========::Events::========* 293 BC - The oldest known Roman temple to Venus (mythology) 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).
* 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.
* 1634 - Urbain Grandier, accused and convicted of sorcery, burned alive in Loudun, France.
* 1775 - The Spanish established a presidio (fort) and the town came to be called Tucson, Arizona.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* 1946 - Around 70 people died in the Vergarolla explosion.
* 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.
* 1982 - Japanese election law is amended to allow for proportional representation.
* 1992 - NBA basketball player Larry Bird announces his retirement after winning an Olympic gold medal as a member of the U.S. Dream Team.
* 2004 - In Dublin, Ireland the Dublin Port Tunnel excavation works are completed.
* 2005 - Massive power blackout hits the Indonesian island of Java, affecting almost 100 million people.
========::Borned this day::========
1685 - Brook Taylor, English mathematician
1692 - Louis Henri, Duc de Bourbon, Prime Minister of France
1830 - Emperor Franz Josef I of Austria
1930 - Liviu Librescu, Israeli professor, killed in the Virginia Tech massacre
1933 - Roman Polanski, French-born director and actor
1936 - Robert Redford, American actor
1952 - Patrick Swayze, American actor
1969 - Edward Norton, American actor
1969 - Christian Slater, American actor
========::Holidays::========
* International Lighthouse Day
* Australia - Long Tan Day (also called Vietnam Veterans' Day) named after the Battle of Long Tan
* Roman Catholic Saints - Saint Helena of Constantinople, and Saint Alberto Hurtado
* Buhe in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church
