What happened on 8 July?

10 events from the Ever-When timeline, ranked by how much they mattered.

1. 1853 Perry Expedition to Japan US Black Ships force Japan to end sakoku and open its ports to American ships.
2. 1853 Perry's black ships arrive in Edo Bay US Commodore Matthew Perry's warships arrive to demand that Japan open to foreign trade.
3. 1709 Battle of Poltava Peter the Great's decisive victory over Charles XII of Sweden; the turning point of the Great Northern War and of Russia's rise.
4. 1839 Born: John D. Rockefeller American oil magnate; co-founder of Standard Oil; richest American of his era.
5. 1994 Death of Kim Il-sung North Korea's founding leader dies; power passes to his son Kim Jong-il, entrenching the world's only communist dynasty.
6. 2022 Assassination of Shinzō Abe Former prime minister Abe shot dead while campaigning in Nara.
7. 2000 The Real Slim Shady (Eminem) UK No. 1 single by Eminem, first listed at No. 1 on the chart dated 8 July 2000.
8. 2013 Pope Francis visits Lampedusa On his first trip outside Rome, Francis throws a wreath into the sea for migrants drowned crossing from Africa and condemns 'the globalisation of indifference'.
9. 1549 Kett's Rebellion Norfolk commoners under the landowner Robert Kett camp on Mousehold Heath against enclosures and take Norwich, England's second city, before being slaughtered at Dussindale.
10. 2010 LeBron James's 'The Decision' In a live hour-long TV special, LeBron announces he will 'take my talents to South Beach', leaving his home-town Cavaliers for Miami — and remaking player power in the NBA.