On this day: 17 September

The Roman Senate decides to deify the late emperor Augustus.

Highest Galician nobility led by Pedro Fróilaz de Traba and the bishop Diego Gelmírez crown Alfonso VII as "King of Galicia".

Byzantine–Seljuk wars: At the Battle of Myriokephalon in Phrygia, the Seljuq Turks prevented Byzantine forces from taking the interior of Anatolia.

Manuel drives his nephew John VII, who had declared himself emperor in April of that year, out from Constantinople and ends John's reign.

Thirteen Years' War: A Polish army under Piotr Dunin decisively defeats the Teutonic Order at the Battle of Świecino.

The first Finnish-language book, the Abckiria by Mikael Agricola, is published in Stockholm.

Polish–Ottoman War: The Ottoman Empire defeats the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth during the Battle of Cecora.

The city of Boston, Massachusetts, is founded in North America.

Sweden wins a major victory at the Battle of Breitenfeld against the Holy Roman Empire during the Thirty Years' War.

Portuguese Restoration War: Having crossed the Minho and entered Portuguese territory, a Spanish army was victorious in the Battle of Vilanova.

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek writes a letter to the Royal Society describing "animalcules", later known as protozoa.

The Presidio of San Francisco is founded in New Spain.

The Treaty of Fort Pitt is signed. It is the first formal treaty between the United States and a Native American tribe.

The United States Constitution is signed at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, bringing the Constitutional Convention to an end.

War of the Pyrenees: Forces from the French Army of the Eastern Pyrenees defeated two divisions of the Army of Catalonia, ending the furthest Spanish encroachment in their invasion of Roussillon.

Flanders Campaign: France completes its conquest of the Austrian Netherlands at the Battle of Sprimont.

Peace between Sweden and Russia in the Finnish War; the territory that will become Finland is ceded to Russia by the Treaty of Fredrikshamn.

Harriet Tubman (pictured) escaped from slavery in the U.S. state of Maryland, and later orchestrated the rescues of other slaves via the Underground Railroad.

Harriet Tubman (pictured) escaped from slavery in the U.S. state of Maryland, and later orchestrated the rescues of other slaves via the Underground Railroad.

Disgruntled with the legal and political structures of the United States, Joshua Norton (pictured) distributed letters to various newspapers in San Francisco proclaiming himself to be Emperor Norton.

Argentine Civil Wars: The State of Buenos Aires defeats the Argentine Confederation at the Battle of Pavón.

Battle of the Yalu River, the largest naval engagement of the First Sino-Japanese War.

Philippine–American War: Filipinos under Juan Cailles defeat Americans under Colonel Benjamin F. Cheatham Jr. at Mabitac.

Second Boer War: Boers capture a squadron of the 17th Lancers at the Battle of Elands River.

Andrew Fisher, who in his previous term as premier oversaw a period of reform unmatched in the Commonwealth until the 1940s, became Prime Minister of Australia for the third time.

World War I: The Race to the Sea begins.

World War I: Manfred von Richthofen ("The Red Baron"), a flying ace of the German Luftstreitkräfte, wins his first aerial combat near Cambrai, France.

The National Football League is organized as the American Professional Football Association in Canton, Ohio.

A speech by Laureano Gómez leads to the escalation of the Leticia Incident.

The Niagara Gorge Railroad ceases operations after a rockslide.

World War II: Soviet forces enter Tehran during the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran.

World War II: A decree of the Soviet State Committee of Defense restores compulsory military training.

World War II: German forces are attacked by the Allies in the Battle of San Marino.

World War II: Soviet troops launch the Tallinn Offensive against Germany and pro-independence Estonian units.

The Republic of India formally recognised the State of Israel.

The People's Liberation Army Air Force Airborne Corps (Then known as the PLAAF 1st Ground Forces Brigade) is founded.

Tintin in Tibet, the twentieth volume of The Adventures of Tintin by the Belgian cartoonist Hergé and which he regarded as his favourite in the series, began serialisation.

The world's first retractable roof stadium, the Civic Arena, opens in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

NASA announced the Next Nine astronauts selected for the purpose of landing on the moon.

NASA announced the Next Nine astronauts selected for the purpose of landing on the Moon.

The Battle of Chawinda is fought between Pakistan and India.

Bangladesh, Grenada and Guinea-Bissau join the United Nations.

The Space Shuttle Enterprise is unveiled by NASA.

The Camp David Accords are signed by Israel and Egypt.

Solidarity, a Polish trade union, was founded as the first independent labor union in an Eastern Bloc country.

Vanessa Williams becomes the first black Miss America.

Estonia, North Korea, South Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, the Marshall Islands and Micronesia join the United Nations.

The first version of the Linux kernel (0.01) is released to the Internet.

American president George W. Bush delivered remarks at the Islamic Center of Washington (pictured) condemning Islamophobia in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.

The New York Stock Exchange reopens for trading after the September 11 attacks, the longest closure since the Great Depression.

An audio tape of a private speech by Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány is leaked to the public, in which he confessed that his Hungarian Socialist Party had lied to win the 2006 election, sparking widespread protests across the country.

Adbusters, a Canadian anti-consumerist publication, organized a protest against corporate influence on democracy at Zuccotti Park in New York City that became known as Occupy Wall Street.

The Israeli Air Force conducted missile strikes that hit multiple targets in western Syria; Syrian air defences responding to the strikes accidentally downed a Russian plane.

Saudi Arabia and Pakistan sign the Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement.