Hong Kong Returns: British Rule Ends After 150 Years
Britain and China signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration, requiring London to return all of Hong Kong to Beijing on July 1, 1997. This agreement ended ninety-nine years of colonial rule and triggered a massive exodus of capital as residents feared the loss of their legal protections under Chinese sovereignty.
July 1, 1997
29 years ago
Key Figures & Places
What Else Happened on July 1
The prefect of Egypt controlled Rome's grain supply—and he knew it. Tiberius Julius Alexander, a Jewish apostate commanding two legions in Alexandria, declared …
Narses brought 20,000 men to face Totila's Ostrogoths at Busta Gallorum, near modern Gualdo Tadino. The Byzantine eunuch general was 74 years old. Totila, half …
Prince Bohemond of Taranto's Crusader forces routed Sultan Kilij Arslan I's Seljuk army at Dorylaeum, breaking open the road to the Holy Land during the First C…
The Castilian army marched 60,000 strong into Granada's Sierra Elvira on July 1st, 1431—the largest Christian force assembled in decades. King Juan II's troops …
Hernán Cortés lost 860 Spanish soldiers in a single night trying to sneak out of Tenochtitlan with stolen Aztec gold. June 30, 1520. The causeway bridges were g…
Hernán Cortés and his forces fled Tenochtitlan under the cover of darkness during the Noche Triste, suffering heavy casualties as Aztec warriors attacked them o…
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