On this day: September 6

Events on September 6

• 1492 Christopher Columbus set sail from San Sebastián de La Gomera in the Canary Islands on his first voyage across the Atlantic, discovering the Americas. Wikipedia
• 1492 Christopher Columbus sails from La Gomera in the Canary Islands, his final port of call before crossing the Atlantic Ocean for the first time. Wikipedia
• 1522 The Victoria returns to Sanlúcar de Barrameda in Spain, the only surviving ship of Ferdinand Magellan's expedition and the first known ship to circumnavigate the world. Wikipedia
• 1566 Suleiman the Magnificent, the longest-reigning sultan of the Ottoman Empire, died at the age of 71. Wikipedia
• 1620 The Pilgrim Fathers sail from Plymouth, England, on the Mayflower to settle in North America. (Old Style date; September 16 per New Style date.) Wikipedia
• 1863 American Civil War: Confederate forces evacuate Battery Wagner and Morris Island in South Carolina. Wikipedia
• 1885 Eastern Rumelia declares its union with Bulgaria, thus accomplishing Bulgarian unification. Wikipedia
• 1914 World War I: The First Battle of the Marne, which would halt the Imperial German Army's advance into France, begins. Wikipedia
• 1939 World War II: The British Royal Air Force suffers its first fighter pilot casualty of the Second World War at the Battle of Barking Creek as a result of friendly fire. Wikipedia
• 1943 Pennsylvania Railroad's premier train derails at Frankford Junction in Philadelphia, killing 79 people and injuring 117 others. Wikipedia
• 1944 World War II: Soviet forces captured the city of Tartu on their way to re-establishing their rule in Estonia. Wikipedia
• 1955 Istanbul's Greek, Jewish, and Armenian minorities are the target of a government-sponsored pogrom; dozens are killed in ensuing riots. Wikipedia
• 1966 Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd, the architect of apartheid, is stabbed to death in Cape Town, South Africa during a parliamentary meeting. Wikipedia
• 1968 Swaziland becomes independent. Wikipedia
• 1971 Paninternational Flight 112 crashes on the Bundesautobahn 7 highway near Hamburg Airport, in Hamburg, Germany, killing 22. Wikipedia
• 1972 Munich massacre: Nine Israeli athletes die (along with a German policeman) at the hands of the Palestinian "Black September" terrorist group after being taken hostage at the Munich Olympic Games. Two other Israeli athletes were slain in the initial attack the previous day. Wikipedia
• 1976 Cold War: Soviet Air Defence Forces pilot Viktor Belenko lands a Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 jet fighter at Hakodate in Japan and requests political asylum in the United States; his request is granted. Wikipedia
• 1983 The Soviet Union admits to shooting down Korean Air Lines Flight 007, stating that its operatives did not know that it was a civilian aircraft when it reportedly violated Soviet airspace. Wikipedia
• 1985 Midwest Express Airlines Flight 105 crashes near Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, killing all 31 people on board. Wikipedia
• 1986 In Istanbul, two terrorists from Abu Nidal's organization kill 22 and wound six congregants inside the Neve Shalom Synagogue during Shabbat services. Wikipedia
• 1991 The Soviet Union recognizes the independence of the Baltic states Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Wikipedia
• 1991 The Russian parliament approves the name change of Leningrad back to Saint Petersburg. The change is effective October 1. Wikipedia
• 1997 The funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales takes place in London. Well over a million people line the streets and 21⁄2 billion watch around the world on television. Wikipedia
• 2007 Israel executes the air strike Operation Orchard to destroy a nuclear reactor in Syria. Wikipedia
• 2012 Sixty-one people die after a fishing boat capsizes off the İzmir Province coast of Turkey, near the Greek Aegean islands. Wikipedia
• 2022 Boris Johnson resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and is replaced by Liz Truss. Their meetings with Queen Elizabeth II at Balmoral Castle were the Queen's final official duties before her death two days later. Wikipedia

Born on September 6

• 1666 Ivan V of Russia, Russian tsar (died 1696) Wikipedia
• 1729 Moses Mendelssohn, German philosopher and theologian (died 1786) Wikipedia
• 1757 Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, French general (died 1834) Wikipedia
• 1766 John Dalton, English chemist, meteorologist, and physicist (died 1844) Wikipedia
• 1808 Emir Abdelkader, Algerian religious and military leader (died 1883) Wikipedia
• 1860 Jane Addams, American sociologist and author, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1935) Wikipedia
• 1876 John Macleod, Scottish physician and physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1935) Wikipedia
• 1879 Joseph Wirth, German educator and politician, Chancellor of Germany (died 1956) Wikipedia
• 1892 Edward Victor Appleton, English-Scottish physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1965) Wikipedia
• 1906 Luis Federico Leloir, French-Argentine physician and biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1987) Wikipedia
• 1911 Charles Deutsch, French aerodynamics engineer and automobile maker, co-founder of the brand "DB (died 1980) Wikipedia
• 1921 Norman Joseph Woodland, American inventor, co-created the bar code (died 2012) Wikipedia
• 1939 Susumu Tonegawa, Japanese biologist and immunologist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2026) Wikipedia
• 1943 Richard J. Roberts, English biochemist and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate Wikipedia
• 1943 Roger Waters, English singer-songwriter and bass player Wikipedia
• 1957 José Sócrates, Portuguese engineer and politician, 119th Prime Minister of Portugal Wikipedia
• 1963 Geert Wilders, Dutch lawyer and politician Wikipedia
• 1967 Milan Lukić, Bosnian Serb convicted of war crimes by the ICTY Wikipedia
• 1971 Dolores O'Riordan, Irish singer-songwriter (died 2018) Wikipedia
• 1972 Idris Elba, English actor Wikipedia
• 1976 Naomie Harris, English actress Wikipedia
• 1981 Yuki Abe, Japanese footballer Wikipedia

Died on September 6

• 952 Suzaku, emperor of Japan (born 923) Wikipedia
• 972 John XIII, pope of the Catholic Church (born 930) Wikipedia
• 1553 Juan de Homedes y Coscon, 47th Grandmaster of the Knights Hospitaller (born c.1477) Wikipedia
• 1566 Suleiman the Magnificent, Ottoman sultan (born 1494) Wikipedia
• 1683 Jean-Baptiste Colbert, French economist and politician, French Controller-General of Finances (born 1619) Wikipedia
• 1907 Sully Prudhomme, French poet and critic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1839) Wikipedia
• 1966 Margaret Sanger, American nurse, educator, and activist (born 1879) Wikipedia
• 1978 Adolf Dassler, German cobbler and entrepreneur, founded Adidas (born 1900) Wikipedia
• 1998 Akira Kurosawa, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1910) Wikipedia
• 2007 Luciano Pavarotti, Italian tenor (born 1935) Wikipedia
• 2011 Michael S. Hart, American author, founded Project Gutenberg (born 1947) Wikipedia
• 2018 Burt Reynolds, American actor, director and producer (born 1936) Wikipedia
• 2019 Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwean politician, 2nd President of Zimbabwe (born 1924) Wikipedia
• 2021 Jean-Paul Belmondo, French actor (born 1933) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast days: Begga Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Chagnoald Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Faustus, Abibus and Dionysius of Alexandria Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Gondulphus of Metz Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Blessed Jan Franciszek Czartoryski Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Magnus of Füssen Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Onesiphorus Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Zechariah (Hebrew prophet) (Catholic church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: September 6 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• The earliest date on which the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance is performed Wikipedia
• Armed Forces Day (São Tomé and Príncipe) Wikipedia
• Defence Day or Army Day (Pakistan) Wikipedia
• Flag Day (Bonaire) Wikipedia
• Independence Day (Swaziland), celebrates the independence of Eswatini from the United Kingdom in 1968 Wikipedia
• Unification Day (Bulgaria) Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “September 6” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-09 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. We picked the 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths with the widest coverage across Wikipedia's language editions (counted from Wikidata) and sorted them by year; the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures.