Historical Events on 4 Jul

Historical Events on 4 Jul

1054 - A supernova is observed by the Chinese, the Arabs and possibly Amerindians near the star ζ Tauri. For several months it remains bright enough to be seen during the day. Its remnants form the Crab Nebula.
1120 - Jordan II of Capua is anointed as prince after his infant nephew's death.
1187 - The Crusades: Battle of Hattin - Saladin defeats Guy of Lusignan, King of Jerusalem.
1253 - Battle of West-Capelle: John I of Avesnes defeats Guy of Dampierre.
1359 - Francesco II Ordelaffi of Forlì surrenders to the Papal commander Gil de Albornoz.
1534 - Christian III is elected King of Denmark and Norway in the town of Rye.
1634 - The city of Trois-Rivières is founded in New France, later to become the Canadian province of Quebec.
1636 - City of Providence, Rhode Island forms.
1754 - Lt-Col. George Washington surrenders Fort Necessity to French Capt. Louis Coulon de Villiers.
1774 - Freeholders and inhabitants of Tappan, a hamlet in the town of Orangetown, New York adopted the Orangetown Resolutions two years to the day prior to Declaration of Independence.
1776 - American Revolution: the United States Declaration of Independence is adopted by the Second Continental Congress
1778 - Forces under George Rogers Clark capture Kaskaskia during the Illinois campaign.
1802 - At West Point, New York the United States Military Academy opens.
1803 - The Louisiana Purchase is announced to the American people.
1810 - The French occupy Amsterdam.
1817 - At Rome, New York, United States, construction on the Erie Canal begins.
1827 - Slavery is abolished in New York State.
1837 - Grand Junction Railway, the world's first long-distance railway, opens between Birmingham and Liverpool.
1838 - The Iowa Territory is organized.
1840 - The Cunard Line's 700 ton wooden paddle steamer RMS Britannia departs from Liverpool bound for Halifax, Nova Scotia on the first transatlantic crossing with a scheduled end.
1845 - Near Concord, Massachusetts, Henry David Thoreau embarks on a two-year experiment in simple living at Walden Pond (see Walden).
1855 - In Brooklyn, New York, the first edition of Walt Whitman's book of poems, titled Leaves of Grass, is published.
1859 - Austro-Sardinian War: the Battle of Magenta.
1862 - Lewis Carroll tells Alice Liddell a story that would grow into Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequels.
1863 - American Civil War: Siege of Vicksburg - Vicksburg, Mississippi surrenders to Ulysses S. Grant after 47 days of siege. 150 miles up the Mississippi River, a Confederate Army is repulsed at the Battle of Helena, Arkansas.
1865 - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is published.
1881 - In Alabama, the Tuskegee Institute opens.
1886 - The first scheduled Canadian transcontinental train arrives in Port Moody, British Columbia.
1886 - The people of France offer the Statue of Liberty to the people of the United States.
1887 - The founder of Pakistan, Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, joins Sindh-Madrasa-tul-Islam, Karachi.
1892 - Western Samoa changes the International Date Line, so that year there were 367 days in this country, with two occurrences of Monday, July 4.
1894 - The short-lived Republic of Hawaii is proclaimed by Sanford B. Dole.
1910 - African-American boxer Jack Johnson knocks out white boxer Jim Jeffries in a heavyweight boxing match sparking race riots across the United States.
1918 - Bolsheviks kill Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his family (Julian calendar date).
1918 - Ottoman sultan Mehmed VI ascends to the throne.
1927 - First flight of the Lockheed Vega.
1934 - Leo Szilard patents the chain-reaction design for the atomic bomb.
1939 - Lou Gehrig, recently diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, tells a crowd at Yankee Stadium that he considers himself "The luckiest man on the face of the earth" as he announces his retirement from major league baseball.
1941 - Nazi Germans massacre Polish scientists and writers in the captured Polish city of Lwów.
1946 - After 381 years of near-continuous colonial rule, the Philippines is granted full independence by the United States.
1947 - The "Indian Independence Bill" is presented before British House of Commons, suggesting bifurcation of British India into two sovereign countries - India and Pakistan.
1950 - The first broadcast by Radio Free Europe.
1959 - With the admission of Alaska as the 49th U.S. state earlier in the year, the 49-star flag of the United States debuts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1960 - Due to the post-Independence Day admission of Hawaiˈi as the 50th U.S. state on August 21, 1959, the 50-star flag of the United States debuts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania almost ten and a half months later (see Flag Act).
1961 - Walt Disney is one of the two main speakers on the Independence Day in The Rebuild Hills at Skørping in Denmark
1966 - President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Freedom of Information Act into United States law. The act goes into effect the next year.
1969 - The Ohio Fireworks Derecho kills 18 Ohioans and destroys over 100 boats on Lake Erie.
1969 - Two teens (one male, one female) are attacked at Blue Rock Springs in California. They were the second (known) victims of the Zodiac Killer. The male survives.
1976 - Israeli commandos raid Entebbe airport in Uganda, rescuing all but four of the passengers and crew of an Air France jetliner seized by Palestinian terrorists.
1982 - Iranian diplomats kidnapping (1982): four Iranian diplomats are kidnapped by Lebanese militia in Lebanon.
1987 - In France, former Gestapo chief Klaus Barbie (aka the "Butcher of Lyon") is convicted of crimes against humanity and is sentenced to life imprisonment.
1993 - Sumitomo Chemical's resin plant in Nihama explodes killing one worker and injuring three others.
1997 - NASA's Pathfinder space probe lands on the surface of Mars.
2004 - The cornerstone of the Freedom Tower is laid on the site of the World Trade Center in New York City. (This was largely a symbolic event; actual construction would not start for several weeks)
2005 - The Deep Impact collider hits the comet Tempel 1.
2006 - Space Shuttle program: STS-121 Mission - Space Shuttle Discovery launches at 18:37:55 UTC.
2006 - North Korea tests four short-range missiles, one medium-range missile, and a long-range Taepodong-2. The long-range Taepodong-2 reportedly fails in mid-air over the Sea of Japan/East Sea.
836 - Pactum Sicardi, peace between the Principality of Benevento and the Duchy of Naples
993 - Saint Ulrich of Augsburg is canonized.