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622 - Muhammad completes his hegira from Mecca to Medina.

1493 - Christopher Columbus departs on his second expedition to the New World.

1664 - The Netherlands surrenders New Amsterdam to England.

1789 - The United States Supreme Court and the position of Attorney General are established.

1789 - The United States Post Office Department is established.

1841 - The Sultan of Brunei cedes Sarawak to Britain.

1852 - The first airship is displayed.

1869 - "Black Friday": Gold prices plummet as Jay Gould and James Fisk plot to control the market.

1877 - Battle of Shiroyama, decisive victory of the Imperial Japanese Army over the Satsuma Rebellion

1890 - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints officially renounces polygamy.

1903 - Edmund Barton steps down as Prime Minister of Australia and is succeeded by Alfred Deakin.

1906 - U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt proclaims Devils Tower the nation's first National Monument.

1948 - The Honda Motor Company is founded.

1950 - Forest fires black out the sun over portions of Canada and New England. A Blue moon (in the astronomical sense) is seen as far away as Europe.

1957 - President Dwight D. Eisenhower sends United States National Guard troops to Little Rock, Arkansas, to enforce desegregation.

1962 - United States court of appeals orders the University of Mississippi to admit James Meredith.

1966 - Star Trek launches its first series

1973 - Guinea-Bissau declares its independence from Portugal.

1988 - Summer Olympics: Ben Johnson beats Carl Lewis and Linford Christie in 100 metres sprinting in a record time of 9.79 seconds. (Johnson would later be disqualified in a high profile case of doping in sports.)

1991 - Nirvana's Nevermind album released.

1993 - Myst was released for the Macintosh.

1994 - National League for Democracy is formed by Aung San Suu Kyi and various people to help fight against dictatorship of Myanmar.

2004 - Hurricane Ivan dissipates over Texas, and heads north into the plains.

2005 - Hurricane Rita makes landfall in the United States, devastating Beaumont, Texas and portions of southwestern Louisiana.

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15 - Vitellius, Roman Emperor (d. 69)

1301 - Ralph Stafford, 1st Earl of Stafford, English soldier (d. 1372)

1501 - Gerolamo Cardano, Italian mathematician (d. 1576)

1534 - Guru Ram Das, fourth Sikh Guru (d. 1581)

1564 - William Adams, British navigator (d. 1620)

1583 - Albrecht von Wallenstein, Austrian general (d. 1634)

1625 - Johan de Witt, Dutch politician (d. 1672)

1705 - Leopold Josef Graf Daun, Austrian field marshal (d. 1766)

1717 - Horace Walpole, British novelist and politician (d. 1797)

1724 - Sir Arthur Guinness, Irish brewer (d. 1803)

1739 - Grigori Alexandrovich Potemkin, Russian statesman (d. 1791)

1755 - John Marshall, 4th Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1835)

1801 - Mikhail Vasilievich Ostrogradsky, Ukrainian scientist (d. 1862)

1802 - Adolphe d'Archaic, French paleontologist and geologist (d. 1868)

1817 - Ramon de Campoamor y Campoosorio, Spanish poet and philosopher (d. 1901)

1829 - Charles S. West, Texas jurist and politician

1857 - Richard Mansfield, German-born actor (d. 1907)

1870 - Georges Claude, French chemist and inventor (d. 1960)

1871 - Lottie Dod, English athlete (d. 1960)

1878 - C. F. Ramuz, Swiss writer (d. 1947)

1884 - Hugo Schmeisser, German weapons designer (d. 1953)

1884 - Gustave Garrigou, French cyclist (d. 1963)

1890 - A. P. Herbert, British humorist, barrister, novelist (d. 1971)

1890 - Mike González, baseball player (d. 1977)

1892 - Adélard Godbout, premier of Québec (d. 1956)

1894 - Tommy Armour, Anglo-American golfer (d. 1968)

1895 - André Frédéric Cournand, French Nobel Laureate (d. 1988)

1896 - F. Scott Fitzgerald, American novelist (d. 1940)

1898 - Howard Walter Florey, Nobel Laureate (d. 1968)

1899 - Sir William Dobell, Australian portrait artist (d. 1970)

1900 - Ham Fisher, American cartoonist (d. 1955)

1905 - Severo Ochoa, Nobel Laureate (d. 1993)

1909 - Gerard Ciołek, Polish architect (d. 1966)

1911 - Konstantin Chernenko, Soviet premier (d. 1985)

1912 - Don Porter, American actor (d. 1997)

1918 - Audra Lindley, American actress (d. 1997)

1919 - Dayton Allen, American actor and comedian (d. 2004)

1921 - Jim McKay, American sports commentator

1922 - Theresa Merritt, American actress (d. 1998)

1923 - Louis Edmonds, American actor (d. 2001)

1923 - Fats Navarro, American jazz trumpet player (d. 1950)

1924 - Nina Bocharova, Soviet gymnast

1924 - Sheila MacRae, Singer, actress

1925 - Autar Singh Paintal, Indian medical scientist (d. 2004)

1929 - Edward M. Lawson, Canadian politician

1930 - John W. Young, American astronaut

1931 - Anthony Newley, British actor and singer (d. 1999)

1932 - Dominique Michel, French Canadian comedian

1934 - Manfred Wörner, German politician and diplomat (d. 1994)

1934 - Tommy Anderson, Scottish footballer

1936 - Jim Henson, American puppeteer (d. 1990)

1941 - Linda McCartney, American singer (d. 1998)

1941 - John Mackey, National Football League player

1942 - Ilkka "Danny" Lipsanen, Finnish singer

1942 - Gerry Marsden, English singer (Gerry and the Pacemakers)

1945 - Lou Dobbs, American journalist

1946 - "Mean" Joe Greene, American football player

1946 - Lars Emil Johansen, Prime Minister of Greenland

1947 - Erik Hivju, Norwegian actor

1948 - Gordon Clapp, American actor

1948 - Phil Hartman, Canadian actor (d. 1998)

1950 - Alan Colmes, American talk show host

1951 - Pedro Almodóvar, Spanish movie director

1952 - Mark Sandman, American musician (d. 1999)

1955 - Riccardo Illy, Italian politician

1956 - Hubie Brooks, baseball player

1958 - Kevin Sorbo, American actor

1959 - Steve Whitmire, American voice actor

1961 - Allen Bestwick, Nascar Broadcaster

1961 - John Logan, American screenwriter

1962 - Nia Vardalos, Canadian actress

1962 - Jack Dee, British comedian

1964 - Rafael Palmeiro, Cuban-born baseball player

1966 - Michael J. Varhola, American author

1966 - Bernard Gilkey, baseball player

1966 - Stacy Galina, American actress

1969 - Shawn "Clown" Crahan, American musician (Slipknot)

1969 - Donald DeGrate, Jr., American music producer

1969 - Megan Ward, American actress

1969 - Goya Toledo, Spanish-born Mexican actress and model

1973 - Eddie George, American football player

1976 - Stephanie McMahon-Levesque, American professional wrestler

1978 - Wietse van Alten, Dutch archer

1978 - Tarek Saab, American TV show contestant

1980 - John Arne Riise, Norwegian footballer

1980 - Sabrine Maui, Filipino pornstar

1982 - Morgan Hamm, American gymnast

1982 - Paul Hamm, American gymnast

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366 - Pope Liberius

768 - Pippin the Short, King of the Franks (b. 714)

1054 - Hermannus Contractus, scholar (b. 1013)

1143 - Agnes of Germany, daughter of Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1072)

1143 - Pope Innocent II

1180 - Manuel I Comnenus, Byzantine Emperor (b. 1118)

1213 - Gertrude of Merania, wife of Andrew II of Hungary (murdered) (b. 1185)

1275 - Humphrey de Bohun, 2nd Earl of Hereford, Constable of England (b. 1208)

1435 - Isabeau of Bavaria, wife of Charles VI of France (bc. 1370)

1494 - Poliziano, Italian humanist (b. 1454)

1541 - Paracelsus, Swiss alchemist (b. 1493)

1545 - Albert of Mainz, archbishop and elector of Mainz (b. 1490)

1605 - Manuel Mendes, Portuguese composer (bc. 1547)

1621 - Jan Karol Chodkiewicz, Polish military commander (b. 1560)

1646 - Duarte Lobo, Portuguese composer (bc. 1565)

1707 - Vicenzo da Filicaja, Italian poet (b. 1642)

1732 - Emperor Reigen of Japan (b. 1654)

1742 - Johann Matthias Hase, German scientist (b. 1684)

1802 - Alexander Radishchev, Russian writer (b. 1749)

1834 - Pedro I of Brazil, Emperor of Brazil (b. 1798)

1904 - Niels Ryberg Finsen, Danish physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1860)

1930 - William A. MacCorkle, Governor of West Virginia (b. 1857)

1933 - Mike Donlin, baseball player (b. 1878)

1933 - Alice Muriel Williamson, British novelist (b. 1869)

1938 - Lev Schnirelmann, Russian mathematician (b. 1900)

1939 - Carl Laemmle, German film producer (b. 1867)

1945 - Hans Geiger, German physicist (b. 1882)

1948 - Warren William, American actor (b. 1894)

1975 - Earle Cabell, Texas politician (b. 1906)

1981 - Patsy Kelly, American actress (b. 1910)

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

1984 - Neil Hamilton, American actor (b. 1899)

1991 - Dr. Seuss, American children's writer (b. 1904)

1991 - Peter Bellamy, Folk Singer (b. 1944)

1993 - Bruno Pontecorvo, Italian physicist (b. 1913)

1993 - Ian Stuart Donaldson, British musician (b. 1957)

2002 - Youssouf Togoïmi, Chadian rebel (b. 1953)

2002 - Mike Webster, National Football League player (b. 1952)

2003 - Rosalie Allen, American singer and disc jockey (b. 1924)

2003 - Edward Said, Palestinian-born literary critic (b. 1935)

2003 - Anthony Durante, American wrestler (b. 1967)

2003 - Lyle Bettger, American actor (b. 1915)

2004 - Françoise Sagan, French writer (b. 1935)

2005 - Tommy Bond, American actor (b. 1926)

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Ramadan begins for 2006.

Late Roman Empire - start of the indiction year (at least since the time of Bede).

Bhutan - Blessed Rainy Day (in 2006).

In ancient Latvia, the third day of Mikeli, and the only day of the year during which men proposed to their prospective wives.

Catholic Calendar: Our Lady of Mercy and Our Lady of Walsingham.

Also see September 24 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics).

Guinea-Bissau - Independence Day (declared, from Portugal, 1973).

New Caledonia - Territorial Day.

England - Our Lady of Walsingham.

South Africa - Heritage Day.

Barcelona, Spain - La Mercè the festival for Barcelona's patron saint. A lot of art and musical activities.

Trinidad and Tobago - Republic Day (1976).

French Republican Calendar - Châtaigne (Chestnut) Day, third day in the Month of Vendémiaire.