1809 – Mary Kies becomes the first woman awarded a U.S. patent, for a technique of weaving straw with silk and thread.
1821 – Emperor Napoleon dies in exile on the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean.
1860 – Giuseppe Garibaldi sets sail from Genoa, leading the expedition of the Thousand to conquer the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and giving birth to the Kingdom of Italy.
1891 – The Music Hall in New York City (later known as Carnegie Hall) has its grand opening and first public performance, with Tchaikovsky as the guest conductor.
1904 – Pitching against the Philadelphia Athletics at the Huntington Avenue Grounds, Cy Young of the Boston Americans throws the first perfect game in the modern era of baseball.
1925 – Scopes Trial: Serving of an arrest warrant on John T. Scopes for teaching evolution in violation of the Butler Act.
1925 – The government of South Africa declares Afrikaans an official language.
1946 – The International Military Tribunal for the Far East begins in Tokyo with 28 Japanese military and government officials accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
1949 – The Treaty of London establishes the Council of Europe in Strasbourg as the first European institution working for European integration.
1973 – Secretariat wins the 1973 Kentucky Derby in 1:59 2/5, an as-yet unbeaten record.
1980 – Operation Nimrod: The British Special Air Service storms the Iranian embassy in London after a six-day siege.
1981 – Bobby Sands dies in the Long Kesh prison hospital after 66 days of hunger-striking, aged 27.
1994 – American teenager Michael P. Fay is caned in Singapore for theft and vandalism.
2006 – The government of Sudan signs an accord with the Sudan Liberation Army.
2010 – Mass protests in Greece erupt in response to austerity measures imposed by the government as a result of the Greek government-debt crisis.
2014 – 11 people are missing after a Chinese cargo ship collides with a Marshall Islands registered container ship off the coast of Hong Kong.
2014 – 22 people die after two boats carrying refugees collide in the Aegean Sea off the coast of Greece.