July 30



Events

Up to 1900 
 634  Battle of Ajnadayn: Byzantine Empire forces under Theodore are defeated by the Rashidun Caliphate near Beit Shemesh in present-day Israel.
 762  Baghdad is founded.
 1419  First Defenestration of Prague: A crowd of radical Hussites kill 7 members of the Prague city council.
 1502  Christopher Columbus lands at Guanaja in the Bay of Islands off present-day Honduras during his fourth voyage.
 1619  Jamestown, Virginia, the first representative factory in the Americas, the House of Burgesses, meets for the first time.
 1629  An earthquake in Naples, Italy, kills around 10,000 people.
 1635  Eighty Years' War: The Siege of Schenkenschans begins. Frederick Henry, Prince Orange begins the recapture of the strategically important fortress from the Spanish army.
 1656  Swedish forces under Charles X Gustaf of Sweden defeat forces of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth at the Battle of Warsaw.
 1676  Nathaniel Bacon issues the "Declaration of the people of Virginia", beginning Bacon's Rebellion, against the rule of Governor William Berkeley.
 1729  The city of Baltimore in Maryland is founded.
 1775  James Cook returns to England from his second voyage to the Pacific Ocean.
 1792  La Marseillaise, the current national anthem of France, is sung for the first time.
 1811  The Mexican revolutionary Miguel Hidalgo is executed.
 1859  First successful climb of Grand Combin in the Alps.
 1863  American Indian Wars: Chief Pocatello of the Shoshone tribe signs the Treaty of Box Elder, agreeing to stop the harassment of emigrant trails in southern Idaho and northern Utah.
 1864  American Civil War: Battle of the Crater - Union forces attempt to break Confederate lines at Petersburg, Virginia by exploding a large bomb under their trenches.
 1865  The steamboat Brother Jonathan sinks off Crescent City, California, killing 225 passengers.
 1871  The Staten Island ferry Westfield'''s boiler explodes, killing over 85 people.

 1901  2000 
 1912  Emperor Meiji of Japan dies, being succeeded by his son Yoshihito, now known as Emperor Taisho.
 1917  An earthquake in China kills around 1,800 people.
 1930  Uruguay wins the first FIFA World Cup, beating Argentina 4-2 in the final.
 1932  The 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California, begin.
 1932  Walt Disney's "Flowers and Trees" is shown for the first time. It is the first cartoon short to use Technicolor and the first Academy Award-winning short.
 1945  World War II: Japanese submarine I-58 sinks the USS Indianapolis, killing 883 people.
 1956  'In God We Trust' becomes the national motto of the United States.
 1962  The Trans-Canada Highway opens.
 1965  In the US, the Medicare insurance programme for senior citizens is signed into law.
 1966  England wins the FIFA World Cup, beating West Germany 4-2, in a match that included the disputed Wembley Goal.
 1971  An All Nippon Airways Boeing 727 aircraft and a Japanese Air Force F-86 plane collide over Morioka, Japan, killing 162 people.
 1971  Apollo program: Apollo 15 mission - David Scott and James Irwin on the Apollo Lunar Module Falcon'' land on the Moon with the first Lunar Rover.
 1975  Teamsters Union President Jimmy Hoffa disappears from a suburb of Detroit, Michigan, and is never seen or heard from again.
 1978  Car traffic in Okinawa switches from the right to the left side of the road.
 1980  The New Hebrides become independent, and change their name to Vanuatu.
 1991  Luciano Pavarotti celebrates 30 years in opera by giving a free concert in Hyde Park, London.
 2000  Norway gifts the Heimaey Stave Church to Iceland to mark the country's 1000 years of Christianity.

From 2001 
 2003  The last Old Style Volkswagen Beetle rolls off the assembly line in Mexico.
 2004  Gas pipeline explodes in the village of Ghislenghien in Belgium, killing 24 people and injuring 132.
 2006  The BBC music programme Top of the Pops is shown for the last time, after a run of more than 42 years.
 2006  The Israeli air force bombs the town of Qana in Lebanon, killing 28 people.
 2007  Movie directors Michelangelo Antonioni and Ingmar Bergman die on the same day as each other.
 2008  Radovan Karadzic is transferred to The Hague after being arrested on war crimes charges.
 2009  A bomb explodes in Palma Nova, Mallorca, killing 2 police officers. ETA carried out the attack.
 2012  A massive power grid failure affects 22 states and over 700 million people in northern India.
 2012  A train fire in Andhra Pradesh, India, kills 32 people.
 2017  Russian President Vladimir Putin expels 755 American diplomats in response to US sanctions against Russia.
 2018  Parliamentary and Presidential elections are held in Zimbabwe, the first ones to take place since the resignation of Robert Mugabe.

Births

Up to 1900 
 1470  Hongzhi Emperor of China's Ming Dynasty (d. 1505)
 1511  Giorgio Vasari, Italian painter, writer 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)
 1683  Countess Sophie of Erbach-Erbach, German aristocrat (d. 1742)
 1751  Maria Anna Mozart, Austrian musician (d. 1829)
 1763  Samuel Rogers, English poet (d. 1855)
 1813  William Spurrell, Welsh printer and publisher (d. 1889)
 1818  Emily Brontë, English writer (d. 1848)
 1818  Jan Heemskerk, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (d. 1897)
 1825  Chaim Aronson, Lithuanian inventor, academic and memoirs writer (d. 1893)
 1832  George Lemuel Woods, American lawyer, judge and politician, 3rd Governor of Oregon (d. 1890)
 1833  Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria (d. 1896)
 1855  Georg Wilhelm von Siemens, German industrialist (d. 1919)
 1856  Richard Burton Haldane, Scottish philosopher, lawyer and statesman (d. 1928)
 1857  Thorstein Veblen, American political economist (d. 1929)
 1863  Henry Ford, American industrialist (d. 1947)
 1872  Princess Clementine of Belgium (d. 1955)
 1881  Smedley Butler, American marine general (d. 1940)
 1887  Marquard Schwarz, American swimmer (d. 1968)
 1888  Werner Jaeger, German classical philologist (d. 1961)
 1888  Vladimir Zworykin, Russian-American physicist and inventor (d. 1982)
 1890  Casey Stengel, American baseball manager (d. 1975)
 1893  Fatimah Jinnah, sister of Muhammad Ali Jinnah (d. 1967)
 1895  Wanda Hawley, American actress (d. 1963)
 1898  Henry Moore, English sculptor (d. 1986)

1901  1950 
 1901  Alfred Lepine, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 1955)
 1904  Salvador Novo, Mexican writer (d. 1974)
 1909  C. Northcote Parkinson, English historian and writer (d. 1993)
 1910  Edgar de Evia, Mexican-American photographer (d. 2003)
 1914  Lord Killanin, Irish Olympic official (d. 1999)
 1915  Francisco Urcuyo Maliaños, Nicaraguan politician (d. 2001)
 1919  Berniece Baker Miracle, American author
 1920  Marie Tharp, American scientist (d. 2006)
 1925  Antoine Duhamel, French composer (d. 2014)
 1925  Jacques Sernas, Lithuanian-French actor (d. 2015)
 1925  Stan Stennett, Welsh actor (d. 2013)
 1926  Martin Nag, Norwegian writer (d. 2015)
 1927  Tony Hiller, British songwriter (d. 2018)
 1927  Richard Johnson, English actor, writer and producer (d. 2015)
 1927  Victor Wong, American actor (d. 2001)
 1928  Joe Nuxhall, American baseball player and sportscaster
 1928  Chris Howland, British-German singer, presenter, actor and writer (d. 2013)
 1930  Tony Lip, American actor (d. 2013)
 1934  Bud Selig, American businessman and Commissioner of Baseball
 1936  Buddy Guy, American Blues guitarist and singer
 1936  Infanta Pilar of Spain
 1938  Hervé de Charette, French politician
 1939  Peter Bogdanovich, American director
 1940  Clive Sinclair, English entrepreneur and inventor
 1941  Paul Anka, Lebanese-Canadian singer
 1943  Giovanni Goria, 46th Prime Minister of Italy (d. 1994)
 1943  Giuseppe Versaldi, Italian cardinal
 1944  Peter Bottomley, English politician
 1944  Frances de la Tour, English actress
 1945  Patrick Modiano, French novelist
 1945  David Sanborn, American jazz saxophonist
 1947  Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, French virologist and Nobel Prize winner
 1947  Arnold Schwarzenegger, Austrian-born actor, bodybuilder and former Governor of California
 1947  William Atherton, American actor
 1948  Jean Reno, Moroccan-French actor
 1948  James H. Burnley IV, American politician
 1950  Harriet Harman, British politician
 1950  Frank Stallone, American singer

1951  1975 
 1954  Ken Olin, American actor, producer and actor
 1955  Christopher Warren-Green, English violinist and conductor
 1957  Bill Cartwright, American basketball player
 1957  Nery Pumpido, Argentine footballer
 1958  Kate Bush, British singer
 1958  Daley Thompson, British athlete
 1958  Neal McCoy, American singer-songwriter
 1959  Petra Felke, German athlete
 1960  Jennifer Barnes, American-English musicologist and academic
 1960  Richard Linklater, American director
 1961  Laurence Fishburne, American actor
 1962  Yakub Memon, Indian terrorist (d. 2015)
 1963  Lisa Kudrow, American actress
 1963  Chris Mullin, American basketball player
 1964  Jürgen Klinsmann, German footballer
 1964  Alek Keshishian, Lebanese-American director
 1966  Craig Gannon, English guitarist and songwriter
 1966  Lisa Madigan, American politician
 1968  Sean Moore, Welsh musician (Manic Street Preachers)
 1968  Robert Korzeniowski, Polish race walker
 1968  Terry Crews, American actor
 1968  Sofie Grabol, Danish actress
 1969  Simon Baker, Australian-American actor
 1969  Errol Stewart, South African cricketer and lawyer
 1970  Alun Cairns, Welsh politician
 1970  Christopher Nolan, English movie director
 1971  Claude Dambury, French footballer
 1971  Tom Green, American actor and comedian
 1971  Christine Taylor, American actress
 1973  Sonu Nigam, Indian singer
 1973  Dean Edwards, American actor and comedian
 1973  Clementa C. Pinckney, American pastor and politician (d. 2015)
 1974  Hilary Swank, American actress
 1974  Jason Robinson, English rugby player

From 1976 
 1977  Diana Bolocco, Chilean model and journalist
 1977  Misty May-Treanor, American volleyball player and coach
 1977  Derek Mackay, Scottish politician
 1977  Ian Watkins, Welsh singer
 1977  Jaime Pressly, American actress
 1979  Graeme McDowell, Northern Irish golfer
 1980  Justin Rose, English golfer
 1981  Nicky Hayden, American motorcycle racer (d. 2017)
 1981  Hope Solo, American soccer player
 1981  Lisa Goldstein, American actress
 1982  Yvonne Strahovski, Australian actress
 1982  James Anderson, English cricketer
 1983  Sean Dillon, Irish footballer
 1985  Daniel Friedheim Holm, Norwegian footballer
 1988  Lara Jean Marshall, English-Australian actress, singer and dancer
 1990  Coco Sumner, British singer-songwriter and guitarist
 1991  Diana Vickers, British singer
 1992  Fabiano Caruana, American chess player
 1992  Hannah Cockroft, British Paralympic athlete
 1993  Miho Miyazaki, Japanese singer (AKB48)
 1995  Jorge Cori, Peruvian chess player
 1995  Hirving Lozano, Mexican footballer
 1999  Joey King, American actress
 2002  Prince Hridayendra of Nepal, Nepalese Royal

Deaths

Up to 1900 
 578  Jacob Baradaeus, bishop of Edessa
 579  Pope Benedict I
 734  Tatwine, Archbishop of Canterbury
 1540  Thomas Abel, English priest and martyr (b. 1497)
 1540  Robert Barnes, English martyr and reformer (b. 1495)
 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)
 1789  Giovanna Bonanno, Italian poisoner and alleged witch (b. 1713)
 1811  Miguel Hidalgo, Mexican revolutionary (b. 1753)
 1875  George Pickett, American Confederate general (b. 1825)
 1898  Otto von Bismarck, German chancellor (b. 1815)
 1900  Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (b. 1844)

1901  2000 
 1908  James Budd, Governor of California (b. 1851)
 1912  Emperor Meiji, Japanese emperor (b. 1852)
 1918  Joyce Kilmer, American poet (b. 1886)
 1927  Albert Gustaf Dahlman, Swedish executioner (b. 1848)
 1930  Joan Gamper, Swiss-Catalan businessman (b. 1877)
 1938  John Derbyshire, English swimmer and water polo player (b. 1878)
 1947  Joseph Cook, sixth Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1860)
 1949  Stoyan Danev, Prime Minister of Bulgaria (b. 1858)
 1965  Jun'ichiro Tanizaki, Japanese writer (b. 1886)
 1970  George Szell, Hungarian conductor (b. 1897)
 1971  Kenneth Slessor, Australian poet (b. 1901)
 1978  Umberto Nobile, Italian airship pioneer (b. 1885)
 1983  Lynn Fontanne, stage and movie actress (b. 1887)
 1985  Julia Hall Bowman Robinson, American mathematician (b. 1919)
 1986  John N. Dalton, American politician, Governor of Virginia (b. 1931)
 1992  Joe Shuster, Canadian comic artist (b. 1914)
 1992  Brenda Marshall, American actress (b. 1915)
 1996  Claudette Colbert, French-American actress (b. 1903)
 1996  Magda Schneider, German actress and singer (b. 1909)
 1997  Bao Dai, Vietnamese Emperor (b. 1913)
 1998  Buffalo Bob Smith, American television host (b. 1917)

From 2001 
 2001  Anton Schwarzkopf, German engineer (b. 1924)
 2003  Sam Phillips, American record producer (b. 1923)
 2005  John Garang, South Sudanese politician (b. 1945)
 2006  Murray Bookchin, American Libertarian socialist (b. 1921)
 2007  Michelangelo Antonioni, Italian movie director (b. 1912)
 2007  Ingmar Bergman, Swedish movie director (b. 1918)
 2007  Teoctist Arapasu, Romanian Orthodox Church Patriarch (b. 1915)
 2008  Anne Armstrong, American diplomat (b. 1927)
 2009  Peter Zadek, German theatre director (b. 1926)
 2009  Mohammed Yusuf, Nigerian Islamist militant (Boko Haram) (b. 1970)
 2011  Mario Echandi Jiménez, President of Costa Rica (b. 1915)
 2012  Chris Marker, French movie maker (b. 1921)
 2012  Maeve Binchy, Irish writer (b. 1940)
 2013  Harry F. Byrd, Jr., American politician (b. 1914)
 2013  Antoni Ramallets, Catalan-Spanish footballer (b. 1924)
 2013  Robert Neelly Bellah, American sociologist (b. 1927)
 2014  Julio Grondona, Argentine football executive (b. 1931)
 2014  Dick Wagner, American rock guitarist (b. 1942)
 2014  Dick Smith, American special effects make-up artist (b. 1922)
 2014  Peter Hall, British urban planner (b. 1932)
 2014  Harun Farocki, German filmmaker and author (b. 1944)
 2014  Manfred Roeder, German Wehrmacht soldier and far-right activist (b. 1929)
 2015  Yakub Memon, Indian terrorist (b. 1962)
 2015  Lynn Anderson, American country singer (b. 1947)
 2015  Jerome Kohlberg, Jr., American businessman (b. 1925)
 2015  Alana Vrzanova, Czech figure skater (b. 1931)
 2017  Tato Cifuentes, Chilean-born Argentine actor and singer (b. 1925)
 2017  Ciro Cirillo, Italian politician (b. 1921)
 2017  H. Sayeeduddin Dagar, Indian singer (b. 1939)
 2017  Paulo Garcia, Brazilian politician (b. 1959)
 2017  Slim Mahfoudh, Tunisian actor (b. 1942)
 2018  Andreas Kappes, German cyclist (b. 1965)
 2018  Khayyam Mirzazade, Azerbaijani composer and professor (b. 1935)
 2018  Ron Dellums, American politician (b. 1935)
 2018  Michael A. Sheehan, American author (b. 1955)
 2019  Marcian Bleahu, Romanian geologist, writer and politician (b. 1924)

Observances 
 Independence Day (Vanuatu)
 International Friendship Day
 Throne Day (Morocco)

Days of the year