August 11Birthdays & History

On this day: August 11 in history

Oldest first. Tap a year to see it on the World Chronicle timeline.

1. 3114 BCThe Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, used by several pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilizations, notably the Maya, begins.Latin America
2. 2492 BCTraditional date of the defeat of Bel by Hayk, progenitor and founder of the Armenian nation.Europe
3. 106The south-western part of Dacia (modern Romania) becomes a Roman province: Roman Dacia.Europe
4. 117Hadrian is proclaimed Roman emperor, two days after Trajan's death.Europe
5. 355Claudius Silvanus, accused of treason, proclaims himself Roman Emperor against Constantius II.Europe
6. 490Battle of Adda: The Goths under Theodoric the Great and his ally Alaric II defeat the forces of Odoacer on the Adda River, near Milan.Europe
7. 923The Qarmatians of Bahrayn capture and pillage the city of Basra.Middle East
8. 1315The Great Famine of Europe becomes so dire that even the king of England has difficulties buying bread for himself and his entourage.Europe
9. 1332Wars of Scottish Independence: Battle of Dupplin Moor: Scots under Domhnall II, Earl of Mar are routed by Edward Balliol.Europe
10. 1473The Battle of Otlukbeli: Mehmed the Conqueror of the Ottoman Empire decisively defeats Uzun Hassan of Aq Qoyunlu.Middle East
11. 1492Rodrigo de Borja is elected as Head of the Catholic Church, taking the name Pope Alexander VI.Europe
12. 1675Franco-Dutch War: Forces of the Holy Roman Empire defeat the French in the Battle of Konzer Brücke.Europe
13. 1685Morean War: The 49-day Siege of Coron ends with the surrender and massacre of its garrison by the Venetians.Europe
14. 1786Captain Francis Light establishes the British colony of Penang in Malaysia.EuropeAsia
15. 1804Francis II assumes the title of first Emperor of Austria.Europe
16. 1812Peninsular War: French troops engage British-Portuguese forces in the Battle of Majadahonda.Europe
17. 1813In Colombia, Juan del Corral declares the independence of Antioquia.Latin America
18. 1858The Eiger in the Bernese Alps is ascended for the first time by Charles Barrington accompanied by Christian Almer and Peter Bohren.Europe
19. 1871An explosion of guncotton occurs in Stowmarket, England, killing 28.Europe
20. 1898Spanish–American War: American troops enter the city of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico.EuropeNorth AmericaLatin America
21. 1918World War I: The Battle of Amiens ends.Europe
22. 1919Germany's Weimar Constitution is signed into law.Europe
23. 1920The Latvian–Soviet Peace Treaty, which relinquished Russia's authority and pretenses to Latvia, is signed, ending the Latvian War of Independence.Europe
24. 1920The 1920 Cork hunger strike begins which eventually results in the deaths of three Irish Republicans including the Lord Mayor of Cork Terence MacSwiney.Europe
25. 1929Babe Ruth becomes the first baseball player to hit 500 home runs in his career with a home run at League Park in Cleveland, Ohio.North America
26. 1934The first civilian prisoners arrive at the Federal prison on Alcatraz Island.North America
27. 1942Actress Hedy Lamarr and composer George Antheil receive a patent for a Frequency-hopping spread spectrum communication system that later became the basis for modern technologies in wireless telephones, two-way radio communications, and Wi-Fi.North America
28. 1945Poles in Kraków engage in a pogrom against Jews in the city, killing one and wounding five.Europe
29. 1952Hussein bin Talal is proclaimed King of Jordan.Middle East
30. 1959Sheremetyevo International Airport, the second-largest airport in Russia, opens.Europe
31. 1960Chad declares independence from France.AfricaEurope
32. 1961The former Portuguese territories in India of Dadra and Nagar Haveli are merged to create the Union Territory Dadra and Nagar Haveli.EuropeAsia
33. 1962Vostok 3 launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome and cosmonaut Andrian Nikolayev becomes the first person to float in microgravity.World
34. 1965Race riots (the Watts Riots) begin in the Watts area of Los Angeles, California.North America
35. 1969The Apollo 11 astronauts are released from a three-week quarantine following their liftoff from the Moon.World
36. 1972Vietnam War: The last United States ground combat unit leaves South Vietnam.AsiaNorth America
37. 1973At the 1520 Sedgwick Avenue apartment building in The Bronx, New York, DJ Kool Herc hosts a house party widely considered to mark the birthplace of hip-hop culture and music. DJ Kool Herc demonstrates a new technique of beat juggling and Coke La Rock performs a new style of vocal performance called rapping.North America
38. 1975East Timor: Governor Mário Lemos Pires of Portuguese Timor abandons the capital Dili, following a coup by the Timorese Democratic Union (UDT) and the outbreak of civil war between UDT and Fretilin.AsiaEurope
39. 1979Two Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-134s collide over the Ukrainian city of Dniprodzerzhynsk and crash, killing all 178 aboard both airliners.Europe
40. 1982A bomb explodes on Pan Am Flight 830, en route from Tokyo, Japan to Honolulu, Hawaii, killing one passenger and injuring 15 others.AsiaNorth America
41. 1984"We begin bombing in five minutes": United States President Ronald Reagan, while running for re-election, jokes while preparing to make his weekly Saturday address on National Public Radio.North America
42. 1988A meeting between Sayyed Imam Al-Sharif, Osama bin Laden, Abdullah Yusuf Azzam, and leaders of Egyptian Islamic Jihad in Afghanistan culminates in the formation of Al-Qaeda.Middle EastAsia
43. 1991Nickelodeon's first line of "Nicktoons" (Doug, Rugrats and Ren & Stimpy) premiere on the channel.North America
44. 1992The Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota opens. At the time, it is the largest shopping mall in the United States.North America
45. 1995The Russell Hill subway accident in Toronto kills three and injures 30, due to a combination of human error and a safety system design flaw.North America
46. 1996The killing of Tassos Isaac by Turkish nationalists of the Grey Wolves in the United Nations Buffer Zone in Cyprus.Middle East
47. 2000An air rage incident occurs on board Southwest Airlines Flight 1763 when 19-year-old Jonathan Burton attempts to storm the cockpit, but he is subdued by other passengers and dies from his injuries.North America
48. 2003Jemaah Islamiyah leader Riduan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali, is arrested in Bangkok, Thailand.Asia
49. 2003NATO takes over command of the peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, marking its first major operation outside Europe in its 54-year-history.EuropeAsia
50. 2006The oil tanker MT Solar 1 sinks off the coast of Guimaras and Negros Islands in the Philippines, causing the country's worst oil spill.Asia
51. 2012At least 306 people are killed and 3,000 others injured in a pair of earthquakes near Tabriz, Iran.Middle East
52. 2017At least 41 people are killed and another 179 injured after two passenger trains collide in Alexandria, Egypt.Middle East
53. 2023Luna 25 launches from the Vostochny Cosmodrome.World

Source: Wikipedia "August 11" / CC BY-SA 4.0