On this day: 24 July

Battle of Nocera between Ranulf II of Alife and Roger II of Sicily.

Louis VII of France lays siege to Damascus during the Second Crusade.

Behnam Hadloyo becomes Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Mardin.

Citizens of Leeuwarden, Netherlands, strike against a ban on foreign beer.

French explorer Jacques Cartier plants a cross on the Gaspé Peninsula and takes possession of the territory in the name of Francis I of France.

Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac founds the trading post at Fort Pontchartrain, which later becomes the city of Detroit.

War of the Spanish Succession: The French under Marshal Villars win a decisive victory over Eugene of Savoy at Denain.

Brigham Young led the first group of Mormon pioneers into the Salt Lake Valley of Utah, at the time a part of Mexico.

Richard March Hoe, American inventor, patents the rotary-type printing press.

American Civil War: Battle of Kernstown: Confederate General Jubal Early defeats Union troops led by General George Crook in an effort to keep them out of the Shenandoah Valley.

Reconstruction: Tennessee becomes the first U.S. state to be readmitted to Congress following the American Civil War.

O. Henry is released from prison in Columbus, Ohio, after serving three years for embezzlement from a bank.

Ottoman forces captured the city of Shkodër, ending the Albanian revolt of 1910 (depicted).

Hiram Bingham III re-discovers Machu Picchu, "the Lost City of the Incas".

Franco-Syrian War: At the Battle of Maysalun, forces of the Arab Kingdom of Syria were defeated by a French army moving to occupy the territory allocated to them by the San Remo conference.

The Treaty of Lausanne was signed to settle part of the partition of the Ottoman Empire, establishing the boundaries of Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey.

Themistoklis Sofoulis becomes Prime Minister of Greece.

The Menin Gate war memorial is unveiled at Ypres.

The Kellogg–Briand Pact, renouncing war as an instrument of foreign policy, goes into effect (it is first signed in Paris on August 27, 1928, by most leading world powers).

The Dust Bowl heat wave reaches its peak, sending temperatures to 109 °F (43 °C) in Chicago and 104 °F (40 °C) in Milwaukee.

Cape Canaveral Air Force Station begins operations with the launch of a Bumper rocket.

Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev and U.S. vice president Richard Nixon held an impromptu debate (pictured) at the opening of the American National Exhibition at Sokolniki Park in Moscow.

The ship Bluenose II is launched in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. The schooner is a major Canadian symbol.

Michael Pelkey makes the first BASE jump from El Capitan along with Brian Schubert. Both came out with broken bones. BASE jumping has now been banned from El Cap.

During a speech in Montreal, French president Charles de Gaulle (pictured) declared "Long live free Quebec!", a statement that was interpreted as support for Quebec independence from Canada.

Apollo program: Apollo 11 splashes down safely in the Pacific Ocean.

The Metapolitefsi period began with Konstantinos Karamanlis (pictured) taking office as Prime Minister of Greece after the collapse of the military junta.

End of a four-day-long Libyan–Egyptian War.

The Australian swimming team, nicknamed the Quietly Confident Quartet, won the men's 4 × 100 metre medley relay at the Moscow Olympics, the only time that the United States, which boycotted the games, has not won the event at the Olympics.

George Brett, playing for the Kansas City Royals against the New York Yankees, has a game-winning home run nullified in the "Pine Tar Incident".

Iran–Iraq War: In opposition to the American plan to protect Kuwaiti tankers, Iran laid mines and damaged the SS Bridgeton, resulting in a propaganda victory for Iran.

Hulda Crooks, at 91 years of age, climbs Mt. Fuji. Crooks became the oldest person to climb Japan's highest peak.

Syrian civil war: The People's Protection Units (YPG) capture the city of Girkê Legê.