Historical Events on Sunday, 29th June

29/06/2014

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant self-declares its caliphate in Syria and northern Iraq.

The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), and by its Arabic acronym Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadist militant organisation and internationally unrecognized quasi-state. IS occupied significant territory in Iraq and Syria in 2013, but lost most of it between 2017 and 2019. In 2014, the group proclaimed itself to be a worldwide caliphate, and claimed religious and political authority over all Muslims worldwide, a claim not accepted by the vast majority of Muslims. It is designated as a terrorist organisation by the United Nations and many countries around the world, including Muslim countries.

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29/06/2012

A derecho sweeps across the eastern United States, leaving at least 22 people dead and millions without power.

A derecho is a widespread, long-lived, straight-line wind storm that is associated with a fast-moving complex of severe thunderstorms referred to as a mesoscale convective system.

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29/06/2007

Apple Inc. releases its first mobile phone, the iPhone.

Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, in Silicon Valley, best known for its consumer electronics, software and online services. Founded in 1976 as Apple Computer Company by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne, the company was incorporated by Jobs and Wozniak as Apple Computer, Inc. the following year. It was renamed to its current name in 2007 as the company had expanded its focus from computers to consumer electronics. Apple is one of the Big Tech companies.

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29/06/2006

Hamdan v. Rumsfeld: The U.S. Supreme Court rules that President George W. Bush's plan to try Guantanamo Bay detainees in military tribunals violates U.S. and international law.

Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, 548 U.S. 557 (2006), is a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that military commissions set up by the Bush administration to try detainees at Guantanamo Bay violated both the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) and the Geneva Conventions ratified by the U.S.

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29/06/2002

Naval clashes between South Korea and North Korea lead to the death of six South Korean sailors and sinking of a North Korean vessel.

The Battle of Yeonpyeong was a confrontation at sea between North Korean and South Korean patrol boats along a disputed maritime boundary near Yeonpyeong Island in the Yellow Sea in 2002. This followed a similar confrontation in 1999. Two North Korean patrol boats crossed the contested border and engaged two South Korean Chamsuri-class patrol boats. The North Koreans withdrew before South Korean reinforcements arrived.

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29/06/1995

Space Shuttle program: STS-71 Mission (Atlantis) docks with the Russian space station Mir for the first time.

The Space Shuttle program was the fourth human spaceflight program carried out by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which accomplished routine transportation for Earth-to-orbit crew and cargo from 1981 to 2011. Its official program name was carried over from the 1969 plan for the Space Transportation System (STS) of reusable spacecraft. Only the shuttle and supporting rockets were funded for development; a proposed nuclear lunar shuttle in the plan was cancelled in 1972. It flew 135 missions and carried 355 astronauts from 16 countries, many on multiple trips.

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The Sampoong Department Store collapses in the Seocho District of Seoul, South Korea, killing 502 and injuring 937.

On June 29, 1995, the Sampoong Department Store in Seocho District, Seoul, South Korea collapsed due to a structural failure. The collapse killed 502 people and injured 937, making it the largest peacetime disaster in South Korean history. It was the deadliest non-deliberate modern building collapse until the 2013 Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh.

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29/06/1987

Vincent van Gogh's painting, the Le Pont de Trinquetaille, is bought for $20.4 million at an auction in London, England.

Vincent Willem van Gogh was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade he created about 2,100 artworks, including around 860 oil paintings, most of them in the last two years of his life. They include landscapes, still lifes, portraits and self-portraits, and are characterised by bold colours and dramatic, impulsive and expressive brushwork that contributed to the foundations of modern art. His suicide at 37 followed years of mental illness and poverty.

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29/06/1976

The Seychelles become independent from the United Kingdom.

Seychelles, officially the Republic of Seychelles, is an island country and archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, Victoria, is 1,500 kilometres east of mainland Africa. Nearby island countries and territories include the Maldives, Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, and the French overseas departments of Mayotte and Réunion to the south; and the Chagos Archipelago to the east. Seychelles is the smallest country in Africa as well as the least populated sovereign African country, with an estimated population of 100,600 in 2022.

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The Conference of Communist and Workers Parties of Europe convenes in East Berlin.

The Conference of Communist and Workers Parties of Europe was an international meeting of communist parties, held in the city of East Berlin, capital of the communist-governed East Germany, on 29–30 June 1976. In all, 29 parties from all Europe participated in the conference.

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29/06/1975

Pope Paul VI ordains some 350 priests in St. Peter's Square in the largest ordination in history

Pope Paul VI was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding John XXIII, he continued the Second Vatican Council, which he closed in 1965, implementing its numerous reforms. He fostered improved ecumenical relations with Eastern Orthodox and Protestant churches, which resulted in many historic meetings and agreements.

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29/06/1974

Vice President Isabel Perón assumes powers and duties as Acting President of Argentina, while her husband President Juan Perón is terminally ill.

Isabel Martínez de Perón is an Argentine politician who served as the president of Argentina from 1974 to 1976. She was one of the first female republican heads of state in the world, and the first woman to serve as president of a country. Perón was the third wife of President Juan Perón. During her husband's third term as president from 1973 to 1974, she served as both the vice president and first lady of Argentina. From 1974 until her resignation in 1985, she was also the second President of the Justicialist Party. Isabel Perón's politics exemplify right-wing Peronism and Orthodox Peronism. Ideologically, she was considered close to corporate neo-fascism.

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Mikhail Baryshnikov defects from the Soviet Union to Canada while on tour with the Kirov Ballet.

Mikhail Nikolayevich Baryshnikov is a Latvian and American dancer, choreographer, and actor. He was the preeminent male classical ballet dancer of the 1970s and 1980s. He subsequently became a noted dance director.

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29/06/1972

The United States Supreme Court rules in the case Furman v. Georgia that arbitrary and inconsistent imposition of the death penalty violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments and constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.

The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on questions of U.S. constitutional or federal law. It also has original jurisdiction over a narrow range of cases, specifically "all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party". In 1803, the court asserted itself the power of judicial review, the ability to invalidate a statute for violating a provision of the Constitution. It is also able to strike down presidential directives for violating either the Constitution or statutory law.

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A Convair CV-580 and De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter collide above Lake Winnebago near Appleton, Wisconsin, killing 13.

The Convair CV-240 is an American airliner that Convair manufactured from 1947 to 1954, initially as a possible replacement for the ubiquitous Douglas DC-3. Featuring a more modern design with cabin pressurization, the low-wing, primarily piston-driven 240 series made some inroads as a commercial airliner, spawning nearly a dozen civil variants, and five for the military, including turboprop versions for both. Though reduced in numbers by attrition, various forms of the "Convairliners" continue to fly in the 21st century.

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29/06/1971

Prior to re-entry (following a record-setting stay aboard the Soviet Union's Salyut 1 space station), the crew capsule of the Soyuz 11 spacecraft depressurizes, killing the three cosmonauts on board. Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsayev are the first humans to die in space.

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), also known as the Soviet Union, was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until its dissolution in 1991. It was the world's third-most populous country, largest by area, and bordered twelve countries. A diverse multinational state, it was organized as a federal union of national republics, the largest and most populous being the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. In practice, its government and economy were highly centralized. As a one-party state governed by the Communist Party, it was the flagship communist state. Its capital and largest city was Moscow.

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29/06/1956

The Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 is signed by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, officially creating the United States Interstate Highway System.

The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, also known as the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act, Pub. L. 84–627 was enacted on June 29, 1956, when President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the bill into law. With an original authorization of $25 billion for the construction of 41,000 miles (66,000 km) of the Interstate Highway System over a 10-year period, it was the largest public works project in American history through that time.

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29/06/1952

The first Miss Universe pageant is held. Armi Kuusela from Finland wins the title of Miss Universe 1952.

Miss Universe is an annual international major beauty pageant that is run by the Thailand and Mexican-based Miss Universe Organization. Along with Miss World, Miss International, and Miss Earth, it is one of the Big Four beauty pageants.

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29/06/1950

Korean War: U.S. President Harry S. Truman authorizes a sea blockade of Korea.

The Korean War was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea and South Korea and their allies. North Korea was supported by China and the Soviet Union, while South Korea was supported by the United Nations led by the United States under the auspices of the United Nations Command (UNC). The conflict was one of the first major proxy wars of the Cold War and one of its deadliest conflicts on noncombatants, especially civilians. It is estimated that 1.5 to 3 million Korean civilians were killed during the war. The Korean War was the first time the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) authorized the use of force under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter.

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29/06/1945

The Soviet Union annexes the Czechoslovak province of Carpathian Ruthenia.

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), also known as the Soviet Union, was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until its dissolution in 1991. It was the world's third-most populous country, largest by area, and bordered twelve countries. A diverse multinational state, it was organized as a federal union of national republics, the largest and most populous being the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. In practice, its government and economy were highly centralized. As a one-party state governed by the Communist Party, it was the flagship communist state. Its capital and largest city was Moscow.

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29/06/1927

The Bird of Paradise, a U.S. Army Air Corps Fokker tri-motor, completes the first transpacific flight, from the mainland United States to Hawaii.

The Bird of Paradise was a military airplane used by the United States Army Air Corps in 1927 to experiment with the application of radio beacon aids in air navigation. On June 28–29, 1927, the Bird of Paradise, crewed by 1st Lt. Lester J. Maitland and 1st Lt. Albert F. Hegenberger, completed the first flight over the Pacific Ocean from the mainland, California, to Hawaii. For this feat the crew received the Mackay Trophy.

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29/06/1922

France grants "one square kilometer" at Vimy Ridge "freely, and for all time, to the Government of Canada, the free use of the land exempt from all taxes".

The Battle of Vimy Ridge was part of the Battle of Arras, in the Pas-de-Calais department of France, during the First World War. The main combatants were the four divisions of the Canadian Corps in the First Army, against three divisions of the German 6th Army. The battle began the Battle of Arras and was the first attack of the Nivelle Offensive. The objective was to draw German reserves away from the French forces, preparing for the French offensive along the Aisne and the Chemin des Dames ridge several days later.

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29/06/1916

British diplomat turned Irish nationalist Roger Casement is sentenced to death for his part in the Easter Rising.

A diplomat is a person appointed by a state, intergovernmental, or nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or international organizations.

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29/06/1915

The North Saskatchewan River flood of 1915 is the worst flood in Edmonton history.

The North Saskatchewan River flood of 1915 was one of the largest floods in the history of Edmonton. On 28 June, the Edmonton Bulletin reported the river had risen "10 feet [3.0 m] in as many hours." A frantic telegram from Rocky Mountain House alerted local authorities to the flood's arrival.

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29/06/1889

Hyde Park and several other Illinois townships vote to be annexed by Chicago, forming the largest United States city in area and second largest in population at the time.

Hyde Park Township is a former civil township in Cook County, Illinois, United States that existed as a separate municipality from 1861 until 1889 when it was annexed into the city of Chicago. Its borders are Pershing Road on the north, State Street on the west, Lake Michigan and the Indiana state line on the east, and 138th Street and the Calumet River on the south. This region comprised much of what is now known as the South Side of Chicago.

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29/06/1888

George Edward Gouraud records Handel's Israel in Egypt onto a phonograph cylinder, thought for many years to be the oldest known recording of music.

George Edward Gouraud was an American Civil War recipient of the Medal of Honor who later became famous for introducing the new Edison Phonograph cylinder audio recording technology to England in 1888.

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29/06/1881

In Sudan, Muhammad Ahmad declares himself to be the Mahdi, the messianic redeemer of Islam.

Muhammad Ahmad bin Abdullah bin Fahal was a Sudanese religious and political leader. In 1881, he claimed to be the Mahdi and led a war against Egyptian rule in Sudan, which culminated in a remarkable victory over them in the Siege of Khartoum. He created a vast Islamic state extending from the Red Sea to Central Africa and founded a movement that remained influential in Sudan a century later.

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29/06/1880

France annexes Tahiti, renaming the independent Kingdom of Tahiti as "Etablissements de français de l'Océanie".

Tahiti is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France. It is a tropical island located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean. Tahiti is composed of two roughly circular land masses joined by an isthmus: Tahiti Nui and Tahiti Iti. Both are the eroded remnants of now-extinct shield volcanoes. The terrain of Tahiti is mostly high and mountainous, with the beaches and coral reefs that surround the island supporting tourism and fishing industries.

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29/06/1874

Greek politician Charilaos Trikoupis publishes a manifesto in the Athens daily Kairoi entitled "Who's to Blame?" leveling complaints against King George. Trikoupis is elected Prime Minister of Greece the next year.

Charilaos Trikoupis was a Greek politician who served as a Prime Minister of Greece seven times from 1875 until 1895.

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29/06/1864

At least 99 people, mostly German and Polish immigrants, are killed in Canada's worst railway disaster after a train fails to stop for an open drawbridge and plunges into the Rivière Richelieu near St-Hilaire, Quebec.

Germans are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The constitution of Germany, implemented in 1949 following the end of World War II, defines a German as a German citizen. During the 19th and much of the 20th century, discussions on German identity were dominated by concepts of a common language, culture, descent, and history. The German language remains dominant in Germany, and is still widely perceived as a necessary criterion for German "national belonging". The total number of Germans in the world range is about 100 million, most of whom live in Germany.

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29/06/1850

Autocephaly officially granted by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople to the Church of Greece.

Autocephaly is the status of a hierarchical Christian church whose head bishop does not report to any higher-ranking bishop. The term is primarily used in Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches. The status has been compared with that of the churches (provinces) within the Anglican Communion.

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29/06/1807

Russo-Turkish War: Admiral Dmitry Senyavin destroys the Ottoman fleet in the Battle of Athos.

The Russo-Turkish War (1806–1812) was fought between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire. In 1812, both sides made peace just as Napoleon's invasion of Russia was about to commence.

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29/06/1786

Alexander Macdonell and over five hundred Roman Catholic highlanders leave Scotland to settle in Glengarry County, Ontario.

Bishop Alexander Macdonell was the first Roman Catholic bishop of Kingston, Upper Canada.

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29/06/1764

One of the strongest tornadoes in history strikes Woldegk, Germany, killing one person while leveling numerous mansions with winds estimated greater than 300 miles per hour (480 km/h).

On June 29, 1764, one of the strongest tornadoes ever documented struck the town of Woldegk, Holy Roman Empire The tornado received the unique T11 rating on the TORRO scale along with an F5 rating on the Fujita scale and had winds estimated to be at least 480 kilometres per hour (300 mph). The tornado traveled 30 kilometres (19 mi) and reached a maximum width of 900 metres (980 yd). The F5 rating was later updated to IF5 rating on the International Fujita scale.

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29/06/1659

At the Battle of Konotop the Ukrainian armies of Ivan Vyhovsky defeat the Russians led by Prince Trubetskoy.

The Battle of Konotop or Battle of Sosnivka was fought between a coalition led by the Hetman of Zaporizhian Cossacks Ivan Vyhovsky and cavalry units of the Russian Tsardom under the command of Semyon Pozharsky and Semyon Lvov, supported by Cossacks of Ivan Bezpaly, on 29 June 1659, near the town of Konotop, Ukraine, during the Russo-Polish War (1654–1667). Vyhovsky's coalition defeated the Russians and their allies and forced the main Russian army to interrupt the siege of Konotop. However, the result of the battle only intensified political tensions in Ukraine and led to Vyhovsky's removal from power several months later.

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29/06/1644

Charles I of England defeats a Parliamentarian detachment at the Battle of Cropredy Bridge.

Charles I was King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649.

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29/06/1620

English crown bans tobacco growing in England, giving the Virginia Company a monopoly in exchange for tax of one shilling per pound.

Tobacco was long used by various indigenous groups that lived in the Americas. The Columbian exchange introduced tobacco to the Europeans, and it became an addictive, lucrative and heavily traded commodity. Following the Industrial Revolution, cigarettes became hugely popular worldwide. In the mid-20th century, medical research demonstrated severe negative health effects of tobacco smoking such as lung cancer, which led to governments adopting policies to force a sharp decline in tobacco use.

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29/06/1613

The Globe Theatre in London, built by William Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, burns to the ground.

The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 at Southwark, close to the south bank of the Thames, by Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men. It was destroyed by fire on 29 June 1613. A second Globe Theatre was built on the same site by June 1614 and stayed open until the London theatre closures of 1642. As well as plays by Shakespeare, early works by Ben Jonson, Thomas Dekker and John Fletcher were first performed here.

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29/06/1534

Jacques Cartier is the first European to reach Prince Edward Island.

Jacques Cartier was a French maritime explorer from Brittany. Jacques Cartier was the first European to describe and map the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the shores of the Saint Lawrence River, which he named "Canada" after the Iroquoian names for the two big settlements he saw at Stadacona and at Hochelaga.

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29/06/1457

The Dutch city of Dordrecht is devastated by fire

Dordrecht, historically known in English as Dordt or Dort, is a city and municipality in the Western Netherlands, located in the province of South Holland. It is the province's fifth-largest city after Rotterdam, The Hague, Leiden, and Zoetermeer, with a population of 123,000 (2025).

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29/06/1444

Skanderbeg defeats an Ottoman invasion force at Torvioll.

Gjergj Kastrioti was an Albanian nobleman and military leader who led the League of Lezhë in the Ottoman-Albanian Wars until his death. Skanderbeg is considered to be a major figure of medieval Albanian history and today is the national hero of Albania.

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29/06/1194

Sverre is crowned King of Norway, leading to his excommunication by the Catholic Church and civil war.

Sverre Sigurdsson was the king of Norway from 1184 to 1202.

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29/06/1170

A major earthquake hits Syria, badly damaging towns such as Hama and Shaizar and structures such as the Krak des Chevaliers and the cathedral of St. Peter in Antioch.

One of the largest earthquakes to hit Syria occurred early in the morning of 29 June 1170. It formed part of a sequence of large earthquakes that propagated southwards along the Dead Sea Transform, starting with the 1138 Aleppo earthquake, continuing with the 1157 Hama, 1170 and 1202 Syria events. The estimated magnitude is 7.7 on the moment magnitude scale, with the maximum intensity of X (Extreme) on the Mercalli intensity scale.

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29/06/1149

Raymond of Poitiers is defeated and killed at the Battle of Inab by Nur ad-Din Zangi.

Raymond of Poitiers was Prince of Antioch from 1136 to 1149. He was the younger son of William IX, Duke of Aquitaine, and his wife Philippa, Countess of Toulouse, born in the very year that his father the Duke began his infamous liaison with Dangereuse de Chatelherault.

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29/06/0226

Cao Rui succeeds his father as emperor of Wei.

Cao Rui, courtesy name Yuanzhong, was the second emperor of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period. His parentage is in dispute: his mother, Lady Zhen, was Yuan Xi's wife, but she later remarried Cao Pi, the first ruler of Wei. Based on conflicting accounts of his age, Pei Songzhi calculated that, in order to be Cao Pi's son, Cao Rui could not have been 36 when he died as recorded, so the recorded age was in error; late-Qing scholars Lu Bi (卢弼) and Mao Guangsheng (冒广生) argued instead that Cao Rui was Yuan Xi's son.

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