Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/September 21

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 * 1675 – Led by Antonio de Vea, a Spanish naval expedition departed El Callao, Peru, for the fjords and channels of Patagonia to find whether rival colonial powers were in the region.
 * 1745 – Jacobite risings: Jacobite troops led by Charles Edward Stuart (pictured) defeated Hanoverian forces in Prestonpans, Scotland.
 * 1776 – American Revolutionary War: The Great Fire of New York (depicted) broke out during the British occupation of New York City, destroying up to 1,000 buildings.
 * 1897 – In response to a letter written by eight-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon, The New York Sun published an editorial by Francis Pharcellus Church stating, "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus".
 * 1934 – Chandrashekhar Agashe established the Brihan Maharashtra Sugar Syndicate Ltd., one of the oldest companies in India.
 * 1938 – The Great New England Hurricane made landfall on Long Island, New York, killing an estimated 682 people and injuring 1,754 others.
 * 1943 – Second World War: The German Army began the Massacre of the Acqui Division on the Greek island of Cephalonia, executing 5,155 Italian soldiers in the next five days.
 * 1965 – Portugal accepted a diplomatic mission from Southern Rhodesia despite objections by Britain, which had required the colony to implement black majority rule as a condition of independence.
 * 1933 – Salvador Lutteroth ran the first Empresa Mexicana de la Lucha Libre event, now the world's oldest professional wrestling promotion in existence, in Mexico City.
 * 1934 – The Muroto typhoon, the strongest in Japanese history at the time, made landfall on the mainland, killing more than 3,000 and leaving around 200,000 homeless.
 * 1937 – J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy children's novel The Hobbit, which later served as a prelude to The Lord of the Rings, was first published.
 * 1968 – The Soviet Union's Zond 5 landed in the Indian Ocean, becoming the first spacecraft to safely return to Earth after travelling around the Moon.
 * 1996 – The Defense of Marriage Act was passed by the United States Congress, prohibiting federal recognition of same-sex marriage, while allowing states to adopt any marital definition of their choosing.
 * 1999 – A 7.7 Mw earthquake struck Jiji, Taiwan, killing 2,415 people, injuring more than 11,000 others and causing about 300 billion (US$10 billion) in damage across the island.
 * 2013 – Unidentified gunmen began a three-day attack on the upmarket Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya, resulting in the deaths of 67 people with at least another 175 wounded.
 * Born/died: | Andrew II of Hungary |d|1235| Leonello d'Este, Marquis of Ferrara |b|1407| Barbara Longhi |b|1552| Polyxena of Hesse-Rotenburg |b|1706| Emanuel Schikaneder |d|1812| Charles Nicolle |b|1866| H. G. Wells |b|1866|Helen Foster Snow |b|1907| Leonard Cohen |b|1934| Kay Ryan |b|1945| Jacqueline Susann |d|1974| Kareena Kapoor |b|1980| Florence Griffith Joyner |d|1998

September 21: International Day of Peace


 * 1170 – Norman invasion of Ireland: English and Irish forces conquered Dublin, forcing Ascall mac Ragnaill, the last Norse–Gaelic king of Dublin, into exile.
 * 1823 – According to Joseph Smith, he was first visited by the Angel Moroni, who would guide him to the golden plates that became the basis of the Book of Mormon.
 * 1918 – World War I: The Battle of Nazareth ended with the British Empire victorious over the Ottomans.
 * 1958 – The first section of Interstate 80 in Iowa (pictured) opened in the Des Moines metropolitan area.
 * 2001 – Several British Muslim youths in Peterborough, England, murdered 17-year-old Ross Parker, leading to debate over whether the British media failed to cover racially-motivated crimes with white victims.