July 2

2024 Calendar

July 2 is the 183rd day of the year (184th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 182 days remaining until the end of the year. In a Common year of the Gregorian calendar, this date marks the half-way point of the year. This would be at 12 noon (or 1 p.m. if Daylight Saving Time is used). In a Leap year, the half-way point is at midnight between the 1 and 2 July (or 1 a.m. on July 2 if Daylight Saving Time is used). Every year, this date falls on the same day of the week as New Year's Eve, and it also falls on the same day of the week as New Year's Day in Common years.

Events

Up to 1900

437 - Emperor Valentinian III begins his reign over the Western Roman Empire.
626 - China: Li Shimin, the future Emperor Taizong of Tang, ambushes and kills his rival brothers Li Yuanji and Li Jiancheng in the Xuanwu Gate Incident.
706 - In China, Emperor Zhongzhong of Tang inters the bodies of relatives in the Qianling Mausoleum, located on Mount Liang, outside Chang'an.
1266 - The Treaty of Perth settles a territorial dispute between Scotland and Norway over the Hebrides and the Isle of Man.
1494 – The Treaty of Tordesillas is ratified by Spain.
1555 - The Ottoman admiral Turgut Reis sacks the city of Paola.
1561 - Menas, Emperor of Ethiopia defeats a revolt in Emfraz.
1578 – Martin Frobisher becomes the first European to reach Baffin Island.
1582 - Battle of Yamazaki: Toyotomo Hideyoshi defeats Akechi Mitsuhide.
1644 - English Civil War: Battle of Marston Moor.
1679 - Europeans visit present-day Minnesota for the first time.
1698 - Thomas Savery patents the first steam engine.
1767 - Philip Carteret's expedition discovers Pitcairn Island in the Southern Pacific Ocean, naming it after sea cadet Robert Pitcairn, who first sighted it.
1776 – The Continental Congress adopts a resolution, severing ties with Great Britain.
1777 – Vermont abolishes Slavery.
1823 - Bahia Independence Day: End of Portuguese rule in Brazil.
1839 – Near Cuba, 53 rebelling African slaves take over the ship, Amistad.
1853 - The Russian Army crosses the Pruth River into the Danubian Principalities - Moldavia and Wallachia - the final spark that set off the Crimean War.
1860 – The Russian city of Vladivostok is founded as a naval post.
1871 – Victor Emmanuel II of Italy enters Rome, having conquered it from the Papal States.
1881 – Charles J. Guiteau shoots US President James A. Garfield, who dies of an infection on September 19.
1897 – Guglielmo Marconi gets a patent for the radio in London.
1900 - The first Zeppelin flight takes place on Lake Constance, near Friedrichshafen, Southern Germany.

1901 – 2000

1921 - World War I: US President Warren G. Harding signs the Knox-Porter Resolution, formally ending the US' state of war with Imperial Germany.
1928 – British women over the age of 21 are given the right to vote.
1934 – The Night of the Long Knives, Adolf Hitler's purge of his political rivals, ends with the death of Ernst Roehm.
1937 – Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan go missing while flying over the Pacific Ocean. No remains are ever found, and many conspiracy theories have come out of their disappearance.
1940 - Indian independence leader Subhas Chandra Bose is arrested and detained in Calcutta.
1950 - The Golden Pavilion at Kinkaku-ji in Kyoto, Japan, burns down.
1962 – The first Wal-Mart store opens in Rodgers, Arkansas.
1964 – US President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
1966 – France carries out its first nuclear test at Mururoa Atoll in the South Pacific Ocean.
1974 - A magnitude 7.4 earthquake strikes Iran, killing 1,200 people.
1976 - Fall of the Republic of Vietnam.
1990 - A mass panic in a pedestrian tunnel in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, kills 1,427 people who were there for the Hajj pilgrimage.
1994 – Andrés Escobar, Colombian footballer, is shot dead. The killer's motive was his own goal in the FIFA World Cup.
2000 – Vicente Fox is elected President of Mexico.
2000 - The France national football team wins UEFA Euro 2000, defeating the Italy national football team 2-1 in extra time.

From 2001

2002 – Steve Fossett becomes the first person to travel solo around the world in a hot-air balloon.
2003 – Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi insults German MEP Martin Schulz, comparing him to a Concentration camp guard.
2005 – Live 8 concerts take place worldwide.
2008 – After a captivity of more than six years, Ingrid Betancourt is released from FARC Guerrillas in Colombia.
2010 – A tanker explosion in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo kills more than 230 people.
2011 – Albert II, Prince of Monaco marries Charlene Wittstock.
2011 – Petra Kvitova wins the Women's Singles tennis title at Wimbledon, defeating Maria Sharapova 6-3, 6-4.
2015 - A ferry capsizes in Ormoc, Leyte, Philippines, killing 62 people.
2016 - A terrorist attack and hostage taking in Dhaka, Bangladesh, results in the deaths of 20 people, mainly non-Bangladeshi citizens.
2016 - Tennis: In a shock result, multiple Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic is knocked out in the third round at Wimbledon, losing to Sam Querrey in four sets.

Births

Deaths

Up to 1900

626 - Li Jiancheng, Chinese prince (b. 589)
626 - Li Yuanji, Chinese prince (b. 603)
649 - Li Jing, Chinese general (b. 571)
862 – Swithun, Anglo-Saxon bishop of Winchester (b. 789)
1298 - Adolf, King of Germany (b. 1220)
1504 - Stephen III of Moldavia (b. 1434)
1566 – Nostradamus, French astrologer (b. 1503)
1591 - Vincenzo Galilei, Italian lute player and composer (b. 1520)
1621 - Thomas Harriot, English astronomer and mathematician (b. 1560)
1743 - Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington, Prime Minister of Great Britain (b. 1673)
1778 – Jean-Jacques Rousseau, French philosopher (b. 1712)
1822 – Denmark Vesey, freed slave (b. 1767) (hanged)
1833 – Gervasio Antonio de Posadas, Argentine politician (b. 1757)
1843 – Samuel Hahnemann, German physician (b. 1755)
1850 – Robert Peel, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1788)
1857 - Carlo Pisacane, Italian patriot and philosopher (b. 1818)

1901 – 2000

1903 – Ed Delahanty, American baseball player (b. 1867)
1914 - Joseph Chamberlain, English businessman and politician (b. 1836)
1915 – Porfirio Díaz, President of Mexico (b. 1830)
1916 - Louis Maxson, American archer (b. 1855)
1929 - Gladys Brockwell, American actress (b. 1893)
1931 - Peter Kürten, German serial killer (b. 1883)
1932 – King Manuel II of Portugal (b. 1889)
1934 – Ernst Roehm, Nazi politician (b. 1887)
1934 - Henry Hollis Horton, American politician, 40th Governor of Tennessee (b. 1866)
1937 – Amelia Earhart, American pilot (b. 1897)
1937 – Fred Noonan, American aviator (b. 1893)
1946 - Mary Alden, American actress (b. 1883)
1949 - Georgi Dimitrov, Bulgarian politician (b. 1882)
1950 - Thomas William Burgess, English swimmer (b. 1872)
1961 – Ernest Hemingway, American writer (b. 1899)
1966 - Jan Brzechwa, Polish poet and author (b. 1900)
1969 - Michael DiBiase, Italian-American professional wrestler (b. 1923)
1972 - Joseph Fielding Smith, American Mormon Church leader (b. 1876)
1973 – Betty Grable, American actress (b. 1916)
1977 – Vladimir Nabokov, Russian writer (b. 1899)
1986 - Peanuts Lowrey, American baseball player and manager (b. 1917)
1989 – Andrei Gromyko, Soviet politician (b. 1909)
1991 - Lee Remick, American actress (b. 1935)
1994 – Andrés Escobar, Colombian footballer (b. 1967)
1997 – James Stewart, American actor (b. 1908)
1999 – Mario Puzo, American writer (b. 1920)

From 2001

2007 – Beverly Sills, American operatic soprano (b. 1929)
2010 – Beryl Bainbridge, British writer (b. 1932)
2010 – Laurent Terzieff, French actor (b. 1935)
2011 – Itamar Franco, 33rd President of Brazil (b. 1930)
2013 - Douglas Engelbart, American computer scientist (b. 1925)
2013 - Princess Fawzia Fuad of Egypt (b. 1921)
2013 - Anthony Llywellyn, Welsh-American astronaut (b. 1933)
2014 - Errie Ball, Welsh-American golfer (b. 1910)
2014 - Chad Brown, American poker player and actor (b. 1961)
2014 - Louis Zamperini, American athlete and writer (b. 1917)
2015 - Jacobo Zabludovsky, Mexican journalist (b. 1928)
2015 - Charlie Sanders, American football player (b. 1946)
2015 - James C. Weaver, American football player (b. 1945)
2015 - Slavko Avsenik, Slovenian composer and musician (b. 1929)
2016 - Caroline Aherne, English actress, comedienne and writer (b. 1963)
2016 - Roscoe Brown, American World War II veteran (b. 1922)
2016 - Michael Cimino, American screenwriter and director (b. 1939)
2016 - Roger Dumas, French comedian and actor (b. 1932)
2016 - Patrick Manning, 4th and 6th Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago (b. 1946)
2016 - Robert Nye, British poet (b. 1939)
2016 - Michel Rocard, former Prime Minister of France (b. 1930)
2016 - Jack C. Taylor, American businessman (b. 1922)
2016 - Elie Wiesel, Romanian-American activist and writer (b. 1928)
2017 - Smith Hart, American-Canadian professional wrestler (b. 1948)
2017 - Jack Collom, American poet (b. 1931)
2017 - Vladimir Malaniuk, Ukrainian chess player (b. 1957)
2017 - Chris Roberts, German singer (b. 1944)
2017 - Tatiana Zatulovskaya, Soviet-born Israeli chess player (b. 1935)
2017 - Ataullah Behmanesh, Iranian wrestler and sports journalist (b. 1923)
2017 - Minos Kyriakou, Greek businessman (b. 1942)
2017 - Bert Rossi, English gangster (b. 1922)
2018 - Henry Butler, American jazz musician (b. 1949)
2018 - Bill Watrous, American jazz trombonist (b. 1939)

Observances

Canada Day (observed on this date if July 1 is a Sunday)
Bahia Independence Day (Brazil)

July 2

Events

Up to 1900

1901 – 2000

From 2001

Births

Up to 1900

1901 – 1950

1951 – 1975

From 1976

Deaths

Up to 1900

1901 – 2000

From 2001

Observances