Browse Historical Events by Day: What Happened on September 12th?

English explorer Henry Hudson discovers Manhattan Island and sails up the river that would later bear his name.

The Battle of Vienna occurs, as an alliance of European powers successfully repels the Ottoman Empire's siege of the city.

Lascaux cave paintings are accidentally discovered by four boys examining a fox hole down which their dog had fallen on the hill of Lascaux. The boys, in awe of what they had found, told their teacher, after which the process towards excavating the cave was set in motion. By 1948 the cave was ready to be opened to the public. More

The RMS Laconia was sunk by the U-156 German Submarine. The ship was carrying 268 British soldiers and 80 civilians, and 1,800 Italian prisoners of war who were being guarded by 160 Polish soldiers. Some 1,500 of Laconia’s passengers survived. primarily due to the efforts of the U-156 and three other German submarines which participated in the initial rescue operations. More