Washington orders the Declaration of Independence read to his troops in Manhattan (1776), and Greece signs Athens Agreement to join European Economic Community (1961). Born on this day: Tom Hanks, Viktor Yanukovych and Sir Edward Heath. Died: Zachary Taylor, Amedeo Avogadro and Edmund Burke.
30 events, 61 births and 65 deaths on this date.
Washington had the newly adopted Declaration read aloud to his soldiers in Manhattan, just as British forces on nearby Staten Island readied for the Battle of Long Island. The reading made clear to the army what they were fighting for.
Gilbert Stuart · Public domainAthens and the European Economic Community agreed a deal that gave Greece a route into the bloc, making it the first country to take that step. The arrangement was suspended in 1967, while the Greek junta held power.
The Ottoman authorities punished Cypriot support for the Greek uprising by executing hundreds of the island's leading figures. Archbishop Kyprianos, the head of the island's Orthodox Church, was among them, and the killings left the Greek community without many of its leaders.
Nikola Tesla was born in the village of Smiljan, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He later helped design the alternating current system behind modern electricity supply.
Napoleon Sarony · Public domain
Thabo Mbeki, South Africa's president, becomes the first chair of the African Union, which succeeds the Organisation of African Unity. The continental body takes over from the older group, aiming to unite the continent's 55 states.
Timur's army struck the Jalairid Sultanate's capital and wrecked the city, a blow to a dynasty that had held Baghdad. Timur, a Turco-Mongol conqueror who founded the Timurid Empire, was remembered for his battlefield record and his brutality.
1405-1409 artist · Public domain
For the full day, download Chunks today. Every date, the stories behind them, and a new day each morning. Free to start.
Tom Hanks is an American actor and filmmaker whose comedies and dramas have made him one of the most recognisable film stars in the world. He won two consecutive Best Actor Oscars, for Philadelphia and Forrest Gump.
Eva Rinaldi from Abbotsford, Australia · CC BY-SA 2.0
Yanukovych was Ukraine's fourth president from 2010 until protests in 2014 forced him from office. He now lives in Russia, having first come to national prominence through the disputed 2004 election.
Administration of the President of Ukraine · CC BY 4.0
Edward Heath became Prime Minister in 1970 and took Britain into the European Economic Community. His time in office also saw direct rule imposed in Northern Ireland.
Moshe Milner · Public domain
Taylor, a career army officer and Mexican–American War hero, became the 12th US president in 1849. He died of a stomach illness after just sixteen months in office, one of the shortest presidencies in American history.
Zachary_Taylor_half_plate_daguerreotype_c1843-45.png : unknown, possibly Maguire of New Orleans derivative work: Bea o · Public domain
Italian physicist and chemist who proposed that equal volumes of gases at the same temperature and pressure hold equal numbers of molecules. The number of particles in one mole of a substance, the Avogadro constant, is named after him.
The original uploader was Anton at German Wikipedia . · Public domain
Anglo-Irish statesman and writer widely regarded as the founder of modern conservative political thought. He opposed the French Revolution in his 1790 Reflections on the Revolution in France, and his arguments shaped debate in Britain and beyond.
Joshua Reynolds · Public domain
Download on iOS
Download on Android