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 Orleans (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 Therese 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 Francoise 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 Sandor 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 Roi 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 Sanchez, 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 Leon Charles Thevenin, 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 Gunter 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