#TodayInHistory – July 1

July 1 – Some important events on this day.

69 👉🏼 Roman General Vespasian is first proclaimed Emperor by troops in Egypt, during year of the four emperors
1569 👉🏼 Latvian Parliament accepts Union of Lublin, incorporate into Poland
1689 👉🏼 Matsuo Basho, zen poet, leaves for 150 days journey on Honshu, Japan
1858 👉🏼 The joint reading of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace’s papers on evolution to the Linnean Society
1858 👉🏼 1st Canadian coins minted (1, 5, 10 and 20 cent)
1863 👉🏼 Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania; Lee’s northward advance halted

1867 👉🏼 The Dominion of Canada is formed, comprising the provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario & Quebec, with John A. Macdonald serving as the first Prime Minister.
The autonomous Dominion of Canada, a confederation of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the future provinces of Ontario and Quebec, is officially recognized by Great Britain with the passage of the British North America Act. July 1 becomes known as Canada Day.
On this day the Dominion of Canada was officially established as a self-governing entity within the British Empire. Two years later, Canada acquired the vast possessions of the Hudson’s Bay Company, and within a decade the provinces of Manitoba and Prince Edward Island had joined the Canadian federation. In 1885, the Canadian Pacific Railway was completed, making mass settlement across the vast territory of Canada possible.

1904 👉🏼 III Summer (Modern) Olympic Games open in St Louis, the first held in the United States.
There have been several Summer Olympic Games in the US, the first in St Louis in 1904, the second in Los Angeles in 1932, third in Los Angeles again in 1984 and in Atlanta in 1996. They will be held in Los Angeles a third time in 2028.
However, the 1904 Olympics were notable for the strangeness of one of its events: the marathon. It was held on a particularly hot day, and access to water was intentionally restricted by the organizers. The winner of the event, Thomas Hicks, had been given a dose of common rat poison mixed with brandy to stimulate his nervous system, and would probably have died if he hadn’t been immediately treated by doctors.
The games were not particularly ‘global’ given that the Russo-Japanese War prevented many nations from attending, as well as the fact that St. Louis was considered a very difficult destination to reach.

1905 👉🏼 Albert Einstein introduces his theory of special relativity
1908 👉🏼 “SOS” (· · · – – – · · ·) distress signal becomes the worldwide standard for help

1916 👉🏼 First day of the Battle of the Somme: the British Army suffers its worst day, losing 19,240 men (WWI). ✔️READ THE ARTICLE!

1916 👉🏼 1st of 4 fatal Jersey Shore shark attacks occur at Beach Haven when Charles Vansant (25) bled to death, challenging previous scientific belief that sharks never hurt humans, and sparking popular fear over sharks which persists today
1921 👉🏼 The Communist Party of China is founded and Chen Duxiu elected its leader
1941 👉🏼 Bulova Watch Co pays $9 for 1st ever network TV commercial
1960 👉🏼 Ghana becomes a republic
1980 👉🏼 ‘O Canada’ officially becomes the national anthem of Canada.
1997 👉🏼 United Kingdom returns Hong Kong and the New Territories to the People’s Republic of China