On this day: September 21

Events on September 21

• 454 Western Roman Emperor Valentinian III murders his general Flavius Aetius on instigation of eunuch Heraclius and senator Petronius Maximus. Wikipedia
• 1170 Norman invasion of Ireland: English and Irish forces conquered Dublin, forcing Ascall mac Ragnaill, the last Norse–Gaelic king of Dublin, into exile. Wikipedia
• 1675 Led by Antonio de Vea, a Spanish naval expedition departed El Callao, Peru, for the fjords and channels of Patagonia to find whether rival colonial powers were in the region. Wikipedia
• 1776 American Revolutionary War: The Great Fire of New York broke out during the British occupation of New York City, destroying up to 1,000 buildings. Wikipedia
• 1897 In response to a letter written by eight-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon, The New York Sun published an editorial by Francis Pharcellus Church stating, "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus". Wikipedia
• 1898 Empress Dowager Cixi seizes power and ends the Hundred Days' Reform in China. Wikipedia
• 1918 World War I: The Battle of Nazareth ended with the British Empire victorious over the Ottomans. Wikipedia
• 1934 The Muroto typhoon, the strongest in Japanese history at the time, made landfall on the mainland, killing more than 3,000 and leaving around 200,000 homeless. Wikipedia
• 1934 Chandrashekhar Agashe established the Brihan Maharashtra Sugar Syndicate Ltd., one of the oldest companies in India. Wikipedia
• 1937 J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy children's novel The Hobbit, which later served as a prelude to The Lord of the Rings, was first published. Wikipedia
• 1938 The Great New England Hurricane made landfall on Long Island, New York, killing an estimated 682 people and injuring 1,754 others. Wikipedia
• 1939 Romanian prime minister Armand Călinescu is assassinated by the Iron Guard. Wikipedia
• 1942 The Boeing B-29 Superfortress makes its maiden flight. Wikipedia
• 1964 Malta gains independence from the United Kingdom, but remains in the Commonwealth. Wikipedia
• 1965 Portugal accepted a diplomatic mission from Southern Rhodesia despite objections by Britain, which had required the colony to implement black majority rule as a condition of independence. Wikipedia
• 1965 The Gambia, Maldives and Singapore are admitted as members of the United Nations. Wikipedia
• 1968 The Soviet Union's Zond 5 landed in the Indian Ocean, becoming the first spacecraft to safely return to Earth after travelling around the Moon. Wikipedia
• 1993 Russian president Boris Yeltsin triggers a constitutional crisis when he suspends parliament and scraps the constitution. Wikipedia
• 1996 The Defense of Marriage Act was passed by the United States Congress, prohibiting federal recognition of same-sex marriage, while allowing states to adopt any marital definition of their choosing. Wikipedia
• 1999 A 7.7 Mw earthquake struck Jiji, Taiwan, killing 2,415 people, injuring more than 11,000 others and causing about NT$300 billion (US$10 billion) in damage across the island. Wikipedia
• 1999 The first chapter of Naruto, later one of the best-selling manga series, was published. Wikipedia
• 2001 Several British Muslim youths in Peterborough, England, murdered 17-year-old Ross Parker, leading to debate over whether the British media failed to cover racially motivated crimes with white victims. Wikipedia
• 2001 America: A Tribute to Heroes was broadcast by over 35 network and cable channels, raising over $200 million for the victims of the September 11 attacks. Wikipedia
• 2004 American rock band Green Day released their seventh studio album, American Idiot. Wikipedia
• 2013 Unidentified gunmen began a three-day attack on the upmarket Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya, resulting in the deaths of 67 people with at least another 175 wounded. Wikipedia
• 2019 A 5.6 Mw earthquake shakes the Albanian port of Durrës. Forty-nine people are injured in the capital, Tirana. Wikipedia

Born on September 21

• 580 Pope Vitalian (died 672) Wikipedia
• 1415 Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor (died 1493) Wikipedia
• 1452 Girolamo Savonarola, Italian priest and philosopher (died 1498) Wikipedia
• 1840 Murad V, Ottoman sultan (died 1904) Wikipedia
• 1842 Abdul Hamid II, 34th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (died 1918) Wikipedia
• 1853 Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, Dutch physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1926) Wikipedia
• 1866 H. G. Wells, English novelist, historian, and critic (died 1946) Wikipedia
• 1866 Charles Nicolle, French-Tunisian microbiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1936) Wikipedia
• 1874 Gustav Holst, English composer and educator (died 1934) Wikipedia
• 1909 Kwame Nkrumah, Ghanaian educator and politician, 1st President of Ghana (died 1972) Wikipedia
• 1926 Donald A. Glaser, American physicist and neurobiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2013) Wikipedia
• 1931 Larry Hagman, American actor, director, and producer (died 2012) Wikipedia
• 1934 Leonard Cohen, Canadian singer-songwriter and poet (died 2016) Wikipedia
• 1936 Yury Luzhkov, Russian soldier and politician, 2nd Mayor of Moscow (died 2019) Wikipedia
• 1947 Stephen King, American author and screenwriter Wikipedia
• 1950 Bill Murray, American actor, comedian, producer, and screenwriter Wikipedia
• 1951 Aslan Maskhadov, Chechen general and politician, 3rd President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (died 2005) Wikipedia
• 1954 Shinzo Abe, Japanese lawyer and politician, 90th Prime Minister of Japan (died 2022) Wikipedia
• 1957 Kevin Rudd, Australian politician and diplomat, 26th Prime Minister of Australia Wikipedia
• 1967 Suman Pokhrel, Nepali poet, lyricist and playwright Wikipedia
• 1980 Kareena Kapoor, Indian actress Wikipedia
• 1999 Alexander Isak, Eritrean-Swedish professional footballer Wikipedia

Died on September 21

• 19 BC Virgil, Roman poet (born 70 BC) Wikipedia
• 454 Flavius Aetius, Roman general and politician (born 396) Wikipedia
• 687 Pope Conon (born 630) Wikipedia
• 1327 Edward II of England (born 1284) Wikipedia
• 1558 Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (born 1500) Wikipedia
• 1576 Gerolamo Cardano, Italian mathematician, physician, and astrologer (born 1501) Wikipedia
• 1709 Ivan Mazepa, Ukrainian statesman, Hetman of Zaporizhian Host (born 1639) Wikipedia
• 1832 Walter Scott, Scottish novelist, playwright, and poet (born 1771) Wikipedia
• 1860 Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher and author (born 1788) Wikipedia
• 1957 Haakon VII of Norway (born 1872) Wikipedia
• 1971 Bernardo Houssay, Argentinian physiologist and physician, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1887) Wikipedia
• 1998 Florence Griffith Joyner, American sprinter (born 1959) Wikipedia
• 2018 Trần Đại Quang, President of Vietnam (born 1956) Wikipedia
• 2020 Arthur Ashkin, American scientist and Nobel laureate (born 1922) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Autumnal equinox observances in the Northern Hemisphere, vernal equinox observances in the Southern Hemisphere (see September 22): Spring Day (Argentina) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Cadoc Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Ephigenia of Ethiopia Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Laurent-Joseph-Marius Imbert (one of the Korean Martyrs) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Matthew the Evangelist (Western Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Maura of Troyes Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Nativity of the Theotokos (Eastern Orthodox Church, Julian calendar) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: September 21 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Arbor Day (Brazil) Wikipedia
• Commemoration of the Declaration of Martial Law (Philippines) Wikipedia
• Customs Service Day (Poland) Wikipedia
• Founder's Day and National Volunteer Day (Ghana) Wikipedia
• Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Armenia from the Soviet Union in 1991. Wikipedia
• Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Belize from the United Kingdom in 1981. Wikipedia
• Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Malta from the United Kingdom in 1964. Wikipedia
• International Day of Peace (International) Wikipedia
• Student's Day (Bolivia) Wikipedia
• Victory over the Golden Horde in the Battle of Kulikovo (Russia) Wikipedia

Sources

• Wikipedia — “September 21” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/September 21” — the anniversaries editors chose for the date and the article each one is about (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikidata — in how many language editions each entry's own article exists, used to fill the lists (CC0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• vacanza/holidays (open-source holiday rules, MIT licence) — holiday rules used to build the lists (checked 2026-10-15)

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “September 21” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-15 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. Every anniversary that Wikipedia's editors selected for September 21 stays on the list; the remaining places, up to 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths, go to the entries whose own article — about the event itself, or else the person or thing it is about — appears in the most language editions (counted from Wikidata); an article about a person or thing, which covers far more than one day, counts half. An entry with no article of its own counts, also at half, by the least covered article it links, and one that links only places counts for nothing. Each list runs by year, and the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures, audio and video.