1713

Spain and Britain signed one of the treaties of Utrecht, this one giving Gibraltar and Minorca to Britain.

1772

Captain James Cook begins his second voyage to the South Seas aboard HMS Resolution to search for Terra Australis (Southern continent).

1787

The U.S. Congress passed the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, which laid the basis for the government of the Northwest Territory and for the admission of its constituent parts as states of the union.

1793

On this day in 1793, Jean-Paul Marat, a leader of the radical Montagnard faction during the French Revolution, was stabbed to death in his bath by Charlotte Corday, a young Girondin supporter who was subsequently guillotined.

1832

Henry Rowe Schoolcraft identified the source of the Mississippi River as Lake Itasca in Minnesota.

1861

General George B. McClellan and Union troops defeated Confederate forces in northwestern Virginia, an area that subsequently became West Virginia.

1878

The Treaty of Berlin was signed—replacing the Treaty of San Stefano, which had ended the last of the Russo-Turkish wars.

1919

Boston Red Sox pitcher Carl Mays walks off mound blaming teammates for lack of support in field.

1923

The Hollywood Sign is officially dedicated in the hills above Hollywood, Los Angeles. It originally reads “Hollywoodland” but the four last letters are dropped after renovation in 1949.

1930

France defeats Mexico 4-1 and the United States defeats Belgium 3-0 in the first-ever World Cup football matches, played simultaneously in host city Montevideo, Uruguay. The World Cup has since become the world’s most watched sporting event.

1939

Backed by trumpeter Harry James, American singer Frank Sinatra recorded his first single, From the Bottom of My Heart.

1942

American actor Harrison Ford, who was perhaps best known for playing charismatic rogues in the Star Wars and Indiana Jones film franchises, was born.

1960

John F. Kennedy nominated for presidency.

1966

1. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada founds the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Hare Krishna movement) in New York City.

1969

George Wallace criticizes President Nixon’s handling of the war.

1978

BBC bans Sex Pistols “No One is Innocent”.

1978

 Ford Motor Company chairman Henry Ford II fires Lee Iacocca as Ford’s president, ending years of tension between the two men.

1985

The benefit concert Live Aid was held simultaneously at Wembley Stadium in London and JFK Stadium in Philadelphia. Organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, the event drew an estimated 1.5 billion television viewers and raised millions of dollars for famine relief in Ethiopia.

2010

American businessman George Steinbrenner—who, while principal owner of the New York Yankees, became one of the most controversial personalities in major league baseball—died at age 80.

2016

Theresa May, the Conservative Party leader, became the second woman prime minister of the United Kingdom, replacing David Cameron, who resigned after the country voted to leave the European Union.