Today in History in 2005 Hurricane Katrina reaches the US' Gulf coast with winds at a speed of 225 kph. The city of New Orleans is among the places that are severely flooded, as over 1,000 people are killed.

Our on this day in history archives contain over 200,000 events, birthdays and deaths from 6,000 years of history. Here is a roundup of a few of them:

August 29 is the 241st day of the year (242nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 124 days remaining until the end of the year.

EVENTS

708 – Copper coins are first minted in Japan.

1261 – Urban IV becomes Pope, the last man to do so without being a Cardinal first.

1315 – Battle of Montecatini: The army of the Republic of Pisa, commanded by Uguccione della Faggiuoli, wins a decisive victory against the joint forces of the Kingdom of Naples and Republic of Florence despite being outnumbered (meaning the opposing armies, combined, had more soldiers).

1350 – Battle of Winchelsea: An English naval fleet under King Edward III defeats a Castilian fleet of 40 ships.

1475 – Treaty of Picquigny ends a brief war between France and England.

1484 – Pope Innocent VIII, a staunch supporter of the Spanish Inquisition, is elected Pope.

1498 – Vasco da Gama decides to leave Calicut, present-day Kerala, southern India, and return to Portugal.

1521 – The Ottoman Turks capture Nándorfehérvár, now known as Belgrade.

1526 – Battle of Mohács: The Ottoman Turks led by Suleiman the Magnificent defeat and kill the last Jagiellonian king of Hungary and Bohemia.

1541 – The Ottoman Turks capture Buda, the capital of the Hungarian Kingdom.

1728 – Nuuk, Greenland, is founded as the fort of Godt-Haab by Danish royal governor Claus Paarss.

1741 – The volcanic eruption on Oshima-Oshima Island, Japan, causes tsunamis in the Sea of Japan, which kill around 1600 people.

1751 – The world's biggest wine barrel is completed in the cellar of Heidelberg Castle, present-day Germany. It can carry 221,726 liters.

1756 – Frederick the Great attacks Saxony, beginning the Seven Years' War.

1782 – The British ship HMS Royal George sinks while anchored in the Solent, south coast of England, killing between 800 and 950 people.

1786 – Shays' Rebellion, an armed uprising of Massachusetts farmers, begins in response to high debt and tax burdens.

1825 – Portugal recognizes Brazil as independent.

1831 – Michael Faraday discovers electromagnetic induction.

1833 – The United Kingdom legislates the abolition of Slavery in its then-Empire.

1842 – The Treaty of Nanking is signed, ending the First Opium War.

1861 – American Civil War: A United States Navy squadron captures forts at Hatteras Inlet, North Carolina.

1862 – Battle of Aspromonte - Italian royal forces defeat rebels.

1871 – Emperor Meiji of Japan orders the establishment of prefectures as local centres of administration.

1885 – Gottlieb Daimler patents the world's first motorcycle.

1893 – Whitcomb Judson gets a US patent for the zipper.

1895 – The formation of the Northern Rugby Union at the George Hotel, Huddersfield.

1896 – Chop suey is said to have been invented in New York City on this date.

1897 – The first Zionist World Congress is held in Basel, Switzerland.

1898 – Goodyear tire company is founded.

1907 – The Quebec Bridge collapses during construction, killing 75 workers.

1910 – The Japan-Korea Treaty of 1910 becomes effective, officially starting the period of Japanese rule on the Korean peninsula.

1911 – Ishi, considered the last Stone Age Native American, emerges from the wilderness of northeastern California.

1914 – World War I: The then-German colony of Samoa is occupied by New Zealand troops.

1915 – United States Navy salvage divers raise F-4, the first US submarine sunk in an accident.

1916 – The Mount Field and Freycinet National Parks are created in Tasmania.

1916 – The US passes the Philippine Autonomy.

1922 – The first radio advertisement is broadcast on WEAF-AM in New York City.

1930 – The last 36 remaining inhabitants of the remote Scottish island of Saint Kilda, leave forever.

1941 – World War II: Tallinn, Estonia, is occupied by Germany, following its occupation by the Soviet Union.

1943 – World War II: German-occupied Denmark scuttles most of its navy; Germany dissolves Danish government

1944 – Slovak National Uprising takes place as 60,000 Slovak troops turn against the Nazi rulers.

1949 – The Soviet Union tests its first atomic bomb at Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan.

1950 – Korean War: British troops arrive in Korea to support South Korea and the United States.

1952 – Premiere of John Cage's 4'33" in Woodstock, New York

1958 – United States Air Force Academy opens in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

1965 – The Gemini V spacecraft returns to Earth.

1966 – Last Beatles concert, in San Francisco

1966 – Execution of Sayyid Qutb, an important theoretician of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood.

1968 – The future King Harald V of Norway marries Sonja Haraldsen in Oslo.

1982 – The synthetic chemical element Meitnerium, atomic number 109, is first synthesized at the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung in Darmstadt, Germany.

1991 – Supreme Soviet suspends all activities of the Soviet Communist Party.

1995 – An assassination attempt is made on President of Georgia, Eduard Shevardnadze.

1996 – A Vnukovo Airlines Tupolev Tu-154 crashes into a mountain on the Arctic island of Spitsbergen, killing all 141 aboard.

1997 – At least 98 villagers are killed by the GIA in the Rais massacre, Algeria.

1997 – Serial killer Angel Maturino Resendiz bludgeons to death Christopher Maier of Lexington, Kentucky, the first of nine victims.

1999 – East Timor votes for independence from Indonesia.

2003 – Ayatollah Sayed Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, the Shia Muslim leader in Iraq, was assassinated in a terrorist bombing that killed him along with nearly 100 worshippers as they were leaving a mosque in Najaf.

2004 – End of the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.

2004 – Michael Schumacher wins his 7th Formula One world title and his 5th in a row, breaking the record held by Juan Manuel Fangio.

2005 – Hurricane Katrina reaches the US' Gulf coast with winds at a speed of 225 kph. The city of New Orleans is among the places that are severely flooded, as over 1,000 people are killed.

2008 – US Republican Party Presidential candidate John McCain nominates Sarah Palin as his running mate.

2011 – Hurricane Irene dissolves over Eastern Canada, having left a path of destruction over the Caribbean and eastern United States.

2012 – The 2012 Summer Paralympics in London begin.

2013 – The House of Commons of the United Kingdom votes, by a majority, against military action in Syria.

2015 – Three Al-Jazeera journalists are sentenced to three years in prison in Egypt, accused of false reporting and sympathizing with the banned Muslim Brotherhood.

2015 – Protests in Kuala Lumpur occurred against Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak, sparked by the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal.

2017 – North Korea fires a ballistic missile over the southern part of the Northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.