21 Khordad 1372

Events

• 980 (1046 years ago) Vladimir the Great consolidates the Kievan realm from Ukraine to the Baltic Sea. He is proclaimed ruler (knyaz) of all Kievan Rus'.
• 1594 (432 years ago) Philip II recognizes the rights and privileges of the local nobles and chieftains in the Philippines, which paved way to the stabilization of the rule of the Principalía (an elite ruling class of native nobility in Spanish Philippines).
• 1748 (278 years ago) Denmark adopts the characteristic Nordic Cross flag later taken up by all other Scandinavian countries.
• 1825 (201 years ago) The first cornerstone is laid for Fort Hamilton in New York City.
• 1865 (161 years ago) The Naval Battle of the Riachuelo is fought on the rivulet Riachuelo (Argentina), between the Paraguayan Navy on one side and the Brazilian Navy on the other. The Brazilian victory was crucial for the later success of the Triple Alliance (Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina) in the Paraguayan War.
• 1936 (90 years ago) Inventor Edwin Armstrong demonstrates FM broadcasting to an audience of engineers at the FCC in Washington, DC.
• 1940 (86 years ago) World War II: The Siege of Malta begins with a series of Italian air raids.
• 2010 (16 years ago) The first FIFA World Cup held on African soil kicks off in South Africa.

Births

• 1572 (454 years ago) Ben Jonson, English poet, playwright, and critic (died 1637)
• 1864 (162 years ago) Richard Strauss, German composer and conductor (died 1949)
• 1899 (127 years ago) Yasunari Kawabata, Japanese novelist and short story writer Nobel Prize laureate (died 1972)
• 1910 (116 years ago) Jacques Cousteau, French biologist, author, and inventor, co-developed the aqua-lung (died 1997)
• 1933 (93 years ago) Gene Wilder, American actor, director, and screenwriter (died 2016)
• 1959 (67 years ago) Hugh Laurie, English actor and screenwriter
• 1969 (57 years ago) Peter Dinklage, American actor and producer
• 1986 (40 years ago) Shia LaBeouf, American actor

Deaths

• 1727 (299 years ago) George I of Great Britain,
• 1859 (167 years ago) Klemens von Metternich, German-Austrian politician, 1st State Chancellor of the Austrian Empire (born 1773)
• 1934 (92 years ago) Lev Vygotsky, Belarusian-Russian psychologist and theorist (born 1896)
• 1936 (90 years ago) Robert E. Howard, American author and poet (born 1906)
• 1974 (52 years ago) Julius Evola, Italian philosopher and author (born 1898)
• 1979 (47 years ago) John Wayne, American actor, director, and producer (born 1907)
• 1992 (34 years ago) Rafael Orozco Maestre, Colombian singer (born 1954)
• 2025 (a year ago) Brian Wilson, American singer and songwriter, co-founder of the Beach Boys (born 1942)

All 312 events, births and deaths of June 11