Echoes of Time (On This Day Archive)
Year 2007
BioShock was released in North America, becoming a critical success and a demonstration of video games as an art form.
Logged on: 21 August 2026Year 2018
Silent Sam, a Confederate monument on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, was toppled by protestors.
Logged on: 20 August 2026Year 2005
Thunderstorms in southern Ontario, Canada, spawned at least three tornadoes that caused over C$500 million in damage.
Logged on: 19 August 2026Year 2008
Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf resigned under pressure from a movement to impeach him.
Logged on: 18 August 2026Year 1959
American musician Miles Davis released Kind of Blue, which became one of the best-selling and most critically acclaimed jazz recordings of all time.
Logged on: 17 August 2026Year 1986
Typhoon Wayne formed over the South China Sea, going on to become one of the longest-lived tropical cyclones in the north-western Pacific, lasting 21 days.
Logged on: 16 August 2026Year 2010
The inaugural edition of the Youth Olympic Games opened in Singapore for athletes aged between 14 and 18.
Logged on: 14 August 2026Year 2016
The state-owned Taedonggang Brewing Company inaugurated the first beer festival in North Korea.
Logged on: 12 August 2026Year 1979
Two Aeroflot passenger jets collided in mid-air near Dniprodzerzhynsk in the Ukrainian SSR, killing all 178 people on both aircraft.
Logged on: 11 August 2026Year 1966
The Heron Road Bridge in Ottawa, Canada, collapsed during its construction, killing nine workers.
Logged on: 10 August 2026Year 2018
A civilian school bus in Dahyan, Yemen, was bombed by Saudi Arabia killing at least 40 children under 15.
Logged on: 9 August 2026Year 1998
The Iranian consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, was raided by Taliban leading to the death of 10 Iranian diplomats and an Iranian journalist.
Logged on: 8 August 2026Year 1998
Car bombs exploded simultaneously at the American embassies in the East African capital cities of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya, killing more than 200 people and injuring more than 4,000 others.
Logged on: 7 August 2026Year 2013
A gas leak caused an explosion that collapsed a building and led to the deaths of 22 people in Rosario, Argentina.
Logged on: 6 August 2026Year 2011
NASA launched the Juno probe to Jupiter as part of the New Frontiers program.
Logged on: 5 August 2026Year 2005
Mauritanian president Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya was overthrown in a military coup while he attended the funeral of King Fahd of Saudi Arabia.
Logged on: 3 August 2026Year 2008
A taxi driver is murdered in Bangkok by a teenager addicted to video games leading to the Thai government banning the sale of Grand Theft Auto.
Logged on: 2 August 2026Year 2009
A shooting at a branch of the Israeli LGBT organization the Aguda in Tel Aviv resulted in two deaths.
Logged on: 1 August 2026Year 2002
Hamas attackers detonated a bomb at the Mount Scopus campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, killing nine students and injuring about 100 more.
Logged on: 31 July 2026Year 2018
Emmerson Mnangagwa (pictured) was elected to his first full term as president, having served as leader since the 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état.
Logged on: 30 July 2026Year 1938
The Essential Commodities Reserves Act, which allowed the British government to build up reserves of essential commodities in anticipation of war, received royal assent.
Logged on: 29 July 2026Year 2001
At the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, Australian Ian Thorpe became the first swimmer to win six gold medals at a single FINA world championship.
Logged on: 28 July 2026Year 2020
A major oil spill from the Colonial Pipeline was discovered in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina (system map pictured).
Logged on: 27 July 2026Year 2016
Hillary Clinton (pictured) became the first female nominee for president of the United States by a major political party at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
Logged on: 26 July 2026Year 2007
Pratibha Patil was sworn in as the first female president of India.
Logged on: 25 July 2026Year 2019
Boris Johnson became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom after winning the Conservative Party leadership election.
Logged on: 24 July 2026Year 1995
Hale–Bopp, one of the most widely observed comets of the 20th century, was independently discovered by astronomers Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp.
Logged on: 23 July 2026Year 1976
Japan completed its last reparation to the Philippines for war crimes committed during imperial Japan's conquest of the country in the Second World War.
Logged on: 22 July 2026Year 2013
Nour Ahmad Nikbakht, an Iranian diplomat in Yemen, was kidnapped by al-Qaeda militants and held hostage for the next two years.
Logged on: 21 July 2026Year 2015
A suicide attack (aftermath pictured) in Suruç, Turkey, for which Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility, killed 34 people and injured 104 others.
Logged on: 20 July 2026Year 1989
American actress Rebecca Schaeffer was shot and killed by Robert John Bardo, eventually prompting the passage of anti-stalking laws in California.
Logged on: 18 July 2026Year 1996
TWA Flight 800 exploded in mid-air and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near East Moriches, New York.
Logged on: 17 July 2026Year 2004
Millennium Park, a public park in Chicago, Illinois, and one of the world's largest rooftop gardens, opened to the public.
Logged on: 16 July 2026Year 2003
Valerie Plame's identity as a CIA operative was leaked to and published by journalist Robert Novak.
Logged on: 14 July 2026Year 2003
French Directorate General for External Security personnel aborted an operation to rescue Colombian politician Íngrid Betancourt from FARC guerrillas, resulting in a political scandal.
Logged on: 13 July 2026Year 1998
France defeated the defending champions Brazil 3–0 to win their first FIFA World Cup title.
Logged on: 12 July 2026Year 1982
Italy defeated West Germany 3–1 to win their third FIFA World Cup title.
Logged on: 11 July 2026Year 2006
Typhoon Ewiniar made landfall in South Korea, causing damages across the country amounting to 2.06 trillion won (US$1.4 billion).
Logged on: 10 July 2026Year 1981
Nintendo released the arcade game Donkey Kong, which featured the debut of Mario, one of the most famous characters in video-game history.
Logged on: 9 July 2026Year 2014
German citizen Lars Mittank disappeared from Varna Airport, Bulgaria; his last known movements were widely watched on YouTube.
Logged on: 8 July 2026Year 1983
After writing a letter to Soviet premier Yuri Andropov, American schoolgirl Samantha Smith visited the Soviet Union as Andropov's personal guest, becoming known as "America's Youngest Ambassador".
Logged on: 7 July 2026Year 2013
Gunmen attacked a secondary school in Mamudo, Yobe State, Nigeria, killing 42 people, mostly students.
Logged on: 6 July 2026Year 1687
Sir Isaac Newton publishes his groundbreaking 'Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica', detailing his laws of motion.
Logged on: 5 July 2026Year 1776
The Continental Congress adopts the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia.
Logged on: 4 July 2026Year 1886
Karl Benz officially unveils the Benz Patent-Motorwagen, widely regarded as the first modern automobile.
Logged on: 3 July 2026Year 1964
U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the historic Civil Rights Act into law.
Logged on: 2 July 2026