September 15 facts for kids

September 15 is the 258th day of the year (259th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 107 days remain until the end of the year.

September 15 is a special day with many important events throughout history. From ancient battles to modern discoveries, many famous people were born or passed away on this day. It's also a day for various celebrations and observances around the world. Let's explore some of the interesting things that have happened on September 15!

Historical Moments on September 15

Events Before 1600

• 994 – A big victory for the Fatimid army against the Byzantine Empire happened at the Battle of the Orontes.
• 1530 – A special portrait of Saint Dominic in Soriano appeared in Soriano Calabro, Italy. The Catholic Church used to celebrate this day.
• 1556 – Former Holy Roman Emperor Charles V returned to Spain from Vlissingen.

Events from 1601 to 1900

• 1762 – During the Seven Years' War, the Battle of Signal Hill took place.
• 1776 – In the American Revolutionary War, British forces landed at Kip's Bay as part of the New York Campaign.
• 1789 – The United States "Department of Foreign Affairs" was renamed the Department of State. It was also given new jobs within the country.
• 1794 – Arthur Wellesley, who later became the Duke of Wellington, fought in his first battle at Battle of Boxtel. This was during the Flanders Campaign.
• 1795 – Britain took control of the Dutch Cape Colony in southern Africa. They did this to stop the Batavian Republic from using it.
• 1812 – Napoleon's large army, the Grande Armée, reached the Kremlin in Moscow. This was during their difficult attempt to invade Russia.
• 1821 – The Captaincy General of Guatemala officially declared its independence from Spain.
• 1830 – The Liverpool to Manchester railway line opened. Sadly, William Huskisson, a British politician, became the first person widely reported to die in a railway accident. He was hit by the train Rocket.
• 1835 – The ship HMS Beagle, with Charles Darwin on board, arrived at the Galápagos Islands. They landed on Chatham or San Cristobal.
• 1862 – In the American Civil War, Confederate soldiers captured Harpers Ferry, Virginia.
• 1873 – After the Franco-Prussian War, the last Imperial German Army troops left France. This happened after France finished paying its war costs.
• 1894 – During the First Sino-Japanese War, Japan defeated Qing dynasty China in the Battle of Pyongyang.

Events from 1901 to Today

• 1915 – Chen Duxiu started the New Youth magazine in Shanghai. This was part of the New Culture Movement.
• 1916 – In World War I, tanks were used for the very first time in a battle at the Battle of the Somme.
• 1918 – World War I: Allied troops broke through the Bulgarian defenses on the Macedonian front.
• 1935 – Nazi Germany adopted a new national flag with the swastika symbol.
• 1940 – World War II: This day was the peak of the Battle of Britain. The Luftwaffe (German air force) launched its biggest attack of the whole campaign.
• 1942 – World War II: The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Wasp was sunk by Japanese torpedoes near Guadalcanal.
• 1944 – Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill met in Quebec for the Second Quebec Conference. They discussed war plans.
• 1944 – The Battle of Peleliu began. The United States Marine Corps' 1st Marine Division and the United States Army's 81st Infantry Division landed on beaches under heavy fire from Japanese forces.
• 1945 – A hurricane hit southern Florida and the Bahamas. It destroyed many airplanes and blimps at Naval Air Station Richmond.
• 1947 – Typhoon Kathleen hit the Kantō region in Japan, causing many deaths.
• 1948 – The Indian Army captured several towns as part of Operation Polo.
• 1948 – The F-86 Sabre jet set a new world aircraft speed record at about 1080 kilometers per hour (671 mph).
• 1950 – Korean War: The U.S. X Corps landed at Inchon.
• 1952 – The United Nations gave Eritrea to Ethiopia.
• 1954 – Marilyn Monroe's famous skirt scene was filmed for The Seven Year Itch.
• 1959 – Nikita Khrushchev became the first leader of the Soviet Union to visit the United States.
• 1962 – The Soviet ship Poltava sailed toward Cuba. This was one of the events that led to the Cuban Missile Crisis.
• 1968 – The Soviet Zond 5 spaceship was launched. It was the first spacecraft to fly around the Moon and return to Earth.
• 1971 – The first Greenpeace ship left Vancouver to protest a nuclear weapon test in Alaska.
• 1972 – A Scandinavian Airlines System flight from Gothenburg to Stockholm was hijacked and flown to Malmö Bulltofta Airport.
• 1974 – Air Vietnam Flight 706 was hijacked and then crashed while trying to land.
• 1975 – The French area of "Corse" (the whole island of Corsica) was split into two parts: Haute-Corse (Upper Corsica) and Corse-du-Sud (Southern Corsica).
• 1978 – In New Orleans, Muhammad Ali won against Leon Spinks in a boxing rematch. He became the first boxer to win the world heavyweight title three times.
• 1981 – The Senate Judiciary Committee approved Sandra Day O'Connor. She became the first female justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
• 1981 – The John Bull became the oldest working steam locomotive in the world. The Smithsonian Institution operated it near Washington, D.C.
• 1983 – Israeli leader Menachem Begin resigned from his position.
• 2004 – National Hockey League leader Gary Bettman announced a lockout of the players' union. This stopped NHL operations.
• 2008 – Lehman Brothers filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. This was the largest bankruptcy filing in U.S. history at the time.
• 2020 – The Bahrain–Israel normalization agreement was signed in Washington, D.C.. This agreement made relations normal between Israel and two Arab nations, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

Famous People Born on September 15

Births Before 1600

• 1254 – Marco Polo, a famous Italian merchant and explorer.
• 1461 – Jacopo Salviati, an Italian politician.
• 1505 – Mary of Hungary, a Dutch ruler.
• 1533 – Catherine of Austria, Queen of Poland.

Births from 1601 to 1900

• 1613 – François de La Rochefoucauld, a French soldier and writer.
• 1736 – Jean Sylvain Bailly, a French astronomer, mathematician, and the first Mayor of Paris.
• 1789 – James Fenimore Cooper, an American novelist and historian.
• 1830 – Porfirio Díaz, a Mexican general and politician who became the 29th President of Mexico.
• 1857 – William Howard Taft, an American lawyer and politician who became the 27th President of the United States.
• 1857 – Anna Winlock, an American astronomer.
• 1861 – M. Visvesvaraya, an Indian engineer and scholar.
• 1876 – Agatha Christie, a famous English crime novelist and playwright.
• 1881 – Ettore Bugatti, an Italian-French businessman who started the car company Bugatti.
• 1894 – Jean Renoir, a French actor, director, and screenwriter.

Births from 1901 to Today

• 1901 – Donald Bailey, an English engineer who designed the Bailey bridge.
• 1903 – Roy Acuff, an American singer-songwriter.
• 1907 – Fay Wray, a Canadian-American actress.
• 1914 – Robert McCloskey, an American author and illustrator.
• 1919 – Fausto Coppi, an Italian cyclist.
• 1922 – Jackie Cooper, an American actor.
• 1929 – Murray Gell-Mann, an American physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics.
• 1934 – Tomie dePaola, an American author and illustrator.
• 1937 – Robert Lucas Jr., an American economist who won the Nobel Prize in Economics.
• 1940 – Merlin Olsen, an American football player and actor.
• 1941 – Mirosław Hermaszewski, a Polish general, pilot, and cosmonaut.
• 1945 – Jessye Norman, an American opera singer.
• 1946 – Tommy Lee Jones, an American actor and director.
• 1946 – Oliver Stone, an American director and screenwriter.
• 1951 – Pete Carroll, an American football coach.
• 1953 – Margie Moran, a Filipino peace advocate and beauty queen who was Miss Universe 1973.
• 1961 – Dan Marino, a famous American football player.
• 1964 – Robert Fico, a Slovak politician who became the 14th Prime Minister of Slovakia.
• 1972 – Jimmy Carr, an English comedian and actor.
• 1972 – Queen Letizia of Spain.
• 1977 – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a Nigerian author.
• 1977 – Tom Hardy, an English actor.
• 1984 – Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex.
• 1986 – Jenna Marbles, an American YouTuber.
• 1999 – Jaren Jackson Jr., an American basketball player.

Notable People Who Passed Away on September 15

Deaths Before 1600

• 921 – Ludmila of Bohemia, a Czech saint.
• 1140 – Adelaide of Hungary, Duchess of Bohemia.
• 1231 – Louis I, Duke of Bavaria.
• 1500 – John Morton, an English cardinal.
• 1510 – Saint Catherine of Genoa.
• 1559 – Isabella Jagiellon, Queen of Hungary.

Deaths from 1601 to 1900

• 1613 – Thomas Overbury, an English poet.
• 1643 – Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork, an English-Irish politician.
• 1700 – André Le Nôtre, a French gardener.
• 1830 – William Huskisson, an English politician.
• 1842 – Francisco Morazán, a Guatemalan general and politician who was President of the Central American Federation.
• 1859 – Isambard Kingdom Brunel, a famous English engineer who designed the Great Western Railway.
• 1864 – John Hanning Speke, an English soldier and explorer.

Deaths from 1901 to Today

• 1926 – Rudolf Christoph Eucken, a German philosopher who won the Nobel Prize in Literature.
• 1938 – Thomas Wolfe, an American novelist.
• 1945 – Anton Webern, an Austrian composer.
• 1973 – Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden, the King of Sweden.
• 1978 – Willy Messerschmitt, a German engineer who designed the Messerschmitt Bf 109 aircraft.
• 1980 – Bill Evans, an American jazz pianist.
• 1989 – Robert Penn Warren, an American novelist and poet.
• 1993 – Pino Puglisi, an Italian priest.
• 2004 – Johnny Ramone, an American guitarist from the band The Ramones.
• 2006 – Oriana Fallaci, an Italian journalist and author.
• 2008 – Richard Wright, an English singer and keyboard player from the band Pink Floyd.
• 2017 – Harry Dean Stanton, an American actor.
• 2019 – Ric Ocasek, an American musician from the band The Cars.
• 2023 – Fernando Botero, a Colombian painter and sculptor known for his "fat figures".

Special Days and Celebrations

• Battle of Britain Day (United Kingdom)
• Cry of Dolores, celebrated the night before Independence Day (Mexico).
• Engineer's Day (India)
• Independence Day, celebrating independence from Spain in 1821 for Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica.
• International Day of Democracy.
• Knowledge Day (Azerbaijan).
• Restoration of Primorska to the Motherland Day (Slovenia).
• Silpa Bhirasri Day (Thailand).
• The start of German American Heritage Month, which runs until October 15.
• The start of National Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs until October 15 (United States).
• World Lymphoma Awareness Day (International).

See also

In Spanish: 15 de septiembre para niños