• 293 BC - The oldest known Roman temple to Venus was founded, starting the institution of Vinalia Rustica.
• 1201 - The city of Riga is founded.
• 1541 - A Portuguese ship drifts ashore in the ancient Japanese province of Higo (modern day Kumamoto Prefecture). (Traditional Japanese date: July 27, 1541)
• 1572 - Wedding in Paris of the Huguenot King Henry IV of Navarre with Marguerite de Valois, in a supposed attempt to reconcile Protestants and Catholics.
• 1587 - Virginia Dare, granddaughter of Gov. John White of the Colony of Roanoke, becomes the first English child born in the Americas.
• 1587 - Saul Wahl was elected King of Poland, according to legend.
• 1590 - John White, the governor of the Colony of Roanoke, returns from a supply-trip to England and finds his settlement deserted.
• 1634 - Urbain Grandier, accused and convicted of sorcery, burned alive in Loudun, France.
• 1636 - The Covenant of the Town of Dedham, Massachusetts was first signed.
• 1775 - The Spanish established a presidio (fort) and the town came to be called Tucson, Arizona.
• 1838 - The Wilkes Expedition, which would explore the Puget Sound and Antarctica, weighs anchor at Hampton Roads in 1838
• 1848 - Camila O'Gorman and Ladislao Gutierrez executed on orders by Argentine dictator Juan Manuel de Rosas.
• 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Globe Tavern - Union forces try to cut a vital Confederate supply-line into Petersburg, Virginia, by attacking the Weldon Railroad.
• 1868 - French astronomer Pierre Jules César Janssen discovers helium.
• 1870 - Franco-Prussian War: Battle of Gravelotte is fought.
• 1877 - Asaph Hall discovers Martian moon Phobos.
• 1903 - German engineer Karl Jatho allegedly flies his self-made, motored gliding airplane four months before the first flight of the Wright Brothers.
• 1904 - Chris Watson resigns as Prime Minister of Australia and is succeeded by George Reid.
• 1909 - Tokyo mayor Yukio Ozaki presents Washington, D.C. with 2,000 cherry trees, which President Taft decides to plant near the Potomac River.
• 1917 - A Great Fire in Thessaloniki, Greece destroys 32% of the city leaving 70,000 individuals homeless.
• 1920 - Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution ratified, guaranteeing women's suffrage.
• 1938 - The Thousand Islands Bridge, connecting New York State, United States with Ontario, Canada over the St. Lawrence River, is dedicated by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
• 1941 - Adolf Hitler orders a temporary halt to Nazi Germany's systematic euthanasia of mentally ill and handicapped due to protests.
• 1950 - Julien Lahaut, the chairman of the Communist Party of Belgium is assassinated by far-right elements.
• 1958 - Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel Lolita is published in the United States.
• 1963 - American civil rights movement: James Meredith becomes the first black person to graduate from the University of Mississippi.
• 1965 - Vietnam War: Operation Starlite begins - United States Marines destroy a Viet Cong stronghold on the Van Tuong peninsula in the first major American ground battle of the war.
• 1966 - Vietnam War: The Battle of Long Tan occurs, when a patrol of Royal Australian Regiment encounter the Viet Cong.
• 1969 - Jimi Hendrix plays the unofficial last day of Woodstock.
• 1971 - Vietnam War: Australia and New Zealand decide to withdraw their troops from Vietnam.
• 1976 - In the Korean Demilitarized Zone at Panmunjeom, the Axe Murder Incident results in the death of two US soldiers.
• 1977 - Steve Biko was arrested at a police roadblock under the Terrorism Act No 83 of 1967 in King William's Town, South Africa. He would later die of the injuries sustained during this arrest bringing attention to apartheid.
• 1982 - Japanese election law is amended to allow for proportional representation.
• 1983 - Hurricane Alicia hits the Texas coast, killing 22 people and causing over USD $1 billion in damage (1983 dollars).
• 1989 - Leading presidential hopeful Luis Carlos Galán is assassinated near Bogotá in Colombia.
• 1992 - Wang Laboratories files for bankruptcy.
• 2000 - Federal jury found the US EPA guilty of discrimination against Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, later inspiring passage of the No FEAR Act.
• 2002 - MTR Tseung Kwan O Line officially opened.
• 2004 - In Dublin, Ireland the Dublin Port Tunnel excavation works are completed.
• 2005 - Dennis Rader is sentenced to 175 years in prison for the BTK serial killings.
• 2005 - Massive power blackout hits the Indonesian island of Java, affecting almost 100 million people.

Births