September 2
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1967
1967: The formation of the Principality of Sealand
In the 1960s Paddy Roy Bates took over the Roughs Tower, an abandoned World War II fortress off the coast of Suffolk, England, in the North Sea. It was intended to be the base of a pirate radio station, but on this day in 1967, Bates declared the platform the Principality of Sealand, a sovereign micronation. He named himself prince and his wife, Joan, princess. Sealand later got a constitution, currency, anthem, passports, stamps, flag, and a coat of arms.
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© Ben Stansall—AFP/Getty Images; Photo Illustration Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Featured Event
Paul Mellon Collection, B1976.7.27/Yale Center for British Art
On this day in 1666 the Great Fire of London began accidentally in the house of the king’s baker. It burned for four days and destroyed a large part of the city, including Old St. Paul’s Cathedral and about 13,000 houses. [How much do you know about European history?]
Featured Biography
Featured Biography
© Offside/REX/Shutterstock.com
American tennis star Jimmy Connors, born this day in 1952, captured the U.S. Open title five times and in 1974 won three Grand Slam events (U.S., Australian, and Wimbledon) but was barred from competing in the French Open.
Famous Birthdays
More on September 2
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol; photograph, Kris Grogan
2019
Hurricane Dorian stalled near Grand Bahama Island. The storm, which was one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes ever recorded, was the strongest on record to hit The Bahamas, where it caused widespread damage.
Helene C. Stikkel/U.S. Department of Defense
2016
Following much speculation, the death of Islam Karimov, the first president of Uzbekistan, was officially announced.
© Birdiegal717/Dreamstime.com
1998
Swissair flight 111 crashed off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada, killing all 229 on board. It was later determined that faulty wires had caused the plane’s flammable insulation to catch fire.
AP Images
1973
English writer J.R.R. Tolkien, who was best known for the inventive fantasies The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings (1954–55), died at age 81. [Take our quiz about the life and works of English authors.]
NASA
1948
Christa McAuliffe, a teacher who was chosen to be the first private citizen in space, was born in Boston. She and six other crew members died when the space shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after liftoff in 1986. [Test your knowledge of famous astronauts and cosmonauts.]
Naval History and Heritage Command (USA C-2719)
1945
World War II came to an end as Japanese Foreign Minister Shigemitsu Mamoru and General Umezu Yoshijiro signed Japan’s formal surrender aboard the USS Missouri. [Sort fact from fiction in our World War II quiz.]
© Bettmann/Getty Images
1945
Frank Driggs Collection/Archive Photos
1928
Jazz pianist, composer, and bandleader Horace Silver, who was an exemplary performer of what came to be called the hard bop style of the 1950s and ’60s, was born in Norwalk, Connecticut. [Take our music quiz.]
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (digital file number cph 3a53299)
1901
U.S. Vice President Theodore Roosevelt gave the first public speech in which he said, “Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.” The Big Stick policy became a central feature of his presidency, which began several weeks later. [How much do you know about U.S. presidents?]
BBC Hulton Picture Library
1898
Anglo-Egyptian forces under Major General Horatio Herbert Kitchener defeated the Sudanese forces of the Mahdist leader ʿAbd Allāh in the Battle of Omdurman. [Test your knowledge of military history.]
Image: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
1792
The September Massacres—mass killings of prisoners by citizens in Paris—began, instigated by beliefs that political prisoners during the French Revolution were going to rise up in their jails to join a counterrevolutionary plot. [Take our quiz about French history.]
National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, Palmer Collection. Acquired with the assistance of H.M. Treasury, the Caird Fund, the Art Fund, the Pilgrim Trust and the Society for Nautical Research Macpherson Fund.
31 bce
Octavian (later Augustus Caesar) won a decisive victory over Mark Antony in the Battle of Actium. [Take our history of warfare quiz.]