11 July - Definition and Overview

July 11 is the 192nd day (193rd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 173 days remaining.

Events

up to 18th century

• 1302 - Battle of the Golden Spurs (Guldensporenslag in Dutch) - the Flemish cities beat the king of France.
• 1346 - Charles IV of Luxembourg elected emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.
• 1576 - Martin Frobisher sights Greenland.
• 1616 - Samuel de Champlain returns to Quebec.
• 1533 - King Henry VIII of England is excommunicated.
• 1740 - Jews expelled from Little Russia.
• 1750 - Halifax, Nova Scotia almost completely destroyed by fire.
• 1776 - Captain James Cook begins third voyage.
• 1798 - The United States Marine Corps is re-established; they had been disbanded after the American Revolutionary War.

19th century

• 1804 - In a duel, Vice President Aaron Burr kills Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton.
• 1811 - Italian scientist Amedeo Avogadro publishes his memoire about molecular content of gases.
• 1848 - The Waterloo railway station in London opens.
• 1859 - A Tale Of Two Cities by Charles Dickens is published.
• 1864 - Confederate forces attempt an invasion of Washington DC.
• 1893 - The first cultured pearl is obtained by Kokichi Mikimoto.
• 1895 - The brothers Lumière show film for scientists.
• 1897 - Salomon August Andrée leaves Spitsbergen to try to reach the North pole by balloon. He later crashes and dies.

20th century

1910s-1960s

• 1914 - Babe Ruth debuts in major league baseball.
• 1919 - Eight-hour working day and free Sunday made into law in the Netherlands.
• 1921 - Truce called in the Irish War of Independence; see Irish calendar.
• 1921 - Former US President William Howard Taft sworn in as 10th Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court, becoming the only person to ever be both President and Chief Justice.
• 1921 - Mongolia becomes independent (from China).
• 1936 - Triborough Bridge in New York City is opened to traffic.
• 1940 - Vichy Regime formally established in France. (and Henri Philippe Pétain becomes Prime Minister of France).
• 1943 - The Germans counter-attack on Sicily.
• 1944 - Franklin Delano Roosevelt says he will run for a fourth term as president of the United States.
• 1955 - The phrase In God We Trust is added to all US currency.
• 1960 - Dahomey (now Benin), Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso), and Niger all gain independence.
• 1962 - First transatlantic satellite television transmission.
• 1962 - Soviet cosmonaut Micolaev is four days in space, a record.

1970s-1990s

• 1971 - Copper mines in Chile nationalised.
• 1973 - A Brazilian Boeing 707 crashes near Paris on approach to Orly Airport, resulting in the death of 122 people.
• 1975 - Chinese archeologists discover a large burial site with 6,000 clay statutes of warriors from 221 BC.
• 1977 - Martin Luther King is posthumously rewarded the Medal of Freedom.
• 1979 - The space station Skylab returns to Earth.
• 1982 - Defeating West Germany 3–1 at Santiago Bernabéu stadium, Italy wins 1982 edition of the Football World Cup.
• 1983 - A Boeing 727 crashes into hilly terrain after a tail strike in Cuenca, Ecuador, claiming 119 lives.
• 1987 - According to the United Nations, the world population crosses the 5,000,000,000 mark.
• 1991 - A Nigerian DC-8 crashes while landing at Jeddah, Saudi Arabia killing 261
• 1991 - Total solar eclipse in Hawaii.
• 1995 - Full diplomatic relations are established between the United States and Vietnam.
• 1995 - Bosnian Serbs capture the Muslim city of Srebrenica. Many inhabitants are murdered, beginning the so-called Srebrenica Massacre.
• 1995 - A Cubana de Aviacion Antonov AN-24 crashes into the Caribbean off southeast Cuba killing 44

Births

up to 19th century

• 1274 - Robert the Bruce, king of Scotland (1306-1329)
• 1657 - King Frederick I of Prussia (1701-1713)
• 1754 - Thomas Bowdler, medical doctor and literary censor (d. 1825)
• 1767 - John Quincy Adams, president of the United States (1825-1829) (d. 1848)
• 1844 - King Peter of Serbia (d. 1921)
• 1857 - Alfred Binet, psychologist (d. 1911)
• 1897 - Eugene "Bull" Connor, sheriff of Birmingham, Alabama, resisted civil rights (d. 1973)
• 1899 - E. B. White, writer (d. 1985)

20th century

1900s-1970s

• 1903 - O. E. Hasse, actor (d. 1978)
• 1906 - Herbert Wehner, politician (d. 1990)
• 1910 - Irene Hervey, actress (d. 1998)
• 1913 - Cordwainer Smith, writer
• 1916 - Gough Whitlam, twenty-first Prime Minister of Australia
• 1921 - Ilse Werner, actress
• 1924 - Brett Somers, actor
• 1925 - Nicolai Gedda, Swedish tenor
• 1926 - Frederick Buechner, author
• 1929 - Hermann Prey, German baritone (d. 1998)
• 1930 - Harold Bloom, literary critic
• 1931 - Tab Hunter, actor
• 1934 - Giorgio Armani, fashion designer
• 1939 - Seth Gaaikema, Dutch comedian
• 1949 - Liona Boyd, classical guitarist
• 1957 - Michael Rose, musician (Black Uhuru)
• 1959 - Suzanne Vega, singer
• 1959 - Richie Sambora, singer/guitarist (Bon Jovi)
• 1968 - Esera Tuaolo, USA NFL Player
• 1973 - Konstantinos Kenteris, Greek athlete
• 1976 - Lil' Kim, rap singer
• 1976 - Eduardo Najera, Mexican-born NBA basketball player

1980s

• 1983 - Marie Eleonor Serneholt, oldest of the A-Teens
• 1984 - Tanith Belbin, American skater

Deaths

• ca. 155 - Pope Pius I
• 472 - Anthemius, Emperor of the Western Empire (legal murder)
• 969 - Olga of Kiev
• 1804 - Alexander Hamilton, United States Secretary of the Treasury (duel)
• 1937 - George Gershwin, composer (b. 1898)
• 1971 - John W. Campbell, science fiction writer and editor
• 1974 - Pär Lagerkvist, author, 1951 winner of the Nobel Prize for literature
• 1994 - Gary Kildall, computer programmer (b. 1942)
• 1989 - Sir Laurence Olivier, actor
• 2001 - Herman Brood, singer and artist (suicide)
• 2004 - Laurance Rockefeller, conservationist and philanthropist

Holidays and observances

• Belgium (partially) - Flemish Day (1302)
• Benin - Independence Day (1960)
• Burkina Faso - Independence Day (1960)
• Ireland - National Day of Commemoration held on nearest Sunday to this date (see Irish calendar).
• Mongolia - Naadam Holiday
• Niger - Independence Day (1960)
• Feast Day of Saint Olga (first Russian Saint)
• Feast Day of Saint Benedictus (founder of the Benedictine Order)

July 10 - July 12 - June 11 - August 11 -- listing of all days