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Oct 9

1635

Roger Williams banished for “newe & dangerous opinions”

On this day in 1635, the Massachusetts Bay Colony banished a dangerous, radical thinker. Among his crimes? Preaching an idea that would become enshrined in the U.S. Constitution more than 150 years later. Roger Williams believed that the government shouldn’t weigh in on matters of religion. While his neighbors disagreed, the Founding Fathers did not. Williams’s arguments were later immortalized in the First Amendment.

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First Afghan presidential elections

On this day in 2004, for the first time in Afghanistan’s history, voters went to the polls to choose a president, selecting Hamid Karzai, who had served as the interim president after the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001.

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Charles X

Charles X, born this day in 1757, was the king of France (1824–30) whose reign dramatized the Bourbons’ failure to reconcile monarchy by divine right with the spirit of democracy prevalent after the French Revolution.

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2024

Ratan Tata, a former chairman of Tata Group who was widely admired for his personal ethics and philanthropic activities, died in Mumbai.

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2012

A Taliban gunman shot 15-year-old Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai, a vocal opponent of the ultraconservative group’s prohibition on the education of girls. Despite being struck in the head, she survived the assassination attempt, and she went on to win a Nobel Prize in 2014. [Read about six teenagers, including Malala Yousafzai, who made history.]

Cpl. Alex Klein—Army/U.S. Department of Defense

2001

The United Service Organizations (USO) appointed entertainer Wayne Newton as its official celebrity front man, replacing Bob Hope, who had served in that capacity since the early 1950s.

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1997

Italian playwright Dario Fo was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. [Test your knowledge of Nobel laureates in literature.]

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1990

David Souter took his seat as a U.S. Supreme Court associate justice. [Why are there nine justices on the U.S. Supreme Court?]

Archiv für Kunst und Geschichte, Berlin

1982

Anna Freud, psychoanalyst, author, and daughter of Sigmund Freud, died in London.

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1936

The Boulder Dam (later called Hoover Dam), on the Arizona-Nevada border, began generating electricity for such areas as Los Angeles, which celebrated with a parade. [Watch an overview of Hoover Dam and Lake Mead.]

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1888

Built between 1848 and 1884 and dedicated in 1885, the Washington Monument—a marble-faced granite obelisk that honours the first U.S. president, George Washington—opened to the public in Washington, D.C. [Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about U.S. presidents.]

Image: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

1514

Mary Tudor, sister of King Henry VIII of England, became the third wife of King Louis XII of France. [Take our quiz about kings and emperors.]

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Oct 8

1871

The day Chicago burned

On this day in 1871, the Great Chicago Fire erupted on the city’s Southwest Side. It started in a barn owned by Patrick and Catherine O’Leary, but there’s no truth to the popular belief that it was caused by a cow knocking over a lantern. What actually happened remains unknown, though some believe it was a milk thief. Nearly 300 people died, more than 17,000 buildings burned, and 1 in 3 Chicagoans were left homeless. Mrs. O’Leary faced particular scorn, and it wasn’t until 1997 that she—and her cow—were officially exonerated.

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Prints and Photographs Division/Library of Congress Washington DC (LC-USZ62-14092); Photo Illustration Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

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Kashmir struck by earthquake

On this day in 2005, an earthquake struck the Pakistan-administered portion of the Kashmir region and the North-West Frontier Province (called Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after 2010) of Pakistan. One of the most destructive earthquakes of contemporary times, it killed as many as 88,000 people.

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Jesse Jackson

Jesse Jackson, civil rights leader and the first African American man to make a serious bid for the U.S. presidency (in the Democratic Party’s nomination races in 1983–84, 1987–88), was born this day in 1941.

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2013

I Am Malala, a memoir by Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai, was published. In 2014 she became the youngest person to win a Nobel Prize.

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2004

American domestic lifestyle innovator Martha Stewart reported to a federal prison in West Virginia to begin her five-month sentence for insider trading.

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2001

In Italy’s worst civilian air disaster in nearly 30 years, a Cessna took a wrong turn on a taxiway at Linate Airport in Milan and crashed into an SAS airliner about to take off, which exploded, killing 118 people, including 4 airport workers. [Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about aircraft and air travel.]

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1982

The Polish legislature dissolved the trade union Solidarity, which subsequently became an underground organization and played a key role in ending communist rule in Poland, with its various leaders, notably Lech Wałęsa, later holding important government posts. [How much do you know about European history?]

© Karsh—Rapho/Photo Researchers

1967

British politician Clement Attlee—who, while serving as prime minister of the United Kingdom (1945–51), presided over the establishment of a welfare state in his country and the granting of independence to India—died at age 84. [Take our quiz about notable prime ministers.]

Courtesy of the OAS (Columbus Memorial Library)

1895

Argentine politician Juan Perón, who served as president of Argentina (1946–52, 1952–55, and 1973–74) and founded and led the Peronist movement, was born. [Take our quiz about South America.]

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1856

In Canton (Guangzhou), Chinese officials boarded a British-registered ship, the Arrow, arrested several Chinese crew members (who were later released), and allegedly lowered the British flag; the event contributed to the start of the second Opium War, in which Britain and France battled China. [Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about China.]

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Fletcher Fund, 1941 (41.67), www.metmuseum.org

1809

Klemens von Metternich was named foreign minister of Austria; he revived the country’s standing in European affairs, and his organization of the Congress of Vienna maintained

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Oct 7

1916

The most lopsided score in college football

On this day in 1916, Georgia Tech demolished Cumberland College, 222–0, in the biggest blowout in college football history. And it was all because of a grudge. Earlier that year Cumberland had trounced Georgia Tech in a baseball game, 22–0. Georgia Tech’s coach, John Heisman, believed that Cumberland had used pro players. He wanted revenge. Luckily, he was also coach of Georgia Tech’s powerhouse football team. During the grudge match, his team scored 32 touchdowns and had 978 total yards, while Cumberland made no first downs and committed 15 turnovers.

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UN’s foundations built

The Dumbarton Oaks Conference concluded in Washington, D.C., on this day in 1944. During the weeks-long conference, the United States, China, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom formulated proposals for a world organization that became the basis for the United Nations.

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Desmond Tutu

Anglican cleric Desmond Tutu, born this day in 1931, won the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1984 for his role in opposing apartheid in South Africa, and he later headed a committee investigating South African human rights abuses.

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2023

The Israel-Hamas War began when Hamas launched an attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip, killing about 1,200 people and taking more than 240 hostages. [Explore the history behind the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.]

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2022

Ales Bialiatski, the Center for Civil Liberties, and Memorial were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace, months after Russia invaded Ukraine.

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2001

Triggered by the September 11 attacks, the Afghanistan War began when U.S. and British warplanes started bombing Taliban targets. [Take our history of warfare quiz.]

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1996

Fox News Channel, a satellite and cable news network created by Roger Ailes for Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, was launched in the United States.

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1985

Four members of the Palestine Liberation Front, a faction within the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), hijacked the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro, taking 97 passengers hostage and later killing one.

Courtesy of Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

1971

The American crime thriller The French Connection, directed by William Friedkin and starring Gene Hackman, had its world premieres in New York City and Los Angeles. It won the Academy Award for best picture.

© 1959 Universal Pictures Company, Inc.

1959

The romantic comedy Pillow Talk was released nationwide in the United States; it was the first of several on-screen pairings of actors Rock Hudson and Doris Day. [Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about A-list actors.]

Stephen Danelian

1955

Cellist Yo-Yo Ma, who was known for his extraordinary technique and rich tone, was born in Paris. [Take our quiz about musical instruments.]

President of Russia, The Kremlin, Moscow

1952

Vladimir Putin, president of Russia from 1999 to 2008 and again from 2012, was born in Leningrad, Russia.

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1949

A constitution went into effect in the Soviet occupation zone of Germany that formed the country of East Germany, which existed alongside West Germany until 1990, when the two Germanys reunited. [Learn more about the most powerful man in newly created East Germany.]

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1934

Playwright, poet, novelist, and essayist Amiri Baraka, who wrote of the experiences and anger of African Americans, was born in Newark, New Jersey. [Take our quiz about famous authors.]

J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, California (84.XP.1032.10), www.getty.edu.

1870

The politician Léon Gambetta flew out of Paris on a balloon so as to escape a German siege. A prominent figure in the French government, he went on to rally new armies to fight invading German forces, though his efforts ultimately failed, and by 1871 France had lost the Franco-German War.

U.S. Signal Corps/National Archives, Washington, D.C.

1849

Short-story writer, poet, and critic Edgar Allan Poe died in Baltimore, Maryland. [How did Edgar Allan Poe die?]

Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

1826

The Granite Railway, the first chartered railroad in the United States, began service.