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HISTORY & TIMELINE
6 July

A journey through
6 July in history

The story of 6 July runs from the Theban victory over Sparta at Leuctra in 371 BC to the reopening of a Himalayan trade pass in 2006. In between come the burning of a Czech reformer, the founding of an Argentine city, the first rabies vaccination, the first Asian member of the British Parliament, an airship over the Atlantic, a desert campaign on the Red Sea, the first baseball All-Star Game, a meeting at a church fete in Liverpool, a first at Wimbledon, a new African nation, the start of the Biafran war, the worst disaster in the North Sea and a new airport for Hong Kong.

Begin the Timeline ↓ ← Back to Explore This Day
JUMP THROUGH TIME
I
EARLIEST RECORDS

Ancient & Early History

The earliest worthwhile records and events connected with this date.

-371
The restored Theban victory monument on the battlefield of LeuctraThe restored Theban victory monument on the battlefield of LeuctraImage: George E. Koronaios · CC0
world · Europe

Thebes breaks Spartan power at Leuctra

For centuries Sparta’s army was thought unbeatable on land. At Leuctra in Boeotia, on a day Britannica gives as 6 July 371 BC in modern reckoning of the Greek calendar, the Theban general Epaminondas massed his best troops in an unusually deep column on his left wing and smashed the Spartan right, where their king Cleombrotus fell. The defeat ended Sparta’s dominance, and for a decade Thebes was the leading power in Greece.

Source: Britannica: Battle of Leuctra ↗
II
THE MIDDLE AGES

Medieval History

Kingdoms, conflict, faith, power and the changing medieval world.

1415
Jan Hus led to the stake at Constance, in an engraving after a painting by Carl Gustaf HellqvistJan Hus led to the stake at Constance, in an engraving after a painting by Carl Gustaf HellqvistImage: Carl Gustaf Hellqvist · Public domain
world · Europe

Jan Hus is burned at the stake in Constance

Jan Hus was a priest and scholar who preached in Czech to large crowds at the Bethlehem Chapel in Prague. Influenced by the English theologian John Wycliffe, he attacked the wealth and corruption of the clergy and the sale of indulgences, and argued that the Bible, not the pope, was the final authority for Christians. The Church excommunicated him, but he kept the support of many Czechs, from ordinary townspeople to nobles. In 1414 Hus travelled to the great Church council at Constance, on the Rhine, to defend his views, trusting in a safe conduct from the Emperor Sigismund. Within weeks he was arrested and imprisoned. At his trial he refused to recant beliefs he said he had never held, or to abandon those he had. On 6 July 1415 the council condemned him as a heretic in Constance Cathedral, and he was burned outside the city the same day; his ashes were thrown into the Rhine. His death turned a movement into a revolt: his followers, the Hussites, fought off crusades for years. 6 July is a public holiday in the Czech Republic.

Source: Britannica: Jan Hus ↗
III
A CHANGING WORLD

Early Modern Era

Exploration, political change, scientific development and expanding global connections.

1573
A statue of Jerónimo Luis de Cabrera, the founder of Córdoba, in the cityA statue of Jerónimo Luis de Cabrera, the founder of Córdoba, in the cityImage: Belgrano · Public domain
world · Americas

Córdoba is founded in Argentina

On 6 July 1573 the Spanish captain Jerónimo Luis de Cabrera, leading an expedition of about a hundred men from Santiago del Estero and Tucumán, founded a town on the banks of the Suquía River. He named it Córdoba de la Nueva Andalucía, after the Spanish home of his wife’s family. The settlement grew into a centre of learning, with a Jesuit university from the early 17th century, and is now Argentina’s second-largest city.

Source: City of Córdoba: 6 July 1573, founding of the city ↗
IV
THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

The 1800s

Industry, empire, invention, reform and a century of enormous transformation.

1885
Louis Pasteur in his laboratory, painted by Albert Edelfelt in 1885, the year of the first rabies vaccinationLouis Pasteur in his laboratory, painted by Albert Edelfelt in 1885, the year of the first rabies vaccinationImage: Albert Edelfelt · Public domain
science · Europe

Pasteur gives the first rabies vaccination

In the 19th century rabies was feared everywhere: once its symptoms appeared, it was always fatal. Louis Pasteur, who had already made vaccines against diseases of animals, set out to tame it. Working with the spinal cords of infected rabbits, dried for different lengths of time to weaken the virus, his team produced a treatment that protected dogs, but it had never been tried on a person. In July 1885 Joseph Meister, a nine-year-old boy from Alsace, was brought to Pasteur in Paris after being bitten 14 times by a rabid dog. Pasteur was not a physician, and after some hesitation the doctor Jacques-Joseph Grancher gave the first injection on 6 July 1885. Over ten days the boy received 13 injections, each more potent than the last. Joseph Meister never developed rabies. News of the cure brought patients from across the world, and public donations paid for the Institut Pasteur, which opened in Paris in 1888.

Source: Institut Pasteur: The history of the first rabies vaccination in 1885 ↗
1892
Dadabhai Naoroji, in a portrait published in 1889Dadabhai Naoroji, in a portrait published in 1889Image: Unknown photographer (Woodburytype from Sorabji Jehangir, Representative Men of India, 1889) · Public domain
politics · Europe

Dadabhai Naoroji is elected to the British Parliament

Dadabhai Naoroji was born into a Parsi family in Bombay in 1825 and became a professor of mathematics before moving to London in 1855 to work in business. He spent much of his life arguing that British rule was draining India of its wealth, an idea he set out in detail in his writings, and in 1885 he helped to found the Indian National Congress. He believed the case for India had to be made inside the British Parliament itself. His first attempt, at Holborn in 1886, failed, and the prime minister, Lord Salisbury, remarked that British voters would not elect a ‘black man’. In 1892 Naoroji stood as a Liberal in Central Finsbury in north London, and the poll was held on 6 July. He won by just three votes, a margin that a later recount put at five, and became the first Asian member of the House of Commons. He sat until he lost the seat in 1895, using it to press for Indian reform, and later served three times as president of the Congress.

Source: UK Parliament Heritage Collections: The first Asian and Black parliamentarians ↗
V
THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

The 1900s

War and peace, technological leaps, social change, politics, sport and popular culture.

1917
Arab fighters at Aqaba in February 1918, photographed by Paul Castelnau seven months after the port's captureArab fighters at Aqaba in February 1918, photographed by Paul Castelnau seven months after the port’s captureImage: Paul Castelnau · Public domain
world · Middle East

Arab fighters capture the port of Aqaba

In June 1916 Sharif Hussein of Mecca launched a revolt against Ottoman rule in Arabia, backed by Britain, which was at war with the Ottoman Empire. His son Feisal led the fighting in the north, advised by a young British officer, T. E. Lawrence. By 1917 the rebels wanted Aqaba, a small Ottoman port at the head of the Red Sea that could supply them and threaten the flank of the Turkish armies in Palestine. Aqaba’s defences faced the sea, so rather than attack from the water, a small force of Arab tribesmen, with Lawrence and the Howeitat leader Auda abu Tayi, set out on a march of some two months, looping through the desert to come at the town from inland. After fighting in the hills above the port, the Ottoman garrison surrendered on 6 July 1917. It was the revolt’s first major victory. Aqaba became Feisal’s base, and his army moved north alongside the British towards Damascus, which fell in October 1918.

Source: National Army Museum: Arab rebels take Aqaba ↗
1919
The R34 at Roosevelt Field, Long Island, after its arrival on 6 July 1919The R34 at Roosevelt Field, Long Island, after its arrival on 6 July 1919Image: U.S. Army Audiovisual Center (US National Archives) · Public domain
science · Americas

The airship R34 completes the first east-west air crossing of the Atlantic

The British airship R34 left East Fortune in Scotland on 2 July 1919 with a crew of about 30, plus a stowaway and a kitten. Battling headwinds and running short of fuel, it reached Long Island, New York, on the morning of 6 July, after more than 108 hours in the air. It was the first flight across the Atlantic from east to west, and a week later R34 flew home, completing the first return crossing by air.

Source: National Museums Scotland: Stowaways and cats, the first transatlantic flight from Britain to the United States ↗
1933
Comiskey Park, Chicago, in 1986, five years before it was demolishedComiskey Park, Chicago, in 1986, five years before it was demolishedImage: Johnmaxmena2 · Public domain
sport · Americas

Baseball holds its first All-Star Game

Arch Ward, sports editor of the Chicago Tribune, proposed a game between the best players of baseball’s two major leagues to go with the Century of Progress world’s fair in Chicago. It was played on 6 July 1933 at Comiskey Park before 47,595 fans. The 38-year-old Babe Ruth hit the first All-Star home run, and the American League won 4-2. The game was such a success that it became an annual fixture.

Source: Society for American Baseball Research: July 6, 1933, Comiskey Park hosts first All-Star Game ↗
1957
A Quarry Men bass drum and guitars on display at The Beatles Story museum in LiverpoolA Quarry Men bass drum and guitars on display at The Beatles Story museum in LiverpoolImage: Hens Zimmerman · CC BY 2.0
culture · Europe

John Lennon meets Paul McCartney at a church fete

In the mid-1950s skiffle, a home-made mix of folk, blues and jazz played on cheap guitars and washboards, swept through Britain, and thousands of teenagers formed bands. One of them was the Quarrymen, started in Liverpool by a 16-year-old John Lennon and his school friends. On the afternoon of 6 July 1957 they played at the summer fete of St Peter’s Church in Woolton, on the back of a lorry and then on a stage in a field. In the audience was Paul McCartney, 15, brought along by a friend of Lennon’s, Ivan Vaughan. Between sets, in the church hall, McCartney picked up a guitar and played Eddie Cochran’s Twenty Flight Rock with all the words and chords right. Lennon was impressed, and a few weeks later he asked McCartney to join. George Harrison followed in 1958, and by 1960 the group had become the Beatles.

Source: National Museums Liverpool: When Paul McCartney met John Lennon ↗
1957
Queen Elizabeth II congratulates Althea Gibson on her Wimbledon title in 1957Queen Elizabeth II congratulates Althea Gibson on her Wimbledon title in 1957Image: Associated Press · Public domain
sport · Europe

Althea Gibson becomes the first Black Wimbledon champion

Althea Gibson was born in South Carolina in 1927 and grew up in Harlem, New York, where she first played paddle tennis in the street. Tennis in the United States was then largely segregated, and she made her name in the American Tennis Association, the circuit for Black players. In 1950 she became the first Black player to compete at the US national championships, and in 1956 she won the French Championships, the first Black player to take a Grand Slam singles title. At Wimbledon in 1957 she was the top seed. On 6 July she beat her fellow American Darlene Hard, who was also her doubles partner, 6-3, 6-2 in the final, taking less than an hour, and received the trophy from Queen Elizabeth II. She was the first Black champion in Wimbledon’s history. She won the doubles too, took the US title that September, and defended both singles titles in 1958. Later she became the first Black woman to play on the professional golf tour.

Source: International Tennis Hall of Fame: Althea Gibson ↗
1964
Hastings Kamuzu Banda, who led Malawi to independence and became its first presidentHastings Kamuzu Banda, who led Malawi to independence and became its first presidentImage: National Archives of Malawi · CC BY-SA 4.0
politics · Africa

Malawi becomes independent

Britain took control of the lands around Lake Nyasa in the 1890s, and the protectorate was named Nyasaland in 1907. In 1953, over strong African objections, it was joined with Northern and Southern Rhodesia in a federation dominated by white settlers. Opposition grew, and in 1958 it found a leader in Hastings Kamuzu Banda, a doctor who came home after decades working abroad. The colonial authorities declared an emergency in 1959 and jailed him, but they could not stop the movement. Banda’s Malawi Congress Party won the elections of 1961, the federation was dissolved at the end of 1963, and on 6 July 1964 Nyasaland became the independent state of Malawi, with Banda as prime minister. Two years later, on the same date, Malawi became a republic with Banda as president. His rule grew harsh: he made Malawi a one-party state, had himself named president for life, and was not voted out until multiparty elections in 1994. 6 July is still Malawi’s Independence Day.

Source: Britannica: History of Malawi ↗
1967
Yakubu Gowon, head of Nigeria's federal military government during the civil warYakubu Gowon, head of Nigeria’s federal military government during the civil warImage: Unknown photographer (National Library of Nigeria) · Public domain
world · Africa

Nigerian forces invade Biafra and civil war begins

In May 1967, after months of ethnic violence and political crisis, Nigeria’s Eastern Region declared itself the independent Republic of Biafra. The federal military government under Yakubu Gowon refused to accept the break-up, and on 6 July 1967 its troops launched a full invasion. The war lasted 30 months. A federal blockade brought famine to Biafra, and estimates of the dead range from half a million to three million. Biafra surrendered in January 1970.

Source: Britannica: Nigerian civil war ↗
1988
A map of the northern North Sea oil and gas fields, with the Piper field east of OrkneyA map of the northern North Sea oil and gas fields, with the Piper field east of OrkneyImage: Gautier, D.L. · Public domain
world · Europe

The Piper Alpha platform is destroyed in the North Sea

On the evening of 6 July 1988 gas escaped from a pump on the Piper Alpha oil platform, about 190 kilometres north-east of Aberdeen, where a safety valve had been removed for maintenance. The gas ignited, and fires fed by pipelines from neighbouring platforms destroyed the rig. 167 men died, the world’s worst offshore oil disaster. The inquiry led by Lord Cullen brought a sweeping reform of offshore safety.

Source: Britannica: Piper Alpha disaster ↗
1998
Hong Kong International Airport on its island of Chek Lap Kok, seen from the airHong Kong International Airport on its island of Chek Lap Kok, seen from the airImage: Wylkie Chan · CC BY-SA 3.0
world · Asia

Hong Kong moves its airport overnight

For more than 70 years Hong Kong’s airport was Kai Tak, in the middle of Kowloon. Its single runway jutted into Victoria Harbour, and pilots had to make a steep low turn over crowded apartment blocks to line up for landing, one of the most famous approaches in aviation. By the 1980s it was full. The answer was a new airport on Chek Lap Kok, a small island off Lantau that was levelled and hugely enlarged with reclaimed land, linked to the city by new bridges, roads and a railway. The switch was made in a single night. Around midnight on 5 July 1998 the last flights left Kai Tak and its runway lights were switched off, while convoys of vehicles carried equipment across the city. Early on 6 July the first flight landed at Chek Lap Kok. The new airport covered some 1,248 hectares, nearly four times the size of Kai Tak, and its vast terminal was designed by the British architect Norman Foster. It has since become one of the busiest cargo airports in the world.

Source: Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department: Kai Tak Airport 1925-1998 ↗
VI
2000 TO TODAY

Modern Day

The events of recent decades that have already become part of the historical record.

2006
The gateway at Nathu La on the India-China border in SikkimThe gateway at Nathu La on the India-China border in SikkimImage: Rajan.PITHVA · CC BY-SA 3.0
world · Asia

Nathu La reopens to trade between India and China

Nathu La, a pass more than 4,000 metres high on the border between Sikkim and Tibet, was once a branch of the old trade routes linking India and Tibet. It was sealed after the Sino-Indian War of 1962. On 6 July 2006, after 44 years, it reopened for border trade between India and China, a sign of warming relations between the two countries, and local traders began crossing again each summer.

Source: Government of Sikkim: Border trade at Nathula ↗
RESEARCH

Sources & Further Reading

Selected authoritative references supporting the events on this page.

Britannica: Battle of Leuctra↗World History Encyclopedia: Battle of Leuctra↗Britannica: Jan Hus↗Radio Prague International: Where truth and legend meet, Jan Hus in Konstanz↗City of Córdoba: 6 July 1573, founding of the city↗Government of Córdoba: History↗Institut Pasteur: The history of the first rabies vaccination in 1885↗Britannica: Louis Pasteur, vaccine development↗UK Parliament Heritage Collections: The first Asian and Black parliamentarians↗British Newspaper Archive: The election of Dadabhai Naoroji, 6 July 1892↗Britannica: Dadabhai Naoroji↗National Army Museum: Arab rebels take Aqaba↗Imperial War Museums: Who was Lawrence of Arabia?↗National Museums Scotland: Stowaways and cats, the first transatlantic flight from Britain to the United States↗Britannica: R-34↗Society for American Baseball Research: July 6, 1933, Comiskey Park hosts first All-Star Game↗Baseball Hall of Fame: MLB All-Star Game created a blueprint for other leagues↗National Museums Liverpool: When Paul McCartney met John Lennon↗National Trust: History of the Beatles’ childhood homes↗International Tennis Hall of Fame: Althea Gibson↗Britannica: Althea Gibson↗Britannica: History of Malawi↗South African History Online: Malawi↗Britannica: Nigerian civil war↗BlackPast: Nigerian Civil War (1967-1970)↗Britannica: Piper Alpha disaster↗Aberdeen City Council: Piper Alpha Memorial, Hazlehead Park↗Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department: Kai Tak Airport 1925-1998↗Hong Kong International Airport: About us↗Government of Sikkim: Border trade at Nathula↗Ministry of External Affairs, India: Resumption of border trade at Nathu La↗
WHY THESE MOMENTS?

Significance before volume

This page is not the longest possible list of events. It is a chronological journey through 6 July, where each entry is chosen for historical significance, human interest and reliability.

Facts are checked against authoritative museums, archives, universities and reference works. Where sources disagree, the page says so.

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