On this day: 24 September

The Second Council of Nicaea begins at the Church of Holy Wisdom in the city of Nicaea in Bithynia.

Second Tantrik Coronation of Shivaji.

The Judiciary Act of 1789 was signed into law, establishing the U.S. federal judiciary and setting the number of Supreme Court justices at six.

A revolutionary committee of notables forms the Provisional Government of Belgium.

Mexican–American War: General Zachary Taylor captures Monterrey.

The first powered, passenger-carrying airship, the Giffard dirigible, travels 17 miles (27 km) from Paris to Trappes.

Admiral Despointes formally takes possession of New Caledonia in the name of France.

Jay Gould, James Fisk, and other speculators plotted but failed to control the United States gold market, causing prices to plummet.

The 1864 play Heath Cobblers by Aleksis Kivi premieres in Oulu, Finland.

At the Battle of Shiroyama (depicted), the final engagement of the Satsuma Rebellion, the Imperial Japanese Army defeated rebel samurai of the Satsuma Domain led by Saigō Takamori.

Wilford Woodruff, the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, wrote the first draft of a manifesto that officially disavowed the future practice of plural marriage.

Alfred Deakin became the second Australian prime minister, succeeding Edmund Barton, who left office to become a founding justice of the High Court of Australia.

U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt proclaims Devils Tower in Wyoming as the nation's first National Monument.

Jimmy Doolittle performs the first flight without a window, proving that full instrument flying from take off to landing is possible.

Mahatma Gandhi and B. R. Ambedkar agree to the Poona Pact, which reserved seats in the Indian provincial legislatures for the "Depressed Classes" (Untouchables).

Earl and Weldon Bascom produce the first rodeo ever held outdoors under electric lights.

Operation Barbarossa: A Wehrmacht training event known as the Mogilev Conference began, marking an increase in violence against Jews and other civilians in the areas under General Max von Schenckendorff's command.

Cathay Pacific Airways is founded in Hong Kong.

The top-secret Clifford-Elsey Report on the Soviet Union is delivered to President Truman.

The Honda Motor Company is founded.

The "Great Smoke Pall", generated by the Chinchaga fire, the largest recorded fire in North American history, was first recorded in present-day Nunavut and may eventually have circled the entire globe.

The Cochabamba–Santa Cruz highway connecting western and eastern Bolivia is inaugurated.

President Eisenhower sends the 101st Airborne Division to Little Rock, Arkansas, to enforce desegregation.

USS Enterprise, the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, is launched.

Guinea-Bissau declares its independence from Portugal.

Norodom Sihanouk (pictured) became King of Cambodia with the restoration of the monarchy after a 23-year interregnum.

Representatives of 71 nations sign the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty at the United Nations.

Hurricane Rita makes landfall in the United States, devastating portions of southwestern Louisiana and extreme southeastern Texas.

Between 30,000 and 100,000 people take part in anti-government protests in Yangon, Burma, the largest in 20 years.

Thabo Mbeki resigns as president of South Africa.

The G20 summit begins in Pittsburgh with 30 global leaders in attendance.

The Mars Orbiter Mission makes India the first Asian nation to reach Mars orbit, and the first nation in the world to do so in its first attempt.

NASA's OSIRIS-REx capsule containing samples from the asteroid 101955 Bennu successfully lands back on Earth.