September 23



Events

Up to 1900 
 1338  Hundred Years' War: The Battle of Arnemuiden is fought, as the first naval battle.
 1409  Battle of Kherlen: Second significant victory by the Mongols over Ming Dynasty China since 1368.
 1459  Battle of Blore Heath: First major battle of the English Wars of the Roses.
 1568  Spanish naval forces rout and English fleet under command of John Hawkins, at the Battle of San Juan de Ulua near Veracruz.
 1641  The Merchant Royal, carrying treasure worth over a billion US Dollars, is lost at sea off Land's End, Cornwall.
 1805  Napoleonic Wars: After the Austrians march into Bavaria, France declares war on Prussia.
 1806  The Lewis and Clark expedition ends with the return to St. Louis, Missouri.
 1821  Tripolitsa, Greece, falls and 30,000 Turks are massacred during the Greek War of Independence.
 1845  Knickerbockers Baseball Club is founded in New York City. It is the first baseball team to play under modern rules.
 1846  The planet Neptune is officially discovered.
 1868  Grito de Lares, "Lares Revolt", occurs in Puerto Rico against Spanish rule.
 1875  Billy the Kid is arrested for the first time, for stealing clothes from a laundryman.
 1889  Nintendo Koppai, later the Nintendo Company, is founded in Japan by Fusajiro Yamauchi.

1901  2000 
 1905  Norway and Sweden sign the "Karlstad Treaty", peacefully ending their union.
 1908  The University of Alberta is founded.
 1909  The Phantom of the Opera, a novel by Gaston Leroux, is published as a series in the Le Gaulois newspaper.
 1910  French-Peruvian pilot Geo Chavez becomes the first person to fly a plane across the Alps.
 1913  Roland Garros becomes the first person to fly a plane across the Mediterranean Sea, doing so from San Raphael, France to Bizerte, Tunisia.
 1932  The Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd is renamed Saudi Arabia.
 1938  Mobilisation of the Czech army in response to the Munich Crisis.
 1939  Psychologist and key figure in Psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud dies at the age of 83.
 1941  Holocaust: The first gas chamber experiments take place at Auschwitz.
 1943  The Nazi puppet state of the Italian Social Republic is founded.
 1959  Iowa farmer and corn breeder Roswell Garst hosts Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev.
 1965  Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 ends.
 1972  Ferdinand Marcos announces the implementation of martial law over TV and radio in the Philippines.
 1973  Chilean poet Pablo Neruda dies, 12 days after the coup that brought Augusto Pinochet to power in Chile.
 1973  Juan Perón retakes power in Argentina, but dies just over 9 months later.
 1980  Bob Marley plays in his last live performance, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
 1983  Saint Kitts and Nevis joins the UN.
 1983  Gerrie Coetzee becomes the first African heavyweight boxing World champion.
 1983  Gulf Air Flight 771 is bombed, killing all 117 people on board.
 1989  Azerbaijan declares its sovereignty from the Soviet Union.
 1993  The 2000 Summer Olympics are awarded to Sydney, Australia.
 1999  NASA announces it has lost contact with the Mars Climate Orbiter.

From 2001 
 2002  The first public version of the web browser Mozilla Firefox (Phoenix 0.1) is released.
 2004  Hurricane Jeanne reportedly kills 1,070 people in Haiti.
 2008  The Kauhajoki Shooting occurs in Finland, as 10 people are shot dead. The gunman, Matti Saari, later turns the gun on himself.
 2009  Major dust storms affect Eastern Australia, as people in Sydney wake up to find their city shrouded in red dust.
 2017  New Zealand general election: The centre-right New Zealand National Party under Prime Minister Bill English becomes the largest party for the 4th term in-a-row. The New Zealand Labour Party under Jacinda Ardern performs a lot better than in the previous election.
 2017  Iran announces a weapon-test, only a few days after a speech by US President Donald Trump in which he strongly criticised the country.
 2019  British travel company Thomas Cook collapses.
 2019  Russia joins the Paris Climate Agreement.
 2019  Climate change activist Greta Thunberg speaks at a United Nations Climate summit.

Births

Up to 1800 
 480 BC  Euripides, Greek playwright (d. 406 BC)
 63 BC  Augustus Caesar, Roman Emperor (d. 14)
 1158  Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany (d. 1186)
 1161  Emperor Takamura of Japan (d. 1181)
 1215  Kublai Khan, Mongol ruler (d. 1294)
 1392  Filippo Maria Visconti, Italian regent (d. 1447)
 1434  Yolande of Valois (d. 1478)
 1495  Bagrat III of Imereti, King of Imereti in Georgia (d. 1565)
 1598  Eleonore Gonzaga, wife of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1655)
 1642  Giovanni Maria Bononcini, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1678)
 1647  Joseph Dudley, American statesman (d. 1720)
 1713  King Ferdinand VI of Spain (d. 1759)
 1740  Empress Go-Sakuramachi of Japan (d. 1813)
 1759  Clothilde of France (d. 1802)
 1771  Emperor Kokaku of Japan (d. 1840)
 1778  Mariano Moreno, Argentine lawyer, journalist and politician (d. 1811)
 1781  Princess Juliane of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (d. 1860)
 1783  Peter von Cornelius, German painter (d. 1867)
 1791  Johann Franz Encke, German astronomer (d. 1865)

1801  1900 
 1819  Hippolyte Fizeau, French physicist (d. 1896)
 1823  John Colton, English-Australian politician, Premier of South Australia (d. 1902)
 1834  Aleksey Suvorin, Russian publisher, dramatist and theatre critic (d. 1912)
 1838  Victoria Woodhull, American Women's rights activist (d. 1927)
 1850  Alfred Boucher, French sculptor (d. 1934)
 1852  William Stewart Halsted, American surgeon (d. 1922)
 1853  Princess Marie Elisabeth of Saxe-Meiningen (d. 1923)
 1853  Konstantin Stoilov, Prime Minister of Bulgaria (d. 1901)
 1861  Robert Bosch, German industrialist, engineer and inventor (d. 1942)
 1863  Mary Church Terrell, American author and activist (d. 1954)
 1864  Draga Masin, Queen Consort of Serbia (d. 1903)
 1865  Emma Orczy, British novelist (d. 1947)
 1865  Suzanne Valadon, French painter (d. 1938).
 1876  Moshe Zvi Segal, Israeli scholar (d. 1968)
 1880  John Boyd Orr, 1st Baron Boyd-Orr, Scottish physician (d. 1971)
 1883  Grigory Zinoviev, Soviet politician (d. 1936)
 1884  Eugene Talmadge, American politician, Governor of Georgia (d. 1946)
 1889  Walter Lippmann, American journalist (d. 1974)
 1890  Friedrich Paulus, German general (d. 1957)
 1892  Georgi Damyanov, Bulgarian politician (d. 1958)
 1893  Aleksei Losev, Russian philosopher and philologist (d. 1988)
 1895  Miron Merzhanov, Soviet architect (d. 1975)
 1897  Walter Pidgeon, Canadian actor (d. 1984)
 1899  Tom C. Clark, 59th Attorney General of the United States (d. 1977)
 1900  Bill Stone, British World War I veteran (d. 2009)

1901  1950 
 1901  Jaroslav Seifert, Czech writer (d. 1986)
 1902  Ion Gheorghe Maurer, Romanian jurist and Communist politician (d. 2000)
 1902  Su Buqing, Chinese mathematician and academic (d. 2003)
 1905  Tiny Bradshaw, American bandleader and musician (d. 1958)
 1906  Charles Ritchie, Canadian diplomat (d. 1995)
 1907  Albert Ammons, American pianist (d. 1949)
 1907  Duarte Nuno, Duke of Braganza, Portuguese royal (d. 1976)
 1907  Jarmila Novotna, Czech soprano and actress (d. 1994)
 1908  Ramdhari Singh Dinkar, Indian Hindi poet (d. 1974)
 1911  Frank Moss, American politician (d. 2003)
 1912  Ghulam Mustafa Khan, Pakistani critic and linguist (d. 2005)
 1913  Tokutaro Ukon, Japanese footballer (d. 1944)
 1913  Carl-Henning Pedersen, Danish painter (d. 2007)
 1914  Omar Ali Saifuddin III, Sultan of Brunei (d. 1986)
 1915  Sergio Bertoni, Italian footballer (d. 1995)
 1915  Clifford Shull, American physicist (d. 2001)
 1916  Aldo Moro, Italian politician (d. 1978)
 1917  Asima Chatterjee, Indian organic chemist (d. 2006)
 1917  Santo, Mexican masked professional wrestler and actor (d. 1984)
 1917  Imre Németh, Hungarian hammer thrower (d. 1989)
 1918  Salvatore Pappalardo, Italian cardinal (d. 2006)
 1920  Alexander Arutunian, Armenian composer (d. 2012)
 1920  Mickey Rooney, American actor (d. 2014)
 1920  Ovadia Yosef, Israeli rabbi (d. 2013)
 1922  Louise Latham, American actress (d. 2018)
 1923  Basil Feldman, Baron Feldman, British politician and businessman (d. 2019)
 1923  Mohamed Hassanein Heikal, Egyptian journalist (d. 2016)
 1923  Margaret Pellegrini, American actress (d. 2013)
 1924  Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal, Nicaraguan editor and journalist (d. 1978)
 1924  Jean Piat, French actor (d. 2018)
 1925  Angelo Acerbi, Italian Roman Catholic archbishop
 1925  George J. Laurer, American inventor
 1926  John Coltrane, American jazz musician (d. 1967)
 1926  André Cassagnes, French toymaker (d. 2013)
 1927  Mighty Joe Young, American blues guitarist, singer and songwriter (d. 1999)
 1928  Hollie Pihl, American judge (d. 2018)
 1930  Ray Charles, American musician (d. 2004)
 1930  Colin Blakely, British actor (d. 1987)
 1930  Albert Manent, Spanish writer (d. 2014)
 1934  Franc Rodé, Slovenian cardinal
 1934  Ahmad Shah Khan, Crown Prince of Afghanistan
 1934  Per-Olov Enquist, Swedish author
 1936  Valentín Paniagua, former President of Peru (d. 2006)
 1937  Martin Litchfield West, British philologist (d. 2015)
 1938  Romy Schneider, German-born actress (d. 1982)
 1939  Roy Buchanan, American guitarist (d. 1988)
 1939  Henry Blofeld, English cricket journalist
 1940  Tim Rose, American-born English musician (d. 2002)
 1940  Michel Temer, President and 25th Vice president of Brazil
 1940  Mohammad-Reza Shajarian, Iranian musician and songwriter
 1941  Norma Winstone, English singer and lyricist
 1941  Luis Durnwalder, Italian politician
 1942  Sila María Calderón, 7th Governor of Puerto Rico
 1943  Julio Iglesias, Spanish singer
 1943  Tanuja, Indian actress
 1943  Lino Oviedo, Paraguayan general and politician (d. 2013)
 1945  Igor Ivanov, Russian politician
 1945  Ron Bushy, American drummer (Iron Butterfly)
 1946  Bernard Maris, French economist, writer and journalist (d. 2015)
 1947  Jerzy Popieluszko, Polish priest (d. 1984)
 1947  Mary Kay Place, American actress and singer
 1949  Bruce Springsteen, American singer-songwriter and musician
 1949  Floella Benjamin, British actress, author, television presenter and politician
 1950  Dietmar Lorenz, German judoka

1951  1975 
 1952  Mark Bego, American author
 1953  Nicholas Witchell, English journalist
 1954  Cherie Blair, English lawyer, wife of Tony Blair
 1956  Paolo Rossi, Italian footballer
 1956  Andoni Goikoetxea, Basque-Spanish footballer
 1957  Emilia Contessa, Indonesian actress and singer
 1957  Rosalind Chow, American actress
 1957  Fergus Ewing, Scottish footballer
 1958  Larry Mize, golfer
 1959  Fernando Romay, Spanish basketball player
 1959  Jason Alexander, American actor, director and producer
 1959  Elizabeth Peña, American actress (d. 2014)
 1961  William McCool, American astronaut (d. 2003)
 1962  Deborah Orr, Scottish journalist
 1963  Alex Proyas, Australian director and producer
 1964  Clayton Blackmore, Welsh footballer
 1964  Larry Krystkowiak, American basketball player
 1965  Aleqa Hammond, former Prime Minister of Greenland
 1967  Masashi Nakayama, Japanese footballer
 1968  Yvette Fielding, British actress and producer
 1968  Adam Price, Welsh politician
 1968  Erik Weihenmayer, American athlete, adventurer and author
 1970  Lucia Ciffarelli, American singer-songwriter and pianist
 1970  Ani DiFranco, American singer
 1971  Sean Spicer, former White House Press Secretary
 1972  Karl Pilkington, English radio personality
 1973  Jermaine Dupri, American hip hop musician
 1973  Toshihiro Hattori, Japanese footballer
 1973  Artim Sakiri, Macedonian footballer
 1974  Matt Hardy, American professional wrestler
 1975  Chris Hawkins, English journalist

From 1976 
 1976  Homaro Cantu, American chef and inventor (d. 2015)
 1977  Rachael Yamagata, American singer
 1977  Suzanne Tamim, Lebanese singer (d. 2008)
 1979  Ricky Davis, American basketball player
 1979  Fábio Simplício, Brazilian footballer
 1981  Natalie Horler, German singer (Cascada)
 1981  Helen Richardson-Walsh, English field hockey player
 1983  Leinier Dominguez, Cuban chess player
 1984  Anneliese van der Pol, Dutch-American actress
 1984  Kate French, American actress
 1985  Hossein Kaebi, Iranian footballer
 1986  Maki Goto, Japanese singer-songwriter and actress
 1986  Martin Cranie, English footballer
 1986  Gina-Lisa Lohfink, German model and television personality
 1987  Skylar Astin, American actor and singer
 1987  Yu Kobayashi, Japanese footballer
 1988  Juan Martín del Potro, Argentine tennis player
 1988  Shannon Chan-Kent, Canadian actress and singer
 1989  Brandon Jennings, American basketball player
 1991  Lee Alexander, Scottish footballer
 1991  Key, South Korean singer and actor
 1991  Melanie Oudin, American tennis player
 1992  Finn Russell, Scottish rugby union player
 1994  Yerry Mina, Colombian footballer
 1996  Lee Hi, South Korean singer

Deaths

Up to 1900 
 76  Pope Linus
 1241  Snorri Sturluson, Icelandic historian and poet (b. 1179)
 1386  Dan I of Wallachia (b. 1354)
 1390  John I, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1346)
 1535  Catherine of Saxe-Lauenberg (b. 1513)
 1657  Joachim Jung, German philosopher and mathematician (b. 1587)
 1738  Herman Boerhaeve, Dutch humanist and physician (b. 1668)
 1773  Johan Ernst Gunnerus, Norwegian bishop and naturalist (b. 1718)
 1789  John Rogers, American Congressman (b. 1723)
 1816  Alessandro Verri, Italian writer (b. 1741)
 1830  Elizabeth Monroe, First Lady of the United States (b. 1768)
 1835  Vincenzo Bellini, Italian composer (b. 1801)
 1836  Maria Malibran, French mezzo soprano (b. 1808)
 1844  Alexander von Benckendorff, Russian general and statesman (b. 1783)
 1850  José Artigas, Uruguayan national hero (b. 1764)
 1870  Prosper Mérimée, French writer (b. 1803)
 1877  Urbain Le Verrier, French mathematician (b. 1811)
 1882  Friedrich Wöhler, German chemist (b. 1800)
 1889  Wilkie Collins, English author and playwright (b. 1824)
 1896  Ivar Aasen, Norwegian poet and linguist (b. 1813)

1901  2000 
 1917  Werner Voss, German World War I pilot (b. 1897)
 1929  Richard Adolf Zsigmondy, Austrian chemist (b. 1865)
 1939  Sigmund Freud, Austrian psychologist (b. 1856)
 1943  Salvo D'Acquisto, Italian military officer (b. 1920)
 1943  Ernst Trygger, Swedish politician (b. 1857)
 1944  Jakob Schaffner, Swiss author (b. 1875)
 1950  Sam Barry, American basketball player and coach (b. 1892)
 1968  Padre Pio, Italian priest (b. 1887)
 1970  Bourvil, French actor (b. 1917)
 1971  Billy Gilbert, American actor (b. 1894)
 1971  James Waddell Alexander II, American mathematician (b. 1888)
 1973  Pablo Neruda, Chilean poet (b. 1904)
 1973  A. S. Neill, Scottish educator (b. 1883)
 1974  Cliff Arquette, American actor (b. 1905)
 1987  Bob Fosse, American choreographer (b. 1927)
 1988  Tibor Sekelj, Yugoslavian explorer (b. 1912)
 1992  James Van Fleet, American general (b. 1892)
 1994  Jerry Barber, American golfer (b. 1916)
 1994  Robert Bloch, American writer (b. 1917)
 1994  Madeleine Renaud, French actress (b. 1900)
 1998  Ray Bowden, English footballer (b. 1909)
 1999  Ivan Goff, Australian-American screenwriter and producer (b. 1910)

From 2001 
 2003  Shawn Lane, American musician (b. 1963)
 2006  Malcolm Arnold, British composer (b. 1921)
 2006  Etta Baker, American blues guitarist and singer (b. 1913)
 2006  Tim Rooney, American actor (b. 1947)
 2009  Ertugrul Osman, head of the Ottoman dynasty (b. 1912)
 2012  Corrie Sanders, South African boxer (b. 1966)
 2012  Pavel Grachev, Russian general (b. 1948)
 2013  Vlatko Markovic, Croatian footballer (b. 1937)
 2014  Al Suomi, American ice hockey player (b. 1913)
 2014  Gilles Latulippe, Canadian comedian, actor and theatre manager (b. 1937)
 2014  Henryk Glücklich, Polish speedway rider (b. 1945)
 2015  Mike Gibson, Australian sports journalist and broadcaster (b. 1940)
 2015  Dragan Holcer, Croatian footballer (b. 1945)
 2015  Denis Sonet, French priest (b. 1926)
 2017  Charles Bradley, American singer (b. 1948)
 2017  Elizabeth D. Phillips, American educator and academic administrator (b. 1945)
 2017  Samuel H. Young, American politician (b. 1922)
 2018  Charles K. Kao, Chinese-born electrical engineer (b. 1933)
 2018  Gary Kurtz, American film producer (b. 1940)
 2019  Al Alvarez, English poet and writer (b. 1929)
 2019  Madhav Apte, Indian cricketer (b. 1932)
 2019  Elaine Feinstein, English poet and novelist (b. 1930)
 2019  Robert Hunter, American songwriter, poet and guitarist (b. 1941)
 2019  Curt Wittlin, Swiss philologist (b. 1941)

Observances 
 Feast of Saint Pio
 Celebrate Bisexuality Day
 National holiday of Saudi Arabia
 September Equinox in some years (Autumn in the Northern Hemisphere, and Spring in the Southern Hemisphere)

Days of the year