June 30

It is the last day of the first half of the year.

Events

Up to 1900 
 350  Roman usurper Nepotianus, of the Constantian dynasty, is defeated and killed by the usurper Magnentius.
 763  A Byzantine army under Emperor Constantine V defeats the Bulgarian forces in the Battle of Anchialus.
 1422  Battle of Arbedo between the Duke of Milan and the Swiss cantons.
 1521  Spanish forces defeat a combined French and Navarrese army at the Battle of Noain during the Spanish conquest of Iberian Navarre. 
 1559  Henry II of France is wounded in a jousting contest against Gabriel de Montgomery.
 1651  Battle of Beresteczko: Victory for Poland-Lithuania.
 1758  Seven Years' War: The Battle of Domstadtl takes place.
 1805  The United States Congress organises the Michigan Territory. 
 1859  French acrobat Charles Blondin crosses Niagara Falls on a tightrope.
 1860  The Oxford Evolution debate takes place  at the Oxford Museum of Natural History.
 1861  A group of 3000 European gold miners attack Chinese miners at Lambing Flat, New South Wales.
 1864  Abraham Lincoln grants the Yosemite Valley to California for 'public use, resort and recreation'.
 1882  Charles J. Guiteau is executed for the assassination of US President James A. Garfield.
 1886  The first transcontinental train trip across Canada leaves Montreal. It arrives at Fort Moody, British Columbia on July 4.
 1894  London Tower Bridge is opened to traffic.
 1900  A harbour fire in Hoboken, New Jersey spreads to five German liners, killing 326 people.

1901  2000 
 1905  Albert Einstein publishes the article 'On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies' in which he introduces Special Relativity.
 1908  The Tunguska Incident occurs, as a large area of forest in Siberia is destroyed. The circumstances have not yet been fully explained, but it is widely believed to have been the explosion of a meteor.
 1912  A deadly tornado hits Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, killing 28 people.
 1917  World War I: Greece declares war on the Central Powers.
 1934  The Night of the Long Knives, Adolf Hitler's purge of political rivals, begins.
 1936  Haile Selassie of Abyssinia appeals for aid from the League of Nations after being invaded by Italy.
 1940  World War II: Nazi Germany invades Guernsey in the Channel Islands, English Channel.
 1944  World War II: The city of Cherbourg in Normandy falls to American forces.
 1954  A total Solar eclipse is seen over parts of North America, Europe and Asia.
 1956  A TWA Super Constellation and a United Airlines DC-7 collide over the Grand Canyon in Arizona, killing all 128 people in both airliners.
 1960  The present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo becomes independent.
 1969  Nigeria bans Red Cross aid from Biafra.
 1971  The crew of Soyuz 11 are suffocated when their air supply escapes through a faulty valve.
 1971  Ohio reduces the voting age to 18.
 1972  The first Leap second is added to the UTC time.
 1975  Muhammad Ali successfully defends his Heavyweight Boxing World title, against Joe Bugner.
 1985  Palau's President Haruo Remeliik is murdered.
 1985  39 American hostages from the hijacked TWA Flight 847 are freed in Beirut, Lebanon, after 17 days.
 1987  The Canadian 1 Dollar coin, the 'Loonie', is introduced.
 1990  East Germany and West Germany merge their economies.
 1991  32 miners are killed when a coal mine catches fire in the Donbass region of Ukraine and releases toxic gas.
 1996  Germany wins the UEFA Euro 1996 Championship against the Czech Republic, with Oliver Bierhoff scoring the first-ever 'Golden Goal'.
 1998  Joseph Estrada becomes President of the Philippines.
 2000  The Indonesian ferry Chaya Bahara sinks off the island of Sulawesi, killing over 500 people.

From 2001 
 2002  2002 FIFA World Cup in Japan and South Korea: Brazil wins the FIFA World Cup for a fifth time, over Germany, with two goals from Ronaldo.
 2005  Spain legalises Same-sex marriage.
 2007  Islamist extremists drive a jeep packed with explosives into the main building at Glasgow Airport in Scotland.
 2009  A Yemenia Airlines plane crashes into the Indian Ocean near the Comoros. Only one of the 153 people on board survives.
 2010  Benigno Aquino III becomes President of the Philippines.
 2010  Christian Wulff is chosen to succeed Horst Koehler as President of Germany.
 2012  Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood is sworn in as President of Egypt.
 2013  The Brazil national football team wins the FIFA Confederations Cup against the Spain national football team.
 2013  A whole entire fire crew in Arizona is killed while battling wild fires.
 2015  A Hercules C-130 military aircraft with 113 people on board crashes in Medan, Indonesia, killing a total of 116 people.
 2016  Rodrigo Duterte becomes President of the Philippines.
 2017  Germany's Bundestag votes in favour of same-sex marriage by 393 votes to 226.

Births

Up to 1900 
 1470  King Charles VIII of France (d. 1498)
 1503  John Frederick, Elector of Saxony (d. 1554)
 1588  Giovanni Maria Sabino, Italian organist, composer and educator (d. 1649)
 1628  Miguel de Molinos, Spanish mystic (d. 1696)
 1685  John Gay, English writer (d. 1732)
 1685  Dominikus Zimmermann, master builder (d. 1766)
 1748  Dominique, comte de Cassini, French cartographer and astronomer (d. 1845)
 1755  Paul de Barras, French politician (d. 1829)
 1768  Elizabeth Monroe, First Lady of the United States (d. 1830)
 1789  Horace Vernet, painter and graphic artist (d. 1863)
 1807  Friedrich Theodor von Vischer, narrator, lyricist, and philosopher (d. 1887)
 1815  Lysius Salomon, 13th President of Haiti (d. 1888)
 1817  Joseph Dalton Hooker, British botanist (d. 1911)
 1818  Lysius Salomon, 13th President of Haiti (d. 1888)
 1819  William A. Wheeler, 19th Vice President of the United States (d. 1887)
 1824  Antonio Gonzalez de Aguilar, 8th Marquis of la Vega de Armijo, Prime Minister of Spain (d. 1908)
 1827  Jacques-Louis Soret, Swiss chemist and physicist (d. 1890)
 1833  Manuel Amador Guerrero, 1st President of Panama (d. 1909)
 1843  Ernest Mason Satow, writer (d. 1929)
 1864  Frederick Bligh Bond, English architect and archaeologist (d. 1945)
 1883  Johan Olin, Finnish wrestler (d. 1928)
 1884  Georges Duhamel, French writer (d. 1966)
 1888  Rudolf Amelunxen, German politician (d. 1969)
 1890  Paul Boffa, 5th Prime Minister of Malta (d. 1962)
 1891  Man Mountain Dean, American professional wrestler (d. 1953)
 1891  Ed Lewis, American professional wrestler (d. 1966)
 1892  Bo Carter, American blues musician (d. 1962)
 1892  Oswald Pohl, Nazi politician (d. 1951)
 1893  Walter Ulbricht, East German politician (d. 1973)
 1899  Harry Shields, American jazz musician (d. 1971)
 1899  Madge Bellamy, American actress (d. 1990)

1901  1950 
 1903  Robert E. Hannegan, American politician, 52nd United States Postmaster General (d. 1949)
 1906  Ralph Allen, English footballer (d. 1981)
 1906  Anthony Mann, American movie actor and director (d. 1967)
 1906  Tribhuvan of Nepal (d. 1955)
 1907  Roman Shukhevych, Ukrainian politician (d. 1950)
 1908  Winston Graham, English writer (d. 2003)
 1909  Juan Bosch, Dominican Republic politician (d. 2001)
 1911  Czesław Miłosz, Polish poet, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature (d. 2004)
 1912  Leopoldo Zea Aguilar, Mexican philosopher (d. 2002)
 1912  Avigdor Dagan, Czech-Israeli writer, playwright, translator and diplomat (d. 2006)
 1913  Alfonso Lopez Michelsen, President of Colombia (d. 2007)
 1914  Francisco da Costa Gomes, Portuguese politician (d. 2001)
 1914  Allan Houser, Native American artist (d. 1994)
 1917  Susan Hayward, American actress (d. 1975)
 1917  Lena Horne, American actress and singer (d. 2010)
 1919  Ed Yost, American inventor (d. 2007)
 1921  Oswaldo Lopez Arellano, President of Honduras (d. 2010)
 1926  Peter Alexander, Austrian singer and actor (d. 2011)
 1926  Paul Berg, American biochemist
 1933  Lea Massari, Italian actress
 1933  Derek Bentley, British victim of a miscarriage of Justice (d. 1953)
 1934  Harry Blackstone, Jr., American  magician (d. 1997)
 1936  Assia Djebar, Algerian writer, director and historian (d. 2015)
 1937  Gainan Saidkhuzhin, Russian cyclist (d. 2015)
 1937  Gideon Ezra, Israeli politician (d. 2012)
 1938  Apostolis Nikolaidis, Greek singer (d. 1999)
 1938  Billy Mills, American runner
 1939  John Fortune, British scriptwriter and actor (d. 2013)
 1939  José Emilio Pacheco, Mexican writer (d. 2014)
 1941  Otto Sander, German actor (d. 2013)
 1942  Robert Ballard, American underwater archaeologist
 1943  Florence Ballard, American singer (The Supremes) (d. 1976)
 1944  Raymond Moody, American parapsychologist
 1944  Terry Funk, American wrestler and actor
 1945  Sean Scully, Irish-American painter

1951  1975 
 1953  Hal Lindes, American-born British guitarist (Dire Straits)
 1954  Serzh Sargsyan, President of Armenia
 1954  Pierre Charles, Prime Minister of Dominica (d. 2004)
 1954  Wayne Swan, Australian politician
 1956  David Lidington, English politician
 1958  Esa-Pekka Salonen, Finnish conductor and composer
 1959  Vincent D'Onofrio, American actor
 1959  Brendan Perry, English musician (Dead Can Dance)
 1960  James Kwesi Appiah, Ghanaian footballer and coach
 1960  Jack McConnell, Scottish politician, 3rd First Minister of Scotland
 1960  Murray Cook, Australian musician (The Wiggles)
 1962  Tony Fernandez, American baseball player
 1963  Olha Bryzhina, Ukrainian athlete
 1963  Yngwie Malmsteen, Swedish guitarist
 1964  Alexandra, Countess of Frederiksborg, Hong Kong-born former member of the Danish royal family
 1965  Gary Pallister, English footballer
 1965  Mitch Raymond, American basketball player
 1966  Cheryl Bernard, Canadian curler
 1966  Mike Tyson, American world champion boxer
 1967  Nitin Ganatra, British actor
 1967  Silke Renk, German athlete
 1968  Philip Anselmo, American musician
 1970  Antonio Chimenti, Italian footballer
 1971  Monica Potter, American actress
 1972  James Martin, English chef
 1973  Frank Rost, German footballer
 1973  Chan Ho Park, Korean baseball pitcher
 1974  Juli Zeh, German writer
 1975  Rami Shaaban, Swedish footballer
 1975  Ralf Schumacher, German race car driver

From 1976 
 1977  Justo Villar, Paraguayan footballer
 1980  Seyi Olofinjana, Nigerian footballer
 1981  Barbara Spotakova, Czech athlete
 1982  Lizzy Caplan, American actress
 1982  Willam Belli, American actor, drag queen and television personality
 1982  Andy Knowles, British musician (Franz Ferdinand)
 1983  Cheryl Cole, British singer, formerly of Girls Aloud
 1983  Marcus Burghardt, German cyclist
 1983  Steve von Bergen, Swiss footballer
 1983  Katherine Ryan, Canadian comedienne
 1984  Dimitry Ipatov, Russian ski jumper
 1984  Fantasia Barrino, American singer
 1985  Michael Phelps, American swimmer
 1985  Cody Rhodes, American professional wrestler
 1985  Fabiana Vallejos, Argentine footballer
 1985  Charley Uchea, American Reality show personality
 1986  Allegra Versace, Italian heiress
 1986  Fredy Guarin, Colombian footballer
 1988  Jack Douglass, American comedian and actor
 1989  Miguel Vitor, Portuguese footballer
 1989  Asbel Kiprop, Kenyan runner
 1991  Kaho, Japanese actress
 1994  Rhys Jones, Welsh athlete

Deaths

Up to 1900 
 350  Nepotianus, Roman usurper
 1224  Adolf of Osnabrück, German monk and bishop (b. 1185) 
 1520  Moctezuma II (Montezuma), Aztec ruler (b. around 1465)
 1538  Charles II, Duke of Guelders (b. 1467)
 1649  Simon Vouet, French painter (b. 1599)
 1670  Henrietta of England, daughter of Charles I (b. 1644)
 1708  Tekle Haymanot I of Ethiopia (b. 1706)
 1709  Edward Lhuyd, Welsh botanist, linguist and geographer (b. 1660)
 1785  James Oglethorpe, English general (b. 1696)
 1861  Robert O'Hara Burke, Irish explorer of Australia (b. 1820)
 1882  Charles J. Guiteau, assassin of US President James A. Garfield (b. 1841)
 1882  Alberto Henschel, German-Brazilian photographer and businessman (b. 1827)
 1898  Siegfried Marcus, English technician and inventor (b. 1831)
 1899  E. D. E. N. Southworth, American author (b. 1819)

1901  2000 
 1919  John Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, English physicist (b. 1842)
 1932  Bruno Kastner, German actor (b. 1890)
 1934  Night of the Long Knives:
Kurt von Schleicher, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1882)
Gregor Strasser, Nazi politician (b. 1892)
Gustav Ritter von Kahr, Prime Minister of Bavaria (b. 1862)
Karl Ernst, Sturmabteilung leader (b. 1904)
Erich Klausener, German politician (b. 1885)
 1949  Edouard Alphonse James de Rothschild, French financier and polo player (b. 1868)
 1953  Charles William Miller, British-Brazilian sportsman, considered as the 'father of Brazilian football' (b. 1874)
 1954  Andrass Samuelsen, 1st Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands (b. 1873)
 1959  José Vasconcelos, Mexican writer and politician (b. 1882)
 1961  Lee De Forest, American inventor (b. 1873)
 1965  Margarete Sommer, German social worker (b. 1893)
 1966  Giuseppe Farina, Italian racing driver (b. 1906)
 1971  Crew of Soyuz 11:
Viktor Patsayev, Soviet cosmonaut (b. 1933)
Georgi Dobrovolsky, Soviet cosmonaut (b. 1928)
Vladislav Volkov, Soviet cosmonaut (b. 1935)
 1971  Georgi Asparuhov, Bulgarian footballer (b. 1943)
 1971  Nikola Kotkov, Bulgarian footballer (b. 1938)
 1973  Nancy Mitford, British writer and biographer (b. 1904)
 1974  Alberta Williams King, mother of Martin Luther King, Jr. (b. 1905)
 1974  Vannevar Bush, American engineer and politician (b. 1890)
 1984  Lillian Hellman, American playwright (b. 1905)
 1985  Haruo Remeliik, 1st President of Palau (b. 1933)
 1993  George "Spanky" McFarland, American actor (b. 1928)
 1993  Wong Ka Kui, Hong Kong singer-songwriter, guitarist and actor (b. 1962)
 1995  Georgy Beregovoy, Soviet cosmonaut (b. 1921)
 1995  Phyllis Hyman, American singer and songwriter (b. 1949)
 1996  Lakis Petropoulos, Greek footballer (b. 1932)

From 2001 
 2001  Chet Atkins, American musician and producer (b. 1924)
 2003  Buddy Hackett, American comedian (b. 1924)
 2007  Sahib Singh Verma, Indian politician, 4th Chief Minister of Delhi (b. 1943)
 2009  Pina Bausch, German choreographer (b. 1940)
 2011  Georg Sterzinsky, German cardinal (b. 1936)
 2012  Yitzhak Shamir, former Prime Minister of Israel (b. 1915)
 2013  Keith Seaman, Australian politician, 29th Governor of South Australia (b. 1920)
 2014  Frank Cashen, American baseball executive (b. 1925)
 2014  Alvaro Corcuera, Mexican priest (b. 1957)
 2014  Christian Fuehrer, German pastor and activist (b. 1943)
 2014  Alejandra Da Passano, Argentine actress (b. 1947)
 2014  Zeljko Sturanovic, former Prime Minister of Montenegro (b. 1960)
 2014  Pierre Bec, French Occitan language poet (b. 1921)
 2014  Paul Mazursky, American director, screenwriter and actor (b. 1930)
 2014  Frank M. Robinson, American writer and screenwriter (b. 1926)
 2014  Bob Hastings, American actor (b. 1925)
 2015  Eddy Louiss, French jazz musician (b. 1941)
 2015  Leonard Starr, American cartoonist (b. 1925)
 2016  Martin Lundström, Swedish cross-country skier (b. 1918)
 2016  Geoffrey Hill, English poet (b. 1932)
 2016  Don Friedman, American jazz pianist (b. 1935)
 2016  Juan Habichuela, Spanish flamenco guitarist (b. 1933)
 2016  Gordon Murray, English puppeteer and television producer (b. 1921)
 2017  Simone Veil, French politician (b. 1927)
 2017  Barry Norman, English film critic (b. 1933)
 2017  Karunamaya Goswami, Bangladeshi musicologist (b. 1942)
 2017  Darrall Imhoff, American basketball player (b. 1938)

Observances 
 Independence Day (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
 Philippine-Spanish Friendship Day
 Army Day (Guatemala)
 Revolution Day (Sudan)
 Navy Day (Israel)

Days of the year