Browse Historical Events by Day: What Happened on September 15th?

Viking raiders sack the city of Bordeaux in present-day France, highlighting their expansion and impact in Europe.

The Battle of Swold takes place between the Norwegian king Olaf Tryggvason and a coalition of Swedish and Danish forces, resulting in Olaf's defeat and death.

The Battle of Maldon occurs in Essex, England, where an English force led by Byrhtnoth is defeated by Viking raiders.

King John of England puts his seal on the Magna Carta, a document that outlines rights and limitations on royal power.

The first free public school in Europe opens its doors to children on this day in 1616 in Frascati, a town in Lazio just a few kilometers from Rome. The school was founded by a Spanish Catholic priest, José de Calasanz, who was originally from Aragon but who moved to Rome in 1592 at the age of 35. More

The British capture the Cape Town Colony, ending the Dutch East India Company’s role in the region but relinquished the colony to the Dutch in 1802 with the signing of the Treaty of Amiens. The British reannexed it in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars with the Cape becoming a very important base prior to the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. More

Guatemala Independence Day (Act of Independence of Central America).

Costa Rica Independence Day (Act of Independence of Central America).

El Salvador Independence Day (Act of Independence of Central America).

Nicaragua Independence Day (Act of Independence of Central America).

Honduras Independence Day (Act of Independence of Central America).

Charles Darwin on board the HMS Beagle, reaches the Galápagos Islands on a five-year voyage. More

Scottish biologist Alexander Fleming accidently discovers penicillin leading to a breakthrough in the development of antibiotics. The following year, Fleming published his findings in the British Journal of Experimental Pathology and presented his discovery to the Medical Research Club. To his surprise, his peers showed little interest in his work. He recruited leading chemists and experts to help purify penicillin from the mold without any success. Penicillin was labelled a laboratory curiosity and Fleming gave up attempts to purify it. It wasn't until the 1940's fueled by the needs from WW2 and an unprecedented cooperation between the United States and Great Britain to produce penicillin that Penicillin became commercially available in 1943. More

The Nuremberg race laws are enacted, stripping German Jews of their citizenship and reducing them to mere “subjects” of the state thus establishing the framework that eventually led to the Holocaust. More

Operation Stalemate II, The Battle of Peleliu: The 1st Marine Division lands on “White” and “Orange” beaches on the western side of the Island of Peleliu, three days after the Island underwent a heavy naval and air bombardment by the Third Fleet forces. Once ashore, the landing forces quickly realized that the pre-invasion bombardment had not been particularly effective. The cost of taking the island, was high. On Peleliu, Marine casualties were 1,336 killed and 5,450 wounded while the 81st Infantry Division suffered 1,393 casualties including 208 killed in action. On Angaur, the 81st Infantry Division had 1,676 casualties, including 196 killed in action. The Japanese lost an estimated 10,695 men, with an additional 301 taken as prisoners of war. More

On September 15, 1950, the soldiers, sailors, and Marines of X Corps landed at Inchon. Even though the Inchon plans had been leaked in U.S. media and throughout Japan, North Korea was unprepared for the landing. More

The 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, is bombed by white supremacists, resulting in the deaths of four young African-American girls.

Elizabeth Ann Seton is canonized (officially made a saint), by Pope Paul VI becoming the first native-born saint of the United States. More

The Voyager 1 spacecraft is launched by NASA to explore the outer solar system. It would later become the first human-made object to reach interstellar space.

The day before Black Wednesday, Soros' Quantum Fund began selling large amounts of pounds on the market, causing the price to plummet further. The Bank of England took steps to stem the sell-off but it was unsuccessful.

On Black Wednesday, the Bank of England declared that the U.K. would leave the European ERM. More

Lehman Brothers, one of the largest investment banks in the world, files for bankruptcy, marking the beginning of the global financial crisis that would have far-reaching effects on the global economy.