On this day: July 31

Events on July 31

• 781 The oldest recorded eruption of Mount Fuji (Traditional Japanese date: Sixth day of the seventh month of the first year of the Ten'o (天応) era). Wikipedia
• 1009 Sergius IV became the 142nd pope, succeeding John XVIII. Wikipedia
• 1492 All remaining Jews are expelled from Spain when the Alhambra Decree takes effect. Wikipedia
• 1498 On his third voyage to the Western Hemisphere, Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to discover the island of Trinidad. Wikipedia
• 1658 Aurangzeb is proclaimed Mughal emperor of India. Wikipedia
• 1667 The Second Anglo-Dutch War ended with the signing of the Treaty of Breda. Wikipedia
• 1777 The Second Continental Congress passed a resolution commissioning the Marquis de Lafayette as a major general in the American revolutionary forces. Wikipedia
• 1874 Patrick Francis Healy was inaugurated as president of Georgetown University, becoming the first African-American president of a predominantly white university in the United States. Wikipedia
• 1917 First World War: The Battle of Passchendaele began near Ypres, Belgium, with the Allies aiming to force German troops to withdraw from the Channel Ports. Wikipedia
• 1924 A private senator's bill by Herbert Payne to introduce compulsory voting in Australia became law. Wikipedia
• 1938 Archaeologists discover engraved gold and silver plates from King Darius the Great in Persepolis. Wikipedia
• 1941 The Holocaust: Under instructions from Adolf Hitler, Hermann Göring authorised SS officer Reinhard Heydrich to handle preparations for the "Final Solution of the Jewish question". Wikipedia
• 1948 At Idlewild Field in New York, New York International Airport (later renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport) is dedicated. Wikipedia
• 1954 A team of Italian climbers became the first to reach the summit of K2, the world's second-highest mountain. Wikipedia
• 1966 The pleasure cruiser MV Darlwyne disappeared off the coast of Cornwall with the loss of all 31 people aboard. Wikipedia
• 1971 Apollo program: The Apollo 15 astronauts become the first to ride in a lunar rover. Wikipedia
• 1972 The Troubles: Hours after the British Army's Operation Motorman brought an end to the self-declared autonomous area of Free Derry in Northern Ireland, three car bombs exploded in the village of Claudy. Wikipedia
• 1975 The Troubles: In a botched paramilitary attack, three members of the popular Miami Showband and two Ulster Volunteer Force gunmen were killed in County Down, Northern Ireland. Wikipedia
• 1991 Soviet Special Purpose Police Unit troops killed seven Lithuanian customs officials in Medininkai in the most serious attack of their campaign against Lithuanian border posts. Wikipedia
• 1992 The nation of Georgia joins the United Nations. Wikipedia
• 2000 Three years after being hit by a mudslide, the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery in Hong Kong fully reopened. Wikipedia
• 2002 Hamas attackers detonated a bomb at the Mount Scopus campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, killing nine students and injuring about 100 more. Wikipedia
• 2006 Following intestinal surgery, Fidel Castro provisionally transferred the duties of the Cuban presidency to his brother Raúl. Wikipedia
• 2007 The Troubles: Operation Banner, the British Armed Forces' operation in Northern Ireland, ended after 38 years with a military stalemate and ceasefire. Wikipedia
• 2012 The largest power outage in history occurred across 22 Indian states, affecting more than 620 million people, or about 9 percent of the world's population. Wikipedia
• 2020 A mid-air collision in Soldotna, Alaska, United States, killed seven people, including state representative Gary Knopp. Wikipedia

Born on July 31

• 1396 Philip III, Duke of Burgundy (died 1467) Wikipedia
• 1527 Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor (died 1576) Wikipedia
• 1800 Friedrich Wöhler, German chemist and academic (died 1882) Wikipedia
• 1880 Premchand, Indian author and playwright (died 1936) Wikipedia
• 1901 Jean Dubuffet, French painter and sculptor (died 1985) Wikipedia
• 1912 Milton Friedman, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2006) Wikipedia
• 1914 Louis de Funès, French actor and screenwriter (died 1983) Wikipedia
• 1918 Paul D. Boyer, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2018) Wikipedia
• 1919 Primo Levi, Italian chemist and author (died 1987) Wikipedia
• 1926 Hilary Putnam, American mathematician, computer scientist, and philosopher (died 2016) Wikipedia
• 1929 Oriana Fallaci, Italian journalist and writer (died 2006) Wikipedia
• 1932 John Searle, American philosopher and academic (died 2025) Wikipedia
• 1933 Cees Nooteboom, Dutch journalist, author, and poet (died 2026) Wikipedia
• 1944 Geraldine Chaplin, American actress and screenwriter Wikipedia
• 1947 Richard Griffiths, English actor (died 2013) Wikipedia
• 1956 Michael Biehn, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter Wikipedia
• 1962 Wesley Snipes, American actor and producer Wikipedia
• 1965 J. K. Rowling, English author and film producer Wikipedia
• 1969 Antonio Conte, Italian footballer and manager Wikipedia
• 1976 Paulo Wanchope, Costa Rican footballer and manager Wikipedia
• 1979 Carlos Marchena, Spanish footballer Wikipedia
• 1989 Victoria Azarenka, Belarusian tennis player Wikipedia

Died on July 31

• 1556 Ignatius of Loyola, Spanish priest and theologian, founded the Society of Jesus (born 1491) Wikipedia
• 1784 Denis Diderot, French philosopher and critic (born 1713) Wikipedia
• 1875 Andrew Johnson, American general and politician, 17th President of the United States (born 1808) Wikipedia
• 1886 Franz Liszt, Hungarian pianist, composer, and conductor (born 1811) Wikipedia
• 1914 Jean Jaurès, French journalist and politician (born 1859) Wikipedia
• 1944 Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, French pilot and poet (born 1900) Wikipedia
• 1993 Baudouin, King of Belgium (born 1930) Wikipedia
• 2012 Gore Vidal, American novelist, screenwriter, and critic (born 1925) Wikipedia
• 2017 Jeanne Moreau, French actress (born 1928) Wikipedia
• 2020 Alan Parker, English filmmaker (born 1944) Wikipedia
• 2022 Fidel V. Ramos, 12th President of the Philippines (born 1928) Wikipedia
• 2022 Bill Russell, NBA Hall of Fame player and coach (born 1934) Wikipedia
• 2024 Ismail Haniyeh, Palestinian politician, political leader of Hamas (born 1962/1963) Wikipedia
• 2026 Franco Baresi, Italian footballer (born 1960) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Abanoub Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Cecília Schelingová Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Solanus Casey Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Fabius Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Germanus of Auxerre Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Giustino de Jacobis Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Helena of Skövde Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Ignatius of Loyola Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Neot Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: July 31 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Earliest day on which the Feast of Kamál (Perfection) can fall, while August 1 is the latest; observed on the first day of the eighth month of the Baháʼí calendar. (Baháʼí Faith) Wikipedia
• End of the Trinity term (sitting of the High Court of Justice of England) Wikipedia
• Lā Hae Hawaiʻi Day (Hawaii, United States), and its related observance: Sovereignty Restoration Day (Hawaiian sovereignty movement) Wikipedia
• Martyrdom Day of Shahid Udham Singh (Haryana and Punjab, India) Wikipedia
• Treasury Day (Poland) Wikipedia
• Warriors' Day (Malaysia) Wikipedia

Sources

• Wikipedia — “July 31” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/July 31” — the anniversaries editors chose for the date and the article each one is about (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikidata — in how many language editions each entry's own article exists, used to fill the lists (CC0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• vacanza/holidays (open-source holiday rules, MIT licence) — holiday rules used to build the lists (checked 2026-10-15)

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “July 31” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-15 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. Every anniversary that Wikipedia's editors selected for July 31 stays on the list; the remaining places, up to 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths, go to the entries whose own article — about the event itself, or else the person or thing it is about — appears in the most language editions (counted from Wikidata); an article about a person or thing, which covers far more than one day, counts half. An entry with no article of its own counts, also at half, by the least covered article it links, and one that links only places counts for nothing. Each list runs by year, and the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures, audio and video.