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3761 BC - The epoch (origin) of the modern Hebrew calendar.

336 - Pope Mark ends his reign as Catholic Pope.

1492 - Christopher Columbus misses Florida when he changes course.

1506 - Pope Julius II and France occupy Bologna.

1513 - Battle of La Motta: Spanish troops under Ramón de Cardona defeat the Venetians.

1520 - First public burning of books in the Netherlands, in Louvain.

1542 - Explorer Cabrillo discovered Catalina Island off California coast.

1571 - The Battle of Lepanto is fought, and the Holy League (Spain and Italy) destroys the Turkish fleet.

1582 - Due to the implementation of the Gregorian calendar this day does not exist in this year in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain.

1637 - Prince Frederick Henry of Orange occupies Breda.

1690 - English attack Quebec under Louis de Buade.

1702 - English/Dutch troops under John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough occupy Roermond.

1714 - Beer tax riots in Alkmaar, the Netherlands.

1737 - 40 foot waves sink 20,000 small craft and kill 300,000 (Bengal, India).

1763 - George III of Great Britain issues British Royal Proclamation of 1763, closing aboriginal lands in North America north and west of Alleghenies to white settlements.

1765 - Stamp Act Congress convenes in NY.

1769 - English explorer, Captain Cook, discovers New Zealand.

1776 - Crown Prince Paul of Russia marries Sophie Marie Dorothea of Württemberg.

1777 - American Revolutionary War: Americans beat the British in the Battle of Second Saratoga and the Battle of Bemis Heights.

1780 - American Revolutionary War: Battle of Kings Mountain American Patriot militia defeat Loyalist irregulars led by British colonel Patrick Ferguson in South Carolina.

1806 - Carbon paper patented in London by inventor Ralph Wedgewood.

1816 - The first double-decked steamboat, the "Washington," arrives in New Orleans, Louisiana.

1826 - Granite Railway (first chartered railway in the U.S.) begins operations.

1828 - The city of Patras, Greece is liberated by the French expeditionary force in Peloponnese under General Maison.

1840 - Willem II becomes King of the Netherlands.

1864 - Battle of Darbytown Road (American Civil War): the Confederate forces' attempt to regain ground that had been lost around Richmond is thwarted.

1864 - American Civil War: Capture of the C.S.S. "Florida" — Union Warship captures the U.S.S. "Wachusett" — Confederate raider ship while in port in Bahia, Brazil.

1865 - The Morant Bay Rebellion starts in Jamaica.

1868 - Cornell University holds opening day ceremonies; initial student enrollment is 412, the most at any American university to that date.

1870 - Leon Gambetta flees Paris in a balloon.

1879 - Germany and Austria-Hungary sign the "Twofold Covenant" and create the Dual Alliance.

1882 - Baseball: First World Series (game 2), Chicago (NL) beats Cincinnati (AA) 2-0.

1886 - Spain abolishes slavery in Cuba.

1900 - The term "orienteering" is first used for an event.

1904 - Baseball: New York Highlander Jack Chesbro wins record 41st game of season (41-12).

1907 - France's Henry Farman flies 30 m in a biplane.

1908 - Crete revolts against the Ottoman Empire and aligns with Greece.

1908 - Serbia and Montenegro sign anti-Austria-Hungarian pact.

1912 - The Helsinki Stock Exchange sees its first transaction.

1916 - Georgia Tech defeats Cumberland University 222-0 in the most lopsided victory in American college football.

1919 - KLM of the Netherlands was founded. It is the oldest airline still operating under its original name.

1919 - First London-Amsterdam airline service (Britain Aerial Transport and KLM).

1922 - Former mayor of Rotterdam Alfred Zimmerman is appointed to represent The Netherlands in the League of Nations.

1922 - First radio link, WNJ (Newark, New Jersey) and WGY (Schenectady) link for World Series.

1924 - Greek government of Dikalekopoulis forms.

1928 - Ras Tafari Makonnen crowned negus of Abyssinia by Empress Zauditu.

1928 - Paavo Nurmi runs world record 10 miles (50:15.0).

1929 - Ramsay MacDonald is the first British premier to address the U.S. Congress.

1931 - First infrared photograph, Rochester, New York.

1938 - Germany demands all Jewish passports stamped with the letter J.

1940 - World War II: Germany invades Romania.

1940 - World War II: the McCollum memo conspires to bring the U.S. to war in Europe by provoking the Japanese to attack the United States.

1941 - World War II: German army occupies Viarma, U.S.S.R.

1941 - John Curtin becomes the 14th Prime Minister of Australia

1942 - U.S. and British government announce establishment of United Nations.

1942 - Maxwell Anderson's "Eve of St. Mark," premieres in New York City.

1942 - World War II: A salvo of Katyusha rockets destroys a German battalion in Stalingrad.

1943 - World War II: Japan executes 100 American civilian prisoners on Wake Island.

1944 - World War II: Uprising at Birkenau concentration camp.

1944 - World War II: Uprising at Auschwitz, Jews burn down crematoriums.

1944 - World War II: Fieldmarshal Erwin Rommel ordered to return to Berlin.

1944 - World War II: Allies bombs sea dikes at Vlissingen.

1949 - German Democratic Republic (East Germany) formed.

1949 - One of the earliest television shows, "Ford Theater" debuts

1950 - United States forces cross the 38th parallel.

1951 - Malayan Emergency: Malayan Races Liberation Army (MRLA) ambushes and kills British High Commissioner Sir Henry Gurney.

1951 - David Ben-Gurion forms Israeli government.

1952 - "American Bandstand" debuts on a local Philadelphia station.

1955 - Beat poet Allen Ginsberg reads his poem "Howl" for the first time at a poetry reading in San Francisco.

1958 - President of Pakistan Iskander Mirza, with the support of General Ayub Khan and the army, suspends the 1956 constitution, imposes martial law, and cancels the elections scheduled for January 1959.

1958 - U.S. manned space-flight project renamed Project Mercury.

1959 - Far side of the Moon seen for first time, compliments of U.S.S.R.'s Luna 3.

1960 - Second Kennedy and Nixon debate Cold War foreign policy in the second of four scheduled debates.

1962 - U.S.S.R. performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya, U.S.S.R.

1963 - John F. Kennedy signs ratification for Partial Test Ban Treaty.

1963 - Hurricane Flora hits Haiti and Dominican Republic, kills 7,190.

1968 - Hollywood adopts the movie ratings system.

1970 - Richard Nixon announces a new five-point peace proposal to end the Vietnam War.

1975 - Gerald R. Ford signs a legislation allowing women to apply for admission to the U.S. military academies, effective in 1976.

1977 - The adoption of the Fourth Soviet Constitution.

1982 - ''Cats'' opens on Broadway and runs for nearly 18 years before closing on September 10, 2000.

1984 - NFL running back Walter Payton breaks Jim Brown's rushing record.

1985 - The "Achille Lauro" is hijacked by Palestinian terrorists.

1985 - The Mameyes disaster occurs in Ponce, Puerto Rico.

1996 - The Fox News Channel, an American cable news network, is launched.

1997 - YUM! Brands, Inc. is founded (then as Tricon Global Restaurants, Inc.) when Pizza Hut, KFC, and Taco Bell spin-off from PepsiCo.

2001 - The U.S. invasion of Afghanistan starts with an air assault and covert operations on the ground; British national railway infrastructure company Railtrack put into railway administration in controversial circumstances.

2002 - Maher Arar is deported by the US government to Syria, where he is tortured and held without charge for a year before being returned home to Canada.

2002 - Space Shuttle Atlantis flies mission STS-112, its last mission before the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.

2003 - California governor Gray Davis is recalled and replaced by Arnold Schwarzenegger.

2004 - King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia abdicates.

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1471 - King Frederick I of Denmark and Norway (d. 1533)

1573 - William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1645)

1576 - John Marston, English writer (d. 1634)

1713 - Granville Elliott, British military officer (d. 1759)

1728 - Caesar Rodney, American lawyer (d. 1784)

1744 - Sergey Vyazmitinov, Russian general and statesman (d. 1819)

1748 - King Charles XIII of Sweden (d. 1818)

1769 - Solomon Sibley, American politician (d. 1846)

1786 - Louis-Joseph Papineau, Canadian lawyer and politician (d. 1871)

1835 - Felix Draeseke, German composer (d. 1913)

1841 - King Nicholas I of Montenegro (d. 1921)

1849 - James Whitcomb Riley, American poet (d. 1916)

1866 - Wlodimir Ledochowski, Polish-Austrian director of the Society of Jesus (d. 1942)

1881 - Mikhail Drozdovsky, Russian general (d. 1918)

1885 - Niels Bohr, Danish physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d.1962)

1888 - Henry A. Wallace, Vice President of the United States (d. 1965)

1892 - Dwain Esper, Director (d. 1982)

1894 - Del Lord, American director (d. 1970)

1897 - Elijah Muhammad, American Black Muslim leader (d. 1975)

1900 - Heinrich Himmler, Nazi official (d. 1945)

1905 - Andy Devine, American actor (d. 1977)

1910 - Henry P. McIlhenny, American philanthropist (d. 1986)

1911 - Vaughn Monroe, American singer (d. 1973)

1911 - Shura Cherkassky, Ukrainian classical pianist (d. 1995)

1912 - Fernando Belaúnde Terry, President of Peru (d. 2002)

1913 - Simon Carmiggelt, Dutch journalist and writer (d. 1987)

1914 - Alfred Drake, American actor (d. 1992)

1914 - Sarah Churchill, British actress (d. 1982)

1917 - June Allyson, American actress (d. 2006)

1919 - Sir Zelman Cowen, 19th Governor-General of Australia

1921 - Raymond Goethals, Belgian football coach (d. 2004)

1922 - Grady Hatton, American baseball player

1923 - Jean-Paul Riopelle, Québécois member of Les Automatistes (d. 2002)

1926 - Diana Lynn, American actress (d. 1971)

1927 - R. D. Laing, Scottish psychologist (d. 1989)

1927 - Al Martino, American singer and actor

1929 - Robert Westall, British author (d. 1993)

1931 - Cotton Fitzsimmons, American basketball coach (d. 2004)

1931 - Desmond Tutu, South African archbishop and Nobel Laureate

1934 - Amiri Baraka, American playwright and poet

1934 - Ulrike Meinhof, German terrorist (d. 1976)

1935 - Thomas Keneally, Australian author

1936 - Charles Dutoit, Swiss conductor

1937 - Maria Szyszkowska, Polish politician

1939 - John Hopcroft, American computer scientist

1939 - Clive James, Australian TV presenter and writer

1939 - Harold Kroto, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate

1939 - Bill Snyder, American football coach

1940 - Bruce Vento, U.S. Congressman from Minnesota (d. 2000)

1943 - Joy Behar, American co-host of The View

1943 - José Cardenal, Cuban baseball player

1943 - Oliver North, U.S. Marine and politician

1944 - Judee Sill, American musician (d. 1979)

1944 - Donald Tsang, current Chief executive of Hong Kong

1945 - Kevin Godley, British musician (10cc)

1946 - Bernard Lavilliers, French singer

1948 - Diane Ackerman, American poet and essayist

1949 - Dave Hope, American bass player (Kansas)

1950 - Jakaya Kikwete, Tanzanian politician

1951 - John Mellencamp, American singer

1952 - Mary Badham, American actress

1952 - Vladimir Putin, 2nd President of Russia

1952 - Jacques Richard, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2002)

1952 - Graham Yallop, Australian cricketer

1953 - Tico Torres, American percussionist

1954 - Kenneth Atchley, American composer

1955 - Yo-Yo Ma, French-born cellist

1957 - Michael W. Smith, American singer

1957 - Jayne Torvill, British figure skater

1959 - Dylan Baker, American character actor

1959 - Simon Cowell, English recording executive

1959 - Lourdes Flores, Peruvian politician

1959 - Jean-Marc Fournier, French-Canadian politician

1960 - Kyosuke Himuro, Japanese singer

1960 - Viktor Lazlo, French singer

1962 - Dave Bronconnier, Mayor of Calgary

1966 - Toni Braxton, American singer

1968 - Thom Yorke, English singer (Radiohead)

1969 - Malia Hosaka, Hawaiian professional wrestler

1970 - Serena Altschul, American reporter

1971 - Daniel Boucher, Quebecois musician

1973 - Dida, Brazilian footballer

1973 - Sami Hyypia, Finnish footballer

1974 - Charlotte Nilsson, Swedish singer

1975 - Terry Gerin, American professional wrestler

1975 - Damian Kulash, American musician (OK Go)

1976 - Taylor Hicks, American musician

1976 - Rachel McAdams, Canadian actress

1976 - Gilberto Silva, Brazilian footballer

1976 - Charles Woodson, American football player

1977 - Meighan Desmond, New Zealand actress

1978 - Alesha Dixon, British pop singer (Mis-Teeq)

1978 - Zaheer Khan, Indian cricketer

1979 - Simona Amânar, Romanian gymnast

1979 - Aaron Ashmore, Canadian actor

1979 - Shawn Ashmore, Canadian actor

1980 - Edison Chen, Canadian-born actor

1982 - Jermain Defoe, English footballer

1982 - Robby Ginepri, American tennis player

1991 - Chauncey Matthews, American Juniors singer

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336 - Pope Mark

1368 - Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence, son of Edward III of England (b. 1338)

1553 - Cristóbal de Morales, Spanish composer (bc. 1500)

1555 - Louis of Praet, Habsburg diplomat (b. 1488)

1577 - George Gascoigne, English poet

1620 - Stanisław Żółkiewski, Polish military leader (b. 1547)

1637 - Victor Amadeus I, Duke of Savoy (b. 1587)

1651 - Jacques Sirmond, French Jesuit scholar (b. 1559)

1653 - Fausto Poli, Italian Catholic priest (b. 1581)

1708 - Guru Gobind Singh, tenth Sikh Guru (b. 1666)

1772 - John Woolman, American Quaker preacher and abolitionist (b. 1720)

1787 - Henry Muhlenberg, German-born founder of the U.S. Lutheran Church (b. 1711)

1792 - George Mason, American patriot (b. 1725)

1793 - Wills Hill, 1st Marquess of Downshire, English politician (b. 1718)

1796 - Thomas Reid, Scottish philosopher (b. 1710)

1849 - Edgar Allan Poe, American writer (b. 1809)

1894 - Oliver Wendell Holmes, American writer (b. 1809)

1903 - Rudolf Lipschitz, German mathematician (b. 1832)

1906 - Honoré Beaugrand, Canadian journalist and politician, mayor of Montreal (b. 1848)

1911 - John Hughlings Jackson, English neurologist (b. 1835)

1919 - Alfred Deakin, second Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1856)

1925 - Christy Mathewson, American baseball player (b. 1880)

1926 - Emil Kraepelin, German psychologist (b. 1856)

1943 - Eugeniusz Bodo, Polish actor (b. 1899)

1943 - Radclyffe Hall, British author (b. 1880)

1956 - Clarence Birdseye, American inventor (b. 1886)

1959 - Mario Lanza, American tenor (b. 1921)

1967 - Norman Angell, British politician and Nobel Laureate (b. 1872)

1969 - Léon Scieur, Belgian cyclist (b. 1888)

1981 - Albert Cohen, Greek-born Swiss novelist (b. 1895)

1991 - Leo Durocher, American baseball player and manager (b. 1905)

1992 - Allan Bloom, American philosopher and educator (b. 1930)

1992 - Tevfik Esenç, last known speaker of Ubykh (b. 1904)

1993 - Cyril Cusack, Irish actor (b. 1910)

1994 - Niels Kaj Jerne, English-born Danish immunologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1911)

1998 - Arnold Jacobs, American tuba player a.k.a. Song and Wind (b. 1915)

2001 - Christopher Adams, British-born pro wrestler and judoka (b. 1955)

2001 - Herblock, American cartoonist (b. 1909)

2003 - Izzy Asper, Canadian tax lawyer (b. 1932)

2003 - Wally George, American conservative TV commentator (b. 1931)

2004 - Ken Bigley, British civil engineer, kidnapped and murdered in Iraq (b. 1942)

2005 - Charles Rocket, American actor (b. 1949)

2006 - Anna Politkovskaya, Russian journalist (b. 1958)

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RC Saints - Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary; formerly Saint Justina, Saint Osyth

Feast day of Pope Mark.

Saints Sergius and Bacchus; Also see October 7 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

East Germany - Republic Day

French Republican Calendar - Belle de nuit (Beautiful of Night, a flower) Day, sixteenth day in the Month of Vendémiaire

Composer Day in Brazil