On this day: 23 July

Three hundred colonists bound for New France depart from Dieppe, France.

Scanian War: Denmark–Norway captures the harbor town of Marstrand from Sweden.

The treaty of Pruth between the Ottoman and Russian Empire is signed.

Kingdom of Prussia re-conquers Mainz from France.

While the Mora Rebellion continues, Greeks capture Monemvasia Castle. Turkish troops and citizens are transferred to Asia Minor's coasts.

In the United States, William Austin Burt patents the typographer, a precursor to the typewriter.

American Civil War: Henry Halleck becomes general-in-chief of the Union Army.

Aires de Ornelas e Vasconcelos is appointed the Archbishop of the Portuguese colonial enclave of Goa, India.

The Boundary Treaty of 1881 between Chile and Argentina is signed in Buenos Aires.

During a visit of the French Navy to Kronstadt in Russia, the two nations reached a secret agreement on a joint response to any future war in Europe.

Pressed by expanding immigration, Canada closes its doors to paupers and criminals.

The Ford Motor Company sells its first car.

The Amsden Building collapse in Framingham, Massachusetts, U.S., claims 12 lives.

The Second Constitution is accepted by the Ottomans.

Prince Regent Aleksander Karađorđević signs the decree establishing the University of Ljubljana.

The first National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party opened in a house in Shanghai.

Fox Film buys the patents of the Movietone sound system for recording sound onto film.

The first station of the Indian Broadcasting Company goes on the air in Bombay.

In Catalonia, Spain, the Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia is founded through the merger of Socialist and Communist parties.

Sumner Welles, U.S. Under Secretary of State, issued a declaration that the U.S. government would not recognize the Soviet Union's annexation of the Baltic states.

World War II: The German offensives Operation Edelweiss and Operation Braunschweig begin on the Eastern Front.

The post-war legal processes against Philippe Pétain, the former president of Vichy France begin.

General Muhammad Naguib leads the Free Officers Movement (formed by Gamal Abdel Nasser, the real power behind the coup) in overthrowing King Farouk of Egypt.

The Sandinista National Liberation Front is founded in Nicaragua.

Jackie Robinson becomes the first African American to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Telstar relays the first publicly transmitted, live trans-Atlantic television program, featuring Walter Cronkite.

The International Agreement on the Neutrality of Laos is signed.

Qaboos bin Said al Said becomes Sultan of Oman after overthrowing his father, Said bin Taimur initiating massive reforms, modernization programs and end to a decade long civil war.

The United States launches Landsat 1, the first Earth-resources satellite.

The Greek military junta collapses, and former Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis is invited to lead the new government, beginning Greece's metapolitefsi era.

Phạm Tuân becomes the first Vietnamese citizen and the first Asian in space when he flies aboard the Soyuz 37 mission as an Intercosmos Research Cosmonaut.

Gimli Glider: Air Canada Flight 143 runs out of fuel and makes a deadstick landing at Gimli, Manitoba.

General Ne Win, effective ruler of Burma since 1962, resigns after pro-democracy protests.

A Vatican commission, led by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, establishes that limiting certain rights of homosexual people and non-married couples is not equivalent to discrimination on grounds of race or gender.

Abkhazia declares independence from Georgia.

Hale–Bopp, one of the most widely observed comets of the 20th century, was independently discovered by astronomers Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp.

Digital Equipment Corporation files antitrust charges against chipmaker Intel.

Space Shuttle Columbia launches on STS-93, with Eileen Collins becoming the first female space shuttle commander. The shuttle also carried and deployed the Chandra X-ray Observatory.

Megawati Sukarnoputri was sworn in (pictured) as the first female president of Indonesia following her predecessor's impeachment.

The Solar storm of 2012 was an unusually large coronal mass ejection that was emitted by the Sun which barely missed the Earth by nine days. If it hit, it would have caused up to US$2.6 trillion in damages to electrical equipment worldwide.

NASA announces discovery of Kepler-452b by the Kepler space telescope.