July 11

Historic Events

2021

Virgin Galactic launches its founder, Richard Branson, into space, the first company ever to do so. ›

2015

Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán escapes from the maximum security Altiplano prison in Mexico, his second escape. ›

2011

Ninety-eight containers of explosives self-detonate killing 13 people in Zygi, Cyprus. ›

2010

The Islamist militia group Al-Shabaab carries out multiple suicide bombings in Kampala, Uganda, killing 74 people and injuring 85 others. ›

2010

In Johannesburg, Spain defeat the Netherlands 1–0 after extra time to win their first FIFA World Cup title. ›

2007

The Siege of Lal Masjid in Islamabad, Pakistan, ends after the Pakistan Army storms the mosque which had been occupied by Islamist militants. ›

2006

Mumbai train bombings: 209 people are killed in a series of bomb attacks in Mumbai, India. ›

1995

Yugoslav Wars: Srebrenica massacre begins, lasting until 22 July. ›

1991

Nigeria Airways Flight 2120 crashes in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, killing all 261 passengers and crew on board. ›

1990

Oka Crisis: First Nations land dispute in Quebec begins. ›

1983

A TAME airline Boeing 737-200 crashes near Cuenca, Ecuador, killing all 119 passengers and crew on board. ›

1982

Italy defeats West Germany 3–1 to win the FIFA World Cup. ›

1979

America's first space station, Skylab, is destroyed as it re-enters the Earth's atmosphere over the Indian Ocean. ›

1978

Los Alfaques disaster: A truck carrying liquid gas crashes and explodes at a coastal campsite in Tarragona, Spain, killing 216 tourists. ›

1977

Martin Luther King Jr., assassinated in 1968, is posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. ›

1973

Varig Flight 820 crashes near Paris on approach to Orly Airport, killing 123 of the 134 on board. In response, the FAA bans smoking in airplane lavatories. ›

1972

The first game of the World Chess Championship 1972 between challenger Bobby Fischer and defending champion Boris Spassky starts. ›

1971

The nationalization of all large copper mines in Chile is completed. ›

1962

First transatlantic satellite television transmission. ›

1962

Project Apollo: At a press conference, NASA announces lunar orbit rendezvous as the means to land astronauts on the Moon, and return them to Earth. ›

1960

France legislates for the independence of Dahomey (later Benin), Upper Volta (later Burkina Faso) and Niger. ›

1960

Congo Crisis: The State of Katanga breaks away from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. ›

1960

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is first published, in the United States. ›

1957

Prince Karim Husseini Aga Khan IV inherits the office of Imamat as the 49th Imam of Shia Imami Ismai'li worldwide, after the death of Sir Sultan Mahommed Shah Aga Khan III. ›

1950

Pakistan joins the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank. ›

1947

The Exodus 1947 heads to Palestine from France. ›

1943

Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army within the Reichskommissariat Ukraine (Volhynia) peak. ›

1943

World War II: Allied invasion of Sicily: German and Italian troops launch a counter-attack on Allied forces in Sicily. ›

1941

The Northern Rhodesian Labour Party holds its first congress in Nkana. ›

1940

World War II: Vichy France regime is formally established. Philippe Pétain becomes Chief of the French State. ›

1936

The Triborough Bridge in New York City is opened to traffic. ›

1934

Engelbert Zaschka of Germany flies his large human-powered aircraft, the Zaschka Human-Power Aircraft, about 20 meters at Berlin Tempelhof Airport without assisted take-off. ›

1924

Eric Liddell wins the gold medal in 400m at the 1924 Paris Olympics, after refusing to run in the heats for 100m, his favoured distance, on a Sunday. ›

1922

The Hollywood Bowl opens. ›

1921

A truce in the Irish War of Independence comes into effect. ›

1921

The Red Army captures Mongolia from the White Army and establishes the Mongolian People's Republic. ›

1921

Former president of the United States William Howard Taft is sworn in as 10th chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, becoming the only person ever to hold both offices. ›

1920

In the East Prussian plebiscite the local populace decides to remain with Weimar Germany. ›

1919

The eight-hour day and free Sunday become law for workers in the Netherlands. ›

1914

Babe Ruth makes his debut in Major League Baseball. ›

1914

The US Navy launches the USS Nevada (BB-36) as its first standard-type battleship. ›

1906

Murder of Grace Brown by Chester Gillette in the United States, inspiration for Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy. ›

1899

Fiat founded by Giovanni Agnelli in Turin, Italy. ›

1897

Salomon August Andrée leaves Spitsbergen to attempt to reach the North Pole by balloon. ›

1893

The first cultured pearl is obtained by Kōkichi Mikimoto. ›

1893

A revolution led by the liberal general and politician José Santos Zelaya takes over state power in Nicaragua. ›

1889

Tijuana, Mexico, is founded. ›

1882

The British Mediterranean Fleet begins the Bombardment of Alexandria in Egypt as part of the Anglo-Egyptian War. ›

1848

Waterloo railway station in London opens. ›

1836

The Fly-fisher's Entomology is published by Alfred Ronalds. The book transformed the sport and went to many editions. ›

1833

Noongar Australian aboriginal warrior Yagan, wanted for the murder of white colonists in Western Australia, is killed. ›

1804

A duel occurs in which the Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr mortally wounds former Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton. ›

1801

French astronomer Jean-Louis Pons makes his first comet discovery. In the next 27 years he discovers another 36 comets, more than any other person in history. ›

1798

The United States Marine Corps is re-established; they had been disbanded after the American Revolutionary War. ›

1796

The United States takes possession of Detroit from Great Britain under terms of the Jay Treaty. ›

1789

Jacques Necker is dismissed as France's Finance Minister sparking the Storming of the Bastille. ›

1735

Mathematical calculations suggest that it is on this day that dwarf planet Pluto moved inside the orbit of Neptune for the last time before 1979. ›

1708

A coalition army of Dutch, English and German troops under the duke of Marlborough defeats a French army under the duke of Burgundy and the Marshal Vendome in the battle of Oudenarde. ›

1616

Samuel de Champlain returns to Quebec. ›

1576

While exploring the North Atlantic Ocean in an attempt to find the Northwest Passage, Martin Frobisher sights Greenland, mistaking it for the hypothesized (but non-existent) island of "Frisland". ›

1476

Giuliano della Rovere is appointed bishop of Coutances. ›

1410

Ottoman Interregnum: Süleyman Çelebi defeats his brother Musa Çelebi outside the Ottoman capital, Edirne. ›

1405

Ming admiral Zheng He sets sail to explore the world for the first time. ›

1346

Charles IV, Count of Luxembourg and King of Bohemia, is elected King of the Romans. ›

1302

Battle of the Golden Spurs (Guldensporenslag in Dutch): A coalition around the Flemish cities defeats the king of France's royal army. ›

1276

Election of pope Adrian V under the influence of Charles I of Anjou following the death of pope Gregory X earlier that year. Adrian V dies the following month. ›

1174

Baldwin IV, 13, becomes King of Jerusalem, with Raymond III, Count of Tripoli as regent and William of Tyre as chancellor. ›

911

Signing of the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte between Charles the Simple and Rollo of Normandy. ›

813

Byzantine emperor Michael I, under threat by conspiracies, abdicates in favor of his general Leo the Armenian, and becomes a monk (under the name Athanasius). ›

472

Western Roman Emperor Anthemius is killed by troops of the Roman Gothic general Ricimer. ›