July 21

Events 
 Up to 1900 
 356 BC – The Temple of Artemis in Ephesus (present–day Turkey), one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, is destroyed in an arson attack.
 230 – Pope Pontian succeeds Pope Urban I.
 285 – Diocletian appoints Maximian as Roman Caesar and co–ruler.
 365 – After a magnitude 8 earthquake, and a tsunami, around 50,000 people are killed in and around Alexandria, Egypt.
 1342 – The St. Mary Magdalene's flood leads to several rivers in central Europe bursting their banks. It is Europe's worst flood of the second millennium.
 1403 – Battle of Shrewsbury: King Henry IV of England defeats rebels in the north of the county of Shropshire.
 1418 – Qara Qoyunlu-Ottoman Wars#Qarahisar expedition (1418) Qara Qoyunlu’s leader Qara Yusuf, defeat to Ottoman sultan Mehmed I. 
 1545 – The first landing of French troops on the coast of the Isle of Wight, during the island's French invasion.
 1645 – Qing Dynasty regent Dorgon issues an edict ordering all male subjects of the Qing to shave their forehead and braid the rest of their hair into a queue identical to those of the Manchus. However another source says Salars wore the queue.https://books.google.com/books?id=Y8Nzux7z6KAC&pg=PA105&lpg=PA105&dq=%22their+frontier+environment.+They+wore+the+queue%22&source=bl&ots=65Ct2zbZl9&sig=ACfU3U1WiRRyRtP8aRQZ2yb49mfQRdZGhA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjx8eOg4JT-AhX-RPEDHaPlB-4Q6AF6BAgIEAM#v=onepage&q=%22their%20frontier%20environment.%20They%20wore%20the%20queue%22&f=falsehttps://muse.jhu.edu/pub/194/oa_monograph/chapter/1249680/pdf
 1656 – The Raid on Malaga takes place during the Anglo-Spanish War.
 1718 – The Treaty of Passarowitz between the Ottoman Empire, Austria and the Republic of Venice is signed.
 1774 – The First Russo-Turkish War ends.
 1795 – Mungo Park becomes the first European to reach the River Niger.
 1798 – Battle of the Pyramids: Napoleon Bonaparte's army defeats the army of the Mamluks under the leadership of Mourad Bey.
 1822 – Agustin de Iturbide becomes Emperor of Mexico.
 1831 – The British Guyana colony is created.
 1831 – Leopold I, King of the Belgians becomes Belgium's first king.
 1843 – Antwerp Zoo is founded, becoming the first zoo in Belgium.
 1847 – Spain recognizes Bolivia's independence.
 1861 – American Civil War: The First Battle of Bull Run at Manassas ends in Confederate victory.
 1865 – Wild Bill Hickok shoots Davis Tutt in one of the first Western showdowns.
 1873 – At Adair, Iowa Jesse James and the James Younger Gang pull off the first successful train robbery in the Old American West.
 1897 – London's Tate Gallery opens.

 1901 – 2000 
 1902 – The steamer Primus sinks in the Elbe River near Hamburg, killing 101 people.
 1904 – Louis Rigolly, a Frenchman, becomes the first man to break the  barrier on land. He drove a 15–litre Gobron–Brille in Ostend, Belgium.
 1907 – The passenger steamer SS Columbia collides with the steam schooner San Pedro off Shelter Cove, California. The Columbia sinks, killing 88 people.
 1914 – Romania, it is decided, is neutral in World War I, after a decision by the country's crown council.
 1925 – Tennessee high school biology teacher John T. Scopes is found guilty of teaching the theory of evolution. He is fined 100 dollars.
 1925 – Malcolm Campbell becomes the first man to break the  land barrier at Pendine Sands, Wales. He drove a Sunbeam at a two–way average speed of .
 1938 – In a peace deal at the end of the Chaco War, Bolivia loses part of its territory to Paraguay. That makes Paraguay twice as big.
 1944 – Leaders of the July 20 plot to kill Adolf Hitler are executed.
 1944 – World War II: The Battle of Guam begins.
 1949 – The United States Senate ratifies the North Atlantic Treaty.
 1951 – The Dalai Lama returns to Tibet from exile.
 1954 – Publication of the first part of the novel The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien.
 1954 – The Geneva Conference decides to split Vietnam into North and South.
 1959 – Pumpsie Green becomes the first African American to play for the Boston Red Sox baseball team.
 1961 – Gus Grissom becomes the second American in space.
 1962 – British band the Rolling Stones play their first show, at the Marquee Club in London.
 1969 – At 2:56 am on this day (July 20 in the US), Apollo 11 lands, leading to Neil Armstrong becoming the first person to walk on the Moon.
 1970 – In Egypt, the Aswan Dam is completed.
 1972 – The Troubles: Bloody Friday – Provisional IRA members detonate 22 bombs in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in the space of 80 minutes.
 1973 – Lillehammer affair: The Mossad kills waiter Ahmed Bouchiki in Norway, mistakenly thinking he was terrorist leader Ali Hassan Salameh.
 1974 – Eddy Merckx wins his 5th Tour de France.
 1977 – Start of the four–day Libyan-Egyptian War.
 1983 – The lowest–measured temperature is recorded as  at the Soviet Vostok Station in Antarctica.
 1992 – Russia and Moldova enter into a peace agreement.
 1994 – Tony Blair becomes leader of the British Labour Party.
 1994 – Jacques Santer is elected President of the European Commission.
 1996 – Bjarne Riis becomes the first Scandinavian to win the Tour de France.

 From 2001 
 2001 – At the end of a fireworks display in Okura Beach, Akashi, Hyogo, Japan, the footbridge connecting the beach to the JR Asagiri railway station becomes crowded, with the resulting crush killing 11 people and injuring 120.
 2005 – Four suicide bombers fail to detonate their bombs on London's underground and bus systems.
 2005 – Horst Koehler dissolves the Bundestag (German Parliament) ahead of an early election.
 2007 – The last novel in the Harry Potter series goes on sale.
 2008 – Former Bosnian–Serb leader Radovan Karadzic is arrested on war crimes charges in Belgrade, after several years in disguise.
 2011 – The Space Shuttle program ends, as the Space Shuttle Atlantis returns safely to Earth on its last mission.
 2013 – King Albert II of Belgium leaves the throne to his son, who becomes King Philippe of Belgium, and is therefore the 7th King of the Belgians.
 2013 – British cyclist Chris Froome wins the 100th Tour de France.
 2016 – Donald Trump accepts the Republican Party nomination for US president.

 Births 
 Up to 1900 
 1414 – Pope Sixtus IV (d. 1484)
 1515 – Philip Neri, Italian saint (d. 1595)
 1620 – Jean Picard, French astronomer (d. 1682)
 1664 – Matthew Prior, English poet and diplomat (d. 1721)
 1693 – Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Prime Minister of Great Britain (d. 1768)
 1766 – Thomas Charles Hope, Scottish physician and chemist (d. 1844)
 1808 – Simion Barnutiu, Romanian philosopher, liberal politician, jurist and historian (d. 1864)
 1810 – Henri Victor Regnault, French chemist and physicist (d. 1878)
 1816 – Paul Reuter, German–British journalist (d. 1899)
 1821 – Vasile Alecsandri, Romanian poet, dramatist and politician (d. 1890)
 1843 – Infanta Maria Anna of Portugal (d. 1884)
 1851 – Sam Bass, American train robber and outlaw (d. 1878)
 1856 – Wilhelm Geiger, German indologist (d. 1943)
 1858 – Maria Christina of Austria, Queen of Spain (d. 1929)
 1858 – Lovis Corinth, German painter and graphic artist (d. 1925)
 1864 – Frances Folsom Cleveland, First Lady of the United States (d. 1947)
 1870 – Emil Orlik, Czech painter and graphic artist (d. 1932)
 1873 – Charles Schlee, Danish–American cyclist (d. 1947)
 1875 – Charles Gondouin, French rugby player (d. 1947)
 1879 – Joseph A. A. Burnquist, Governor of Minnesota (d. 1961)
 1880 – Milan Rastislav Stefanik, Slovakian politician and astronomer (d. 1919)
 1882 – David Burliuk, Ukrainian illustrator, publicist and author (d. 1967)
 1885 – Jacques Feyder, Belgian actor, screenwriter and movie director (d. 1948)
 1891 – Julius Saaristo, Finnish javelin thrower (d. 1969)
 1893 – Hans Fallada, German writer (d. 1947)
 1893 – Margarete Sommer, German humanitarian (d. 1965)
 1897 – Edmund Heines, German Nazi politician (d. 1934)
 1899 – Hart Crane, American poet (d. 1932)
 1899 – Ernest Hemingway, American writer (d. 1961)

 1901 – 1950 
 1903 – Roy Neuberger, American financier and art collector (d. 2010)
 1908 – Ljerko Spiller, Argentine conductor and violinist (d. 2008)
 1908 – Harold "Jug" McSpaden, American golfer (d. 1996)
 1911 – Marshall McLuhan, Canadian writer (d. 1980)
 1914 – Suso Cecchi d'Amico, Italian screenwriter (d. 2010)
 1919 – Nuto Revelli, Italian military, resistance activist, professor and writer (d. 2004)
 1920 – John Horsley, English actor (d. 2014)
 1920 – Isaac Stern, Ukrainian violinist (d. 2001)
 1920 – Constant Nieuwenhuys, Dutch painter (d. 2005)
 1920 – Mohammed Dib, Algerian journalist and writer (d. 2003)
 1921 – James Cooke Brown, American sociologist (d. 2000)
 1922 – Jay Hammond, Governor of Alaska (d. 2005)
 1922 – Kay Starr, American entertainer (d. 2016)
 1922 – Molly Sugden, British actress (d. 2009)
 1923 – Rudolph A. Marcus, Canadian chemist
 1924 – Rahimuddin Khan, Pakistani politician, 7th Governor of Balochistan
 1924 – Don Knotts, American actor (d. 2006)
 1925 – Anne Meacham, American actress (d. 2006)
 1926 – Norman Jewison, Canadian movie director
 1926 – Bill Pertwee, English actor (d. 2013)
 1926 – Karel Reisz, Czech–English director (d. 2002)
 1930 – Helen Merrill, American jazz singer
 1933 – John Gardner, American writer (d. 1982)
 1934 – Jonathan Miller, British director, actor and author
 1935 – Norbert Blüm, German politician
 1938 – Janet Reno, United States Attorney General (d. 2016)
 1938 – Anton Kuerti, Austrian–Canadian pianist, composer and conductor
 1939 – Helmut Haller, German footballer (d. 2012)
 1939 – Kim Fowley, American record producer (d. 2015)
 1941 – Martin Bandier, music publisher
 1943 – Edward Herrmann, American actor (d. 2014)
 1943 – Henry McCullough, Northern Irish guitarist, singer and songwriter (d. 2016)
 1944 – Buchi Emecheta, Nigerian novelist (d. 2017)
 1944 – John Atta Mills, President of Ghana (d. 2012)
 1944 – Paul Wellstone, U.S. Senator from Minnesota (d. 2002)
 1945 – Lydia Shum, Hong Kong actress and singer (d. 2008)
 1945 – John Lowe, English darts player
 1945 – Wendy Cope, English poet
 1946 – Ken Starr, American lawyer and judge
 1946 – Jüri Tarmak, Estonian high jumper  
 1947 – Chetan Chauan, Indian cricketer
 1947 – Co Adriaanse, Dutch football manager
 1948 – Beppe Grillo, Italian actor, comedian and political activist (Five Star Movement)
 1948 – Ed Hinton, sportswriter
 1948 – Yusuf Islam, English singer, formerly known as Cat Stevens
 1948 – Garry Trudeau, American cartoonist
 1948 – Litto Nebbia, Argentine tango and rock musician
 1948 – Snooty, American manatee (d. 2017)
 1950 – Susan Kramer, English politician

 1951 – 1975 
 1951 – Robin Williams, American actor and comedian (d. 2014)
 1953 – John Salazar, American politician
 1953 – Jeff Fatt, Australian musician (The Wiggles)
 1955 – Marcelo Bielsa, Argentine footballer and manager
 1955 – Taco, Indonesian–born Dutch singer
 1955 – Howie Epstein, American bass player, songwriter and producer (d. 2003)
 1955 – Béla Tarr, Hungarian actor, director and screenwriter
 1955 – Dannel Malloy, American politician, 88th Governor of Connecticut
 1957 – Stefan Löfven, Prime Minister of Sweden
 1957 – Jon Lovitz, American comedian
 1958 – Dave Henderson, American baseball player (d. 2015)
 1960 – Lance Guest, American actor
 1962 – Mokgweetsi Masisi, 5th President of Botswana
 1964 – Ross Kemp, British actor
 1964 – Jens Weissflog, German ski jumper
 1965 – Gudni Bergsson, Icelandic footballer
 1968 – Brandi Chastain, American soccer player
 1968 – Lyle Odelein, hockey player
 1969 – Emerson Hart, American singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer
 1970 – Angus MacNeil, Scottish politician
 1971 – Charlotte Gainsbourg, French actress
 1972 – Catherine Ndereba, Kenyan long–distance runner
 1972 – Simon Reeve, English television presenter and writer
 1973 – Roberto Bisconti, Belgian footballer
 1973 – Ali Landry, American model and actress
 1973 – Caroline Néron, Canadian singer, actress and fashion designer

 From 1976 
 1977 – Paul Casey, British golfer
 1977 – Jaime Murray, British actress
 1978 – Kyoko Iwasaki, Japanese swimmer
 1978 – Gary Teale, Scottish footballer
 1978 – Josh Hartnett, American actor
 1978 – Damian Marley, Jamaican singer-songwriter and producer
 1979 – David Carr, American football player
 1979 – Dorinel Gurbina, Romanian handball player
 1979 – Andriy Voronin, Ukrainian footballer
 1980 – CC Sabathia, American baseball player
 1981 – Paloma Faith, English singer-songwriter and actress
 1981 – Yushin Okami, Japanese mixed martial artist
 1981 – Joaquín Sánchez, Spanish footballer
 1982 – Mao Kobayashi, Japanese actress
 1983 – Kellen Winslow Jr., American football player
 1983 – Eivør Pálsdóttir, Faroese singer and composer
 1984 – Liam Ridgewell, English footballer
 1985 – Von Wafer, American basketball player
 1986 – Anthony Annan, Ghanaian footballer
 1986 – Livia Brito, Cuban–Mexican actress and model
 1986 – Rebecca Ferguson, English singer
 1988 – DeAndre Jordan, American basketball player
 1989 – Rory Culkin, American actor
 1989 – Ali Cobrin, American actress
 1989 – Juno Temple, English actress
 1989 – Marco Fabian, Mexican footballer
 1989 – Chris Gunter, Welsh footballer
 1990 – Chris Martin, English footballer
 1992 – Rachael Flatt, American figure skater
 1992 – Jessica Barden, English actress
 1995 – Baekho, South Korean singer

 Deaths 
 Up to 1950 
 1403 – Henry Percy, English nobleman and soldier (b. 1364)
 1425 – Manuel II Palaeologus, Byzantine Emperor (b. 1350)
 1552 – Antonio de Mendoza, 1st Viceroy of New Spain (b. 1495)
 1793 – Bruni d'Entrecasteaux, French explorer (b. 1739)
 1796 – Robert Burns, Scottish poet (b. 1759)
 1796 – Philip Carteret, English explorer (b. 1733)
 1859 – John Gayle, American politician (b. 1792)
 1865 – Davis Tutt, American gambler and salloon drinker (b. 1836)
 1878 – Sam Bass, American train robber and outlaw (b. 1851)
 1880 – Hiram Walden, American politician (b. 1800)
 1889 – Nelson Dewey, American politician (b. 1813)
 1899 – Robert G. Ingersoll, American soldier and politician (b. 1833)
 1907 – Nicolae Grigorescu, Romanian painter (b. 1838)
 1938 – Owen Wister, American writer (b. 1860)
 1941 – Bohdan Lepky, Ukrainian writer and poet (b. 1872)
 1943 – Charley Paddock, American politician (b. 1900)
 1944 – Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, leader of the July 20 plot to kill Hitler (b. 1907)
 1944 – Ludwig Beck, German Chief of Staff (b. 1880)
 1946 – Gualberto Villarroel, 45th President of Bolivia (b. 1908)
 1948 – Arshile Gorky, Armenian–American painter and illustrator (b. 1904)

 1951 – 2010 
 1967 – Albert Lutuli, South African political activist (b. 1898)
 1967 – Basil Rathbone, British actor (b. 1892)
 1968 – Ruth St. Denis, American dancer and choreographer (b. 1878)
 1970 – Mikhail Gerasimov, Russian anthropologist and sculptor (b. 1907)
 1972 – Jigme Dorji Wangchuck, King of Bhutan (b. 1928)
 1972 – Ralph Craig, American sprinter (b. 1889)
 1973 – Ahmed Bouchiki, Algerian–born victim of mistaken identity, killed by the Mossad in Norway (b. 1943)
 1982 – Dave Garroway, American journalist (b. 1913)
 1991 – Paul Warwick, English racing driver (b. 1969)
 1998 – Robert Young, American actor (b. 1907)
 1998 – Alan Shepard, the first American to travel into space (b. 1923)
 2004 – Edward B. Lewis, American geneticist (b. 1918)
 2010 – Anthony Rolfe Johnson, British operatic tenor (b. 1940)
 2010 – Luis Corvalán, Chilean Communist politician (b. 1916)

 From 2011 
 2011 – Kazimierz Świątek, former Catholic Cardinal of Belarus, Gulag survivor (b. 1914)
 2011 – Bruce Sundlum, Governor of Rhode Island (b. 1920)
 2012 – Susanne Lothar, German actress (b. 1960)
 2013 – Denys de La Patellière, French director (b. 1921)
 2014 – Kevin Skinner, New Zealand rugby player (b. 1927)
 2014 – John M. Coyne, American politician (b. 1916)
 2014 – Hans-Peter Kaul, German judge (b. 1943)
 2014 – Dan Borislow, American telecommunications executive (b. 1961)
 2014 – Harald Hove, Norwegian politician (b. 1949)
 2015 – Dick Nanninga, Dutch footballer (b. 1949)
 2015 – Theodore Bikel, Austrian–American actor (b. 1924)
 2015 – Robert Broberg, Swedish singer and songwriter (b. 1940)
 2015 – E. L. Doctorow, American writer (b. 1931)
 2015 – Luiz Paulo Conde, Brazilian politician and architect (b. 1934)
 2017 – Howard Eichenbaum, American psychologist and neuroscientist (b. 1947)
 2017 – John Heard, American actor (b. 1945)
 2017 – Yami Lester, Australian activist (b. 1942)
 2017 – Geoff Mack, Australian singer–songwriter (b. 1922)
 2017 – Deborah Watling, English actress (b. 1948)
 2017 – Stubbs, American cat, Honorary Mayor of Talkeetna, Alaska (b. 1997)
 2017 – Jon van Rood, Dutch immunologist (b. 1926)
 2018 – Jonathan Gold, American food critic (b. 1965)
 2018 – Don McCarthy, British businessman and philanthropist (b. 1955)
 2018 – Elmarie Wendel, American actress (b. 1928)
 2018 – Alene Duerk, American admiral (b. 1920)
 2019 – José Manuel Estepa Llaurens, Spanish cardinal (b. 1926)
 2019 – Hugo Cóccaro, Argentine politician (b. 1954)
 2019 – Antonino Cuffaro, Italian politician (b. 1932)
 2019 – Francisco Grau, Spanish military officer and composer (b. 1947)
 2019 – Paul Krassner, American writer and political activist (b. 1932)
 2019 – Robert Morgenthau, American lawyer (b. 1919)

 Observances 
 National Day of Belgium
 Liberation Day in Guam
 Racial Harmony Day (Singapore)

References

Category:Days of the year