September 7
Events
Pre-1600
- 878 - Louis the Stammerer is crowned as king of West Francia by Pope John VIII.
- 1159 - Cardinal Rolando Bandinelli is elected Pope Alexander III, prompting the election of Cardinal Octaviano Monticelli as Antipope Victor IV the same day.
- 1191 - Third Crusade: Battle of Arsuf: Richard I of England defeats Saladin at Arsuf.
- 1228 - Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II lands in Acre, Israel, and starts the Sixth Crusade, which results in a peaceful restoration of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
- 1303 - Guillaume de Nogaret takes Pope Boniface VIII prisoner on behalf of Philip IV of France.
- 1571 - Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, is arrested for his role in the Ridolfi plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I of England and replace her with Mary, Queen of Scots.
1601–1900
- 1620 - The town of Kokkola is founded by King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden.
- 1625 - The Treaty of Southampton makes an alliance between England and the Dutch Republic against Spain.
- 1652 - Around 15,000 Han farmers and militia rebel against Dutch rule on Taiwan.
- 1695 - Henry Every perpetrates one of the most profitable pirate raids in history with the capture of the Grand Mughal ship Ganj-i-Sawai. In response, Emperor Aurangzeb threatens to end all English trading in India.
- 1706 - War of the Spanish Succession: Siege of Turin ends, leading to the withdrawal of French forces from North Italy.
- 1764 - Election of Stanisław August Poniatowski as the last ruler of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
- 1776 - According to American colonial reports, Ezra Lee makes the world's first submarine attack in the Turtle, attempting to attach a time bomb to the hull of HMS Eagle in New York Harbor.
- 1778 - American Revolutionary War: France invades Dominica in the British West Indies, before Britain is even aware of France's involvement in the war.
- 1812 - French invasion of Russia: The Battle of Borodino, the bloodiest battle of the Napoleonic Wars, is fought near Moscow and results in a French victory.
- 1818 - Carl III of Sweden–Norway is crowned king of Norway, in Trondheim.
- 1822 - Dom Pedro I declares Brazil independent from Portugal on the shores of the Ipiranga Brook in São Paulo.
- 1856 - The Saimaa Canal is inaugurated.
- 1857 - Mountain Meadows massacre: Mormon settlers slaughter most members of a peaceful emigrant wagon train.
- 1860 - Unification of Italy: Giuseppe Garibaldi enters Naples.
- 1863 - American Civil War: Union troops under Quincy A. Gillmore capture Fort Wagner in Morris Island after a seven-week siege.
- 1864 - American Civil War: Atlanta is evacuated on orders of Union General William Tecumseh Sherman.
- 1876 - In Northfield, Minnesota, Jesse James and the James–Younger Gang attempt to rob the town's bank but are driven off by armed citizens.
1901–present
- 1901 - The Boxer Rebellion in Qing dynasty officially ends with the signing of the Boxer Protocol.
- 1903 - The Ottoman Empire launches a counter-offensive against the Strandzha Commune, which dissolves.
- 1906 - Alberto Santos-Dumont flies his 14-bis aircraft at Bagatelle, France successfully for the first time.
- 1907 - Cunard Line's sets sail on her maiden voyage from Liverpool, England, to New York City.
- 1909 - Eugène Lefebvre crashes a new French-built Wright biplane during a test flight at Port-Aviation at Viry-Châtillon, south of Paris, becoming the first aviator in the world to lose his life piloting a powered heavier-than-air craft.
- 1911 - French poet Guillaume Apollinaire is arrested and put in jail on suspicion of stealing the Mona Lisa from the Louvre museum.
- 1916 - US federal employees win the right to Workers' compensation by Federal Employers Liability Act
- 1920 - Two newly purchased Savoia flying boats crash in the Swiss Alps en route to Finland where they were to serve with the Finnish Air Force, killing both crews.
- 1921 - In Atlantic City, New Jersey, the first Miss America Pageant, a two-day event, is held.
- 1921 - The Legion of Mary, the largest apostolic organization of lay people in the Catholic Church, is founded in Dublin, Ireland.
- 1923 - The International Criminal Police Organization is formed.
- 1927 - The first fully electronic television system is achieved by Philo Farnsworth.
- 1929 - Steamer capsizes and sinks on Lake Näsijärvi near Tampere in Finland. One hundred thirty-six lives are lost.
- 1932 - The Battle of Boquerón, the first major battle of the Chaco War, commences.
- 1936 - The last thylacine, a carnivorous marsupial, dies alone in its cage at the Hobart Zoo in Tasmania.
- 1940 - Romania returns Southern Dobruja to Bulgaria under the Treaty of Craiova.
- 1940 - World War II: The German Luftwaffe begins the Blitz, bombing London and other British cities for over 50 consecutive nights.
- 1942 - World War II: Japanese marines are forced to withdraw during the Battle of Milne Bay.
- 1943 - A fire at the Gulf Hotel in Houston kills 55 people.
- 1943 - World War II: The German 17th Army begins its evacuation of the Kuban bridgehead in southern Russia and moves across the Strait of Kerch to the Crimea.
- 1945 - World War II: Japanese forces on Wake Island, which they had held since December 1941, surrender to U.S. Marines.
- 1945 - The Berlin Victory Parade of 1945 is held.
- 1953 - Nikita Khrushchev is elected first secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
- 1963 - The Pro Football Hall of Fame opens in Canton, Ohio with 17 charter members.
- 1965 - During an Indo-Pakistani War, China announces that it will reinforce its troops on the Indian border.
- 1965 - Vietnam War: In a follow-up to August's Operation Starlite, United States Marines and South Vietnamese forces initiate Operation Piranha on the Batangan Peninsula.
- 1970 - Fighting begins between Arab guerrillas and government forces in Jordan.
- 1970 - Vietnam Television was established.
- 1977 - The Torrijos–Carter Treaties between Panama and the United States on the status of the Panama Canal are signed. The United States agrees to transfer control of the canal to Panama at the end of the 20th century.
- 1977 - The 300-metre-tall CKVR-DT transmission tower in Barrie, Ontario, Canada, is hit by a light aircraft in a fog, causing it to collapse. All aboard the aircraft are killed.
- 1978 - While walking across Waterloo Bridge in London, Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov is assassinated by Bulgarian secret police agent Francesco Gullino by means of a ricin pellet fired from a specially designed umbrella.
- 1979 - The Chrysler Corporation asks the United States government for US$1.5 billion to avoid bankruptcy.
- 1984 - An explosion on board a Maltese patrol boat disposing of illegal fireworks at sea off Gozo kills seven soldiers and policemen.
- 1986 - Desmond Tutu becomes the first black man to lead the Anglican Diocese of Cape Town.
- 1986 - Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet survives an assassination attempt by the FPMR; five of Pinochet's bodyguards are killed.
- 1995 - Space Shuttle Endeavour is launched on STS-69, the second flight of the Wake Shield Facility.
- 1997 - Maiden flight of the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor.
- 1999 - The 6.0 Athens earthquake affected the area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX, killing 143, injuring 800–1,600, and leaving 50,000 homeless.
- 2005 - Egypt holds its first-ever multi-party presidential election.
- 2008 - The United States government takes control of the two largest mortgage financing companies in the US, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
- 2010 - A Chinese fishing trawler collides with two Japanese Coast Guard patrol boats in disputed waters near the Senkaku Islands.
- 2011 - The Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash in Russia kills 43 people, including nearly the entire roster of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl Kontinental Hockey League team.
- 2012 - Canada officially cuts diplomatic ties with Iran by closing its embassy in Tehran and orders the expulsion of Iranian diplomats from Ottawa, over nuclear plans and purported human rights abuses.
- 2017 - The 8.2 2017 Chiapas earthquake strikes southern Mexico, killing at least 60 people.
- 2019 - Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov and 66 others are released in a prisoner exchange between Ukraine and Russia.
- 2021 - Bitcoin becomes legal tender in El Salvador.
- 2021 - The National Unity Government of Myanmar declares a people's defensive war against the military junta during the Myanmar civil war.
Births
Pre-1600
- 923 - Suzaku, emperor of Japan
- 1395 - Reginald West, 6th Baron De La Warr, English politician
- 1438 - Louis II, Landgrave of Lower Hesse
- 1448 - Henry, Count of Württemberg-Montbéliard
- 1500 - Sebastian Newdigate, Carthusian monk and martyr
- 1524 - Thomas Erastus, Swiss physician and theologian
- 1533 - Elizabeth I of England
1601–1900
- 1629 - Sir John Perceval, 1st Baronet, Irish nobleman
- 1635 - Paul I, Prince Esterházy, Hungarian prince
- 1641 - Tokugawa Ietsuna, Japanese shōgun
- 1650 - Juan Manuel María de la Aurora, 8th duke of Escalona
- 1683 - Maria Anna of Austria
- 1694 - Johan Ludvig Holstein-Ledreborg, Danish Minister of State
- 1705 - Matthäus Günther, German painter
- 1707 - Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, French mathematician, cosmologist, and author
- 1726 - François-André Danican Philidor, French chess player and composer
- 1740 - Johan Tobias Sergel, Swedish sculptor and illustrator
- 1777 - Heinrich Stölzel, German horn player and composer
- 1791 - Giuseppe Gioachino Belli, Italian poet and author
- 1795 - John William Polidori, English physician and author
- 1801 - Sarel Cilliers, South African preacher and activist
- 1803 - William Knibb, English Baptist minister and Jamaican missionary
- 1807 - Henry Sewell, English lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of New Zealand
- 1810 - Hermann Heinrich Gossen, Prussian economist and academic
- 1813 - Emil Korytko, Polish activist and translator
- 1815 - John McDouall Stuart, Scottish explorer and surveyor
- 1818 - Thomas Talbot, American businessman and politician, 31st Governor of Massachusetts
- 1819 - Thomas A. Hendricks, American lawyer and politician, 21st Vice President of the United States
- 1829 - August Kekulé, German chemist and academic
- 1831 - Alexandre Falguière, French sculptor and painter
- 1836 - Henry Campbell-Bannerman, Scottish merchant and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- 1836 - August Toepler, German physicist and academic
- 1842 - Johannes Zukertort, Polish-English chess player, linguist, and journalist
- 1851 - Edward Asahel Birge, American zoologist and academic
- 1855 - William Friese-Greene, English photographer, director, and cinematographer
- 1860 - Grandma Moses, American painter
- 1862 - Edgar Speyer, American-English financier and philanthropist
- 1866 - Tristan Bernard, French author and playwright
- 1867 - Albert Bassermann, German-Swiss actor
- 1867 - J. P. Morgan Jr., American banker and philanthropist
- 1869 - Ben Viljoen, South African general
- 1870 - Aleksandr Kuprin, Russian pilot, explorer, and author
- 1871 - George Hirst, English cricketer and coach
- 1874 - Samuel Rocke, Australian politician who served as an independent member of the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia
- 1875 - Edward Francis Hutton, American businessman and financier, co-founded E. F. Hutton & Co.
- 1876 - Francesco Buhagiar, Maltese politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Malta
- 1876 - C. J. Dennis, Australian poet and author
- 1879 – Francisco José of Bragança, exiled member of the Miguelist branch of the House of Bragança and officer in the Austro-Hungarian army
- 1883 - Theophrastos Sakellaridis, Greek composer and conductor
- 1885 - Elinor Wylie, American author and poet
- 1887 - Edith Sitwell, English poet and critic
- 1892 - Eric Harrison, Australian soldier and politician, 27th Australian Minister for Defence
- 1892 - Oscar O'Brien, Canadian priest, pianist, and composer
- 1893 - Leslie Hore-Belisha, English politician, Secretary of State for War
- 1894 - Vic Richardson, Australian cricketer, footballer, and sportscaster
- 1894 - George Waggner, American actor, director, and producer
- 1895 - Jacques Vaché, French author and poet
- 1897 - Al Sherman, Tin Pan Alley era songwriter
- 1900 - Taylor Caldwell, English-American author
- 1900 - Giuseppe Zangara, Italian-American assassin of Anton Cermak