July 4

2024 Calendar

July 4 is the 185th day of the year (186th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 180 days remaining until the end of the year. Aphelion, the point during its orbit, when the Earth is furthest from the Sun, occurs around this date.

Events

Up to 1900

993 - Ulrich of Augsburg is canonized as a saint.
1054 – Chinese astronomers observe a supernova.
1187 - The Crusades: Battle of Hattin - Saladin defeats Guy of Lusignan, King of Jerusalem.
1534 – Christian III is elected King of Denmark and Norway.
1569 – The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is created.
1610 - Battle of Klushino: Fought between forces of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Russia.
1744 - The Treaty of Lancaster, in which the Iroquois cede lands between the Allegheny Mountains and the Ohio River to British colonies, is signed in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
1754 - French and Indian War: George Washington surrenders Fort Necessity to French captain Louis Coulon de Villiers.
1776 – The 13 British colonies on the east coast of North America declare their independence. This is known as the Declaration of Independence, and is now celebrated as Independence Day in the US.
1802 - At West Point, New York, the United States Military Academy opens.
1803 - The Louisiana Purchase is announced to the American people.
1817 - In Rome, New York, building work on the Erie Canal begins.
1819 - The Arkansas Territory is created.
1826 – US Presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both die on the 50th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
1827 – Slavery is abolished in New York State.
1831 – US President James Monroe dies, as the third man in this position to die on Independence Day.
1837 - Grand Junction Railway, the first long-distance railway, is opened between Birmingham and Liverpool, England.
1838 - Iowa Territory is organized.
1855 - In Brooklyn, New York, the first edition of Walt Whitman's book of poems, Leaves of Grass, is published.
1863 – American Civil War: The Siege of Vicksburg ends.
1865 - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll is first published.
1872 – US President Calvin Coolidge is born.
1879 - Anglo-Zulu War: The Zululand capital of Ulundi is captured by British forces and burned to the ground.
1886 - The people of France offer the Statue of Liberty to the people of the United States.
1886 - The first scheduled Canadian transcontinental train arrives in Fort Moody, British Columbia.
1892 – Samoa experiences two occurrences of July 4, as the International Date Line is shifted to its west, meaning that Samoa has the experience of a 367-day year in 1892. This change is reversed when Samoa skips December 30, 2011.
1894 – The short-lived Republic of Hawaii is declared by Sanford Dole.
1898 - French passenger steamer La Bourgogne is hit by a British sailing boat in thick fog off Nova Scotia, Eastern Canada, killing 565 out of the 730 people on board, including all but one of the women on the steamer.

1901 – 2000

1903 - The Philippine-American War officially ends.
1911 - A massive heatwave strikes the Northeastern United States.
1918 - Mehmed VI becomes Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
1934 – Leo Szilard patents the chain reaction design for the Atomic Bomb.
1934 – Marie Curie dies.
1939 - Having been diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Lou Gehrig announces his retirement from baseball.
1941 - Nazi troops massacre Polish scientists and writers in Lviv, present-day Ukraine.
1943 - World War II: Battle of Kursk begins.
1945 - Austria is divided into four occupation zones by the Allies.
1946 – The Philippines attain full independence from the United States.
1950 – Radio Free Europe is first broadcast.
1953 - Imre Nagy is elected Prime Minister of Hungary
1954 – West Germany wins the 1954 FIFA World Cup. A lot of controversy surrounds the 3-2 win over the Hungary national football team.
1954 – Following World War II, the United Kingdom ends food rationing.
1959 – In the United States, the 49-star flag is introduced.
1960 – In the United States, the 50-star flag is introduced.
1976 – Israeli commandos raid Entebbe Airport in Uganda, rescuing all but four of the passengers and crew of an Air France jetliner that was seized by Palestinian terrorists.
1982 - Four Iranian diplomats are abducted by Lebanese militia in London.
1987 – Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie is convicted of crimes against humanity in France.
1997 - NASA's Pathfinder probe lands on Mars.
1998 - Japan launches the Nazomi probe to Mars.

From 2001

2001 - A Tupolev Tu-54 of the Vladivostok Avia airline crashes on landing at Irkutsk, Siberia, killing all 145 people on board.
2004 – The cornerstone of the Freedom Tower is laid on the site of the World Trade Center in New York City.
2004 – The Greece national football team, as a rank outsider, wins the European Championships, defeating the host nation, the Portugal national football team, 1-0 in the final.
2005 – The Deep Impact collider hits the comet Tempel 1.
2009 – The crown of the Statue of Liberty is reopened after almost 8 years.
2011 - Otto von Habsburg, the last heir to the Austrian throne, dies in Bavaria aged 98.
2012 - The discovery of particles consistent with those of the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider is announced at CERN.