September 2Birthdays & History

On this day: September 2 in history

Oldest first. Tap a year to see it on the World Chronicle timeline.

1. 44 BCPharaoh Cleopatra VII of Egypt declares her son co-ruler as Ptolemy XV Caesarion.Middle East
2. 44 BCCicero launches the first of his Philippicae (oratorical attacks) on Mark Antony. He will make 14 of them over the following months.Europe
3. 31 BCFinal War of the Roman Republic: Battle of Actium: Off the western coast of Greece, forces of Octavian defeat troops under Mark Antony and Cleopatra.EuropeMiddle East
4. 911The Byzantine Empire and the Kievan Rus sign a treaty regulating trade.Europe
5. 1192The Treaty of Jaffa is signed between Richard I of England and Saladin, leading to the end of the Third Crusade.Europe
6. 1561Entry of Mary, Queen of Scots into Edinburgh, a spectacular civic celebration for the Queen of Scotland, marred by religious controversy.Europe
7. 1595An imperial army retakes the city of Esztergom from the Ottoman Empire.Middle East
8. 16014th Spanish Armada makes landfall in Ireland at Kinsale.Europe
9. 1649The Italian city of Castro is completely destroyed by the forces of Pope Innocent X, ending the Wars of Castro.Europe
10. 1666The Great Fire of London breaks out and burns for three days, destroying 10,000 buildings, including Old St Paul's Cathedral.Europe
11. 1752Great Britain, along with its overseas possessions, adopts the Gregorian calendar.Europe
12. 1789The United States Department of the Treasury is founded.North America
13. 1792During what became known as the September Massacres of the French Revolution, rampaging mobs slaughter three Roman Catholic bishops, more than two hundred priests, and prisoners believed to be royalist sympathizers.Europe
14. 1806A massive landslide destroys the town of Goldau, Switzerland, killing 457.Europe
15. 1807Napoleonic Wars: The British Royal Navy bombards Copenhagen with fire bombs and phosphorus rockets to prevent Denmark from surrendering its fleet to Napoleon.Europe
16. 1856The Tianjing incident takes place in Nanjing, China.Asia
17. 1859The Carrington Event is the strongest geomagnetic storm on record.World
18. 1862American Civil War: United States President Abraham Lincoln reluctantly restores Union General George B. McClellan to full command after General John Pope's disastrous defeat at the Second Battle of Bull Run.North AmericaEurope
19. 1864American Civil War: Union forces enter Atlanta as the city surrenders, ending the Atlanta campaign as a victory for General William T. Sherman.North America
20. 1867Mutsuhito, Emperor Meiji of Japan, marries Masako Ichijō, thereafter known as Empress Shōken.Asia
21. 1870Franco-Prussian War: Battle of Sedan: Prussian forces take Napoleon III of France and 100,000 of his soldiers prisoner.Europe
22. 1885Rock Springs massacre: In Rock Springs, Wyoming, 150 white miners, who are struggling to unionize so they could strike for better wages and work conditions, attack their Chinese fellow workers, killing 28, wounding 15 and forcing several hundred more out of town.North AmericaAsia
23. 1898Battle of Omdurman: British and Egyptian troops defeat Sudanese tribesmen and establish British dominance in Sudan.EuropeMiddle EastAfrica
24. 1901Vice President of the United States Theodore Roosevelt utters the famous phrase, "Speak softly and carry a big stick" at the Minnesota State Fair.North America
25. 1912Arthur Rose Eldred is awarded the first Eagle Scout award of the Boy Scouts of America.North America
26. 1923Kantō Massacre: Amid rumors that Koreans had been conducting acts of sabotage in the aftermath of the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake, lynch mobs of Japanese begin massacring thousands of civilians over the course of several weeks, mainly ethnic minorities such as Koreans and Chinese.AsiaAsia
27. 1935The Labor Day Hurricane, the most intense hurricane to strike the United States, makes landfall at Long Key, Florida, killing at least 400.North America
28. 1939World War II: Following the start of the invasion of Poland the previous day, the Free City of Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland) is annexed by Nazi Germany.Europe
29. 1944The last execution of a Finn in Finland takes place when soldier Olavi Laiho is executed by shooting in Oulu.Europe
30. 1945World War II: The Japanese Instrument of Surrender is signed by Japan and the major warring powers aboard the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, thus marking the official end to the war.AsiaNorth America
31. 1945Communist leader Ho Chi Minh proclaims the Democratic Republic of Vietnam after the end of the Nguyễn dynasty.Asia
32. 1946The Interim Government of India is formed, headed by Jawaharlal Nehru as vice president with the powers of a Prime Minister.Asia
33. 1957President Ngô Đình Diệm of South Vietnam becomes the first foreign head of state to make a state visit to Australia.AsiaOceania
34. 1958A USAF RC-130 is shot down by fighters over Armenia when it strays into Soviet airspace while conducting a sigint mission. All crew members are killed.Europe
35. 1960The first election of the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile. The Tibetan community observes this date as Democracy Day.Asia
36. 1963CBS Evening News becomes U.S. network television's first half-hour weeknight news broadcast, when the show is lengthened from 15 to 30 minutes.North America
37. 1968Operation OAU begins during the Nigerian Civil War.Africa
38. 1970Aeroflot Flight 3630, a Tupolev Tu-124 en route from southern Russia to Lithuania, crashes after the pilots lost control of the aircraft at cruise altitude between Rostov-on-Don Airport and Vilnius Airport, on the second leg of the flight; all 37 passengers and crew are killed.Europe
39. 1970NASA announces the cancellation of two Apollo missions to the Moon, Apollo 15 (the designation is re-used by a later mission), and Apollo 19.North America
40. 1984Seven people are shot and killed and 12 wounded in the Milperra massacre, a shootout between the rival motorcycle gangs Bandidos and Comancheros in Sydney, Australia.Oceania
41. 1985Sri Lankan Civil War: Sri Lankan Tamil politicians and former MPs M. Alalasundaram and V. Dharmalingam are shot dead.Asia
42. 1987In Moscow, the trial begins for 19-year-old pilot Mathias Rust, who flew his Cessna airplane into Red Square in May.Europe
43. 1990Transnistria is unilaterally proclaimed a Soviet republic; the Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev declares the decision null and void.Europe
44. 1992The 7.7 Mw Nicaragua earthquake affects the west coast of Nicaragua. With a Ms–Mw disparity of half a unit, this tsunami earthquake triggers a tsunami that causes most of the damage and casualties, with at least 116 killed. Typical runup heights were 3–8 meters (9.8–26.2 ft).Latin America
45. 1998Swissair Flight 111 crashes near Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia; all 229 people on board are killed.North America
46. 1998The UN's International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda finds Jean-Paul Akayesu, the former mayor of a small town in Rwanda, guilty of nine counts of genocide.Africa
47. 2008Google launches its Google Chrome web browser.North America
48. 2009The Andhra Pradesh, India helicopter crash occurs near Rudrakonda Hill, 40 nautical miles (74 km) from Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh, India. Fatalities include Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, the Chief Minister of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.Asia
49. 2010Israel-Palestinian conflict: the 2010 Israeli-Palestinian peace talks are launched by the United States.Middle EastNorth America
50. 2013The Eastern span replacement of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge opens at 10:15 pm at a cost of $6.4 billion, after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake damaged the old span.North America
51. 2018National Museum of Brazil fire: A massive fire destroys most of the Paço de São Cristóvão, which houses the National Museum of Brazil, in Rio de Janeiro. The museum holds important archaeοlogical and anthropological objects, including the remains of the Luzia Woman, Marajoara vases and Egyptian mummies.Latin AmericaMiddle East
52. 2019Hurricane Dorian, a category 5 hurricane, devastates the Bahamas, killing at least five.Latin America
53. 2019The dive boat MV Conception catches fire and sinks near Santa Cruz Island, killing 34.North America
54. 2022Eighteen people are killed and 23 others are injured by a suicide bombing at a Sunni mosque in Herat, Afghanistan.Asia
55. 2023India's first solar observation mission: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launches Aditya-L1 from Satish Dhawan space centre.Asia
56. 2024At least 129 inmates are killed and 59 more injured in an attempted prison break at Makala Prison in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo.Africa
57. 2024Four people are killed in a mass shooting targeting homeless people on a Chicago Transit Authority train in Forest Park, Illinois, United States.North America
58. 2024A suicide bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan, kills six people and injures 13.Asia

Source: Wikipedia "September 2" / CC BY-SA 4.0