Events
626 - In fear of assassination, Li Shimin ambushes and kills his rival brothers Li Yuanji and Li Jiancheng in the Incident at Xuanwu Gate. On September 4, Shimin's father abdicated to him, and so Shimin became Emperor Taizong of Tang, Emperor of China.
706 - In China, Emperor Zhongzong of Tang had the remains of Emperor Gaozong of Tang, his wife and recently-deceased ruling empress Wu Zetian, her son Li Xian, her grandson Li Chongrun, and granddaughter Li Xianhui all interred in a new tomb complex outside Chang'an known as the Qianling Mausoleum, located on Mount Liang.
963 - The imperial army proclaims Nicephorus Phocas to be Emperor of the Romans on the plains outside Cappadocian Caesarea.
1298 - The Battle of Göllheim is fought between Albert I of Habsburg and Adolf of Nassau-Weilburg.
1561 - Menas, Emperor of Ethiopia defeats a revolt in Emfraz.
1578 - Martin Frobisher sights Baffin Island.
1582 - Battle of Yamazaki: Toyotomi Hideyoshi defeats Akechi Mitsuhide.
1613 - First English expedition from Massachusetts against Acadia - led by Samuel Argall.
1644 - English Civil War: Battle of Marston Moor.
1698 - Thomas Savery patented the first steam engine
1679 - Europeans first visit Minnesota and see headwaters of Mississippi - led by Daniel Greysolon de Du Luth.
1776 - The Continental Congress adopts a resolution severing ties with Great Britain; wording of the formal Declaration of Independence is not approved until July 4.
1777 - Vermont becomes the first American territory to abolish slavery.
1808 - Simon Fraser reaches Pacific near New Westminster.
1823 - "Bahia Independence Day" - the end of Portuguese rule in Brazil, with the final defeat of the diehard Portuguese crown loyalists in the province of Bahia.
1839 - Twenty miles off the coast of Cuba, 53 rebelling African slaves led by Joseph Cinque take over the slave ship Amistad.
1850 - The self-contained gas mask is patented by Benjamin J. Lane.
1853 - The Russian Army invades Turkey, beginning the Crimean War.
1863 - American Civil War: Second day of the Battle of Gettysburg.
1878 - The Brighton Beach Line (now the BMT Brighton Line) opens in the then-city of Brooklyn.
1881 - Charles J. Guiteau shoots and fatally wounds U.S. President James Garfield, who eventually dies from infection on September 19.
1890 - The U.S. Congress passes the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.
1900 - First zeppelin flight on Lake Constance near Friedrichshafen, Germany.
1917 - Forty-eight die in rioting in East St. Louis, Illinois, as lower-paid black laborers clash with whites.
1934 - The end of the Night of the Long Knives, with the death of the German Military Officer Ernst Röhm
1937 - Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappear over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to make the first equatorial round-the-world flight.
1940 - Indian independence leader Subhas Chandra Bose arrested and detained in Calcutta.
1950 - Kinkaku-ji in Kyoto, Japan was burned down.
1962 - The first Wal-Mart store opens for business in Rogers, Arkansas.
1964 - President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits segregation in public places.
1966 - The French military explode their nuclear test bomb codenamed Aldébaran in Mururoa, their first nuclear test in the Pacific.
1971 - Australian Evonne Goolagong becomes the first Aborigine to win the Wimbledon singles tennis title.
1976 - North and South Vietnam, divided since 1954, reunite to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
1979 - The first U.S. coin to honor a woman, the Susan B. Anthony dollar, is introduced.
1985 - Andrei Gromyko is appointed the chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union.
1990 - A stampede inside a pedestrian tunnel leads to the deaths of 1,426 pilgrims in Mecca during hajj.
2000 - Vicente Fox Quesada is elected the first President of México from an opposition party, the Partido Acción Nacional (PAN) after more than 70 years of continuous rule by the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI).
2001 - AbioCor self contained artificial heart created.
2002 - Steve Fossett becomes the first person to fly solo around the world nonstop in a balloon.
2004 - ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) accepts Pakistan as the 24th member.
Births
1970 - Yancy Butler, American actress
1970 - Colin Edwin, Australian musician (Porcupine Tree)
1970 - Scotty 2 Hotty, American wrestler
1970 - Monie Love, English rapper
1970 - Steve Morrow, Irish footballer
1971 - Evelyn Lau, Canadian author
1971 - Troy Brown, American football player
1972 - Darren Shan, Irish children's author
1973 - Peter Kay, British comedian
1974 - Sean Casey, American baseball player
1974 - Moon So-ri, South Korean actress
1974 - Matthew Reilly, Australian author
1974 - Rocky Gray, American musician
1975 - Erik Ohlsson, Swedish guitarist (Millencolin)
1975 - Eric Daze, French Canadian ice hockey player
1976 - Krisztián Lisztes, Hungarian footballer
1976 - Tomáš Vokoun, Czech hockey player
1978 - Jüri Ratas, Estonian politician
1979 - Diana Gurtskaya, Georgian singer
1979 - Sam Hornish, Jr., American race car driver
1979 - Joe Thornton, Canadian hockey player
1981 - Alex Koroknay-Palicz, American youth rights activist
1981 - Angel Pagán, Puerto Rican baseball player
1982 - Olivia Munn, American television hostess
1983 - Michelle Branch, American Singer (The Wreckers)
1984 - Johnny Weir, American figure skater
1984 - Thomas Kortegaard, Danish footballer
1985 - Rhett Bomar, American football player
1985 - Chad Henne, American football player
1985 - Ashley Tisdale, American actress and singer
1986 - Lindsay Lohan, American actress and singer
1987 - Ruslana Korshunova, Kazakhstani model (d. 2008)
1992 - Stefan Roberts, British finance heir
Deaths
1966 - Jan Brzechwa, Polish poet (b. 1900)
1969 - Michael DiBiase, wrestler (b. 1923)
1972 - Joseph Fielding Smith, tenth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1876)
1973 - Betty Grable, American actress (b. 1916)
1973 - Chick Hafey, baseball player (b. 1903)
1973 - George McBride, baseball player (b. 1880)
1973 - Ferdinand Schörner, German field marshal (b. 1892)
1975 - James Robertson Justice, British actor (b. 1907)
1977 - Vladimir Nabokov, Russian-born writer (b. 1899)
1978 - Aris Alexandrou, Greek novelist, poet and translator (b. 1922)
1984 - Paul Dozois, Quebec politician (b. 1908)
1985 - David Purley, British Formula 1 driver (b. 1945)
1986 - Peanuts Lowrey, baseball player (b. 1917)
1989 - Franklin Schaffner, American film director (b. 1920)
1989 - Andrei Gromyko, Soviet politician (b. 1909)
1991 - Lee Remick, American actress (b. 1935)
1992 - Camarón de la Isla, Spanish flamenco singer (b. 1950)
1993 - Fred Gwynne, American actor (b. 1926)
1993 - Sir Edward Dunlop, Australian war hero (b. 1907)
1994 - Andrés Escobar, Colombian footballer (b. 1967)
1995 - Krissy Taylor, American model (b. 1978)
1997 - Jimmy Stewart, American actor (b. 1908)
1999 - Mario Puzo, American author (b. 1920)
2000 - Joey Dunlop, Irish motorcycle racer (b. 1952)
2002 - Ray Brown, American jazz bassist (b. 1926)
2004 - Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen, Portuguese writer (b. 1919)
2004 - John Cullen Murphy, American comic strip artist (b. 1919)
2005 - Ernest Lehman, American screenwriter (b. 1915)
2006 - Jan Murray, American comedian (b. 1916)
2007 - Beverly Sills, American operatic soprano (b. 1929)
626 - In fear of assassination, Li Shimin ambushes and kills his rival brothers Li Yuanji and Li Jiancheng in the Incident at Xuanwu Gate. On September 4, Shimin's father abdicated to him, and so Shimin became Emperor Taizong of Tang, Emperor of China.
706 - In China, Emperor Zhongzong of Tang had the remains of Emperor Gaozong of Tang, his wife and recently-deceased ruling empress Wu Zetian, her son Li Xian, her grandson Li Chongrun, and granddaughter Li Xianhui all interred in a new tomb complex outside Chang'an known as the Qianling Mausoleum, located on Mount Liang.
963 - The imperial army proclaims Nicephorus Phocas to be Emperor of the Romans on the plains outside Cappadocian Caesarea.
1298 - The Battle of Göllheim is fought between Albert I of Habsburg and Adolf of Nassau-Weilburg.
1561 - Menas, Emperor of Ethiopia defeats a revolt in Emfraz.
1578 - Martin Frobisher sights Baffin Island.
1582 - Battle of Yamazaki: Toyotomi Hideyoshi defeats Akechi Mitsuhide.
1613 - First English expedition from Massachusetts against Acadia - led by Samuel Argall.
1644 - English Civil War: Battle of Marston Moor.
1698 - Thomas Savery patented the first steam engine
1679 - Europeans first visit Minnesota and see headwaters of Mississippi - led by Daniel Greysolon de Du Luth.
1776 - The Continental Congress adopts a resolution severing ties with Great Britain; wording of the formal Declaration of Independence is not approved until July 4.
1777 - Vermont becomes the first American territory to abolish slavery.
1808 - Simon Fraser reaches Pacific near New Westminster.
1823 - "Bahia Independence Day" - the end of Portuguese rule in Brazil, with the final defeat of the diehard Portuguese crown loyalists in the province of Bahia.
1839 - Twenty miles off the coast of Cuba, 53 rebelling African slaves led by Joseph Cinque take over the slave ship Amistad.
1850 - The self-contained gas mask is patented by Benjamin J. Lane.
1853 - The Russian Army invades Turkey, beginning the Crimean War.
1863 - American Civil War: Second day of the Battle of Gettysburg.
1878 - The Brighton Beach Line (now the BMT Brighton Line) opens in the then-city of Brooklyn.
1881 - Charles J. Guiteau shoots and fatally wounds U.S. President James Garfield, who eventually dies from infection on September 19.
1890 - The U.S. Congress passes the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.
1900 - First zeppelin flight on Lake Constance near Friedrichshafen, Germany.
1917 - Forty-eight die in rioting in East St. Louis, Illinois, as lower-paid black laborers clash with whites.
1934 - The end of the Night of the Long Knives, with the death of the German Military Officer Ernst Röhm
1937 - Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappear over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to make the first equatorial round-the-world flight.
1940 - Indian independence leader Subhas Chandra Bose arrested and detained in Calcutta.
1950 - Kinkaku-ji in Kyoto, Japan was burned down.
1962 - The first Wal-Mart store opens for business in Rogers, Arkansas.
1964 - President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits segregation in public places.
1966 - The French military explode their nuclear test bomb codenamed Aldébaran in Mururoa, their first nuclear test in the Pacific.
1971 - Australian Evonne Goolagong becomes the first Aborigine to win the Wimbledon singles tennis title.
1976 - North and South Vietnam, divided since 1954, reunite to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
1979 - The first U.S. coin to honor a woman, the Susan B. Anthony dollar, is introduced.
1985 - Andrei Gromyko is appointed the chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union.
1990 - A stampede inside a pedestrian tunnel leads to the deaths of 1,426 pilgrims in Mecca during hajj.
2000 - Vicente Fox Quesada is elected the first President of México from an opposition party, the Partido Acción Nacional (PAN) after more than 70 years of continuous rule by the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI).
2001 - AbioCor self contained artificial heart created.
2002 - Steve Fossett becomes the first person to fly solo around the world nonstop in a balloon.
2004 - ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) accepts Pakistan as the 24th member.
Births
1970 - Yancy Butler, American actress
1970 - Colin Edwin, Australian musician (Porcupine Tree)
1970 - Scotty 2 Hotty, American wrestler
1970 - Monie Love, English rapper
1970 - Steve Morrow, Irish footballer
1971 - Evelyn Lau, Canadian author
1971 - Troy Brown, American football player
1972 - Darren Shan, Irish children's author
1973 - Peter Kay, British comedian
1974 - Sean Casey, American baseball player
1974 - Moon So-ri, South Korean actress
1974 - Matthew Reilly, Australian author
1974 - Rocky Gray, American musician
1975 - Erik Ohlsson, Swedish guitarist (Millencolin)
1975 - Eric Daze, French Canadian ice hockey player
1976 - Krisztián Lisztes, Hungarian footballer
1976 - Tomáš Vokoun, Czech hockey player
1978 - Jüri Ratas, Estonian politician
1979 - Diana Gurtskaya, Georgian singer
1979 - Sam Hornish, Jr., American race car driver
1979 - Joe Thornton, Canadian hockey player
1981 - Alex Koroknay-Palicz, American youth rights activist
1981 - Angel Pagán, Puerto Rican baseball player
1982 - Olivia Munn, American television hostess
1983 - Michelle Branch, American Singer (The Wreckers)
1984 - Johnny Weir, American figure skater
1984 - Thomas Kortegaard, Danish footballer
1985 - Rhett Bomar, American football player
1985 - Chad Henne, American football player
1985 - Ashley Tisdale, American actress and singer
1986 - Lindsay Lohan, American actress and singer
1987 - Ruslana Korshunova, Kazakhstani model (d. 2008)
1992 - Stefan Roberts, British finance heir
Deaths
1966 - Jan Brzechwa, Polish poet (b. 1900)
1969 - Michael DiBiase, wrestler (b. 1923)
1972 - Joseph Fielding Smith, tenth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1876)
1973 - Betty Grable, American actress (b. 1916)
1973 - Chick Hafey, baseball player (b. 1903)
1973 - George McBride, baseball player (b. 1880)
1973 - Ferdinand Schörner, German field marshal (b. 1892)
1975 - James Robertson Justice, British actor (b. 1907)
1977 - Vladimir Nabokov, Russian-born writer (b. 1899)
1978 - Aris Alexandrou, Greek novelist, poet and translator (b. 1922)
1984 - Paul Dozois, Quebec politician (b. 1908)
1985 - David Purley, British Formula 1 driver (b. 1945)
1986 - Peanuts Lowrey, baseball player (b. 1917)
1989 - Franklin Schaffner, American film director (b. 1920)
1989 - Andrei Gromyko, Soviet politician (b. 1909)
1991 - Lee Remick, American actress (b. 1935)
1992 - Camarón de la Isla, Spanish flamenco singer (b. 1950)
1993 - Fred Gwynne, American actor (b. 1926)
1993 - Sir Edward Dunlop, Australian war hero (b. 1907)
1994 - Andrés Escobar, Colombian footballer (b. 1967)
1995 - Krissy Taylor, American model (b. 1978)
1997 - Jimmy Stewart, American actor (b. 1908)
1999 - Mario Puzo, American author (b. 1920)
2000 - Joey Dunlop, Irish motorcycle racer (b. 1952)
2002 - Ray Brown, American jazz bassist (b. 1926)
2004 - Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen, Portuguese writer (b. 1919)
2004 - John Cullen Murphy, American comic strip artist (b. 1919)
2005 - Ernest Lehman, American screenwriter (b. 1915)
2006 - Jan Murray, American comedian (b. 1916)
2007 - Beverly Sills, American operatic soprano (b. 1929)
