30 BC – Battle of Alexandria: Mark Antony achieves a minor victory over Octavian’s forces, but most of his army subsequently deserts, leading to his suicide.
781 – The oldest recorded eruption of Mount Fuji (Traditional Japanese date: July 6, 781).
1492 – The Jews are expelled from Spain when the Alhambra Decree takes effect.
1498 – On his third voyage to the Western Hemisphere, Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to discover the island of Trinidad.
1588 – The Spanish Armada is spotted off the coast of England.
1715 – A Spanish treasure fleet seven days after 12 ships left Havana, Cuba for Spain, 11 of them sink in a storm off the coast of Florida. A few centuries later, treasure is salvaged from these wrecks.
1763 – Odawa Chief Pontiac’s forces defeat British troops at the Battle of Bloody Run during Pontiac’s War.
1777 – The U.S. Second Continental Congress passes a resolution that the services of Gilbert du Motier “be accepted, and that, in consideration of his zeal, illustrious family and connexions, he have the rank and commission of major-general of the United States.”
1790 – The first U.S. patent is issued, to inventor Samuel Hopkins for a potash process.
1875 – Andrew Johnson, American politician, 17th President of the United States (b. 1808) died.
1930 – The radio mystery program The Shadow airs for the first time.
1931 – New York, New York experimental television station W2XAB (now known as WCBS) begins broadcasts.
1931 – An expedition has left to find if any Tasmanian Tigers ( Tasmanian Marsupial Wolf ) are left, it is believed they have retreated to rugged western and south western parts of Australia as a last stand for the species but many believe they are already extinct.
1932 – The NSDAP (Nazi Party) wins more than 38% of the vote in German elections.
1938 – Archaeologists discover engraved gold and silver plates from King Darius the Great in Persepolis.
1941 – The Holocaust: under instructions from Adolf Hitler, Nazi official Hermann Göring, orders SS General Reinhard Heydrich to “submit to me as soon as possible a general plan of the administrative material and financial measures necessary for carrying out the desired Final Solution of the Jewish question.”
1945 – Gary Lewis, American singer and drummer (Gary Lewis & the Playboys) was born.
1958 – Bill Berry, American singer-songwriter and drummer (R.E.M. and Hindu Love Gods) was born.
1958 – Mark Cuban, American businessman was born.
1960 – Duncan Lewis Jowitt, English musician, songwriter and singer (UFX) was born.
1960 – Malcolm Ross, Scottish guitarist was born.
1965 – J. K. Rowling, English author was born.
1970 – Black Tot Day: The last day of the officially sanctioned rum ration in the Royal Navy.
1971 – Apollo program: Apollo 15 astronauts become the first to ride in a lunar rover.
1972 – The Troubles: In Operation Motorman, the British Army re-takes the urban no-go areas of Northern Ireland. It is the biggest British military operation since the Suez Crisis of 1956, and the biggest in Ireland since the Irish War of Independence. Later that day, nine civilians are killed by car bombs in the village of Claudy.
1973 – Wail al-Shehri, Saudi Arabian terrorist, hijacker of American Airlines Flight 11 (d. 2001) was born.
1976 – Joshua Cain, American guitarist and producer (Motion City Soundtrack) was born.
1978 – Will Champion, English drummer and singer (Coldplay) was born.
1981 – M. Shadows, American singer-songwriter (Avenged Sevenfold) was born.
1982 – Iran is continuing to make progress on it’s push towards the capital of Iraq, Baghdad
1982 – Jeff DaRosa, American singer and banjo player (Dropkick Murphys and The Exit) was born.
1992 – Georgia joins the United Nations.
2001 – Napster is finally closed down by court order following an injunction on behalf of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) . Napster had grown in just two short years from just a few visitors and file swappers to multiple millions of visitors sharing music mostly in the form of MP3′s depriving the music industry of millions of dollars. And in 2002 Napster was forced to file for Chapter 11 protection but an American bankruptcy judge forced Napster to liquidate its assets according to Chapter 7 of the U.S. bankruptcy laws.
2006 – Fidel Castro hands over power to brother Raúl Castro.
2007 – Operation Banner, the presence of the British Army in Northern Ireland, and the longest-running British Army operation ever, comes to an end.
2012 – Gore Vidal, American journalist, author, and screenwriter (b. 1925) was born.
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