On This Day — 2 July

2000s

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2024

A stampede during a religious event in Uttar Pradesh, India, leaves at least 121 people dead and 150 others injured.

2024 Hathras crowd crush

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2013

A magnitude 6.1 earthquake strikes Aceh, Indonesia, killing at least 42 people and injuring 420 others.

2013 Aceh earthquake

2005

The Live 8 benefit concerts takes place in the G8 states and in South Africa. More than 1,000 musicians perform and are broadcast on 182 television networks and 2,000 radio networks.

Live 8

2000

Vicente Fox Quesada is elected the first President of México from an opposition party, the Partido Acción Nacional, after more than 70 years of continuous rule by the Partido Revolucionario Institucional, in the 2000 Mexican general election.

Vicente Fox

1900s

1997

The Bank of Thailand floats the baht, triggering the Asian financial crisis.

Thai baht

1994

USAir Flight 1016 crashes near Charlotte Douglas International Airport, killing 37 of the 57 people on board.

USAir Flight 1016

1993

A mob sets fire to the Hotel Madımak in Sivas, Turkey, where a Alevi cultural festival was taking place, killing 37 people.

Sivas

1990

In the 1990 Mecca tunnel tragedy, 1,400 Muslim pilgrims are suffocated to death and trampled upon in a pedestrian tunnel leading to the holy city of Mecca.

1990 Mecca tunnel tragedy

1986

Rodrigo Rojas and Carmen Gloria Quintana are burnt alive during a street demonstration against the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet in Chile in the Quemados case.

Rodrigo Rojas de Negri

1986

Aeroflot Flight 2306 crashes while attempting an emergency landing at Syktyvkar Airport in Syktyvkar, in present-day Komi Republic, Russia, killing 54 people.

Aeroflot Flight 2306

1976

End of South Vietnam; Communist North Vietnam annexes the former South Vietnam to form the unified Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam

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1966

France conducts its first nuclear weapon test in the Pacific, on Moruroa Atoll.

1966–70 French nuclear tests

1964

Civil rights movement: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964 meant to prohibit segregation in public places.

Civil rights movement

1937

Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan are last heard from over the Pacific Ocean and disappear while attempting to make the first equatorial round-the-world flight.

Amelia Earhart

1934

The Night of the Long Knives ends after three days of killings.

Night of the Long Knives

1921

World War I: U.S. President Warren G. Harding signs the Knox–Porter Resolution formally ending the war between the United States and Germany.

World War I

1800s

1890

The U.S. Congress passes the Sherman Antitrust Act.

United States Congress

1881

Charles J. Guiteau shoots and fatally wounds U.S. President James A. Garfield (who will die of complications from his wounds on September 19).

Charles J. Guiteau

1863

American Civil War: On the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg - the Battle of Little Round Top takes place and results in a Union victory after the Confederate troops unsuccessfully try to assault the Union left flank.

American Civil War

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1840

A Ms  7.4 earthquake strikes present-day Turkey and Armenia; combined with the effects of an eruption on Mount Ararat, kills 10,000 people.

1840 Ararat earthquake

1823

Bahia Independence Day: The Siege of Salvador ends Portuguese rule in Brazil, with the final defeat of the Portuguese crown loyalists in the province of Bahia.

Bahia

Before 1800

1776

American Revolution: The Continental Congress adopts the Lee Resolution severing ties with the Kingdom of Great Britain, although the wording of the formal Declaration of Independence is not adopted until July 4.

American Revolution