June 23Birthdays & History

On this day: June 23 in history

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

1. 229Sun Quan proclaims himself emperor of Eastern Wu.Asia
2. 1266War of Saint Sabas: In the Battle of Trapani, the Venetians defeat a larger Genoese fleet, capturing all its ships.Europe
3. 1280The Spanish Reconquista: In the Battle of Moclín the Emirate of Granada ambush a superior pursuing force, killing most of them in a military disaster for the Kingdom of Castile.Europe
4. 1287The Aragonese fleet under Roger of Lauria defeats a Angevin fleet in the Battle of the Counts close to Naples.Europe
5. 1305A peace treaty between the Flemish and the French is signed at Athis-sur-Orge.Europe
6. 1314First War of Scottish Independence: The Battle of Bannockburn (south of Stirling) begins.Europe
7. 1532Henry VIII of England and Francis I of France sign the "Treaty of Closer Amity With France" (also known as the Pommeraye treaty), pledging mutual aid against Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.Europe
8. 1565Dragut, commander of the Ottoman navy, dies during the Great Siege of Malta.Middle EastEurope
9. 1594The Action of Faial, Azores. The Portuguese carrack Cinco Chagas, loaded with slaves and treasure, is attacked and sunk by English ships with only 13 survivors out of over 700 on board.Europe
10. 1683William Penn signs a friendship treaty with Lenape Indians in Pennsylvania.North America
11. 1713The French residents of Acadia are given one year to declare allegiance to Britain or leave Nova Scotia, Canada.EuropeNorth America
12. 1757Battle of Plassey: Three thousand British troops under Robert Clive defeat a 50,000-strong Indian army under Siraj ud-Daulah at Plassey.EuropeAsia
13. 1758Seven Years' War: Battle of Krefeld: British, Hanoverian, and Prussian forces defeat French troops at Krefeld in Germany.Europe
14. 1760Seven Years' War: Battle of Landeshut: Austria defeats Prussia.Europe
15. 1780American Revolution: Battle of Springfield fought in and around Springfield, New Jersey (including Short Hills, formerly of Springfield, now of Millburn Township).North America
16. 1794Empress Catherine II of Russia grants Jews permission to settle in Kyiv.Europe
17. 1810John Jacob Astor forms the Pacific Fur Company.North America
18. 1812War of 1812: Great Britain revokes the restrictions on American commerce, thus eliminating one of the chief reasons for going to war.EuropeNorth America
19. 1860The United States Congress establishes the Government Printing Office.North America
20. 1865American Civil War: At Fort Towson in the Oklahoma Territory, Confederate Brigadier General Stand Watie surrenders the last significant Confederate army.North America
21. 1868Christopher Latham Sholes receives a patent for an invention he called the "Type-Writer".North America
22. 1887The Rocky Mountains Park Act becomes law in Canada, creating the nation's first national park, Banff National Park.North America
23. 1894The International Olympic Committee is founded at the Sorbonne in Paris, at the initiative of Baron Pierre de Coubertin.Europe
24. 1908The Persian Cossack Brigade bombards the building of the National Consultative Assembly of Iran (Majles), killing hundreds of civilians.Middle East
25. 1913Second Balkan War: The Greeks defeat the Bulgarians in the Battle of Doiran.Europe
26. 1914Mexican Revolution: Pancho Villa takes Zacatecas from Victoriano Huerta.Latin America
27. 1919Estonian War of Independence: The decisive defeat of the Baltische Landeswehr in the Battle of Cēsis; this date is celebrated as Victory Day in Estonia.Europe
28. 1925Shameen Incident: British Army and French Army soldiers stationed in the concession of Shameen open fire on Chinese protesters, resulting in at least 52 deaths.EuropeAsia
29. 1926The College Board administers the first SAT exam.North America
30. 1931Wiley Post and Harold Gatty take off from Roosevelt Field, Long Island in an attempt to circumnavigate the world in a single-engine plane.World
31. 1938The Civil Aeronautics Act is signed into law, forming the Civil Aeronautics Authority in the United States.North America
32. 1940Henry Larsen begins the first successful west-to-east navigation of Northwest Passage from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.North AmericaEurope
33. 1941The Lithuanian Activist Front declares independence from the Soviet Union and forms the Provisional Government of Lithuania; it lasts only briefly as the Nazis will occupy Lithuania a few weeks later.Europe
34. 1942World War II: Germany's latest fighter aircraft, a Focke-Wulf Fw 190, is captured intact when it mistakenly lands at RAF Pembrey in Wales.Europe
35. 1944An F4 tornado tears through the Appalachian Mountains, killing over 100 people in West Virginia, particularly in the town of Shinnston.North America
36. 1946The 1946 Vancouver Island earthquake strikes Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.North AmericaEurope
37. 1947The United States Senate follows the United States House of Representatives in overriding U.S. President Harry S. Truman's veto of the Taft–Hartley Act.North America
38. 1951The ocean liner SS United States is christened and launched.North America
39. 1956The French National Assembly takes the first step in creating the French Community by passing the Loi Cadre, transferring a number of powers from Paris to elected territorial governments in French West Africa.EuropeAfrica
40. 1959Convicted Manhattan Project spy Klaus Fuchs is released after only nine years in prison and allowed to emigrate to Dresden, East Germany where he resumes a scientific career.North AmericaEurope
41. 1960The United States Food and Drug Administration declares Enovid to be the first officially approved combined oral contraceptive pill in the world.North America
42. 1961The Antarctic Treaty System, which sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and limits military activity on the continent, its islands and ice shelves, comes into force.World
43. 1967Cold War: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson meets with Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin in Glassboro, New Jersey for the three-day Glassboro Summit Conference.North AmericaEurope
44. 1968Seventy-four people were killed and 150 others injured in a stampede at a football match between Boca Juniors and Club Atlético River Plate in Buenos Aires, Argentina.Latin America
45. 1969IBM announces that effective January 1970 it will price its software and services separately from hardware thus creating the modern software industry.North America
46. 1969Warren E. Burger is sworn in as Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court by retiring Chief Justice Earl Warren.North America
47. 1972Title IX of the United States Civil Rights Act of 1964 is amended to prohibit sexual discrimination to any educational program receiving federal funds.North America
48. 1972Watergate scandal: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon and White House Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman are taped talking about illegally using the Central Intelligence Agency to obstruct the Federal Bureau of Investigation's investigation into the Watergate break-ins.North America
49. 1973A fire at a house in Hull, England, which kills a six-year-old boy is passed off as an accident; it later emerges as the first of 26 deaths by fire caused over the next seven years by serial arsonist Peter Dinsdale.Europe
50. 1985A terrorist bomb explodes at Narita International Airport near Tokyo, killing two and injuring four. An hour later, the same group detonates a second bomb aboard Air India Flight 182, bringing the Boeing 747 down off the coast of Ireland killing all 329 aboard.AsiaAsiaEurope
51. 1991Sonic the Hedgehog is released in North America on the Sega Genesis platform, beginning the popular video game franchise.North America
52. 1994NASA's Space Station Processing Facility, a new state-of-the-art manufacturing building for the International Space Station, officially opens at Kennedy Space Center.North America
53. 2001The 8.4 Mw southern Peru earthquake shakes coastal Peru with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). A destructive tsunami followed, leaving at least 74 people dead, and 2,687 injured.Latin America
54. 2005American social news and discussion site Reddit is founded in Medford, Massachusetts by Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian.North America
55. 2012Ashton Eaton breaks the decathlon world record at the United States Olympic Trials.North America
56. 2013Militants storm a high-altitude mountaineering base camp near Nanga Parbat in Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan, killing ten climbers and a local guide.Asia
57. 2013Nik Wallenda becomes the first man to successfully walk across the Grand Canyon on a tight rope.North America
58. 2014The last of Syria's declared chemical weapons are shipped out for destruction.Middle East
59. 2016Brexit: The United Kingdom votes in a referendum to leave the European Union, by 52% to 48%.Europe
60. 2017A series of terrorist attacks take place in Pakistan, resulting in 96 deaths and wounding 200 others.Asia
61. 2018Twelve boys and an assistant coach from a soccer team in Thailand are trapped in a flooding cave, leading to an 18-day rescue operation.Asia

Source: Wikipedia "June 23" / CC BY-SA 4.0