551 BC Birth of Confucius, Chinese philosopher (d. 479)
48 BC Death of Pompey the Great, who was assassinated on the orders of King Ptolemy of Egypt after landing in Egypt.
935 Death of Saint Wenceslas, murdered by his brother, Boleslaus I of Bohemia
1066 William the Conqueror invades England; the Norman Conquest began.
1106 In the Battle of Tinchebrai, Henry I of England defeats his brother, Robert Curthose.
1238 Muslim Valencia surrenders to the besieging King James I of Aragon the Conqueror.
1330 Birth of Nicolas Flamel, French alchemist (d. 1418) made famous with his wife and fellow alchemist Perrenelle Flamel for supposedly having succeeded in changing lead into silver and gold, and for creating the Philosopher's Stone, ingredient in 'the elixir of life' which makes those who consume it immortal. In a sense, he is immortalized, in numerous works of fiction, including J.K. Rowling's first Harry Potter novel.
1542 Navigator João Rodrigues Cabrilho of Portugal arrives at what is now San Diego, California, United States.
1667 Birth of Asano Naganori, Japanese warlord (d. 1701)
1708 Peter the Great defeats the Swedes at the Battle of Lesnaya.
1746 Birth of Sir William Jones, English philologist who discovered the inter-relationship of what we now understand to be Proto-Indo-European root of a large number of languages. (d. 1794)
1779 American Revolution: Samuel Huntington is elected President of the Continental Congress, succeeding John Jay.
1787 The newly completed United States Constitution is voted on by the U.S. Congress to be sent to the state legislatures for approval.
1791 France becomes the first European country to emancipate its Jewish population.
1835 Birth of Sai Baba of Shirdi (d. 1918)
1836 Birth of Thomas Crapper, English inventor of modern plumbing, including the flush toilet. (d. 1910)
1844 Death of Pyotr Aleksandrovich Tolstoy, Russian general and statesman (b. 1769)
1864 The International Workingmen's Association is founded in London.
1867 Toronto becomes the capital of Ontario.
The United States takes control of Midway Island.
1889 The first General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) defines the length of a meter as the distance between two lines on a standard bar of an alloy of platinum with ten percent iridium, measured at the melting point of ice.
1891 Death of Herman Melville, American novelist (b. 1819)
1895 Death of Louis Pasteur, French scientist (b. 1822)
1901 Birth ofWilliam S. Paley, American radio and television executive (d. 1990)
1909 Birth of Al Capp, American cartoonist (d. 1979)
1910 Birth of Wenceslao Vinzons, Filipino politician and resistance leader (d. 1942)
1925 Birth of Seymour Cray, American computer scientist (d. 1996)
1928 The U.K. Parliament passes the Dangerous Drugs Act outlawing cannabis. Sir Alexander Fleming notices a bacteria-killing mould growing in his laboratory, discovering what later became known as penicillin.
1953 Death of Edwin Hubble, American astronomer (b. 1889)
1956 Death of William Edward Boeing, American aviation pioneer (b. 1881)
1958 France ratifies a new Constitution of France; the French Fifth Republic is then formed upon the formal adoption of the new constitution on October 4. Guinea rejects the new constitution, voting for independence instead. Award yourself five bonus points if you can list the other French Republics, and when they took place.
1961 A military coup in Damascus effectively ends the United Arab Republic, the union between Egypt and Syria.
Birth of Quentin Kawananakoa, pretender to the throne of the Kingdom of Hawaii
1971 The Parliament of the United Kingdom passes the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 banning the medicinal use of cannabis.
1973 The ITT Building in New York City is bombed in protest at ITT's alleged involvement in the September 11 1973 coup d'état in Chile.
1987 The beginning of the Palestinian civil disobedience uprising, "The First Intifada" against the Israeli occupation.
2000 Al-Aqsa Intifada: Ariel Sharon visits the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
2007 First celebration of International World Rabies Day.
2008 SpaceX launches the first ever private spacecraft, the Falcon 1 into orbit.
2009 The military junta leading Guinea, headed by Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, sexually assaulted, killed and wounded protesters during a protest rally in a stadium called Stade du 28 Septembre. See this day, 1958.
