September 21



Events

Up to 1900 
 1217  Livonian Crusade: Estonian tribal leader Lembitu and Livonian tribal leader Kaupo are killed in the Battle of St. Matthew's Day.
 1327  After rejecting the throne, King Edward II of England is murdered in Berkeley, Gloucester.
 1435  An agreement between Charles VII of France and Philip the Good ends the partnership between the English and Burgundy in the Hundred Years' War.
 1745  A Hanoverian army is defeated at the Battle of Prestonpans by the Jacobites under Charles Edward Stuart.
 1776  Parts of New York City are burned shortly after being occupied by British forces.
 1780  Benedict Arnold gives the British the plans to West Point.
 1792  The National Convention in France abolishes the monarchy.
 1843  John Williams Wilson takes control of the Strait of Magellan, representing the newly independent Chilean government.
 1846  Mexican-American War: The Battle of Monterrey begins.
 1860  In the Second Opium War, an Anglo-French force defeats Chinese troops at the Battle of Palikao.
 1896  A British force under Horatio Kitchener takes Dongola, Sudan.
 1898  Empress Dowager Cixi seizes power and ends the Hundred Days' Reform in China.

1901  2000 
 1921  A storage silo in Oppau, Germany, explodes, killing 561 people.
 1934  A large typhoon hits western Honshu, Japan, killing 3,036 people.
 1937  J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit is published.
 1938  The Great Hurricane of 1938 makes landfall on Long Island, killing between 500 and 700 people.
 1939  Romanian Prime Minister Armand Calinescu is killed by ultranationalist members of the Iron Guard.
 1942  In Dunaivtski, Ukraine, the Nazis murder 2,588 Jews.
 1949  The People's Republic of China established in Beijing.
 1960  The Flag of Panama is flown next to the Flag of the United States at the Panama Canal for the first time.
 1961  First flight of the CH-47 Chinook transportation helicopter.
 1964  Malta becomes independent.
 1965  Gambia, the Maldives and Singapore join the UN.
 1971  Bahrain, Bhutan and Qatar join the UN.
 1972  Ferdinand Marcos declares Martial Law in the Philippines.
 1976  The Seychelles join the UN.
 1981  Belize is granted independence from the United Kingdom.
 1984  Sandra Day O'Connor is unanimously approved by the United States Senate to become the first female Justice on the United States Supreme Court.
 1984  Brunei joins the UN.
 1989  Hurricane Hugo hits the US state of South Carolina.
 1991  Armenia declares independence from the Soviet Union.
 1993  The Russian Constitutional Crisis of 1993 begins, as President Boris Yeltsin suspends parliament and scraps the then-functioning constitution.
 1993  A Tupolev Tu-134 aircraft is shot down by Abkhazian separatists near Sokhumi, Georgia.
 1999  An earthquake in Taiwan leaves 2,400 people dead.

From 2001 
 2001  31 people are killed in a chemical explosion in Toulouse, France.
 2003  The Galileo mission is ended by sending the probe into Jupiter's atmosphere, where it is crushed by the pressure at the lower altitudes.
 2004  In Dubai, building work begins on what would become the Burj Khalifa. It was opened on January 4, 2010 as the world's tallest building, at a height of 828 metres.
 2013  Westgate shopping mall shooting: A shooting attack on a shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya, kills at least 68 people, and many people are taken hostage. Somali militant group Al-Shabaab claims responsibility.
 2013  An attack at a funeral in Sadr City, Iraq, kills at least 60 people.
 2016  A boat estimated to be carrying hundreds of people sinks off Alexandria, Egypt, and is believed to have killed most of those on board.

Births

Up to 1800 
 1051  Bertha of Savoy, German queen and Empress of the Holy Roman Empire (d. 1087)
 1154  Sancha of Castile, Queen of Aragon (d. 1208)
 1328  Hongwu, Emperor of China (d. 1398)
 1371  Frederick I, Elector of Brandenburg (d. 1440)
 1411  Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York, pretender to the English throne (d. 1460)
 1415  Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1493)
 1428  Jingtai, Emperor of China (d. 1457)
 1452  Girolamo Savonarola, Italian philosopher and priest (d. 1498)
 1457  Hedwig Jagiellon, Duchess of Bavaria (d. 1502)
 1559  Cigoli, Florentine painter, architect and sculptor (d. 1613)
 1629  Philip Howard, English cardinal (d. 1594)
 1640  Philippe I, Duke of Orléans (d. 1701)
 1645  Louis Jolliet, French-Canadian explorer (d. 1700)
 1705  Dick Turpin, English outlaw (d. 1739)
 1706  Polyxena of Hesse-Rheinfels-Rotenburg, Queen of Sardinia (d. 1735)
 1752  Princess Louise of Stolberg-Gedern, wife of Charles Eduard Stuart (d. 1824)
 1756  John Loudon McAdam, Scottish engineer and road builder (d. 1836)
 1757  James Jackson, American politician, Governor of Georgia (d. 1806)
 1758  Christopher Gore, 8th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1827)
 1760  Ivan Dimitriev, Russian statesman (d. 1837)
 1788  Margaret Taylor, First Lady of the United States (d. 1852)
 1791  Istvan Szechenyi, Hungarian entrepreneur and state reformer (d. 1860)
 1792  Johann Peter Eckermann, German poet (d. 1854)

1801  1900 
 1801  Moritz Hermann von Jacobi, German-Russian physicist and engineer (d. 1874)
 1817  John Allan Broun, Scottish scientist (d. 1879)
 1819  Princess Louise Marie Thérèse of France (d. 1864)
 1840  Murad V, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1904)
 1842  Abd-ul-Hamid, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1918)
 1845  Prince Ernest Augustus, 3rd Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale (d. 1923)
 1846  Mihaly Kolossa, Hungarian-Slovenian writer (d. 1906)
 1849  Maurice Barrymore, Indian-American actor (d. 1905)
 1853  Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, Dutch physicist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics 1913 (d. 1926)
 1859  Francesc Macia i Llussa, Catalan army officer and politician (d. 1933)
 1863  John Bunny, American movie comedian (d. 1915)
 1864  Elena Vacarescu, Romanian writer (d. 1947)
 1866  H. G. Wells, English writer (d. 1946)
 1866  Charles Nicolle, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1928 (d. 1936)
 1867  Henry L. Stimson, American politician (d. 1950)
 1869  Carlo Airoldi, Italian marathon runner (d. 1929)
 1872  Henry Tingle Wilde, British chief officer of the RMS Titanic (d. 1912)
 1873  Papa Jack Laine, American musician (d. 1966)
 1874  Gustav Holst, English composer (d. 1934)
 1890  Max Immelmann, German fighter pilot (d. 1918)
 1896  Walter Breuning, American supercentenarian (d. 2011)
 1899  Frederick Coutts, 8th General of the Salvation Army (d. 1986)

1901  1950 
 1902  Luis Cernuda, Spanish poet (d. 1963)
 1902  E. E. Evans-Pritchard, British ethnologist (d. 1973)
 1902  Toyen, Czech painter (d. 1980)
 1909  Kwame Nkrumah, 1st President of Ghana (d. 1972)
 1912  Chuck Jones, American animator (d. 2002)
 1912  Gyorgy Sandor, Hungarian pianist (d. 2005)
 1916  Françoise Giroud, French feminist journalist and writer (d. 2003)
 1918  John Gofman, American scientist (d. 2007)
 1919  Mario Bunge, Argentine philosopher and physicist
 1924  Hermann Buhl, Austrian mountaineer (d. 1957)
 1926  Donald A. Glaser, American physicist (d. 2013)
 1926  Don Dunstan, 35th Premier of South Australia (d. 1999)
 1926  Noor Jehan, Pakistani singer and actress (d. 2000)
 1928  Edouard Glissant, French writer (d. 2011)
 1929  Sándor Kocsis, Hungarian footballer (d. 1979)
 1929  Bernard Williams, English philosopher (d. 2003)
 1931  Larry Hagman, American actor (d. 2012)
 1932  Don Preston, American musician and movie score composer
 1932  Shirley Conran, English journalist and writer
 1934  Leonard Cohen, Canadian singer, musician, poet and writer (d. 2016)
 1934  David J. Thouless, Scottish-American physicist (d. 2019)
 1935  Jimmy Armfield, English footballer (d. 2018)
 1936  Sunny Murray, American jazz drummer (d. 2017)
 1936  Yury Luzhkov, Russian politician, former Mayor of Moscow
 1939  Agnivesh, Indian activist and politician
 1940  Rick May, Canadian-American actor and voice actor (d. 2020)
 1941  R. James Woolsey, Jr., American 16th Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
 1944  Fannie Flagg, American actress, comedienne and author
 1944  Steve Beshear, American politician, Governor of Kentucky
 1945  Bjarni Tryggvason, Iceland-born Canadian engineer and astronaut
 1945  Jerry Bruckheimer, American movie and television producer
 1945  Shaw Clifton, 18th General of the Salvation Army
 1946  Moritz Leuenberger, Swiss Federal Councillor
 1946  Mart Siimann, former Prime Minister of Estonia
 1947  Stephen King, American writer
 1947  Don Felder, American rock music guitarist
 1947  Nick Castle, American actor
 1947  Ed Nimmervoll, Austrian-Australian rock musician, journalist, author and historian (d. 2014)
 1947  Keith Harris, English ventriloquist (d. 2015)
 1947  Rói Patursson, Faroese writer and philosopher
 1949  Odilo Scherer, Brazilian cardinal
 1950  Charles Clarke, British politician
 1950  Bill Murray, American actor

1951  1975 
 1951  Bruce Arena, American soccer coach
 1951  Aslan Maskhadov, President of Chechnya (d. 2005)
 1952  Anneliese Michel, German exorcism victim (d. 1976)
 1953  Reinhard Marx, German archbishop and cardinal
 1954  Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 2022)
 1954  Phil Taylor, British musician (Motorhead) (d. 2015)
 1955  Richard Hieb, American astronaut
 1955  Mika Kaurismaki, Finnish director
 1957  Ethan Coen, American movie director
 1957  Sidney Moncrief, American basketball player
 1957  Kevin Rudd, 26th Prime Minister of Australia
 1958  Rick Mahorn, American basketball player
 1959  Crin Antonescu, Romanian politician
 1959  Dave Coullier, American actor
 1961  Nancy Travis, American actress
 1961  Dan Borislow, American entrepreneur, sports team owner and inventor (d. 2014)
 1962  Rob Morrow, American actor
 1963  Curtly Ambrose, Antiguan-Barbudan cricketer
 1964  Carlos Aguilera, Uruguayan footballer
 1965  Cheryl Hines, American actress
 1965  David Wenham, Australian actor
 1967  Faith Hill, American singer
 1967  Suman Pokhrel, Nepalese poet
 1967  Tyler Stewart, Canadian drummer (Barenaked Ladies)
 1968  Ricki Lake, American actress and talk show hostess
 1970  Rob Benedict, American actor
 1970  Samantha Power, Irish-born 28th United States Ambassador to the United Nations
 1971  Alfonso Ribeiro, American actor
 1971  Luke Wilson, American actor
 1972  David Silveria, American musician
 1972  Liam Gallagher, English singer (Oasis)
 1973  Oswaldo Sánchez, Mexican footballer
 1974  Henning Fritz, German handball player
 1975  Ronny Deila, Norwegian football manager

From 1976 
 1978  Doug Howlett, New Zealand rugby player
 1978  Mario Miranda, Brazilian mixed martial artist
 1979  Chris Gayle, Jamaican cricketer
 1979  Richard Dunne, Irish footballer
 1979  James Allan, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist
 1980  Kareena Kapoor, Indian actress
 1980  Autumn Reeser, American actress
 1980  Tomas Scheckter, South African racing driver
 1980  Nyree Kindred, Welsh swimmer
 1981  Rimi Sen, Indian actress
 1981  Nicole Richie, American socialite
 1982  Marat Izmailov, Russian footballer
 1983  Anna Meares, Australian cyclist
 1983  Fernando Cavenaghi, Argentine footballer
 1983  Maggie Grace, American actress
 1983  Greg Jennings, American football player
 1987  Ryan Guzman, American actor
 1987  Ashley Paris, American basketball player
 1987  Courtney Paris, American basketball player
 1988  Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Pakistani politician
 1989  Jason Derulo, American singer
 1989  Emma Watkins, Australian musician (The Wiggles)
 1990  Al-Farouq Aminu, Nigerian-American basketball player
 1990  Christian Serratos, American actress
 1990  Allison Scagliotti, American actress
 1992  Chen, South Korean singer
 1994  Ben Proud, English swimmer

Deaths

Up to 1900 
 19 BC  Virgil, Roman poet (b. 70 BC)
 454  Flavius Aetius, Roman general (b. 396)
 687  Pope Conon (b. 630)
 1217  Lembitu, Estonian tribal leader
 1217  Kaupo, Livonian tribal leader
 1327  King Edward II of England (b. 1284)
 1558  Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1500)
 1576  Gerolamo Cardano, Italian doctor, philosopher and mathematician (b. 1501)
 1643  Huang Taiji, Chinese Emperor (b. 1592)
 1743  Jai Singh II, Indian King (b. 1688)
 1798  George Read, Signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1733)
 1810  Mir Taqi Mir, Urdu poet (b. 1723)
 1832  Walter Scott, Scottish writer (b. 1771)
 1852  William Badger, Governor of New Hampshire (b. 1779)
 1860  Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher (b. 1788)
 1880  Manuel Montt, 6th President of Chile (b. 1809)
 1895  Viktor Rydberg, Swedish writer (b. 1828)

1901  2000 
 1904  Chief Joseph, Nez Perce leader (b. 1840)
 1906  Samuel Arnold, American conspirator in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln (b. 1838)
 1926  Léon Charles Thévenin, French engineer (b. 1857)
 1929  Nathaniel Edwin Harris, American politician (b. 1846)
 1933  Kenji Miyazawa, Japanese author and poet (b. 1896)
 1939  Armand Calinescu, Prime Minister of Romania (b. 1893)
 1943  Kingsley Wood, British politician (b. 1881)
 1947  Harry Carey, American actor, director, producer and screenwriter (b. 1846)
 1953  Necmettin Sadak, Turkish politician (b. 1890)
 1954  Kokichi Mikimoto, Japanese inventor (b. 1858)
 1957  Haakon VII, King of Norway (b. 1872)
 1963  Paulino Masip, Spanish author, playwright and screenwriter (b. 1899)
 1966  Paul Reynaud, Prime Minister of France (b. 1878)
 1971  Bernardo Houssay, Argentinian doctor, won the 1947 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, (b. 1887)
 1974  Walter Brennan, American actor (b. 1894)
 1976  Orlando Letelier, Chilean economist, politician and diplomat (b. 1932)
 1982  Hovhannes Bagramyan, Soviet general (b. 1897)
 1985  Gu Long, Chinese author and screenwriter (b. 1937)
 1987  Jaco Pastorius, American musician (b. 1951)
 1990  Takis Kanellopoulos, Greek movie director and screenwriter (b. 1933)
 1995  Rudy Perpich, American politician (b. 1928)
 1997  Jennifer Holt, American actress (b. 1920)
 1998  Florence Griffith-Joyner, American athlete (b. 1959)

From 2001 
 2007  Hallgeir Brenden, Norwegian skier (b. 1929)
 2011  Paulette Dubost, French actress (b. 1910)
 2011  Troy Davis, American high-profile death row inmate (b. 1968)
 2012  Henry Bauchau, Belgian psychoanalyst and author (b. 1913)
 2012  Sven Hassel, Danish-German soldier and author (b. 1917)
 2012  Michael Rye, American actor (b. 1918)
 2014  Linda Griffiths, Canadian actress and playwright (b. 1953)
 2014  Caldwell Jones, American basketball player (b. 1950)
 2014  Cecilia Cenci, Argentine actress (b. 1942)
 2014  Frieda Szwillus, German supercentenarian (b. 1902)
 2014  Mike Harari, Israeli intelligence officer (b. 1927)
 2015  Armen Movsisyan, Armenian politician (b. 1962)
 2015  Yoram Gross, Polish-born Australian animation producer and director (b. 1926)
 2017  Liliane Bettencourt, French businesswoman, socialite and heiress (b. 1922)
 2017  William G. Stewart, British game show host (b. 1933)
 2018  Vitaliy Masol, former Prime minister of Ukraine (b. 1928)
 2018  Tran Dai Quang, President of Vietnam (b. 1956)
 2019  Aron Eisenberg, American actor (b. 1969)
 2019  Sid Haig, American actor (b. 1939)
 2019  Sigmund Jaehn, German cosmonaut (b. 1937)
 2019  Günter Kunert, German writer (b. 1929)
 2019  Carl Ruiz, American chef and television personality (b. 1975)
 2019  Jevan Snead, American football player (b. 1987)
 2019  Woo Hye-mi, South Korean pop singer (b. 1988)

Observances 
 Independence Day (Belize and Malta)
 International Day of Peace
 Spring Day in some South American countries

References

Days of the year