On this day: April 29

Events on April 29

• 801 An earthquake in the Central Apennines hits Rome and Spoleto, damaging the basilica of San Paolo Fuori le Mura. Wikipedia
• 1429 Joan of Arc arrives to relieve the Siege of Orléans. Wikipedia
• 1483 Gran Canaria, the main island of the Canary Islands, is conquered by the Kingdom of Castile. Wikipedia
• 1492 The Crown's decision to expel the Jews is announced in Zaragoza, Aragon, to the kingdom's procurators. Wikipedia
• 1770 James Cook arrives in Australia at Botany Bay, which he names. Wikipedia
• 1770 On his first voyage, British explorer James Cook and the crew of HMS Endeavour landed at Botany Bay, making the first recorded European landfall on the eastern coast of Australia. Wikipedia
• 1781 American Revolutionary War: British and French ships clash in the Battle of Fort Royal off the coast of Martinique. Wikipedia
• 1862 American Civil War: The Capture of New Orleans by Union forces under David Farragut. Wikipedia
• 1863 Confederate forts at Grand Gulf survived a bombardment by Union gunboats, preventing Ulysses S. Grant's troops from crossing the Mississippi River at that point. Wikipedia
• 1864 Theta Xi fraternity is founded at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the only fraternity to be founded during the American Civil War. Wikipedia
• 1916 World War I: The UK's 6th Indian Division surrenders to Ottoman Forces at the Siege of Kut in one of the largest surrenders of British forces up to that point. Wikipedia
• 1916 Easter Rising: After six days of fighting, Irish rebel leaders surrender to British forces in Dublin, bringing the Easter Rising to an end. Wikipedia
• 1944 Second World War: British agent Nancy Wake parachuted into Auvergne, France, becoming a liaison between the Special Operations Executive and the local Maquis group. Wikipedia
• 1945 World War II: Adolf Hitler marries his longtime partner Eva Braun in a Berlin bunker and designates Admiral Karl Dönitz as his successor. Wikipedia
• 1945 World War II: The U.S. Army liberated Dachau, the first Nazi concentration camp, and killed German prisoners of war. Wikipedia
• 1945 World War II: The Surrender of Caserta is signed by the commander of German forces in Italy. Wikipedia
• 1967 After refusing induction into the United States Army the previous day, Muhammad Ali is stripped of his boxing title. Wikipedia
• 1970 Vietnam War: South Vietnamese forces began the Cambodian campaign, aiming to attack North Vietnamese jungle bases. Wikipedia
• 1970 Vietnam War: United States and South Vietnamese forces invade Cambodia to interdict the Ho Chi Minh Trail in an attempt to cut off supplies to the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese Army. Wikipedia
• 1974 Watergate scandal: United States President Richard Nixon announces the release of edited transcripts of White House tape recordings relating to the scandal. Wikipedia
• 1975 Vietnam War: Operation Frequent Wind: The U.S. begins to evacuate U.S. citizens from Saigon before an expected North Vietnamese takeover. U.S. involvement in the war comes to an end. This happens after the Bombing of Tan Son Nhut Air Base. Wikipedia
• 1975 Vietnam War: North Vietnam concluded its East Sea Campaign by capturing all of the Spratly Islands held by South Vietnam. Wikipedia
• 1986 The United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Enterprise becomes the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to transit the Suez Canal, navigating from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea to relieve the USS Coral Sea. Wikipedia
• 1991 A cyclone strikes the Chittagong district of southeastern Bangladesh with winds of around 155 miles per hour (249 km/h), killing at least 138,000 people and leaving as many as ten million homeless. Wikipedia
• 1991 The 7.0 Mw Racha earthquake affects Georgia with a maximum MSK intensity of IX (Destructive), killing 270 people. Wikipedia
• 2013 A powerful explosion occurs in an office building in Prague, believed to have been caused by natural gas, and injures 43 people. Wikipedia

Born on April 29

• 1636 Esaias Reusner, German lute player and composer (died 1679) Wikipedia
• 1818 Alexander II of Russia (died 1881) Wikipedia
• 1848 Raja Ravi Varma, Indian painter and academic (died 1906) Wikipedia
• 1854 Henri Poincaré, French mathematician, physicist and engineer (died 1912) Wikipedia
• 1863 Constantine P. Cavafy, Egyptian-Greek journalist and poet (died 1933) Wikipedia
• 1863 William Randolph Hearst, American publisher and politician, founded the Hearst Corporation (died 1951) Wikipedia
• 1893 Harold Urey, American chemist and astronomer, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1981) Wikipedia
• 1895 Vladimir Propp, Russian scholar and critic (died 1970) Wikipedia
• 1899 Duke Ellington, American pianist, composer and bandleader (died 1974) Wikipedia
• 1901 Hirohito, Japanese emperor (died 1989) Wikipedia
• 1907 Fred Zinnemann, Austrian-American director and producer (died 1997) Wikipedia
• 1933 Willie Nelson, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer and actor Wikipedia
• 1936 Zubin Mehta, Indian conductor Wikipedia
• 1938 Bernie Madoff, American businessman, financier and convicted felon (died 2021) Wikipedia
• 1954 Jerry Seinfeld, American comedian, actor and producer Wikipedia
• 1957 Daniel Day-Lewis, British actor Wikipedia
• 1958 Michelle Pfeiffer, American actress Wikipedia
• 1968 Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, Croatian politician and diplomat, 4th President of Croatia Wikipedia
• 1970 Uma Thurman, American actress Wikipedia
• 1970 Andre Agassi, American tennis player Wikipedia
• 1989 Domagoj Vida, Croatian footballer Wikipedia
• 2007 Infanta Sofía of Spain, Spanish princess Wikipedia

Died on April 29

• 1380 Catherine of Siena, Italian mystic, philosopher and saint (born 1347) Wikipedia
• 1630 Agrippa d'Aubigné, French soldier and poet (born 1552) Wikipedia
• 1676 Michiel de Ruyter, Dutch admiral (born 1607) Wikipedia
• 1833 William Babington, Anglo-Irish physician and mineralogist (born 1756) Wikipedia
• 1933 Constantine P. Cavafy, Greek poet and journalist (born 1863) Wikipedia
• 1947 Irving Fisher, American economist and statistician (born 1867) Wikipedia
• 1951 Ludwig Wittgenstein, Austrian-English philosopher and academic (born 1889) Wikipedia
• 1956 Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb, German field marshal and convicted war criminal (born 1876) Wikipedia
• 1980 Alfred Hitchcock, English-American director and producer (born 1899) Wikipedia
• 2006 John Kenneth Galbraith, Canadian-American economist and diplomat, United States Ambassador to India (born 1908) Wikipedia
• 2008 Albert Hofmann, Swiss chemist and academic (born 1906) Wikipedia
• 2012 Roland Moreno. French engineer, invented the smart card (born 1945) Wikipedia
• 2014 Bob Hoskins, English actor (born 1942) Wikipedia
• 2020 Irrfan Khan, Indian actor (born 1967) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Catherine of Siena (Catholic, Lutheran and Anglican Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Hugh of Cluny Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Robert of Molesme Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Wilfrid II Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: April 29 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• International Dance Day (UNESCO) Wikipedia
• Shōwa Day, traditionally the start of the Golden Week holiday period, which is April 29 and May 3–5. (Japan) Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “April 29” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-09 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. We picked the 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths with the widest coverage across Wikipedia's language editions (counted from Wikidata) and sorted them by year; the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures.