June 29Birthdays & History

On this day: June 29 in history

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

1. 226Cao Rui succeeds his father as emperor of Wei.Asia
2. 626The Avars and Sassanids besiege Constantinople, held by Byzantine troops under Patrician Bonus.Middle EastEurope
3. 1072Former Byzantine Emperor Romanos IV Diogenes is blinded on command of caesar John Doukas.Europe
4. 1149Raymond of Poitiers is defeated and killed at the Battle of Inab by Nur ad-Din Zangi.Middle East
5. 1170A major earthquake hits Syria, badly damaging towns such as Hama and Shaizar and structures such as the Krak des Chevaliers and the cathedral of St. Peter in Antioch.Middle East
6. 1194Sverre is crowned King of Norway, leading to his excommunication by the Catholic Church and civil war.Europe
7. 1444Skanderbeg defeats an Ottoman invasion force at Torvioll.Middle East
8. 1457The Dutch city of Dordrecht is devastated by fire.Europe
9. 1534Jacques Cartier is the first European to reach Prince Edward Island.Europe
10. 1613The Globe Theatre in London, built by William Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, burns to the ground.Europe
11. 1620English crown bans tobacco growing in England, giving the Virginia Company a monopoly in exchange for tax of one shilling per pound.EuropeNorth America
12. 1644Charles I of England defeats a Parliamentarian detachment at the Battle of Cropredy Bridge.Europe
13. 1659At the Battle of Konotop the Ukrainian armies of Ivan Vyhovsky defeat the Russians led by Prince Trubetskoy.Europe
14. 1764One of the strongest tornadoes in history strikes Woldegk, Germany, killing one person while leveling numerous mansions with winds estimated greater than 300 miles per hour (480 km/h).Europe
15. 1786Alexander Macdonell and over five hundred Roman Catholic highlanders leave Scotland to settle in Glengarry County, Ontario.EuropeNorth America
16. 1807Russo-Turkish War: Admiral Dmitry Senyavin destroys the Ottoman fleet in the Battle of Athos.Middle East
17. 1850Autocephaly officially granted by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople to the Church of Greece.Middle EastEurope
18. 1864At least 99 people, mostly German and Polish immigrants, are killed in Canada's worst railway disaster after a train fails to stop for an open drawbridge and plunges into the Rivière Richelieu near St-Hilaire, Quebec.EuropeNorth America
19. 1874Greek politician Charilaos Trikoupis publishes a manifesto in the Athens daily Kairoi entitled "Who's to Blame?" leveling complaints against King George. Trikoupis is elected Prime Minister of Greece the next year.Europe
20. 1880France annexes Tahiti, renaming the independent Kingdom of Tahiti as "Etablissements de français de l'Océanie".EuropeOceania
21. 1881In Sudan, Muhammad Ahmad declares himself to be the Mahdi, the messianic redeemer of Islam.Africa
22. 1888George Edward Gouraud records Handel's Israel in Egypt onto a phonograph cylinder, thought for many years to be the oldest known recording of music.Middle East
23. 1889Hyde Park and several other Illinois townships vote to be annexed by Chicago, forming the largest United States city in area and second largest in population at the time.North America
24. 1913The Bulgarian army launches attacks against Serbian positions, triggering the Second Balkan War.Europe
25. 1915The North Saskatchewan River flood of 1915 is the worst flood in Edmonton history.North America
26. 1916British diplomat turned Irish nationalist Roger Casement is sentenced to death for his part in the Easter Rising.Europe
27. 1922France grants "one square kilometer" at Vimy Ridge "freely, and for all time, to the Government of Canada, the free use of the land exempt from all taxes".EuropeNorth America
28. 1927The Bird of Paradise, a U.S. Army Air Corps Fokker tri-motor, completes the first transpacific flight, from the mainland United States to Hawaii.North America
29. 1945The Soviet Union annexes the Czechoslovak province of Carpathian Ruthenia.Europe
30. 1950Korean War: U.S. President Harry S. Truman authorizes a sea blockade of Korea.AsiaNorth America
31. 1952The first Miss Universe pageant is held. Armi Kuusela from Finland wins the title of Miss Universe 1952.Europe
32. 1956The Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 is signed by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, officially creating the United States Interstate Highway System.North America
33. 1971Prior to re-entry (following a record-setting stay aboard the Soviet Union's Salyut 1 space station), the crew capsule of the Soyuz 11 spacecraft depressurizes, killing the three cosmonauts on board. Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsayev are the first humans to die in space.Europe
34. 1972A Convair CV-580 and De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter collide above Lake Winnebago near Appleton, Wisconsin, killing 13.North America
35. 1972The United States Supreme Court rules in the case Furman v. Georgia that arbitrary and inconsistent imposition of the death penalty violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments and constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.North America
36. 1974Mikhail Baryshnikov defects from the Soviet Union to Canada while on tour with the Kirov Ballet.EuropeNorth America
37. 1974Vice President Isabel Perón assumes powers and duties as Acting President of Argentina, while her husband President Juan Perón is terminally ill.Latin America
38. 1975Pope Paul VI ordains some 350 priests in St. Peter's Square in the largest ordination in historyEurope
39. 1976The Conference of Communist and Workers Parties of Europe convenes in East Berlin.Europe
40. 1976The Seychelles become independent from the United Kingdom.AfricaEurope
41. 1986The Argentina national football team wins the FIFA World Cup held in Mexico after defeating the West Germany national football team by a score of 3–2 in the final at the Estadio Azteca.Latin AmericaEurope
42. 1987Vincent van Gogh's painting, the Le Pont de Trinquetaille, is bought for $20.4 million at an auction in London, England.Europe
43. 1995Space Shuttle program: STS-71 Mission (Atlantis) docks with the Russian space station Mir for the first time.Europe
44. 1995The Sampoong Department Store collapses in the Seocho District of Seoul, South Korea, killing 502 and injuring 937.Asia
45. 2002Naval clashes between South Korea and North Korea lead to the death of six South Korean sailors and sinking of a North Korean vessel.Asia
46. 2006Hamdan v. Rumsfeld: The U.S. Supreme Court rules that President George W. Bush's plan to try Guantanamo Bay detainees in military tribunals violates U.S. and international law.North America
47. 2007Apple Inc. releases its first mobile phone, the iPhone.North America
48. 2012A derecho sweeps across the eastern United States, leaving at least 22 people dead and millions without power.North America
49. 2014The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant self-declares its caliphate in Syria and northern Iraq.Middle East

Source: Wikipedia "June 29" / CC BY-SA 4.0