball game.

2002 - The accounting law referred to as "The Sarbanes Oxley Act" was signed into law by United States President George W. Bush.

2003 - In Mexico, the last 'old style' Volkswagen Beetle rolls off the assembly line.

2003 - 490,000 Rock Fans attend Sarsfest concert at Downsview park in Toronto, Canada, Headlined by The Rolling Stones, AC/DC Rush, The Tea Party, and 12 other major rock acts.

2004 - A gas explosion kills 16 people in Belgium.

2006 - World's longest running music show Top of the Pops broadcast for the last time on BBC Two. The show has aired for 42 years.

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1470 - Hongzhi, Emperor of China (d. 1505)

1511 - Giorgio Vasari, Italian painter and architect (d. 1574)

1549 - Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (d. 1609)

1641 - Regnier de Graaf, Dutch physician and anatomist (d. 1673)

1763 - Samuel Rogers, English author (d. 1855)

1818 - Emily Brontë, English novelist (d. 1848)

1855 - Georg Wilhelm von Siemens, German industrialist (d. 1919)

1857 - Thorstein Veblen, American economist (d. 1929)

1859 - Henry Simpson Lunn, English humanitarian (d. 1939)

1863 - Henry Ford, American industrialist (d. 1947)

1889 - Franz Masereel, Belgian painter (d. 1972)

1889 - Vladimir Zworykin, Russian physicist (d. 1982)

1890 - Casey Stengel, American baseball manager (d. 1975)

1893 - Fatima Jinnah, Pakistani Mother of the Nation (d. 1967)

1895 - Wanda Hawley, American actress (d. 1963)

1898 - Henry Moore, English sculptor (d. 1986)

1904 - Salvador Novo, Mexican writer (d. 1974)

1909 - C. Northcote Parkinson, British historian (d. 1993)

1910 - Edgar de Evia, American mountain climber (d. 2003)

1914 - Lord Killanin, Irish International Olympic Committee president (d. 1999)

1916 - Dick Wilson, American actor

1919 - Berniece Baker Miracle, half-sister of Marilyn Monroe.

1921 - Grant Johannesen, American pianist (d. 2005)

1926 - Christine McGuire, American singer (The McGuire Sisters)

1930 - Thomas Sowell, American economist

1933 - Edward Byrnes, American actor

1934 - Bud Selig, baseball commissioner

1936 - Buddy Guy, American guitarist and singer

1938 - Hervé de Charette, French politician

1939 - Peter Bogdanovich, American film director

1940 - Pat Schroeder, American politican

1940 - Clive Sinclair, British entrepreneur

1941 - Paul Anka, Canadian singer and composer

1945 - David Sanborn, American musician

1946 - Neil Bonnett, American race car driver (d. 1994)

1947 - Arnold Schwarzenegger, Austrian-born actor

1947 - William Atherton, American actor

1948 - Jean Reno, Moroccan-born French actor

1950 - Frank Stallone, American singer and actor

1956 - Delta Burke, American actress

1956 - Anita Hill, American author

1956 - Réal Cloutier, professional ice hockey player

1957 - Nery Pumpido, Argentine football goalkeeper

1957 - Rat Scabies, British musician

1957 - Clint Hurdle, baseball player and manager

1958 - Kate Bush, British musician

1958 - Daley Thompson, English decathlete

1960 - Richard Linklater, American director

1961 - Laurence Fishburne, American actor

1962 - Alton Brown, American television host and chef

1963 - Lisa Kudrow, American actress

1963 - Chris Mullin, professional basketball player

1964 - Vivica A. Fox, American actress

1964 - Jürgen Klinsmann, German football manager

1968 - Robert Korzeniowski, Polish athlete

1969 - Simon Baker, American actor

1970 - Christopher Nolan, British film director

1971 - Tom Green, Canadian comedian and actor

1971 - Christine Taylor, American actress

1973 - Markus Naslund, Swedish icehockey player

1973 - Sonu Nigam, Indian Singer/Actor

1974 - Hilary Swank, American actress

1974 - Radostin Kishishev, Bulgarian footballer

1975 - Graham Nicholls, British artist

1975 - Cherie Priest, American Writer

1977 - Jaime Pressly, American Actress

1979 - Graeme McDowell, Northern Irish professional golfer

1981 - Nicky Hayden, American motorcycle racer

1984 - Kevin Pittsnogle, American basketball player

1985 - Daniel Fredheim Holm, Norwegian footballer

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578 - Jacob Baradaeus, Bishop of Edessa

579 - Pope Benedict I

1540 - Thomas Abel, English priest (martyred)

1540 - Robert Barnes, English churchman (martyred) (b. 1495)

1550 - Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton, English politician (b. 1505)

1652 - Charles Amédée de Savoie, 6th Duc de Nemours, French soldier (b. 1624)

1680 - Thomas Butler, Earl of Ossory, Irish naval commander (b. 1634)

1683 - Maria Theresa of Spain, queen of Louis XIV of France (b. 1638)

1691 - Daniel Georg Morhof, German writer and scholar (b. 1639)

1715 - Nahum Tate, Irish poet (b. 1652)

1718 - William Penn, English founder of the Province of Pennsylvania (b. 1644)

1771 - Thomas Gray, English poet and letter-writer (b. 1716)

1875 - George Pickett, American Confederate general (b. 1825)

1898 - Otto von Bismarck, 1st Chancellor of the German Empire (b. 1815)

1900 - Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (b. 1844)

1912 - Emperor Meiji, Japanese emperor (b. 1852)

1918 - Joyce Kilmer, American poet (b. 1886)

1947 - Joseph Cook, 6th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1860)

1970 - George Szell, Hungarian conductor (b. 1897)

1971 - Kenneth Slessor, Australian poet (b. 1901)

1983 - Howard Dietz, American lyricist (b. 1896)

1983 - Lynn Fontanne, English actress (b. 1887)

1985 - Julia Hall Bowman Robinson, American mathematician (b. 1919)

1989 - Lane Frost, American bull rider (b. 1963)

1992 - Joe Shuster, Canadian comic book artist (b. 1914)

1992 - Brenda Marshall, American actress (b. 1915)

1996 - Claudette Colbert, French-American actress (b. 1903)

1997 - Bao Dai, Emperor of Vietnam (b. 1913)

2003 - Sam Phillips, American record producer (b. 1923)

2005 - John Garang, Vice President of Sudan (b. 1945)

2005 - Anthony Walker, hate crime murder victim (b. 1987)

2005 - Ray Cunningham, baseball player (b. 1905)

2006 - Al Balding, Canadian professional golfer (b. 1924)

2006 - Murray Bookchin, American libertarian socialist (b. 1921)

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Vanuatu - Independence Day (formerly Anglo-Frech condominium of the New Hebrides).

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Liturgical feasts
Roman Catholicism

Saints Abdon and Sennen common
Saint Leopold Mandic
Saint Peter Chrysologus, bishop, Doctor of the Church (died 450)
Saints Thomas Abel, Edward Powell and Richard Featherstone, martyrs
saint Ursus, bishop of Auxerre, confessor Auxerre
saint Helena of Skoefde, widow, martyr GTZ: Skara only
Saint Ingeborg
Saint Julitta, martyr (d. 350)