1099 – First Crusade: 15,000 starving Christian soldiers march in religious procession around Jerusalem as its Muslim defenders look on
1283 – War of the Sicilian Vespers: Battle of Malta
1497 – Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama departs on his first voyage, becoming the 1st European to reach India by sea
1777 – Independent Vermont introduces a new constitution, prohibiting slavery
1800 – Dr Benjamin Waterhouse gives 1st cowpox vaccination in the US to his son to prevent smallpox
1853 – Commodore Matthew C. Perry sails his frigate Susquehanna into Tokyo Bay, opening Japan to Western influence and trade
1948 – 500th anniversary of the Russian Orthodox Church celebrated in Moscow
1949 – South Africa’s Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act commences, prohibiting marriage or a sexual relationship between White people and people of other races [1]
1963 – US bans all monetary transactions with Cuba
1975 – Israeli premier Yitzhak Rabin visits West Germany
1988 – Stevie Wonder announces he will run for mayor of Detroit in 1992
1992 – Conference for Security and Co-operation in Europe creates the office of High Commissioner on National Minorities
2017 – Unesco declares Asmara, capital of Eritrea, a world heritage site for its Art Deco buildings
2018 – British Brexit Secretary David Davis resigns in a stand against Theresa May’s new softer Brexit policy
2020 – US government issues directive that more than 1 million international students will be stripped of their visas if their courses entirely online
Film & TV:
2010 – “Inception”, directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, premieres in London
Music:
1996 – British girls group the Spice Girls release their debut single “Wannabe” in the UK
Sport:
1995 – Wimbledon Women’s Tennis: German superstar Steffi Graf beats Arantxa Sánchez Vicario of Spain 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 for her 6th Wimbledon title
