What happend on 31st July

30.07
01.08
1917

The Third Battle of Ypres starts in Flanders.

1856

Christchurch, New Zealand chartered as a city.

1790

First US patent issued; granted to inventor Samuel Hopkins for a potash process.

1703

Daniel Defoe is placed in a pillory for the crime of seditious libel after publishing a politically satirical pamphlet, but is pelted with flowers.

1667

The Treaty of Breda ends the Second Anglo-Dutch War.

1588

The Spanish Armada is spotted off the coast of England.

1498

On his third voyage to the Western Hemisphere, Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to discover the island of Trinidad.

1423

Hundred Years War: Battle of Cravant

1009

Pietro Boccapecora becomes Pope Sergius IV