September 21

Historic Events

2019

A 5.6 Mw earthquake shakes the Albanian port of Durrës. Forty-nine people are injured in the capital, Tirana. ›

2018

LGBT rights activist Zak Kostopoulos is beaten to death on a busy street in Athens. ›

2015

Adventist Health System agreed to pay $118.7 million to settle allegations of fraud. It was the largest a hospital network has ever paid. ›

2013

Al-Shabaab Islamic militants attack the Westgate shopping mall in Kenya, killing at least 67 people. ›

2012

Three Egyptian militants open fire on a group of Israeli soldiers in a southern Israel cross-border attack. ›

2003

The Galileo spacecraft is terminated by sending it into Jupiter's atmosphere. ›

2001

America: A Tribute to Heroes is broadcast by over 35 network and cable channels, raising over $200 million for the victims of the September 11 attacks. ›

2001

Ross Parker is murdered in Peterborough, England, by a gang of ten British Pakistani youths. ›

1999

The 7.7-magnitude Chi-Chi earthquake strikes central Taiwan, killing 2,400 people. ›

1997

St. Olaf's Church, a stone church from the 16th century in Tyrvää, Finland, is burnt down by a burglar. ›

1996

The Defense of Marriage Act is passed by the United States Congress. ›

1993

Russian president Boris Yeltsin triggers a constitutional crisis when he suspends parliament and scraps the constitution. ›

1993

A Transair Georgian Airlines Tu-134 is shot down by a missile in the Black Sea near Sokhumi, Georgia. ›

1991

Armenia gains independence from the Soviet Union. ›

1984

Brunei joins the United Nations. ›

1981

Belize is granted full independence from the United Kingdom. ›

1981

Sandra Day O'Connor is unanimously approved by the U.S. Senate as the first female Supreme Court justice. ›

1977

Malév Flight 203 crashes near Urziceni, killing 29 people. ›

1976

Orlando Letelier is assassinated in Washington, D.C., at the order of Augusto Pinochet. ›

1976

Seychelles joins the United Nations. ›

1972

Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos begins authoritarian rule by declaring martial law. ›

1971

Bahrain, Bhutan and Qatar join the United Nations. ›

1969

Mexicana de Aviación Flight 801, a Boeing 727-100 passenger plane, crashes during a landing attempt in Mexico City, killing 27 of the 118 occupants. ›

1965

The Gambia, Maldives and Singapore are admitted as members of the United Nations. ›

1964

Malta gains independence from the United Kingdom, but remains in the Commonwealth. ›

1964

The North American XB-70 Valkyrie, the world's fastest bomber, makes its maiden flight from Palmdale, California. ›

1957

Pamir, a four-masted barque, was shipwrecked and sank off the Azores during Hurricane Carrie. ›

1953

Lieutenant No Kum-sok, a North Korean pilot, defects to South Korea with his jet fighter. ›

1942

The Holocaust in Ukraine: On the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, Nazis send over 1,000 Jews of Pidhaitsi to Bełżec extermination camp. ›

1942

The Holocaust in Ukraine: In Dunaivtsi, Ukraine, Nazis murder 2,588 Jews. ›

1942

The Holocaust in Poland: At the end of Yom Kippur, Germans order Jews to permanently move from Konstantynów to Biała Podlaska. ›

1942

The Boeing B-29 Superfortress makes its maiden flight. ›

1939

Romanian prime minister Armand Călinescu is assassinated by the Iron Guard. ›

1938

The Great Hurricane of 1938 makes landfall on Long Island in New York. The death toll is estimated at 500–700 people. ›

1937

J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit is published for the first time. (September 22 is celebrated by some fans as Hobbit Day, however.) ›

1934

A large typhoon hits western Honshū, Japan, killing more than 3,000 people. ›

1933

Salvador Lutteroth establishes Mexican professional wrestling. ›

1921

A storage silo in Oppau, Germany, explodes, killing 500–600 people. ›

1898

Empress Dowager Cixi seizes power and ends the Hundred Days' Reform in China. ›

1896

Anglo-Egyptian conquest of Sudan: British forces under the command of Horatio Kitchener take Dongola. ›

1862

Taiping Rebellion: The Ever Victorious Army defeats Taiping forces at the Battle of Cixi. ›

1860

Second Opium War: An Anglo-French force defeats Chinese troops at the Battle of Palikao. ›

1843

The crew of schooner Ancud, led by John Williams Wilson, takes possession of the Strait of Magellan on behalf of the Chilean government. ›

1814

War of 1812: British forces abandon their unsuccessful siege of Fort Erie. ›

1809

British Secretary of War Lord Castlereagh and Foreign Secretary George Canning meet in a duel on Putney Heath, with Castlereagh wounding Canning in the thigh. ›

1792

French Revolution: The National Convention abolishes the monarchy. ›

1780

American Revolutionary War: Benedict Arnold gives the British the plans to West Point. ›

1776

Part of New York City is burned shortly after being occupied by British forces. ›

1745

A British government army led by Sir John Cope is defeated in less than 15 minutes by the Jacobite forces of Prince Charles Edward Stuart. ›

1435

The Treaty of Arras is promulgated, causing Burgundy to switch sides in the Hundred Years' War. ›

1217

Livonian Crusade: The Estonian leader Lembitu and Livonian leader Caupo of Turaida are killed in the Battle of St. Matthew's Day. ›

1170

Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland: The Kingdom of Dublin falls to Anglo-Norman invaders. ›

455

Emperor Avitus enters Italy with a Gallic army and consolidates his power. ›