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
• 1566 Suleiman the Magnificent, the longest-reigning sultan of the Ottoman Empire, died at the age of 71. Wikipedia
• 1634 Thirty Years' War: In the Battle of Nördlingen, the Catholic Imperial army defeated Swedish and German Protestant forces. Wikipedia
• 1781 American Revolutionary War: General Benedict Arnold led British forces to victory at the Battle of Groton Heights. Wikipedia
• 1803 British scientist John Dalton begins using symbols to represent the atoms of different elements. Wikipedia
• 1863 General John S. Marmaduke fatally wounded his Confederate Army colleague Lucius M. Walker in a formal duel in Arkansas. Wikipedia
• 1901 U.S. president William McKinley was fatally shot by anarchist Leon Czolgosz at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, and died eight days later. Wikipedia
• 1914 World War I: The First Battle of the Marne, which would halt the Imperial German Army's advance into France, begins. Wikipedia
• 1916 The first self-service grocery store, Piggly Wiggly, was founded in Memphis, Tennessee, U.S. Wikipedia
• 1930 Argentine president Hipólito Yrigoyen was deposed in a military coup by José Félix Uriburu. Wikipedia
• 1944 World War II: Soviet forces captured the city of Tartu on their way to re-establishing their rule in Estonia. Wikipedia
• 1952 A prototype aircraft crashed at the Farnborough Airshow in Hampshire, England, killing the pilot and test observer on board, and 29 spectators. Wikipedia
• 1963 The Kennedy administration sent Victor H. Krulak and Joseph Mendenhall on a mission to assess the progress of the Vietnam War. Wikipedia
• 1965 India retaliates following Pakistan's Operation Grand Slam which results in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 that ends in a stalemate followed by the signing of the Tashkent Declaration. Wikipedia
• 1970 Black September: The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine hijacked four airliners, landing two at Dawson's Field in Jordan and one in Cairo, while the last hijacking attempt was foiled near London. Wikipedia
• 1976 Soviet pilot Viktor Belenko landed his MiG-25 in Hakodate, Japan, declaring his intention to defect to the West. 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
• 1991 The Soviet Union recognizes the independence of the Baltic states Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Wikipedia
• 1995 Cal Ripken Jr. played his 2,131st consecutive Major League Baseball game, breaking the 56-year-old record set by Lou Gehrig. Wikipedia
• 1997 An estimated 2.5 billion people worldwide watched the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, on television. Wikipedia
• 1999 The Parliament of Singapore relocated from the Old Parliament House to its current meeting place. Wikipedia
• 2000 The Los Angeles Dodgers hosted the first Pride Night in Major League Baseball history. Wikipedia
• 2017 Hurricane Irma reached peak intensity near the Caribbean islands of Barbuda, Saint Martin, and Virgin Gorda. Wikipedia
• 2018 The Supreme Court of India invalidated part of Section 377 of the Penal Code, thus legalising homosexuality in India. Wikipedia
• 2018 Brazilian presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro survives a stabbing at a campaign rally in Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais. Wikipedia
• 2022 Liz Truss succeeded Boris Johnson as prime minister following the July 2022 United Kingdom government crisis. 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
• 1869 Felix Salten, Austrian-Swiss author and critic (died 1945) 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
• 1923 Peter II of Yugoslavia (died 1970) Wikipedia
• 1939 Susumu Tonegawa, Japanese biologist and immunologist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2026) 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
• 1971 Dolores O'Riordan, Irish singer-songwriter (died 2018) Wikipedia
• 1972 Idris Elba, English actor Wikipedia
• 1976 Naomie Harris, English actress Wikipedia
• 1978 Homare Sawa, Japanese footballer Wikipedia
• 1980 Joseph Yobo, Nigerian footballer Wikipedia
• 1981 Yuki Abe, Japanese footballer Wikipedia

Died on September 6

• 972 John XIII, pope of the Catholic Church (born 930) 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
• 1950 Olaf Stapledon, English philosopher and author (born 1886) Wikipedia
• 1966 Margaret Sanger, American nurse, educator, and activist (born 1879) Wikipedia
• 1966 Hendrik Verwoerd, Dutch-South African journalist and politician, 7th Prime Minister of South Africa (born 1901) 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
• 2017 Kate Millett, American feminist author and activist (born 1934) 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

Sources

• Wikipedia — “September 6” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/September 6” — 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 6” 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 6 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.