September 20

### Up to 1900

- 331 BC – Alexander the Great crosses the Tigris on his way to conquering the Persians.
- 1058 – Agnes de Poitou and Andrew I of Hungary meet to talk about the border zone in present–day Burgenland.
- 1187 – Saladin begins the Siege of Jerusalem.
- 1260 – The Great Prussian Uprising among the old Prussians begins against the Teutonic Knights.
- 1459 – First documented mention of Bucharest.
- 1498 – An earthquake and tsunami washes away the building housing the Great Buddha at Kotoku–in in Kamagura, Kanagawa, Japan. Since then, the Buddha statue has sat in open–air.
- 1519 – Ferdinand Magellan sets sail from Spain with 270 crew members, of whom only 18 return home in 1522. Magellan is killed in the Philippines in 1521.
- 1596 – Diego de Montemayor founds the city of Monterrey, Mexico.
- 1697 – The Treaty of Rijswijk is signed by France, England, Spain and the Holy Roman Empire, ending the Nine Years' War.
- 1848 – The American Association for the Advancement of Science is created.
- 1854 – Crimean War: British and French troops defeat the Russians in the Battle of Alma.
- 1859 – For the electric oven, American George B. Simpson is given a US patent.
- 1860 – Future King Edward VII of the United Kingdom (then the Prince of Wales), visits the United States.
- 1863 – American Civil War: The Battle of Chickamauga ends in Confederate victory.
- 1870 – The Unification of Italy is completed.
- 1881 – Chester A. Arthur is inaugurated as the 21st President of the United States. This is after the death of James Garfield the previous day, as a result of injuries from being shot on July 2 by Charles J. Guiteau.
- 1893 – The first gasoline–powered car in America debuts in Springfield, Massachusetts.

### 1901 – 2000

- 1906 – The Cunard Line's ship RMS _Mauretania_ is launched in Newcastle upon Tyne.
- 1908 – Near Prince of Wales Island, Southeast Alaska, the barque (a type of ship) _Star of Bengal_ collides with a rock and sinks, killing 110 people.
- 1909 – The British Parliament passes the South Africa Act of 1909, creating the Union of South Africa from the British colonies of Good Hope, Natal, Orange River and Transvaal.
- 1910 – The Ocean Liner SS _France_ is launched.
- 1911 – The White Star line's RMS _Olympic_ collides with British warship HMS _Hawke_.
- 1914 – World War I: The cathedral in Reims, France, is severely damaged by German artillery.
- 1920 – Foundation of the Spanish Legion.
- 1932 – Mahatma Gandhi begins a hunger strike in prison in Pune, India.
- 1942 – Holocaust: In Letychev, Ukraine, the SS murders 3,000 Jews in two days.
- 1946 – The first Cannes Film Festival is held. It still takes place every year, in May.
- 1961 – Konstantinos Dovas becomes Prime Minister of Greece.
- 1962 – African American James Meredith is temporarily barred from entering the University of Mississippi.
- 1967 – The ship RMS _Queen Elizabeth 2_ is launched at Clydebank near Glasgow.
- 1971 – Hurricane Irene crosses the Caribbean Sea, through Nicaragua, to the Pacific Ocean to become Hurricane Olivia; This is the first time a hurricane is known to have crossed from the Caribbean to the Pacific.
- 1973 – Billie Jean King defeats Bobby Riggs in a 'Battle of the Sexes' tennis match in Houston, Texas.
- 1977 – The Socialist Republic of Vietnam joins the UN.
- 1978 – Johannes Rau, future President of Germany, is chosen as Minister–President of North Rhine-Westphalia, a position he will hold for 20 years.
- 1979 – In the present–day Central African Republic, Jean Bedel Bokassa, self–declared Emperor Bokassa I, is overthrown.
- 1982 – NFL players begin a 57–day strike.
- 1984 – A bomb attack targets the US Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon.
- 1990 – South Ossetia declares its independence from the Republic of Georgia.

### From 2001

- 2001 – George W. Bush declares War on Terror.
- 2002 – A Rock–Ice Slide occurs with the partial collapse of the Kolka Glacier in North Ossetia, southern Russia. The resulting avalanche kills 125 people.
- 2003 – Voters in Latvia approve entry to the EU in a referendum.
- 2004 – Wikipedia publishes articles in its 100th language.
- 2008 – A bomb attack at the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad kills 54 people.
- 2011 – Former President of Afghanistan Burhanuddin Rabbani is assassinated.
- 2014 – Prime Minister of New Zealand John Key wins a third term in office, after his New Zealand National Party wins the parliamentary election.
- 2017 – Hurricane Maria hits Puerto Rico, where it kills thousands of people and cuts the whole island's electricity supply.
- 2019 – Led by school pupils, worldwide protests take place calling for politicians to act on climate change.

### Up to 1900

- 524 – Kan B'alam I, ruler of the Mayan city of Palenque (d. 583)
- 1486 – Arthur Tudor, son of Henry VII of England (d. 1502)
- 1503 – Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski, Polish scholar, humanist and theologian (d. 1572)
- 1593 – Gottfried Scheidt, German composer and organist (d. 1661)
- 1599 – Christian the Younger of Brunswick, German Protestant military leader (d. 1626)
- 1685 – Giuseppe Matteo Alberti, Italian baroque composer and violinist (d. 1751)
- 1710 – Thomas Simpson, English mathematician (d. 1761)
- 1735 – James Keir, Scottish chemist, geologist and inventor (d. 1820)
- 1746 – Maurice Benyovszky, Hungarian explorer and writer (d. 1786)
- 1758 – Jean-Jacques Dessalines, Emperor of Haiti (d. 1806)
- 1778 – Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen, Russian naval officer and explorer (d. 1852)
- 1800 – Benjamin Franklin White, American singer and composer (d. 1879)
- 1815 – Richard Dry, Australian politician, 7th Premier of Tasmania (d. 1869)
- 1820 – John F. Reynolds, American general (d. 1863)
- 1830 – Yoshida Shoin, Japanese intellectual, teacher and revolutionary (d. 1859)
- 1831 – Kate Harrington, American teacher, writer and poet (d. 1917)
- 1832 – Johann Joseph Abert, German–Bohemian composer and conductor (d. 1915)
- 1833 – Ernesto Teodoro Moneta, Italian pacifist (d. 1918)
- 1842 – James Dewar, Scottish chemist and physicist (d. 1923)
- 1843 – Nicholas Alexandrovich, Tsarevich of Russia (d. 1865)
- 1851 – Henry Arthur Jones, English writer (d. 1929)
- 1853 – Rama V, King of Siam (d. 1910)
- 1860 – James Gillett, 22nd Governor of California (d. 1937)
- 1861 – Herbert Putnam, American Librarian of Congress (d. 1955)
- 1872 – Maurice Gamelin, French army general (d. 1958)
- 1873 – Sidney Olcott, Canadian movie director (d. 1949)
- 1873 – Ferenc Szisz, Hungarian racing driver (d. 1944)
- 1875 – Matthias Erzberger, German publicist and politician (d. 1921)
- 1878 – Upton Sinclair, American writer (d. 1968)
- 1884 – Maxwell Perkins, American editor and publisher (d. 1947)
- 1885 – Jelly Roll Morton, American jazz pianist (d. 1941)
- 1885 – Enrico Mizzi, 6th Prime Minister of Malta (d. 1950)
- 1889 – Charles Reidpath, American city planner and athlete (d. 1975)
- 1890 – Linda Eenpalu, Estonian politician and activist (d. 1962)
- 1893 – Hans Scharoun, German architect (d. 1972)
- 1897 – Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco, President of Brazil (d. 1967)
- 1899 – Leo Strauss, German–born philosopher (d. 1973)
- 1900 – Nikolay Timofeev-Ressowski, Russian geneticist (d. 1981)

### 1901 – 1950

- 1908 – Ernest Manning, Canadian preacher and politician, Premier of Alberta (d. 1996)
- 1911 – Pandit Shri Ram Sharma Acharya, Indian philosopher (d. 1991)
- 1914 – Kenneth More, English actor (d. 1982)
- 1916 – Malik Meraj Khalid, Pakistani politician (d. 2003)
- 1917 – Red Auerbach, American basketball coach (d. 2006)
- 1917 – Fernando Rey, Spanish actor (d. 1994)
- 1917 – Obdulio Varela, Uruguayan footballer (d. 1996)
- 1920 – Alberto de Lacerda, Portuguese poet (d. 2007)
- 1920 – Jay Ward, American animator, producer and screenwriter (d. 1989)
- 1921 – Chico Hamilton, American jazz drummer and bandleader (d. 2013)
- 1921 – Carlo Parola, Italian footballer (d. 2000)
- 1923 – Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Indian actor and producer (d. 2014)
- 1924 – Gogi Grant, American singer (d. 2016)
- 1925 – Ananda Mahidol, King of Thailand (d. 1946)
- 1925 – James Bernard, English movie composer (d. 2001)
- 1925 – Bobby Nunn, American singer (d. 1986)
- 1926 – Libero Liberati, Italian motorcycle racer (d. 1962)
- 1927 – John Dankworth, English jazz musician (d. 2010)
- 1927 – Rachel Roberts, Welsh actress (d. 1980)
- 1928 – William J. Edwards, American politician (d. 2019)
- 1928 – Donald Hall, American poet (d. 2018)
- 1929 – Anne Meara, American comic and actress (d. 2015)
- 1929 – Hans von Borsody, Austrian–German actor (d. 2013)
- 1929 – Joe Temperley, Scottish jazz saxophonist (d. 2016)
- 1934 – Sophia Loren, Italian actress
- 1935 – Walter Eschweiler, German football referee
- 1936 – Andrew Davies, Welsh writer
- 1937 – Birgitta Dahl, Swedish politician
- 1937 – Monica Zetterlund, Swedish actress and singer (d. 2005)
- 1940 – Taro Aso, former Prime Minister of Japan
- 1942 – Gerald Tremblay, 41st Mayor of Montreal
- 1942 – Rose Francine Rogombé, Interim President of Gabon (d. 2015)
- 1943 – Sani Abacha, President of Nigeria (d. 1998)
- 1946 – Dorothy Hukill, American politician (d. 2018)
- 1947 – Wojciech Kurtyka, Polish mountaineer
- 1947 – Mia Martini, Italian singer and actress (d. 1995)
- 1948 – George R. R. Martin, American writer, screenwriter and producer
- 1948 – Chuck Panozzo, American musician
- 1948 – John Panozzo, American musician (d. 1996)
- 1949 – Anthony Denison, American actor
- 1949 – Mahesh Bhatt, Indian director, producer and screenwriter
- 1949 – Victoria Mallory, American singer and actress (d. 2014)

### 1951 – 1975

- 1952 – Manuel Zelaya, former President of Honduras
- 1954 – Anne McIntosh, Scottish politician
- 1956 – Gary Cole, American actor
- 1956 – Steve Coleman, American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer
- 1959 – Joseph Alessi, American trombonist
- 1960 – Dave Hemingway, English singer-songwriter
- 1961 – Caroline Flint, English politician
- 1962 – Jim Al-Khalili, English physicist, writer and broadcaster
- 1966 – Nuno Bettencourt, Portuguese guitarist, singer-songwriter and record producer
- 1966 – Douglas Gordon, Scottish artist
- 1967 – Kristen Johnston, American actress
- 1967 – Gunnar Nelson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1967 – Matthew Nelson, American singer-songwriter and bass player
- 1969 – Richard Witschge, Dutch footballer
- 1971 – Tinna Björk Baldvinsdóttir, Icelandic footballer and psychologist
- 1971 – Henrik Larsson, Swedish footballer
- 1972 – Victor Ponta, former Prime Minister of Romania
- 1973 – Jo Pavey, English runner
- 1975 – Juan Pablo Montoya, Colombian race car driver
- 1975 – Asia Argento, Italian actress

### From 1976

- 1976 – Jon Bernthal, American actor
- 1977 – Namie Amuro, Japanese pop singer
- 1979 – Dan Gillespie Sells, British musician (The Feeling)
- 1980 – Judith Schalansky, German writer, book designer and publisher
- 1980 – Robert Koren, Slovenian footballer
- 1980 – Igor Vori, Croatian handball player
- 1981 – Feliciano López, Spanish tennis player
- 1981 – Ryan Tandy, Australian rugby league player (d. 2014)
- 1982 – Aaron Burkart, German rally driver
- 1982 – Brian Fortuna, American dancer and choreographer
- 1983 – Freya Murray, Scottish athlete
- 1984 – Brian Joubert, French figure skater
- 1987 – Gain, South Korean singer, actress and entertainer
- 1987 – Deon McCaulay, Belizean footballer
- 1987 – Reza Ghoochannejhad, Iranian footballer
- 1988 – Sergei Bobrovsky, Russian ice hockey player
- 1988 – Khabib Nurmagomedov, MMA fighter
- 1990 – John Tavares, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1990 – Phillip Phillips, American Idol winner
- 1990 – Waylon Francis, Costa Rican footballer
- 1991 – Spencer Locke, American actress
- 1992 – Safura Alizadeh, Azerbaijani singer
- 1992 – Peter Prevc, Slovenian ski jumper
- 1993 – Julian Draxler, German footballer
- 1995 – Laura Dekker, Dutch–New Zealand sailor
- 1995 – Sammi Hanratty, American actress
- 1996 – Marlos Moreno, Colombian footballer

### Up to 1950

- 911 – Louis the Child, King of the East Franks (b. 893)
- 1328 – Ibn Taymiyyah, Syrian theologian and scholar (b. 1263)
- 1384 – King Louis of Naples (b. 1339)
- 1460 – Gilles Binchois, Flemish composer (b. 1400)
- 1590 – Lodovico Agostini, Italian composer (b. 1534)
- 1629 – Jan Pieterszoon Coen, Dutch colonial governor (b. 1587)
- 1630 – Claudio Saracini, Italian composer (b. 1586)
- 1684 – Kim Seok-ju, Korean scholar, politician and author (b. 1634)
- 1793 – Fletcher Christian, English mutineer (b. 1764)
- 1839 – Thomas Hardy, 1st Baronet, British admiral (b. 1769)
- 1840 – Jose Gaspar Rodriguez de Francia, Paraguayan politician (b. 1766)
- 1845 – Matvei Gedenschtorm, Russian explorer (b. 1780)
- 1852 – Philander Chase, American bishop and educator (b. 1775)
- 1863 – Jacob Grimm, German writer and folklorist (b. 1785)
- 1898 – Theodor Fontane, German writer (b. 1819)
- 1908 – Pablo de Sarasate, Spanish violinist and composer (b. 1844)
- 1919 – Ramón Barros Luco, President of Chile (b. 1835)
- 1927 – George Nichols, American actor (b. 1864)
- 1930 – Gombojab Tsybikov, Russian anthropologist and explorer (b. 1873)
- 1932 – John Ellis, English executioner (b. 1874)
- 1933 – Annie Besant, British writer, philosopher and journalist (b. 1847)
- 1945 – Augusto Tasso Fragoso, President of Brazil (b. 1869)
- 1945 – William Seabrook, American occultist, journalist and explorer (b. 1884)
- 1946 – Raimu, French actor (b. 1883)
- 1947 – Fiorello La Guardia, Mayor of New York City (b. 1882)
- 1948 – Husain Salaahudin, Maldivian scholar, poet and writer (b. 1881)

### 1951 – 2010

- 1957 – Jean Sibelius, Finnish composer (b. 1865)
- 1970 – Alexandros Othonaios, Greek general and Prime Minister (b. 1879)
- 1971 – Giorgos Seferis, Greek poet (b. 1900)
- 1973 – Jim Croce, American singer-songwriter (b. 1943)
- 1975 – Saint-John Perse, French diplomat and writer (b. 1887)
- 1979 – Ludvik Svoboda, Czechoslovakian politician (b. 1895)
- 1993 – Erich Hartmann, German pilot and fighter ace (b. 1922)
- 1994 – Abioseh Nicol, Sierra Leonean diplomat and author (b. 1921)
- 1996 – Paul Erdős, Hungarian mathematician (b. 1913)
- 1996 – Reuben Kamenga, 1st Vice president of Zambia (b. 1929)
- 1998 – Muriel Humphrey Brown, United States Senator and wife of Hubert Humphrey (b. 1912)
- 1999 – Raisa Gorbachova, wife of Mikhail Gorbachev (b. 1932)
- 2002 – Sergei Bodrov, Jr., Russian actor (b. 1971)
- 2003 – Gordon Mitchell, American actor (b. 1923)
- 2003 – Simon Muzenda, Zimbabwean politician (b. 1922)
- 2004 – Brian Clough, English football manager (b. 1935)
- 2005 – Simon Wiesenthal, Austrian Holocaust survivor (b. 1908)
- 2006 – Sven Nykvist, Swedish cameraman and director (b. 1922)
- 2010 – Fud Leclerc, Belgian singer (b. 1924)

### From 2011

- 2011 – Burhanuddin Rabbani, President of Afghanistan (b. 1940)
- 2012 – Fortunato Baldelli, Italian cardinal (b. 1935)
- 2014 – Anatoly Berezovoy, Soviet–Russian cosmonaut (b. 1942)
- 2014 – Polly Bergen, American actress (b. 1930)
- 2014 – Rob Bironas, American football player (b. 1978)
- 2014 – Vince Callahan, American politician (b. 1931)
- 2014 – Pino Cerami, Italian–Belgian cyclist (b. 1922)
- 2014 – Takako Doi, Japanese politician (b. 1928)
- 2014 – George Sluizer, Dutch film director (b. 1932)
- 2015 – Jack Larson, American actor, screenwriter and producer (b. 1928)
- 2015 – C. K. Williams, American poet (b. 1936)
- 2015 – Siegfried Gottwald, German mathematician (b. 1943)
- 2016 – Richie Dunn, American ice hockey player (b. 1957)
- 2016 – Peter Leo Gerety, American bishop (b. 1912)
- 2016 – Curtis Hanson, American movie director and screenwriter (b. 1945)
- 2017 – Ene Mihkelson, Estonian novelist (b. 1944)
- 2017 – Lillian Ross, American journalist and author (b. 1918)
- 2017 – Teddy Taylor, British politician (b. 1937)
- 2017 – Arne Solli, Norwegian military officer (b. 1938)
- 2018 – Fadhil Jalil al-Barwari, Iraqi military officer (b. 1966)
- 2018 – John Cunliffe, English children's writer (b. 1933)
- 2018 – Inge Feltrinelli, German–Italian publisher and photographer (b. 1930)
- 2018 – George N. Hatsopoulos, Greek–born American chemical engineer (b. 1927)
- 2018 – Laurie Mitchell, American actress (b. 1928)
- 2018 – K-Run's Park Me In First, American–bred show dog (b. 2005)
- 2018 – Mohamed Sahnoun, Algerian politician and diplomat (b. 1931)
- 2018 – Reinhard Tritscher, German skier (b. 1946)
- 2018 – Henry Wessel Jr., American photographer (b. 1942)
- 2019 – Robert Boyd, American journalist (b. 1928)
- 2019 – Howard Cassady, American football player (b. 1934)
- 2019 – Séamus Hegarty, Irish Roman Catholic prelate (b. 1940)
- 2019 – Jan Merlin, American actor (b. 1925)
- 2019 – Gregorio Martínez Sacristán, Spanish Roman Catholic prelate (b. 1946)
- 2019 – Yonrico Scott, American drummer (b. 1955)
- 2019 – Su Beng, Taiwanese dissident (b. 1918)

## Observances

- National Youth Day (Thailand)
- Constitution Day (Nepal)