Vesuvius from Portici by Joseph Wright of Derby
- 79 – Mount Vesuvius erupted, burying the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in volcanic ash
- 1572 – The slaughter of French Protestants at the hands of Catholics began in Paris
- 1814 – British forces invaded Washington, D.C., setting fire to the Capitol and the White House
- 1932 – Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly nonstop across the U.S.
- 2006 – Astronomers declared that Pluto was no longer a planet, demoting it to a “dwarf planet”
- 2010 – Danielle becomes a Category 2 hurricane in the Atlantic
