This Day in History: June 29

Featured Biography

Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga
president of Sri Lanka
Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov
president of Turkmenistan
Stokely Carmichael
West Indian-American activist
Ray Harryhausen
American filmmaker
Bernard Herrmann
American composer and conductor
Leroy Anderson
American musician

More Events On This Day

Bernie Madoff
American hedge-fund investment manager Bernie Madoff received a sentence of up to 150 years in prison for operating the largest Ponzi scheme in history.
Hiroko Masuike/Getty Images
Apple Inc.'s first mobile “smartphone,” the iPhone, went on sale, and it revolutionized the industry. Take our computers and technology quiz
Courtesy of Apple
Katharine Hepburn
American actress Katharine Hepburn—a spirited performer with a touch of eccentricity who introduced into her roles a strength of character previously considered to be undesirable in Hollywood leading ladies—died in Connecticut. Test your knowledge of A-list actors
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Mikhail Baryshnikov
While on tour with the Kirov (now Mariinsky) Ballet in Toronto, Mikhail Baryshnikov defected from the Soviet Union, citing artistic reasons, and he later settled in the United States. Sort fact from fiction in our ballet quiz
Martha Swope
Stokely Carmichael
Stokely Carmichael, a civil rights activist and a leader of black nationalism in the United States in the 1960s, was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad. Read about 10 milestones in U.S. civil rights history
CSU Archive/age fotostock
Balkan Wars
Following a year of war with the Ottoman Empire, members of the victorious Balkan League quarreled over the division of the conquered territories, resulting in the Second Balkan War when Bulgaria attacked Greek and Serbian forces in Macedonia this night. Take our history of war quiz
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
English poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning, famous for her Sonnets from the Portuguese, died at age 55 from a severe chill. Take our quiz about famous poets and poetic form
George Grantham Bain Collection/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (LC-DIG-ggbain-03571)
Townshend Acts
The Townshend Revenue Act, an import tax on tea and other goods, was imposed on the American colonists by British Chancellor Charles Townshend, bringing the Americans one step closer to revolution. Test your knowledge of early American history
Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Jacques Cartier
French mariner Jacques Cartier discovered Prince Edward Island off the coast of what is now Canada. Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about European exploration
Library and Archives Canada (Acc. No. 1997-218-1)
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