August 29



Events

Up to 1900 
708  Copper coins are first minted in Japan.
1261  Urban IV becomes Pope, the last man to do so without being a Cardinal first.
1315  Battle of Montecatini: The army of the Republic of Pisa, commanded by Uguccione della Faggiuoli, wins a decisive victory against the joint forces of the Kingdom of Naples and Republic of Florence despite being outnumbered (meaning the opposing armies, combined, had more soldiers).
1350  Battle of Winchelsea: An English naval fleet under King Edward III defeats a Castilian fleet of 40 ships.
1475  Treaty of Picquigny ends a brief war between France and England.
1484  Pope Innocent VIII, a staunch supporter of the Spanish Inquisition, is elected Pope.
1498  Vasco da Gama decides to leave Calicut, present-day Kerala, southern India, and return to Portugal.
1521  The Ottoman Turks capture Nándorfehérvár, now known as Belgrade.
1526  Battle of Mohács: The Ottoman Turks led by Suleiman the Magnificent defeat and kill the last Jagiellonian king of Hungary and Bohemia.
1541  The Ottoman Turks capture Buda, the capital of the Hungarian Kingdom.
1728  Nuuk, Greenland, is founded as the fort of Godt-Haab by Danish royal governor Claus Paarss. 
1741  The volcanic eruption on Oshima-Oshima Island, Japan, causes tsunamis in the Sea of Japan, which kill around 1600 people.
1751  The world's biggest wine barrel is completed in the cellar of Heidelberg Castle, present-day Germany. It can carry 221,726 liters.
1756  Frederick the Great attacks Saxony, beginning the Seven Years' War.
1782  The British ship HMS Royal George sinks while anchored in the Solent, south coast of England, killing between 800 and 950 people.
1786  Shays' Rebellion, an armed uprising of Massachusetts farmers, begins in response to high debt and tax burdens.
1825  Portugal recognizes Brazil as independent.
1831  Michael Faraday discovers electromagnetic induction.
1833  The United Kingdom legislates the abolition of Slavery in its then-Empire.
1842  The Treaty of Nanking is signed, ending the First Opium War.
1861  American Civil War: A United States Navy squadron captures forts at Hatteras Inlet, North Carolina.
1862  Battle of Aspromonte - Italian royal forces defeat rebels.
1871  Emperor Meiji of Japan orders the establishment of prefectures as local centres of administration.
1885  Gottlieb Daimler patents the world's first motorcycle.
1893  Whitcomb Judson gets a US patent for the zipper.
1895  The formation of the Northern Rugby Union at the George Hotel, Huddersfield.
1896  Chop suey is said to have been invented in New York City on this date.
1897  The first Zionist World Congress is held in Basel, Switzerland.
1898  Goodyear tire company is founded.

1901  2000 
1907  The Quebec Bridge collapses during construction, killing 75 workers.
1910  The Japan-Korea Treaty of 1910 becomes effective, officially starting the period of Japanese rule on the Korean peninsula.
1911  Ishi, considered the last Stone Age Native American, emerges from the wilderness of northeastern California.
1914  World War I: The then-German colony of Samoa is occupied by New Zealand troops.
1915  United States Navy salvage divers raise F-4, the first US submarine sunk in an accident.
1916  The Mount Field and Freycinet National Parks are created in Tasmania.
1916  The US passes the Philippine Autonomy.
1922  The first radio advertisement is broadcast on WEAF-AM in New York City.
1930  The last 36 remaining inhabitants of the remote Scottish island of Saint Kilda, leave forever.
1941  World War II: Tallinn, Estonia, is occupied by Germany, following its occupation by the Soviet Union.
1943  World War II: German-occupied Denmark scuttles most of its navy; Germany dissolves Danish government
1944  Slovak National Uprising takes place as 60,000 Slovak troops turn against the Nazi rulers.
1949  The Soviet Union tests its first atomic bomb at Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan.
1950  Korean War: British troops arrive in Korea to support South Korea and the United States.
1952  Premiere of John Cage's 4'33" in Woodstock, New York
1958  United States Air Force Academy opens in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
1965  The Gemini V spacecraft returns to Earth.
1966  Last Beatles concert, in San Francisco
1966  Execution of Sayyid Qutb, an important theoretician of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood.
1968  The future King Harald V of Norway marries Sonja Haraldsen in Oslo.
1982  The synthetic chemical element Meitnerium, atomic number 109, is first synthesized at the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung in Darmstadt, Germany.
1991  Supreme Soviet suspends all activities of the Soviet Communist Party.
1995  An assassination attempt is made on President of Georgia, Eduard Shevardnadze.
1996  A Vnukovo Airlines Tupolev Tu-154 crashes into a mountain on the Arctic island of Spitsbergen, killing all 141 aboard.
1997  At least 98 villagers are killed by the GIA in the Rais massacre, Algeria.
1997  Serial killer Angel Maturino Resendiz bludgeons to death Christopher Maier of Lexington, Kentucky, the first of nine victims.
1999  East Timor votes for independence from Indonesia.

From 2001 
2003  Ayatollah Sayed Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, the Shia Muslim leader in Iraq, was assassinated in a terrorist bombing that killed him along with nearly 100 worshippers as they were leaving a mosque in Najaf.
2004  End of the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.
2004  Michael Schumacher wins his 7th Formula One world title and his 5th in a row, breaking the record held by Juan Manuel Fangio.
2005  Hurricane Katrina reaches the US' Gulf coast with winds at a speed of 225 kph. The city of New Orleans is among the places that are severely flooded, as over 1,000 people are killed.
2008  US Republican Party Presidential candidate John McCain nominates Sarah Palin as his running mate.
2011  Hurricane Irene dissolves over Eastern Canada, having left a path of destruction over the Caribbean and eastern United States.
2012  The 2012 Summer Paralympics in London begin.
2013  The House of Commons of the United Kingdom votes, by a majority, against military action in Syria.
2015  Three Al-Jazeera journalists are sentenced to three years in prison in Egypt, accused of false reporting and sympathizing with the banned Muslim Brotherhood.
2015  Protests take place in Kuala Lumpur against Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak.
2017  North Korea fires a ballistic missile over the southern part of the Northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.

Births

Up to 1900 
 1434  Janus Pannonius, Hungarian bishop, poet and diplomat (d. 1472)
 1619  Jean-Baptiste Colbert, French statesman (d. 1683)
 1628  John Granville, 1st Earl of Bath, English statesman (d. 1701)
 1632  John Locke, English philosopher (d. 1704)
 1664  Giuseppe Toretti, Italian sculptor (d. 1743)
 1724  Giovanni Battista Casti, Italian poet and writer (d. 1803)
 1725  Charles Townshend, English politician (d. 1767)
 1728  Maria Anna Sophia of Saxony (d. 1797)
 1756  Heinrich Graf von Bellegarde, Austrian field marshal and statesman (d. 1845)
 1756  Jan Sniadecki, Polish mathematician, philosopher and astronomer (d. 1830)
 1769  Rose Philippine Duchesne, French nun and saint (d. 1852)
 1780  Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, French painter (d. 1867)
 1793  Josef Naus, Austrian officer and surveyor, first to climb the Zugspitze (d. 1871)
 1809  Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., American physician and writer (d. 1894)
 1810  Juan Bautista Alberdi, Argentine politician and writer (d. 1884)
 1842  Alfred Shaw, English cricketer, rugby player and umpire (d. 1907)
 1843  David B. Hill, 29th Governor of New York (d. 1910)
 1844  Edward Carpenter, English poet (d. 1929)
 1862  Andrew Fisher, 5th Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1928)
 1862  Maurice Maeterlinck, Belgian writer (d. 1949)
 1871  Albert Lebrun, President of France (d. 1950)
 1875  Leonardo De Lorenzo, Italian flautist and educator (d. 1962)
 1876  Charles Franklin Kettering, American inventor (d. 1958)
 1876  Kim Gu, Korean politician (d. 1949)
 1880  Marie-Louise Meilleur, Canadian supercentenarian (d. 1998)
 1881  Albert Henderson, Canadian footballer (d. 1947)
 1883  Muriel George, English singer and movie actress (d. 1965)
 1887  Jivraj Narayan Mehta, Indian politician, 1st Chief Minister of Gujarat (d. 1978)
 1888  Gunichi Mikawa, Japanese admiral (d. 1981)
 1898  Preston Sturges, American movie director, screenwriter and playwright (d. 1959)

1901  1950 
 1904  Werner Forssmann, German physician (d. 1979)
 1905  Al Taliaferro, American comic artist (d. 1969)
 1907  Takeo Wakabayashi, Japanese footballer (d. 1937)
 1910  Vivien Thomas, American surgical technician (d. 1985)
 1912  Sohn Kee-chung, South Korean runner (d. 2002)
 1912  Barry Sullivan, American actor (d. 1994)
 1912  Wolfgang Suschitzky, Austrian-Polish cinematographer (d. 2016)
 1913  K. Jeyakody, Sri Lankan Tamil politician
 1913  Jan Ekier, Polish pianist and composer (d. 2014)
 1915  Ingrid Bergman, Swedish actress (d. 1982)
 1916  Consuelo Velazquez, Mexican musician and composer (d. 2005)
 1916  George Montgomery, American actor (d. 2000)
 1917  Isabel Sanford, American actress (d. 2004)
 1920  Charlie Parker, American musician (d. 1955)
 1921  Paddy Roy Bates, English founder of the Sealand micronation (d. 2012)
 1922  Arthur Anderson, American actor (d. 2016)
 1923  Richard Attenborough, English actor and movie director (d. 2014)
 1924  Maria Dolores Pradera, Spanish singer and actress
 1924  Dinah Washington, American singer (d. 1963)
 1925  Demetrio B. Lakas, 35th President of Panama (d. 1999)
 1926  Helene Ahrweiler, Greek historian and academic
 1927  Jimmy C. Newman, American singer (d. 2014)
 1930  Atef Sedki, Egyptian politician (d. 2005)
 1931  Stelios Kazantzidis, Greek singer (d. 2001)
 1932  Shen Chun-shan, Taiwanese physicist and academic (d. 2018)
 1933  Sorel Etrog, Romanian-Canadian artist, writer and philosopher (d. 2014)
 1933  Arnold Koller, Swiss politician
 1934  Horst Szymaniak, German footballer (d. 2009)
 1935  William Friedkin, American movie director
 1935  Hugo Brandt Corstius, Dutch writer (d. 2014)
 1936  John McCain, American pilot and politician, 2008 Presidential candidate (d. 2018)
 1937  James Florio, former Governor of New Jersey
 1938  Elliott Gould, American actor
 1938  Robert Rubin, American politician, former United States Secretary of the Treasury
 1938  Carlos Moreno, Argentine actor (d. 2014)
 1939  Joel Schumacher, American director
 1940  James Brady, American activist and 15th White House Press Secretary (d. 2014)
 1940  Wim Ruska, Dutch judoka (d. 2015)
 1941  Robin Leach, English writer and television host (d. 2018)
 1942  Gottfried John, German actor (d. 2014)
 1943  Peter von Bagh, Finnish movie historian (d. 2014)
 1943  Arthur B. McDonald, Canadian astrophysicist
 1945  Wyonia Tyus, American athlete
 1946  Demetris Christofias, Cypriot politician, former President of Cyprus
 1946  Bob Beamon, American long jumper
 1946  Giorgio Orsoni, Italian lawyer and politician, 17th Mayor of Venice
 1947  Temple Grandin, American animal welfare and autism expert
 1947  James Hunt, English racing driver (d. 1993)

1951  1975 
 1952  Deborah Van Valkenburgh, American actress
 1952  Dave Malone, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
 1955  Jacob Lew, American politician
 1956  GG Allin, American musician (d. 1993)
 1958  Michael Jackson, American singer and entertainer (d. 2009)
 1958  Lenny Henry, English comedian, actor and writer
 1959  Stephen Wolfram, English mathematician
 1959  Rebecca De Mornay, American actress
 1959  Chris Hadfield, Canadian astronaut
 1959  Eddi Reader, Scottish singer
 1959  Ramon Diaz, Argentine footballer
 1960  Tony McAlpine, American guitarist, composer and producer
 1961  Carsten Fischer, German field hockey player
 1962  Jutta Kleinschmidt, German rally driver
 1962  Simon Thurley, English architectural historian
 1963  Elizabeth Fraser, Scottish singer
 1963  Steve Clarke, Scottish footballer and football manager
 1964  Zisis Tsekos, Greek footballer
 1965  Frances Ruffelle, English actress and singer
 1967  Neil Gorsuch, American judge, US Supreme Court Justice
 1969  Joe Swail, Northern Irish snooker player
 1969  Lucero, Mexican singer and actress
 1971  Carla Gugino, American actress
 1972  Kentaro Hayashi, Japanese footballer
 1972  Bae Yong-jeon, South Korean actor
 1973  Daniel Burman, Argentine movie director
 1974  Denis Caniza, Paraguayan footballer
 1974  Nicola Amoruso, Italian footballer
 1975  Kyle Cook, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

From 1976 
 1976  Pablo Mastroeni, American footballer
 1976  Jon Dahl Tomasson, Danish footballer
 1976  Stephen Carr, Irish footballer
 1977  Jo Weil, German actor
 1977  Roy Oswalt, American baseball player
 1977  John Hensley, American actor
 1979  Justine Pasek, Panamanian model
 1980  David Desrosiers, Canadian musician (Simple Plan)
 1980  David West, American basketball player
 1981  Emilie Duquenne, Belgian actress
 1982  Vincent Enyeama, Nigerian footballer
 1982  A+, American rapper
 1982  Carlos Delfino, Argentine basketball player
 1985  Marc Rzepczynski, American baseball player
 1986  Lauren Collins, Canadian actress
 1986  Lea Michele, American actress and singer
 1987  Tony Kane, Irish footballer
 1988  Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, British athlete
 1990  Patrick van Aanholt, Dutch footballer
 1990  Nicole Anderson, American actress
 1990  Julia Vlassov, American figure skater
 1991  Deshaun Thomas, American basketball player
 1993  Liam Payne, English singer (One Direction)
 1993  Lucas Cruikshank, American actor
 1994  Courtney Stodden, American television personality

Deaths

Up to 1900 
886  Basil I, Byzantine Emperor (b. 811)
1093  Hugh I, Duke of Burgundy
1123  Eystein I of Norway (b. 1088)
1315  Charles of Taranto (b. 1296)
1395  Duke Albert III of Austria (b. 1349)
1435  Isabeau de Bavière, queen of Charles VI of France (b. 1371)
1442  John VI, Duke of Brittany (b. 1389)
1526  King Louis II of Hungary (b. 1506)
1533  Atahualpa, last Inca ruler of Peru (b. 1502)
1712  Gregory King, English genealogist, engraver and statistician (b. 1648)
1749  Matthias Bel, Hungarian pastor and polymath (b. 1684)
1769  Edmund Hoyle, English writer and teacher (b. 1672)
1780  Jacques-Germain Soufflot, French architect (b. 1713)
1799  Pope Pius VI (b. 1717)
1816  Johann Hieronymus Schroeter, German jurist and astronomer (b. 1745)
1853  Charles James Napier, British general (b. 1782)
1856  Mary Anne Schimmelpenninck, English author (b. 1778)
1866  Tokugawa Iemochi, Japanese shogun (b. 1846)
1877  Brigham Young, Mormon leader (b. 1801)
1889  Stefan Dunjov, Bulgarian military officer (b. 1815)
1891  Pierre Lallement, French inventor (b. 1843)

1901  2000 
1904  Murad V, Ottoman sultan (b. 1840)
1918  Max Dauthendey, German writer (b. 1867)
1930  William Archibald Spooner, writer (b. 1844)
1931  David T. Abercrombie, a founder of American clothing retailer Abercrombie and Fitch (b. 1867)
1935  Queen Astrid of Belgium, mother of King Albert II of Belgium (b. 1905)
1946  Grigory Semyonov, Russian general (b. 1890)
1947  Manolete, Spanish bullfighter (b. 1917)
1966  Sayyid Qutb, Egyptian theoretician (b. 1906).
1972  Lale Andersen, German singer (b. 1905)
1973  Stringer Davis, English actor (b. 1899)
1975  Éamon de Valera, Irish statesman and President of Ireland (b. 1882)
1976  Kazi Nazrul Islam, Bengali poet, musician and philosopher (b. 1899)
1981  Lowell Thomas, travel writer (b. 1892)
1982  Ingrid Bergman, Swedish actress (b. 1915)
1982  Nahum Goldmann, founder of the Jewish World Congress (b. 1895)
1984  Muhammad Naguib, Egyptian politician and President of Egypt (b. 1901)
1984  Pierre Gemayel, Lebanese politician (b. 1905)
1987  Archie Campbell, American comedian, writer and actor (b. 1914)
1987  Lee Marvin, actor (b. 1924)
1989  Peter Scott, English explorer, naturalist and painter (b. 1909)
1992  Teddy Turner, English actor (b. 1917)
1995  Frank Perry, American director (b. 1930)

From 2001 
2001  Francisco Rabal, Spanish actor, director and screenwriter (b. 1926)
2003  Michel Constantin, French actor (b. 1924)
2003  Ayatollah Sayed Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, Iraqi political leader (b.1939)
2004  Hans Vonk, Dutch conductor (b. 1942)
2007  Pierre Messmer, Prime Minister of France (b. 1916)
2011  David Honeyboy Edwards, American blues musician (b. 1915)
2013  Cliff Morgan, Welsh rugby player (b. 1930)
2013  Bruce C. Murray, American scientist (b. 1931)
2014  Bjorn Waldegard, Swedish rally driver (b. 1943)
2014  David Bala, Singaporean comedian and actor (b. 1947)
2015  Kyle Jean-Baptiste, American actor (b. 1993)
2015  Wayne Dyer, American self-help author and motivational speaker (b. 1940)
2016  Gene Wilder, American actor (b. 1933)
2017  Janine Charrat, French ballet dancer and choreographer (b. 1924)
2017  Dmitri Kogan, Russian violinist (b. 1978)
2017  David Tang, Hong Kong businessman (b. 1954)
2018  Stan Brock, English philanthropist (b. 1936)
2018  James Mirrlees, Scottish economist (b. 1936)
2018  Carilda Oliver Labra, Cuban poet (b. 1922)
2018  Marie Severin, American comic book artist (b. 1929)
2018  Paul Taylor, American choreographer (b. 1930)

Observances 
 Anniversary of the Slovak National Uprising
 Telugu language Day (India)

Days of the year