30 BC – Octavian (later known as Augustus) enters Alexandria, Egypt, bringing it under the control of the Roman Republic.
1461 – Edward IV is crowned king of England.
1619 – First African slaves arrive in Jamestown, Virginia.
1774 – The element oxygen is discovered for the third (and last) time.
1831 – A new London Bridge opens.
1834 – Slavery is abolished in the British Empire as the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 comes into force.
1842 – Lombard Street Riot erupts
1876 – Colorado is admitted as the 38th U.S. state.
1902 – The United States buys the rights to the Panama Canal from France.
1941 – The first Jeep is produced.
1944 – Anne Frank makes the last entry in her diary.
1957 – The United States and Canada form the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD).
1981 – MTV begins broadcasting in the United States and airs its first video, "Video Killed The Radio Star" by the Buggles.
1988 – Rush Limbaugh begins his national radio show.
1996 – Michael Johnson breaks the 200m world record by 0.30 seconds with a time of 19.32 seconds at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia.
2001 – Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore has a Ten Commandments monument installed in the judiciary building, leading to a lawsuit to have it removed and his own removal from office.
2007 – The I-35W Mississippi River Bridge spanning the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota, collapses during the evening rush hour.

Notable Births:

1545 – Andrew Melville, Scottish theologian and religious reformer (d. 1622)
1744 – Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, French scientist (d. 1829)
1779 – Francis Scott Key, American lawyer and lyricist (d. 1843)
1819 – Herman Melville, American writer (d. 1891)
1933 – Dom DeLuise, American actor and comedian (d. 2009)
1936 – Yves Saint Laurent, French fashion designer (d. 2008)
1942 – Jerry Garcia, American musician (The Grateful Dead) (d. 1995)
1972 – Tanya Reid, Canadian actress
1978 – Edgerrin James, American football player
1980 – Mancini, Brazilian footballer

Notable Deaths:

1137 – King Louis VI of France (b. 1081)
1464 – Cosimo de' Medici, ruler of Florence (b. 1386)
1714 – Queen Anne of Great Britain (b. 1665)
1851 – William Joseph Behr, German writer (b. 1775)
1903 – Calamity Jane, American frontierswoman (b. 1853)
2004 – Philip Abelson American physicist, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1913)
2005 – King Fahd of Saudi Arabia (b. 1923)
2007 – Tommy Makem, Irish folk singer (b. 1932)