June 21

Historic Events

2025

A hot air balloon catches fire mid-flight and crashes in Praia Grande, Santa Catarina, Brazil, killing 8 of the 21 on board. ›

2012

A boat carrying more than 200 migrants capsizes in the Indian Ocean between the Indonesian island of Java and Christmas Island, killing 17 people and leaving 70 others missing. ›

2012

An Indonesian Air Force Fokker F27 Friendship crashes near Halim Perdanakusuma International Airport, killing 11. ›

2009

Greenland assumes self-rule. ›

2006

Pluto's newly discovered moons are officially named Nix and Hydra. ›

2006

A Yeti Airlines de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter crashes at Jumla Airport in Nepal, killing nine people. ›

2005

Edgar Ray Killen, who had previously been unsuccessfully tried for the murders of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Mickey Schwerner, is convicted of manslaughter 41 years afterwards (the case had been reopened in 2004). ›

2004

SpaceShipOne becomes the first privately funded spaceplane to achieve spaceflight. ›

2001

A federal grand jury in Alexandria, Virginia, indicts 13 Saudis and a Lebanese in the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia that killed 19 American servicemen. ›

2000

Section 28 (of the Local Government Act 1988), outlawing the 'promotion' of homosexuality in the United Kingdom, is repealed in Scotland with a 99 to 17 vote. ›

1993

Space Shuttle Endeavour is launched on STS-57 to retrieve the European Retrievable Carrier (EURECA) satellite. It is also the first shuttle mission to carry the Spacehab module. ›

1989

The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397, that American flag-burning is a form of political protest protected by the First Amendment. ›

1985

Braathens SAFE Flight 139 is hijacked on approach to Oslo Airport, Fornebu. Special forces arrest the hijacker and there are no fatalities. ›

1982

John Hinckley is found not guilty by reason of insanity for the attempted assassination of U.S. President Ronald Reagan. ›

1978

The original production of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical, Evita, based on the life of Eva Perón, opens at the Prince Edward Theatre, London. ›

1973

The Primer Congreso del Hombre Andino is inaugurated in Arica, Chile. ›

1973

In its decision in Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15, the Supreme Court of the United States establishes the Miller test for determining whether something is obscene and not protected speech under the U.S. constitution. ›

1970

Penn Central declares Section 77 bankruptcy in what was the largest U.S. corporate bankruptcy to date. ›

1964

Three civil rights workers, Andrew Goodman, James Chaney and Michael Schwerner, are murdered in Neshoba County, Mississippi, United States, by members of the Ku Klux Klan. ›

1963

Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini is elected as Pope Paul VI. ›

1957

Ellen Fairclough is sworn in as Canada's first female Cabinet Minister. ›

1952

The Philippine School of Commerce, through a republic act, is converted to Philippine College of Commerce, later to be the Polytechnic University of the Philippines. ›

1945

World War II: The Battle of Okinawa ends when the organized resistance of Imperial Japanese Army forces collapses in the Mabuni area on the southern tip of the main island. ›

1942

World War II: Tobruk falls to Italian and German forces; 33,000 Allied troops are taken prisoner. ›

1942

World War II: A Japanese submarine surfaces near the Columbia River in Oregon, firing 17 shells at Fort Stevens in one of only a handful of attacks by Japan against the United States mainland. ›

1941

Having defeated forces of Vichy France, Allied forces capture Damascus. ›

1930

One-year conscription comes into force in France. ›

1929

An agreement brokered by U.S. Ambassador Dwight Whitney Morrow ends the Cristero War in Mexico. ›

1921

The Irish village of Knockcroghery is burned by British forces. ›

1919

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police fire a volley into a crowd of unemployed war veterans, killing two, during the Winnipeg general strike. ›

1919

Admiral Ludwig von Reuter scuttles the German fleet at Scapa Flow, Orkney. The nine sailors killed are the last casualties of World War I. ›

1915

The U.S. Supreme Court hands down its decision in Guinn v. United States 238 US 347 1915, striking down Oklahoma grandfather clause legislation which had the effect of denying the right to vote to African-Americans. ›

1900

Boxer Rebellion: China formally declares war on the United States, Britain, Germany, France and Japan, as an edict issued from the Empress Dowager Cixi. ›

1898

The United States captures Guam from Spain. The few warning shots fired by the U.S. naval vessels are misinterpreted as salutes by the Spanish garrison, which was unaware that the two nations were at war. ›

1864

American Civil War: The Battle of Jerusalem Plank Road begins. ›

1848

In the Wallachian Revolution, Ion Heliade Rădulescu and Christian Tell issue the Proclamation of Islaz and create a new republican government. ›

1826

Maniots defeat Egyptians under Ibrahim Pasha in the Battle of Vergas. ›

1824

Greek War of Independence: Egyptian forces capture Psara in the Aegean Sea. ›

1813

Peninsular War: Wellington defeats Joseph Bonaparte at the Battle of Vitoria. ›

1798

Irish Rebellion of 1798: The British Army defeats Irish rebels at the Battle of Vinegar Hill. ›

1791

King Louis XVI and his immediate family begin the Flight to Varennes during the French Revolution. ›

1788

New Hampshire becomes the ninth state to ratify the Constitution of the United States. ›

1768

James Otis Jr. offends the King and Parliament in a speech to the Massachusetts General Court. ›

1749

Halifax, Nova Scotia, is founded. ›

1734

In Montreal, New France, a slave known by the French name of Marie-Joseph Angélique is put to death, having been convicted of setting the fire that destroyed much of the city. ›

1621

Execution of 27 Czech noblemen on the Old Town Square in Prague as a consequence of the Battle of White Mountain. ›

1582

Sengoku period: Oda Nobunaga, the most powerful of the Japanese daimyōs, is forced to commit suicide by his own general Akechi Mitsuhide. ›

1529

French forces are driven out of northern Italy by Spain at the Battle of Landriano during the War of the League of Cognac. ›

1307

Külüg Khan is enthroned as Khagan of the Mongols and Wuzong of the Yuan. ›

870

Caliph al-Muhtadi is killed by rebellious troops and is succeeded by his cousin Al-Mu'tamid. ›

533

A Byzantine expeditionary fleet under Belisarios sails from Constantinople to attack the Vandals in Africa, via Greece and Sicily. ›

217 BC

A Carthaginian force under Hannibal ambushes and defeats a Roman army commanded by Gaius Flaminius in the battle of lake Trasimene during the Second Punic War. ›