209 people are killed in a series of bomb attacks in Mumbai, India.

Over 8000 Bosnian men and children (all Bosniaks) are killed by Serbian troops commanded by Ratko Mladic in Potočari near Srebrenica Bosnia and Herzegovina.

A Cubana de Aviación Antonov An-24 crashes into the Caribbean off southeast Cuba killing 44 people.

Full diplomatic relations are established between the United States and Vietnam.

A Nationair DC-8 crashes during an emergency landing at Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, killing 261. The Canadian charter flight was ferrying Hajj pilgrims on behalf of Nigeria Airways.

Oka Crisis: First Nations land dispute in Quebec, Canada begins.

According to the United Nations, the world population crosses the 5,000,000,000 (5 billion) mark.

A Boeing 727 crashes into hilly terrain after a tail strike in Cuenca, Ecuador, claiming 119 lives.

America's first space station, ''Skylab'', is destroyed as it re-enters the Earth's atmosphere over the Indian Ocean.

Los Alfaques Disaster: A truck carrying liquid gas crashes and explodes at a coastal campsite in Tarragona, Spain killing 216 tourists.

Martin Luther King Jr. is posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Varig Flight 820, operated by a Boeing 707 crashes near Paris on approach to Orly Airport, killing 123 of the 134 on-board.

The first game of the World Chess Championship 1972 between challenger Bobby Fischer and defending champion Boris Spassky starts.

Copper mines in Chile are nationalized.

First transatlantic satellite television transmission.

''To Kill a Mockingbird'' by Harper Lee is first published.

Independence of Benin, Burkina Faso and Niger.

Prince Karim Husseini Aga Khan IV inherits the office of Imamat as the 49th Imam of Shia Imami Ismaili worldwide, after the death of Sir Sultan Mahommed Shah Aga Khan III.

Pakistan joins the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank.

The Exodus 1947 heads to Palestine from France.

World War II: Allied invasion of Sicily

Massacres of Poles in Volhynia.

World War II: Vichy France regime is formally established. Henri Philippe Pétain becomes Prime Minister of France.

The Triborough Bridge in New York City is opened to traffic.

Australian cricketer Don Bradman scores a world record 309 runs in one day, on his way to the highest individual Test innings of 334, during a Test match against England.

The Gillingham Fair fire disaster kills 15 in England.

The Hollywood Bowl opens.

The Red Army captures Mongolia from the White Army and establishes the Mongolian People's Republic.

Former U.S. President William Howard Taft is sworn in as 10th Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, becoming the only person to ever be both President and Chief Justice.

A truce is called in the Irish War of Independence; see Irish calendar.

In the East Prussian plebiscite the local populace decides to remain with Weimar Germany

The eight-hour working day and free Sunday become law in the Netherlands.

Babe Ruth makes his debut in Major league baseball.

The Gillette-Brown murder inspires Theodore Dreiser's ''An American Tragedy.''

Salomon August Andrée leaves Spitsbergen to attempt to reach the North pole by balloon. He later crashes and dies.

The Lumière brothers demonstrate film technology to scientists.

A revolution led by the liberal general and politician, José Santos Zelaya, takes over state power in Nicaragua.

The first cultured pearl is obtained by Kokichi Mikimoto.

Tijuana, Mexico, is founded.

The British Mediterranean fleet begins the Bombardment of Alexandria in Egypt as part of the 1882 Anglo-Egyptian War.

American Civil War: Battle of Fort Stevens; Confederate forces attempt to invade Washington, D.C..

''A Tale of Two Cities'' by Charles Dickens is published.

Waterloo railway station in London opens.

Noongar Australian aboriginal warrior Yagan, wanted for the murder of white colonists in Western Australia, is killed.

A duel occurs in which the Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr mortally wounds former Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton.

French astronomer Jean-Louis Pons made his first comet discovery. In the next 27 years he discovered another 36 comets, more than any other person in history.

The United States Marine Corps is re-established; they had been disbanded after the American Revolutionary War.

The United States takes possession of Detroit from Great Britain under terms of the Jay Treaty.

Jacques Necker is dismissed as France's Finance Minister sparking the Storming of the Bastille.

Captain James Cook begins his third voyage.

Halifax, Nova Scotia is almost completely destroyed by fire.

Pogrom: Jews are expelled from Little Russia.

Mathematical calculations suggest that it is on this day that dwarf planet Pluto moved inside the orbit of Neptune for the last time before 1979.

Samuel de Champlain returns to Quebec.

Martin Frobisher sights Greenland.

Giuliano della Rovere is appointed bishop of Coutances.

Ming admiral Zheng He sets sail to explore the world for the first time.

Charles IV of Luxembourg is elected emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.

Battle of the Golden Spurs (''Guldensporenslag'' in Dutch) – a coalition around the Flemish cities defeats the king of France's royal army.

Signing of the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte between Charles the Simple and Rollo of Normandy.

After being besieged in Rome by his own generals, Western Roman Emperor '''Anthemius''' is captured in the Old St. Peter's Basilica and put to death.