On This Day in History July 24 Historical Events 1534 French explorer Jacques Cartier claims for France the lands around Gaspé by erecting a 30-foot cross at Pointe-Penouille  1567 Mary Queen of Scots is forced to abdicate; her 1-year-old son becomes King James VI of Scots  1832 Benjamin Bonneville leads the first wagon train across the Rocky Mountains by Wyoming's South Pass  A photo Hiram Bingham took after discovering the ancient Inca citadel of Machu Picchu 1911 American explorer Hiram Bingham rediscovers Machu Picchu, the Lost City of the Incas  1943 Operation Gomorrah: RAF begins bombing Hamburg (till 3rd August), creating a firestorm and killing 42,600 people  2019 Global warming is the fastest in 2,000 years and scientific consensus that humans are the cause is at 99%, according to three major reports published in journals "Nature" and "Nature Geoscience"  More Historical Events  Famous Birthdays Simón Bolívar 1783 - 1830 Alexandre Dumas 1802 - 1870 Amelia Earhart 1897 - 1939 Jennifer Lopez 55th Birthday Also Bill the Butcher and Francisco Solano López.  More Famous Birthdays  Famous Deaths Martin Van Buren 1782 - 1862 Matthew Webb 1848 - 1883 Also Maria Szymanowska and James Chadwick.  More Famous Deaths  Light and Air For All – With No Charge! One of Britain's most hated taxes, which had been in force for more than 250 years, was finally abolished on this day.  The Hated Window Tax