Events for August 15
1893 – Ibadan area becomes a British Protectorate after a treaty signed by Fijabi, the Baale of Ibadan with the British acting Governor of Lagos, George C. Denton.
1261 – Michael VIII Palaiologos is crowned as the first Byzantine emperor in fifty-seven years.
1070 – The Pavian-born Benedictine Lanfranc is appointed as the new Archbishop of Canterbury in England.
2007 – An 8.0-magnitude earthquake off the Pacific coast devastates Ica and various regions of Peru killing 514 and injuring 1,090.
1952 – A flash flood drenches the town of Lynmouth, England, killing 34 people.
1237 – Spanish Reconquista: The Battle of the Puig between the Moorish forces of Taifa of Valencia against the Kingdom of Aragon culminates in an Aragonese victory.
1899 – Fratton Park football ground in Portsmouth, England is officially first opened.
982 – Holy Roman Emperor Otto II is defeated by the Saracens in the Battle of Capo Colonna, in Calabria.
2005 – The Helsinki Agreement between the Free Aceh Movement and the Government of Indonesia was signed, ending almost three decades of fighting.
1942 – World War II: Operation Pedestal: The oil tanker SS Ohio reaches the island of Malta barely afloat carrying vital fuel supplies for the island's defenses.
1185 – The cave city of Vardzia is consecrated by Queen Tamar of Georgia.
1975 – Bangladeshi leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is killed along with most members of his family during a military coup.
1824 – The Marquis de Lafayette, the last surviving French general of the American Revolutionary War, arrives in New York and begins a tour of 24 states.
1970 – Patricia Palinkas becomes the first woman to play professionally in an American football game.
1281 – Mongol invasion of Japan: The Mongolian fleet of Kublai Khan is destroyed by a "divine wind" for the second time in the Battle of Kōan.
1914 – World War I: The First Russian Army, led by Paul von Rennenkampf, enters East Prussia.
1971 – Bahrain gains independence from the United Kingdom.
1959 – American Airlines Flight 514, a Boeing 707, crashes near the Calverton Executive Airpark in Calverton, New York, killing all five people on board.
1975 – Takeo Miki makes the first official pilgrimage to Yasukuni Shrine by an incumbent prime minister on the anniversary of the end of World War II.
1907 – Ordination in Constantinople of Fr. Raphael Morgan, the first African-American Orthodox priest, "Priest-Apostolic" to America and the West Indies.
1511 – Afonso de Albuquerque of Portugal conquers Malacca, the capital of the Malacca Sultanate.
1540 – Arequipa, Peru is founded.
1954 – Alfredo Stroessner begins his dictatorship in Paraguay.
1961 – Border guard Conrad Schumann flees from East Germany while on duty guarding the construction of the Berlin Wall.
Notable Births & Deaths for August 15
2008 – Jerry Wexler, American journalist and producer (b. 1917)
2012 – Altamiro Carrilho, Brazilian flute player and composer (b. 1924)
2006 – Coenraad Bron, Dutch computer scientist and academic (b. 1937)
2021 – Gerd Müller, German footballer (b. 1945)
1989 – Ryan McGowan, Australian footballer
2007 – Sam Pollock, Canadian businessman (b. 1925)
1990 – Jennifer Lawrence, American actress
2013 – Marich Man Singh Shrestha, Nepali politician, 28th Prime Minister of Nepal (b. 1942)
1994 – Lasse Vigen Christensen, Danish footballer
1982 – Casey Burgener, American weightlifter
2008 – Vic Toweel, South African-Australian boxer (b. 1929)
2007 – Richard Bradshaw, English conductor and director (b. 1944)
1987 – Ryan D'Imperio, American football player
1992 – Baskaran Adhiban, Indian chess player
1994 – Kosuke Hagino, Japanese swimmer
2006 – Faas Wilkes, Dutch footballer and manager (b. 1923)
1991 – Petja Piiroinen, Finnish snowboarder
2013 – August Schellenberg, Canadian actor (b. 1936)
2014 – Licia Albanese, Italian-American soprano and actress (b. 1909)
1982 – David Harrison, American basketball player
1988 – Oussama Assaidi, Moroccan footballer
1985 – Emily Kinney, American actress, singer, and songwriter
2007 – Geoffrey Orbell, New Zealand physician (b. 1908)
1993 – Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, English footballer
2015 – Julian Bond, American academic, leader of the civil rights movement, and politician (b. 1940)
2013 – Sławomir Mrożek, Polish-French author and playwright (b. 1930)
1982 – Germán Caffa, Argentine footballer
2011 – Rick Rypien, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1984)
1993 – Clinton N'Jie, Cameroonian footballer
1993 – Rieah Holder, Barbadian netball player
1999 – Paola Reis, BMX rider
2013 – Rosalía Mera, Spanish businesswoman, co-founded Inditex and Zara (b. 1944)
2012 – Harry Harrison, American author and illustrator (b. 1925)
1989 – Carlos PenaVega, American actor and singer
2007 – John Gofman, American biologist, chemist, and physicist (b. 1918)
1983 – Siobhan Chamberlain, English association football goalkeeper
2006 – Rick Bourke, Australian rugby league player (b. 1955)
2015 – Hamid Gul, Pakistani general (b. 1936)
2017 – Gunnar Birkerts, Latvian-American architect (b. 1925)
1995 – Chief Keef, American rapper
2006 – Te Atairangikaahu, New Zealand queen (b. 1931)
1985 – Nipsey Hussle, American rapper (d. 2019)
1989 – Jordan Rapana, New Zealand rugby league player
1987 – Michel Kreder, Dutch cyclist
2020 – Robert Trump, American real-estate developer, business executive (b. 1948)
1987 – Sean McAllister, English footballer
Quick Start
Our API is incredibly easy to use, check out the code samples below to get started:
Fetch Historical Events
All you need to do is send a request to https://today.zenquotes.io/api/[month]/[day]/[key] in order to generate a JSON array of historical events, including notable births and deaths. API data pulled from WikiPedia.
*[key] not required but recommended.
Sample Requests
https://today.zenquotes.io/api/1/1 - Generate notable events, births, and deaths for January 1.
https://today.zenquotes.io/api/5/5 - Generate notable events, births, and deaths for May 5.
https://today.zenquotes.io/api/12/25 - Generate notable events, births, and deaths for December 25.
Response
The result data is formatted as a JSON array, grouped by event type.
{ "info":"OnThisDay API", "date":"April_20", "updated":"1615972324",
"data":{
"Events":[ { "text":"1303 – The Sapienza University of Rome is instituted by a bull of Pope Boniface VIII.[1]", "html":"<a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/1303\" title=\"1303\">1303</a> – The <a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapienza_University_of_Rome\" title=\"Sapienza University of Rome\">Sapienza University of Rome</a> is instituted by a <a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Papal_bull\" title=\"Papal bull\">bull</a> of <a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Boniface_VIII\" title=\"Pope Boniface VIII\">Pope Boniface VIII</a>." },
//.. MORE DATA ..//
"Births":[ { "text":"1494 – Johannes Agricola, German theologian and reformer (d. 1566)[8]", "html":"<a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/1494\" title=\"1494\">1494</a> – <a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Agricola\" title=\"Johannes Agricola\">Johannes Agricola</a>, German theologian and reformer (d. 1566)" },
//.. MORE DATA ..//
"Deaths":[ { "text":"689 – Cædwalla, king of Wessex (b. 659)[21]", "html":"<a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/689\" title=\"689\">689</a> – <a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%A6dwalla_of_Wessex\" title=\"Cædwalla of Wessex\">Cædwalla</a>, king of <a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Wessex\" title=\"Wessex\">Wessex</a> (b. 659)" },
//.. MORE DATA ..//
} }Usage Limits and Attribution
Requests are restricted to 5 per 30 second period, an API key or registered IP is required for unlimited access and to enable Access-Control-Allow-Origin headers. We require that you show attribution with a link back to https://today.zenquotes.io/ when using the free version of this API. Contact support@zenquotes.io to chat with our friendly dev team and get registered.
Historical event data provided by <a href="https://today.zenquotes.io/" target="_blank">ZenQuotes.io</a>