September 4Birthdays & History

On this day: September 4 in history

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

1. 476Romulus Augustulus is deposed when Odoacer proclaims himself "King of Italy", thus ending the Western Roman Empire.Europe
2. 626Li Shimin, posthumously known as Emperor Taizong of Tang, assumes the throne over the Tang dynasty of China.Asia
3. 929Battle of Lenzen: Slavic forces (the Redarii and the Obotrites) are defeated by a Saxon army near the fortified stronghold of Lenzen in Brandenburg.Europe
4. 1260The Sienese Ghibellines, supported by the forces of Manfred, King of Sicily, defeat the Florentine Guelphs at Montaperti.Europe
5. 1282Peter III of Aragon is proclaimed King of Sicily in Palermo.Europe
6. 1479The Treaty of Alcáçovas is signed by the Catholic Monarchs of Castile and Aragon on one side and Afonso V and his son, Prince John of Portugal.Europe
7. 1607The Flight of the Earls takes place in Ireland (14 September N.S.).Europe
8. 1666In London, England, the most destructive damage from the Great Fire occurs.Europe
9. 1746The Treaty of Kerden concludes the Ottoman–Persian War (1743–1746).Middle East
10. 1774New Caledonia is first sighted by Europeans, during the second voyage of Captain James Cook.Oceania
11. 1781Los Angeles is founded as El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora La Reina de los Ángeles (The Village of Our Lady, the Queen of the Angels) by 44 Spanish settlers.North AmericaEurope
12. 1797Coup of 18 Fructidor in France.Europe
13. 1800The French garrison in Valletta surrenders to British troops who had been called at the invitation of the Maltese. The islands of Malta and Gozo become the Malta Protectorate.Europe
14. 1812War of 1812: The Siege of Fort Harrison begins when the fort is set on fire.North America
15. 1813Future U.S. president Andrew Jackson is shot in a tavern brawl with future U.S. Senator Thomas Hart Benton and others.North America
16. 1827The Great Fire of Turku almost completely destroys Finland's former capital city.Europe
17. 1839Battle of Kowloon: British vessels open fire on Chinese war junks enforcing a food sales embargo on the British community in China in the first armed conflict of the First Opium War.EuropeAsia
18. 1862American Civil War Maryland Campaign: General Robert E. Lee takes the Army of Northern Virginia, and the war, into the North.North America
19. 1870Emperor Napoleon III of France is deposed and the Third Republic is declared.Europe
20. 1882The Pearl Street Station in New York City becomes the first power plant to supply electricity to paying customers.North America
21. 1886American Indian Wars: After almost 30 years of fighting, Apache leader Geronimo, with his remaining warriors, surrenders to General Nelson Miles in Arizona.North America
22. 1888George Eastman registers the trademark Kodak and receives a patent for his camera that uses roll film.North America
23. 1912Albanian rebels succeed in their revolt when the Ottoman Empire agrees to fulfill their demandsEuropeMiddle East
24. 1919Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who founded the Republic of Turkey, gathers a congress in Sivas to make decisions as to the future of Anatolia and Thrace.Middle East
25. 1923Maiden flight of the first U.S. airship, the USS Shenandoah.North America
26. 1936Spanish Civil War: Largo Caballero forms a war cabinet to direct the republican war effort.Europe
27. 1939World War II: William J. Murphy commands the first Royal Air Force attack on Germany.Europe
28. 1941World War II: A German submarine makes the first attack of the war against a United States warship, the USS Greer.EuropeNorth America
29. 1944World War II: Finland exits from the war with Soviet Union.Europe
30. 1944World War II: The British 11th Armoured Division liberates the Belgian city of Antwerp.Europe
31. 1948Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands abdicates for health reasons.Europe
32. 1949Paul Robeson performs a second concert in Peekskill, New York eight days after the Peekskill riots.North America
33. 1950Darlington Raceway is the site of the inaugural Southern 500, the first 500-mile NASCAR race.North America
34. 1951The first live transcontinental television broadcast takes place in San Francisco, United States, from the Japanese Peace Treaty Conference.North AmericaAsia
35. 1957American Civil Rights Movement: Little Rock Crisis: The governor of Arkansas calls out the National Guard to prevent African American students from enrolling in Little Rock Central High School, resulting in the lawsuit Cooper v. Aaron the following year.North AmericaAfrica
36. 1963Swissair Flight 306 crashes near Dürrenäsch, Switzerland, killing all 80 people on board.Europe
37. 1964Scotland's Forth Road Bridge near Edinburgh officially opens.Europe
38. 1967Vietnam War: Operation Swift begins when U.S. Marines engage the North Vietnamese in battle in the Que Son Valley.AsiaNorth America
39. 1970Salvador Allende is elected President of Chile.Latin America
40. 1971Alaska Airlines Flight 1866 crashes near Juneau, Alaska, killing all 111 people on board.North America
41. 1972Mark Spitz becomes the first competitor to win seven medals at a single Olympic Games.Europe
42. 1972The Price Is Right premieres on CBS. It currently is the longest running game show on American television.North America
43. 1975The Sinai Interim Agreement relating to the Arab–Israeli conflict is signed.Middle East
44. 1977The Golden Dragon massacre takes place in San Francisco.North America
45. 1985The discovery of Buckminsterfullerene, the first fullerene molecule of carbon.North AmericaEurope
46. 1989In Leipzig, East Germany, the first of weekly demonstration for the legalisation of opposition groups and democratic reforms takes place.Europe
47. 1995The 1995 Okinawa rape occurs when 3 US servicemen abduct and rape a schoolchild. This would cause widespread protest against the US military presence on the prefecture.AsiaNorth America
48. 1998Google is founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, two PhD students at Stanford University.North America
49. 2001Tokyo DisneySea opens to the public as part of the Tokyo Disney Resort in Urayasu, Chiba, Japan.Asia
50. 2002The Oakland Athletics win their 20th consecutive game, an American League record, until the Cleveland Indians surpassed it in 2017.North America
51. 2007Three terrorists suspected to be a part of Al-Qaeda are arrested in Germany after allegedly planning attacks on both the Frankfurt International airport and US military installations.EuropeNorth America
52. 2020Pope Benedict XVI becomes the longest-lived pope, 93 years, four months, 16 days, surpassing Pope Leo XIII, who died in 1903.Europe
53. 2022Ten people are killed and 15 are injured in a stabbing spree in 13 locations on the James Smith Cree Nation and in Weldon, Saskatchewan.North America
54. 2024A 14-year-old gunman kills four people and injures seven in a mass shooting at Apalachee High School near Winder, Georgia.North America

Source: Wikipedia "September 4" / CC BY-SA 4.0