On This Day: 1 August

Octavian (later known as Augustus) enters Alexandria (in Egypt), bringing it under the control of the Roman Republic		30 BC
Justinian I – "one of the most important figures of late antiquity" – becomes the sole ruler of the Byzantine Empire		527
The Aghlabids army captures Taormina – the last Byzantine stronghold in Sicily – concluding the Muslim conquest of Sicily		902
The results of the Domesday inquiry are presented to William the Conqueror in Salisbury (the date of compilation and the Great Domesday are historically contestable)		1086
The army of Henry Tudor (the future Henry VII, in exile in Brittany for the last 14 years) sails to England		1485
Christopher Columbus lands on mainland America (in what would later become known as Venezuela); believing it to be an insignificant island, he names it Isla Santa		1498
The Ottoman conquest of Cyprus is concluded by the surrender of Famagusta		1571
In the middle of a succession crisis, the heirless French King Henry III is assassinated by friar Jacques Clément, a Catholic fanatic. He is succeeded by Henry III of Navarre, who assumes the throne of France as Henry IV, after converting to Catholicism ("Paris is well worth a Mass") – the first Bourbon king of France		1589
The Speedwell leaves Delfshaven (Rotterdam), to bring pilgrims to America by way of England		1620
Queen Anne dies; George Louis, Elector of Hanover, is proclaimed King of Great Britain		1714
The Watermen's race, for Doggett's Coat and Badge (rowing) – is contested for the first time		1716
The South Sea Bubble reaches a frenzy in London as the stock price of the South Sea Company peaks at £1,000; it would collapse soon afterwards, and fall to £124 by December		1720
The foundation stone of the Bank of England is laid		1732
In the Seven Years' War, British and Hanoverian forces defeat the French at the Battle of Minden. This is one of a number of events that constituted Britain' Annus Mirabilis, and is celebrated by certain British Army regiments as Minden Day		1759
Joseph Priestley discovers oxygen, by isolating it in its gaseous state (corroborating its prior discovery by the German–Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele) and names it 'dephlogisticated air'		1774
The first savings bank opens in Hamburg		1778
The British army under general Cornwallis occupies Yorktown, Virginia – where they would be besieged in September and surrender in October		1781
France introduces the metre – the first metric unit		1793
The Battle of the Nile (a.k.a. the Battle of Aboukir Bay) begins when a British fleet engages the fleet of the French Revolutionary Navy in an unusual night action		1798
The Acts of Union are passed, merging the separate kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland		1800
During the First Barbary War, the American schooner USS Enterprise captures the Tripolitan polacca Tripoli in a single–ship action off the coast of modern–day Libya		1801
The new London Bridge opens		1831
Parliament allocates £20m compensation for owners of freed slaves		1833
The Slavery Abolition Act 1833 comes into force, abolishing slavery in the British Empire – although it remains legal in the possessions of the East India Company, until the passage of the Indian Slavery Act in 1843		1834
The Apprenticeship system is abolished in most of the British Empire, meaning that former slaves would no longer be indentured to their former owners		1838
The Rotherhithe Tunnel, under the Thames, opens		1842
The Chilean brigantine Joven Daniel wrecks at the coast of AraucaníÂa, Chile, leading to allegations that local Mapuche tribespeople murdered survivors and kidnapped Elisa Bravo, one of the passengers		1842
Monte Rosa – the second highest summit in the Alps – is climbed for the first time, by a party of eight climbers (including Christopher and James Smyth, Charles Hudson, John Birkbeck and Edward Stephenson) led by three guides: Matthäus and Johannes Zumtaugwald, and Ulrich Lauener		1855
The Irish Land Act gives rights to tenants of Irish landlords		1870
Hallidie's Clay Street Hill Railroad Company begins operating cable cars in San Francisco		1873
Colorado is admitted as the 38th state of the USA		1876
Britain's General Post Office introduces the first parcel post		1883
Louis Riel, leader of a revolt in Canada, is found guilty and sentenced to death		1885
Britain annexes the Kermadec Islands (near New Zealand)		1886
The roof of Seville's cathedral collapses after an earthquake		1888
Henry Perky (a US lawyer, involved in marketing for a company manufacturing railway carriages, and who suffered from diarrhoea) patents shredded wheat		1893
The First Sino–Japanese War breaks out over Korea		1894
Norwegian–born Americans Frank Samuelsen and George Harbo land in the Scilly Isles, 55 days after leaving the Battery in New York City – the first people ever to row across an ocean		1896
The first Michelin Guide is published by the brothers Édouard and André Michelin as a hotel and restaurant reference guide, to encourage more road travel and thus boost tyre sales (exact date beyond August 1900 unknown)		1900
96 lives are lost in Australia's worst ever coal mining accident in Wollongong, New South Wales		1902
The first Scout camp opens on Brownsea Island, marking the start of the worldwide Scouting movement		1907
The Bank of Italy (later the Bank of America) opens its first branch at 3433 Mission Street, San Francisco		1907
François Faber of Luxembourg becomes the first foreign rider to win the Tour de France		1909
Transportation workers begin a major strike in Liverpool – part of a wave of industrial unrest		1911
Harriet Quimby takes her pilot's test, and becomes the first woman to earn an aviator's certificate from the Aero Club of America		1911
Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany declares war on his nephew, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia; France, Germany and Switzerland mobilise their armies; the German 69th infantry regiment enters Luxembourg		1914
The British Grand Fleet reaches Scapa Flow		1914
The Universal Negro Improvement Association, led by Marcus Garvey, is founded in Jamaica with the aim of creating a black–governed nation in Africa		1914
US labour leader Frank Little, organiser of the Industrial Workers of the World, is lynched in Butte, Montana		1917
British troops enter Vladivostok		1918
In the first significant battle of the Chinese Civil War, Communist forces led by He Long and Zhou Enlai rebel against the 'Revolutionary Committee' established by the Kuomintang in the city of Nanchang. This date is commemorated as the founding of the People's Liberation Army (the armed forces of the Chinese Communist Party and of the People's Republic of China)		1927
The earliest release date for films to be eligible for Academy Awards		1927
Sukarno (born Kusno Sosrodihardjo), leader of Indonesia's struggle for independence, is arrested by Dutch police while visiting fellow nationalist Mohammad Hoesni Thamrin in Jakarta		1933
Anti–Fascist activists Bruno Tesch, Walter Möller, Karl Wolff and August Lütgens are executed by the Nazi regime in Altona, in the German city state of Hamburg		1933
Adolf Hitler opens the Games of the XIth Olympiad in Berlin		1936
Glenn Miller records In the Mood (later to become his theme tune)		1939
The first Jeep is produced		1941
The Polish Underground Army, under 'General Bor' begins the battle to liberate Warsaw, the first European city to fall to the Germans		1944
Anne Frank makes the last entry in her diary; three days later she would be arrested		1944
Germany introduces the first postcodes		1944
King Leopold III of Belgium, under pressure from the Government as his return from exile threatens to cause a civil war (he being held responsible for the surrender to the Germans in 1940) decides to abdicate in favour of his son Baudouin, with effect from 16 July of the following year		1950
The Pacific island of Guam, in Micronesia, is organised as a United States commonwealth		1950
Australian prime minister Robert Menzies promises to send troops to support US forces in Korea		1950
Fidel Castro is arrested in Cuba, following his role in carrying out an attack on the Moncada Barracks seven days earlier		1953
In South Africa, the Natives Resettlement Act comes into being – empowering the Government to remove Africans from any area within and next to the magisterial district of Johannesburg		1954
The US atomic submarine USS Nautilus begins the first transit under the North Pole (Operation Sunshine – completed two days later)		1958
Dahomey (later renamed Benin) declares independence from France		1960
Islamabad is named as the capital of Pakistan		1960
Australian cricket captain Richie Benaud takes 6 for 70 in England's second innings, to win the Fourth Test at Old Trafford by 54 runs		1961
Arthur Ashe becomes the first African–American player to be named in the USA's Davis Cup team		1963
The former Belgian Congo is renamed the Democratic Republic of the Congo		1964
Frank Herbert's Dune – named in 2003 as the world's best–selling science fiction novel – is published for the first time		1965
General Yakubu Gowon assumes power in Nigeria following a military coup		1966
Charles Whitman, a 25–year–old former US Marine, kills his mother, his wife and 16 people at the University of Texas at Austin, before being shot dead by police		1966
Purges of intellectuals and imperialists becomes official policy in China, at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution		1966
Hassanal Bolkiah is crowned as the 29th Sultan of Brunei (he still reigns in 2020)		1966
The halfpenny ceases to be legal tender		1969
Geologically–trained Apollo 15 astronauts discover a rock that later proves to be part of the original lunar crust, and older than any Moon rock previously found – helping to revolutionise ideas about the Moon's formation, and giving new insights into the age of the solar system		1971
George Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh is held at Madison Square Garden in New York		1971
The first article by Bernstein and Woodward concerning the Watergate scandal is published in the Washington Post		1972
The UN Security Council authorises its peacekeeping force in Cyprus to divide the island into two zones		1974
35 countries, including all extant European states, the USA and Canada, sign the Helsinki Accords – an attempt to improve the détente between the Soviet bloc and the West		1975
Niki Lauda of Austria, the reigning world Formula 1 champion, suffers a near–fatal crash during the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim		1976
Vigdís Finnbogadóttir is elected President of Iceland, becoming the world's first democratically–elected female head of state		1980
MTV begins broadcasting in the United States; its first video is Video Killed the Radio Star by the Buggles		1981
Despite a brave 112 not out by David Gower, New Zealand win the Second Test at Headingley by 5 wickets – their first ever Test victory in England		1983
Commercial peat cutters discover the preserved bog body of Lindow Man, at Lindow Moss in Wilmslow, Cheshire		1984
KGB officer Vitaly Yurchenko defects to the USA in Rome, naming Americans Ronald Pelton and Edward Lee Howard as KGB agents		1985
The Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia is released from hospital after a three–week diabetic coma		1986
Mike Tyson outpoints Tony Tucker in 12 rounds in Las Vegas, becoming the first to hold all three major heavyweight titles (WBA, WBC and IBF) simultaneously		1987
The Maori Language Act comes into force in New Zealand, making Māori an official language, able to be used in some legal proceedings		1987
An IRA bomb attack at Inglis Barracks in Mill Hill, London, kills one soldier, injures nine others, and destroys large parts of the barracks		1988
Australia beat England by 9 wickets in the Fourth Test at Old Trafford, taking an unassailable 3–0 series lead to regain the Ashes		1989
Actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr, aged 77, is arrested for shoplifting in Florida – accused of stealing laxatives and eye drops, worth $21.48. She pleaded no contest to avoid a court appearance, and the charges were dropped in return for her promise to refrain from breaking any laws for a year		1991
Linford Christie (32) becomes the oldest man to win an Olympic 100m gold medal, edging Namibia's Frankie Fredericks (24) into second place		1992
A Great Flood in the Mississippi and Missouri rivers reaches its peak		1993
England win the women's cricket World Cup for the first time, with a 67–run victory over New Zealand at Lord's		1993
Thousands of historic documents and more than 100,000 books are destroyed in a fire at Norwich Central Library – the worst at any British library in living memory (probably caused by a gas explosion, triggered when the caretaker switched on the lights)		1994
A Game of Thrones, the first novel in George R. R. Martin's epic fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire, is published for the first time		1996
US athlete Michael Johnson wins the 200 metres at the Atlanta Olympics, in a world record 19.32 seconds, to become the first man to complete the 200m–400m double. France's Marie–José Pérec becomes the second woman to do the same (after the USA's Valerie Brisco–Hooks in 1984)		1996
The Petronas Towers, in Kuala Lumpur – at 451.9 metres (1,483 feet) the world's tallest building – is (are?) officially opened by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad		1999
The Hutton enquiry, into the death of weapons expert David Kelly two weeks earlier, opens at London's Royal Courts of Justice		2003
396 people die, and 500 others are injured, in a supermarket fire in Asunción, Paraguay		2004
13 people die, and 145 others are injured, when a bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota, collapses during the evening rush hour		2007
Eleven mountaineers, of seven different nationalities, lose their lives in the worst single accident in the history of K2, the world' second highest mountain		2008
The Beijing–Tianjin Intercity Railway begins operation as the world's fastest commuter rail system		2008
Barry George's conviction seven years earlier for the murder of Jill Dando is overturned on retrial (nine months after the quashing of the original verdict)		2008
82 people die, and over 150,000 are made homeless, as Typhoon Saola strikes the Philippines, Taiwan and China		2012
Bradley Wiggins wins his seventh Olympic medal, in the time trial, making him Britain's most successful Olympian (4 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze)		2012
Eight female badminton doubles players, from China, South Korea and Indonesia, are disqualified from the London Olympics, for attempting to manipulate the draw by throwing matches (in the preliminary round, which is used to determine seeding)		2012
Rania al–Mashat, Egypt's Minister of International Co–operation, assures Elon Musk that its pyramids were not built by aliens, after he tweeted in support of a conspiracy theory that they were		2020

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On This Day: 1 August