Events

Up to 1965 
 1493 - Christopher Columbus lands on an island in the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean, which he names "Santa Cruz".
 1495 - Battle of Aguere: Forces of the Kingdom of Castile defeat a force of Guanches, the native people of the Canary Islands.
 1501 - Both aged 15, Catherine of Aragon and Arthur Tudor marry.
 1533 - Conquistadors from Spain under the leadership of Francisco Pizarro arrive in Cajamarca, then part of the Inca Empire.
 1633 - Thirty Years' War: Swedish troops take over Regensburg, Bavaria.
 1770 - James Bruce discovers what he believes is the source of the Nile.
 1862 - American Civil War: President Abraham Lincoln supports General Ambrose Burnside's plan to capture the Confederate capital at Richmond, Virginia, leading to the Battle of Fredericksburg.
 1889 – Nellie Bly begins her 72-day journey around the world.
 1894 – Tsar Nicholas II marries Alexandra Fyodorovna.
 1901 - Austrian doctor Karl Landsteiner announces the discovery of the blood groups A, B and O.
 1909 - French passenger ship La Seyne sinks after a collision with a British steamer, killing 101 people.
 1910 - Aviator Eugene Burton Ely performs the first take-off from a ship in Hampton Roads, Virginia, from the makeshift deck of the USS Birmingham.
 1916 – Billy Hughes becomes Prime Minister of Australia for a second time.
 1916 – World War II: The First Battle of the Somme ends.
 1918 – Czechoslovakia becomes a Republic.
 1921 - The Communist Party of Spain is founded.
 1922 - The BBC begins its radio service.
 1940 - World War II: The city of Coventry in England is almost completely destroyed by Luftwaffe bombing.
 1941 - World War II: The HMS Ark Royal aircraft carrier sinks from torpedo damage from German submarine U-81 the previous day.
 1946 - Hermann Hesse wins the Nobel Prize in Literature.
 1952 - The UK Singles Chart is published by the New Musical Express.
 1954 - Gamal Abdel Nasser takes over power in Egypt.
 1962 - Haile Selassie declares Eritrea to be part of Ethiopia.
 1963 – The island of Surtsey is formed by a volcanic eruption off the south coast of Iceland.
 1965 - Vietnam War: The Battle of La Drong begins.

From 1966 
 1966 - Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali) defends his heavyweight boxing title against Cleveland Williams.
 1967 - The Congress of Colombia declares this date as the Day of the Colombian Woman.
 1967 - American physicist Theodore Maiman is given a patent for his ruby laser systems.
 1969 - NASA launches Apollo 12, the second manned mission to the Moon. Despite two lightning strikes, the launch is carried out successfully.
 1970 - Southern Airways Flight 932 crashes in mountains near Huntington, West Virginia, killing 75 people.
 1971 - Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria is officially enthroned.
 1971 - Mariner 9 enters into orbit around Mars.
 1973 - Anne, Princess Royal marries Captain Mark Phillips.
 1975 – Spain abandons Western Sahara.
 1979 - Jimmy Carter issues Executive Order 12170, freezing all Iranian assets in the US in response to the hostage crisis.
 1982 – Lech Walesa is released from detention.
 1990 – Germany and Poland agree to the Oder-Neisse Line forming their boundary.
 1991 – Norodom Sihanouk returns to Cambodia after 13 years of exile.
 1995 - The United States Government temporarily closes over disagreements between Democrats and Republicans over the federal budget.
 1999 - Leonid Kuchma is re-elected President of Ukraine.
 2001 - War in Afghanistan: The Northern Alliance takes over Kabul.
 2003 – One of the Solar System's most distant objects, 90377 Sedna, is discovered.
 2010 – Sebastian Vettel becomes, to date, the youngest Formula One World Champion.
 2012 - Israel launches a major military operation in the Gaza Strip, as hostilities with Hamas get worse.
 2015 - A French TGV train crashes into a river in the Alsace region of France, killing 10 people. There is no link to the previous night's attacks in Paris.

Births

Up to 1900 
 1567 - Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange (d. 1625)
 1601 - Jean Eudes, French missionary (d. 1680)
 1650 – William III, King of England, Ireland and Scotland (d. 1702)
 1663 - Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow, German musician and composer (d. 1712)
 1668 - Johann Lucas von Hildebrandt, Baroque architect (d. 1745) 
 1719 – Leopold Mozart, Austrian composer, father of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (d. 1787)
 1723 - Johann Ludwig Aberli, Swiss painter (d. 1786)
 1740 - Johann van Beethoven, father and first teacher of Ludwig van Beethoven (d. 1792)
 1746 - Giulio Gabrielli the Younger, Italian cardinal (d. 1822)
 1765 – Robert Fulton, American inventor (d. 1815)
 1771 - Marie François Xavier Bichat, French anatomist and physiologist (d. 1802)
 1775 - Paul Johann Anselm von Feuerbach, German philosopher (d. 1833)
 1776 - Henri Dutrochet, French physiologist (d. 1847)
 1777 - Nathaniel Claiborne, American politician (d. 1859)
 1778 – Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Austrian composer (d. 1837)
 1779 - Adam Oehlenschlager, Danish poet and playwright (d. 1850)
 1797 - Charles Lyell, Scottish geologist and lawyer (d. 1875)
 1805 - Fanny Mendelssohn, German composer and pianist (d. 1847)
 1807 - Auguste Laurent, French chemist (d. 1853)
 1812 - Aleardo Aleardi, Italian poet (d. 1878)
 1812 - Maria Christina of Savoy (d. 1836)
 1828 - James P. McPherson, American general (d. 1864)
 1832 - Henry Strangways, English-Australian politician (d. 1920)
 1840 – Claude Monet, French painter (d. 1926)
 1863 - Leo Baekeland, Flemish chemist and inventor of Bakelite (d. 1944)
 1877 - Norman Brookes, Australian tennis player (d. 1968)
 1878 - Julie Manet, French painter (d. 1966)
 1878 - Leopold Staff, Polish poet (d. 1957)
 1883 - Ado Birk, 3rd Prime Minister of Estonia (d. 1942)
 1889 – Jawaharlal Nehru, 1st Prime Minister of India (d. 1964)
 1891 – Frederick Banting, Canadian doctor, won the 1923 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1941)
 1891 - Ted Meredith, American athlete (d. 1957)
 1893 - Carlo Emilio Gadda, Italian writer (d. 1973)
 1895 - Louise Huff, American actress (d. 1973)
 1896 – Mamie Eisenhower, First Lady of the United States (d. 1979)
 1898 - Benjamin Fondane, Romanian-French poet, critic and philosopher (d. 1944)
 1900 – Aaron Copland, American composer (d. 1990)

1901  1950 
 1904 - Dick Powell, American actor and director (d. 1963)
 1906 – Louise Brooks, American actress (d. 1985)
 1907 – Astrid Lindgren, Swedish writer (d. 2002)
 1907 - William Steig, American writer (d. 2003)
 1907 - Howard W. Hunter, American Mormon leader (d. 1995)
 1908 – Joseph McCarthy, American politician (d. 1957)
 1910 - Eric Malpass, British author (d. 1996)
 1913 - George Smathers, American politician (d. 2007)
 1916 - Roger Apéry, French mathematician (d. 1994)
 1916 - Sherwood Schwartz, American television writer and producer (d. 2011)
 1917 – Pak Chŏng Hŭi, President of The Republic of Korea (d. 1979)
 1919 - Johnny Desmond, American singer (d. 1985)
 1919 - Rudolf Kreitlein, German football referee (d. 2012)
 1922 - Veronica Lake, American actress (d. 1973)
 1922 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Egyptian UN Secretary-General (d. 2016)
 1925 - Zhores Medvedev, Russian agronomist, biologist and dissident (d. 2018)
 1926 - Bart Cummings, Australian racehorse trainer (d. 2015)
 1927 - Narciso Yepes, Spanish classical guitarist (d. 1997)
 1928 - Kathleen Hughes, American actress
 1929 – McLean Stevenson, American actor (d. 1996)
 1930 - Elisabeth Frink, English sculptor and printmaker (d. 1993)
 1930 - Edward Higgins White, American astronaut, first American to perform a space walk (d. 1967)
 1930 - Janis Pujats, Latvian cardinal
 1932 - Gunter Sachs, German businessman and playboy (d. 2011)
 1933 - Fred Haise, American astronaut
 1934 - Dave Mackay, Scottish footballer (d. 2015)
 1934 - Ellis Marsalis, Jr., American jazz pianist
 1935 - King Hussein of Jordan (d. 1999)
 1936 - Carey Bell, American blues musician (d. 2007)
 1939 – Wendy Carlos, American composer
 1939 - Ben Cayetano, 5th Governor of Hawaii
 1942 - Natalia Gutman, Russian cellist
 1943 - Peter Norton, American software programmer and author
 1943 - Jim Cantalupo, CEO of McDonald's (d. 2004)
 1944 - Björn Bjarnason, Icelandic politician
 1945 - Stella Obasanjo, First Lady of Nigeria (d. 2005)
 1947 - Buckwheat Zydeco, American musician (d. 2016)
 1948 – Charles, Prince of Wales
 1948 - Paul Dacre, British newspaper editor (Daily Mail)
 1948 - Michael Dobbs, British novelist
 1949 - Pierre Buyoya, former President of Burundi
 1949 - James "J.Y." Young, American guitarist (Styx)

1951  1975 
 1951 - Zhang Yimou, Chinese director
 1951 - Frankie Banali, American drummer and songwriter
 1952 - Maggie Roswell, American actress
 1952 - Bill Farmer, American voice actor
 1953 – Dominique de Villepin, former Prime Minister of France
 1954 – Condoleezza Rice, 66th United States Secretary of State
 1954 - Yanni, Greek-American pianist, composer and producer
 1955 - Jack Sikma, American basketball player
 1955 – Matthias Herget, German footballer
 1956 – Avi Cohen, Israeli footballer (d. 2010)
 1956 - Alec John Such, American musician (Bon Jovi)
 1956 - Babette Babich, American philosopher, author and scholar
 1957 - Wolfgang Hoppe, German bobsledder
 1959 - Paul Attanasio, American screenwriter and movie and TV producer
 1959 – Paul McGann, English actor
 1962 - Stefano Gabbana, Italian fashion designer
 1964 - Patrick Warburton, American actor
 1965 - Greg Hands, English politician
 1966 - Charles Hazlewood, English conductor
 1967 - Letitia Dean, English actress
 1971 – Adam Gilchrist, Australian cricketer
 1972 – Josh Duhamel, American actor
 1972 - Edyta Górniak, Polish singer
 1973 - Dana Snyder, American comedian, actor and producer
 1975 - Travis Barker, American drummer, songwriter and producer
 1975 - Faye Tozer, British singer (Steps)

From 1976 
 1977 - Brian Dietzen, American actor
 1978 - Delphine Chanéac, French model and actress
 1979 - Carl Hayman, New Zealand rugby player
 1979 - Moitheri Ntobo, Lesotho footballer
 1979 - Olga Kurylenko, Ukrainian actress and model
 1979 - Miguel Sabah, Mexican footballer
 1979 - Jean-Alain Boumsong, French footballer
 1980 - Carlos Cabezas, Spanish basketball player
 1981 - Vanessa Bayer, American comedienne and actress
 1981 - Russell Tovey, British actor
 1982 - Laura Ramsey, American actress
 1983 - Alejandro Falla, Colombian tennis player
 1984 - Vincenzo Nibali, Italian cyclist
 1984 - Lisa De Vanna, Australian footballer
 1984 - Marija Serifovic, Serbian singer
 1985 – Thomas Vermaelen, Belgian footballer
 1986 - Yuna, Malaysian singer-songwriter and guitarist
 1986 - Alo Jakin, Estonian cyclist
 1986 - Cory Michael Smith, American actor
 1989 - Jake Livermore, English footballer
 1990 - Zoe van der Weel, British handball player
 1991 - Taylor Hall, Canadian ice hockey player
 1991 - Mohammed Abu, Ghanaian footballer

Deaths

Up to 1900 
 565 - Justinian I, Byzantine Emperor (b. 483)
 976 - Song Taizu, Chinese Emperor
 1263 - Alexander Nevsky, Russian saint (b. 1220)
 1282 - Nichiren, Japanese Buddhist reformer (b. 1222)
 1305 - John II, Duke of Brittany (b. 1239)
 1391 - Nikola Tavelic, Croatian missionary and saint (b. 1340)
 1522 - Anne of France (b. 1461)
 1687 – Nell Gwyn, British actress and royal mistress (b. 1650)
 1691 - Tasa Mitsuoki, Japanese painter (b. 1617)
 1716 – Gottfried Leibniz, German philosopher and mathematician (b. 1646)
 1746 - Georg Wilhelm Steller, German botanist, zoologist, physician and explorer (b. 1709)
 1749 - Maruyama Gondazaemon, Japanese sumo wrestler (b. 1713)
 1817 - Policarpa Salavarrieta, Colombian national heroine (b. 1795)
 1825 - Jean Paul, German author (b. 1863)
 1831 – Georg Hegel, German philosopher (b. 1770)
 1831 - Ignaz Pleyel, Austrian-French composer and piano builder (b. 1757)
 1832 - Charles Carroll of Carrollton, American politician (b. 1737)
 1844 - John Abercrombie, Scottish physician (b. 1780)
 1866 - King Manuel I of Portugal (b. 1802)

1901  2000 
 1908 - Guangxu Emperor of China (b. 1871)
 1915 – Booker T. Washington, American inventor, educator, and writer (b. 1856)
 1921 - Isabel, Princess Imperial of Brazil (b. 1846)
 1922 – Karl Michael Ziehrer, Austrian composer (b. 1843)
 1944 - Trafford Leigh-Mallory, English air force officer (b. 1892)
 1946 – Manuel de Falla, Spanish composer (b. 1876)
 1947 - Joseph Allard, Canadian fiddler and composer (b. 1873)
 1972 - Martin Dies, Jr., American politician (b. 1900)
 1977 – A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Indian religion leader (b. 1896)
 1985 – Wellington Koo, Chinese diplomat (b. 1887)
 1989 - Jimmy Murphy, Manchester United assistant manager (b. 1910)
 1991 - Tony Richardson, English director (b. 1928)
 1992 – Ernst Happel, Austrian football manager (b. 1925)
 2000 - Robert Trout, American journalist (b. 1908)

From 2001 
 2001 - Juan Carlos Lorenzo, Argentine footballer (b. 1922)
 2002 - Eddie Bracken, American actor (b. 1915)
 2003 - Gene Anthony Ray, American actor (b. 1962)
 2004 - Michel Colombier, French composer (b. 1939)
 2011 - Neil Heywood, British businessman (b. 1970)
 2012 - Ahmed Jabari, Palestinian military commander, Hamas (b. 1960)
 2013 - Grace Jones, British supercentenarian (b. 1899)
 2014 - Marius Barnard, South African surgeon (b. 1927)
 2014 - Diem Brown, American television personality (b. 1982)
 2014 - Jane Byrne, 50th Mayor of Chicago (b. 1934)
 2014 - Adib Jatene, Brazilian cardiologist and politician (b. 1929)
 2014 - Glen A. Larson, American television producer and writer (b. 1937)
 2014 - Robert Littell, American politician (b. 1936)
 2014 - Morteza Pashaei, Iranian singer (b. 1984)
 2014 - Eugene Dynkin, Russian-American mathematician (b. 1924)
 2015 - Warren Mitchell, British actor (b. 1926)
 2015 - Nick Bockwinkel, American professional wrestler (b. 1934)
 2016 - Gardnar Mulloy, American tennis player (b. 1913)
 2016 - Gwen Ifill, American broadcast journalist (b. 1955)
 2017 - Shyama, Indian actress (b. 1935)
 2017 - Jean-Pierre Schmitz, Luxembourgish cyclist (b. 1932)
 2017 - Wolfgang Schreyer, German writer (b. 1927)
 2017 - Gunnar Uldall, German politician (b. 1940)
 2017 - Jack Blessing, American actor (b. 1951)
 2017 - Hou Zongbin, Chinese politician (b. 1929)
 2018 - Morten Grunwald, Danish actor and director (b. 1934)
 2018 - James V. Hansen, American politician (b. 1932)
 2018 - Rolf Hoppe, German actor (b. 1930)
 2018 - Fernando del Paso, Mexican writer (b. 1935)
 2019 - María Baxa, Italian-Serbian actress (b. 1946)
 2019 - Branko Lustig, Croatian film producer (b. 1932)

Observances 
 World Diabetes Day (after the biergday of Frederick Banting)
 Children's Day (India)
 Day of the Colombian Woman

Days of the year