1500: Ludovico Sforza is captured by Swiss troops at Novara and is handed over to the French.
1606: The Virginia Company of London is established by royal charter by James I of England with the purpose of establishing colonial settlements in North America.
1710: The Statute of Anne, the first law regulating copyright, comes into force in Great Britain.
1815: The Mount Tambora volcano begins a three-month-long eruption, lasting until July 15. The eruption ultimately kills 71,000 people and affects Earth's climate for the next two years.
1826: The 10,500 inhabitants of the Greek town of Missolonghi begin leaving the town after a year's siege by Turkish forces. Very few of them survive.
1858: After the original Big Ben, a 14.5 tonnes (32,000 lb) bell for the Palace of Westminster, had cracked during testing, it is recast into the current 13.76 tonnes (30,300 lb) bell by Whitechapel Bell Foundry.
1868: At Arogee in Abyssinia, British and Indian forces defeat an army of Emperor Tewodros II. While 700 Ethiopians are killed and many more injured, only two British/Indian troops die.
1957: The Suez Canal is reopened for all shipping after being closed for three months.
1963: 129 American sailors die when the submarine USS Thresher sinks at sea.
1970: Paul McCartney announces that he is leaving The Beatles for personal and professional reasons.
1971: Ping-pong diplomacy: In an attempt to thaw relations with the United States, the People's Republic of China hosts the U.S. table tennis team for a week-long visit.
1972: Tombs containing bamboo slips, among them Sun Tzu's Art of War and Sun Bin's lost military treatise, are accidentally discovered by construction workers in Shandong.
1972: Vietnam War: For the first time since November 1967, American B-52 bombers reportedly begin bombing North Vietnam.
2009: President of FijiRatuJosefa Iloilo announces the abrogation of the constitution and assumes all governance in the country, creating a constitutional crisis.
2010: Polish Air Force Tu-154M crashes near Smolensk, Russia, killing 96 people, including Polish President Lech Kaczyński, his wife, and dozens of other senior officials and dignitaries.
2016: The Paravur temple accident in which a devastating fire caused by the explosion of firecrackers stored for Vishu, kills more than one hundred people out of the thousands gathered for seventh day of Bhadrakali worship.
2016: 2016 Afghanistan earthquake, of 6.6 magnitude, 39 km west-southwest of Ashkasham, shakes up India, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Srinagar and Pakistan.