On This Day — 29 June

2014

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

Islamic State

2012

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

Derecho

2007

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

Apple Inc.

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

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.

Battle of Yeonpyeong (2002)

1995

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

Space Shuttle program

1995

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

Sampoong Department Store collapse

1987

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

Vincent van Gogh

1976

The Seychelles become independent from the United Kingdom.

Seychelles

1976

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

1976 Conference of Communist and Workers Parties of Europe

1975

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

Pope Paul VI

1974

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

Isabel Perón

1974

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

Mikhail Baryshnikov

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.

Supreme Court of the United States

1972

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

Convair CV-240 family

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.

Soviet Union

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.

Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956

1952

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

Miss Universe

1945

The Soviet Union annexes the Czechoslovak province of Carpathian Ruthenia.

Soviet Union

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.

Bird of Paradise (aircraft)

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".

Battle of Vimy Ridge

1916

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

Diplomat

1915

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

North Saskatchewan River flood of 1915

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, Illinois

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

1881

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

Muhammad Ahmad

1880

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

Tahiti

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

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

1850

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

Autocephaly

1807

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

Russo-Turkish War (1806–1812)

1786

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

Alexander Macdonell (bishop of Kingston)

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).

1764 Woldegk tornado

1659

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

Battle of Konotop

1644

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

Charles I of England

1620

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

History of tobacco

1613

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

Globe Theatre

1534

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

Jacques Cartier

1457

The Dutch city of Dordrecht is devastated by fire

Dordrecht

1444

Skanderbeg defeats an Ottoman invasion force at Torvioll.

Skanderbeg

1194

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

Sverre of Norway

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.

1170 Syria earthquake

1149

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

Raymond of Poitiers

226

Cao Rui succeeds his father as emperor of Wei.

Cao Rui